5/5 ★ – Qloriax's review of Paradise Killer.

Introduction As I often like to reiterate, I am a biased reviewer. I like to be passionate and opinionated within my work, but I feel like it can also help push a strong view of when a game is phenomenal but deserves criticism. I rarely try to be negatively opinionated; I am a believer in looking into games positively. I digress, reader, as that tangent was not exactly aimed at anything. It will come back later on as Paradise Killer has some criticisms I personally had encountered and come up with. A quick note, I played Paradise Killer on release day and beat it within the next four or so days, so any bugs (which I believe to be only one) I encountered might be gone by the time this comes out. However, it is time to begin. Paradise Killer is at least somewhat Suda-inspired, that must be said out of the gate. If you have read my other reviews or know me in a greater fashion, you will know I am a Suda shill and if I had the opportunity I would immediately come to Grasshopper Manufacture just to pay out of my own pocket to let everyone experience Suda’s games. Even though the inspiration is not as great as I could make it out to be, you can see a lot of Suda’s touch in there with its themes or with flat out references. Kill the Thirst, you must kill the thirst to move on. For a proper rundown, Paradise Killer is a first-person murder mystery puzzle game where you as the player put yourselves in the scarf of Lady Love Dies, an exiled investigator sent down from her exile to solve the murder of the “Council”. I will talk about this in much greater depth within the story and gameplay sections. However, unlike most of my reviews, I will not be including spoilers within this review. I will give my thoughts and explain what I got when I played the game, but I will not be naming culprits or victims. As much as I would love to talk about the story and my thoughts in depth, it is just not suited for the review format and would ruin the entire game. This game is actually phenomenal and genius, though. Story "Paradise Island, a world outside reality. There’s been a murder that only "investigation freak" Lady Love Dies can solve. Gather evidence and interrogate suspects in this open world adventure. You can accuse anyone, but you’ll have to prove your case in trial to convict. It’s up to you to decide who’s guilty." Plot Summary As you begin, the game provides you with a quick backstory of what exactly is going on. “Paradise”, or the iterative Islands, are an island built off outside of the real world. It is used by the high elite, the Syndicate, to summon back and contact the gods in order to revive them or bring them back to a safe haven. Unfortunately, such contact, if not done properly, leaves a channel open for demons to also attempt to come over. That can come in many ways, from corrupting the land to manifesting as a physical presence depending on the circumstances. Island 13 was the island within which the main character, Lady Loves Dies or LD for short, got seduced by an “evil god” and almost ruined everything for everyone forever. Post the 13 incident, LD was exiled into the Idle Lands and watched from there as each new island was born and died. Each iteration drew closer to perfection as demonic corruption occurred less and less. It was with the 24th Island that they had achieved near perfection. That is, until someone went and ruined it all over again by trying illegal communication with the gods, ending in their possession and allowing demons onto the island. The game explains that each island birth requires a ritual sacrifice of the common folk, the Citizens, in order to reach the gods and use enough power to rebuild the island anew. The council began their preparations to herald in the new island. This one, though, was going to be perfect. The Perfect 25. As the Perfect 25 was born, Paradise was killed. Spooky. Setting Following this introduction, you are thrust into the game. What a weird game it is. It has a very specific visual aesthetic, lending itself to the “summer vibes” and Macintosh Plus aesthetics while also having a little more in there with different icons of gods both known and new. It’s a Paradise. It’s an island resort with a slight “cosmic deities from outer space” twist thrown into the mix. It’s an island built on death, deceit and esotericism. It’s up to Lady Love Dies to find the facts and make a truth out of them. Themes “Find the facts and make a truth out of them”? “Paradise was killed”? You might be wondering how exactly this comes around, how exactly you can kill a concept or “make up” a truth. If you’re a fan of Suda’s work, you will be well acquainted with concepts like “kill the past” and “garden of madness” and so on, and in the same way you will look at this game and start to gather the ideas for what exactly such phrases can mean. In The Silver Case, a character says a rather throwaway line that Paradise Killer has taken to heart. The truth and facts are different. In fact, our sassy British investigator says the very line herself. Paradise is, in fact, an island. Paradise can also mean different things to others. I might find an island resort paradise while someone might find themselves at peace in a wooden cabin in the mountains. With the death of the Council, some people’s paradises were killed while some were remade. I cannot say much more than that. Paradise in Paradise Killer is the ultimate goal for each resident. They wish to live happily within their Paradise by all means necessary. A lot of themes are tackled throughout Paradise Killer, LD is a bit of a third wheel to the inner workings of the island, but she also is not a Citizen. By the time you finally come down to Island 24 the only ones left are the ones who could not make it to Perfect 25 before the lockdown occurred as all the citizens (who are arguably probably the most interesting thing in this game) are now dead. She finds herself sticking out like a sore thumb, she has been sent to the island as the envoy of justice. The Citizens offer a lot of insight into their, albeit miserable, lives and how they try to cope serving as nothing more than just batteries to fuel a rebirth. You watch from a cast-off angle; you have to try and shrug off any sort of connections. I think Paradise Killer is also about nostalgia; about remembering times past that have changed. LD comes down to the island after a long, long, long time, about 8000 years, and suddenly everything has changed and those that used to be drinking buddies drifted away. Some try to cling on, they try to remind LD of how fun it was, but whether its just a mask to try and draw suspicion away from them or not is a mystery in of itself. LD’s name is appropriate, as it is a large theme in of itself while you learn about the romances and relationships forged and broken in Paradise. You will learn about what is special and meaningful to the interesting and unique characters you meet. Characters The characters of the game are all deeply unique, with their own beliefs and goals that quite frankly puts them all as the potential culprits. The name Yuri Night is burned into my brain because I have never met a larger son of a gun in my life. The way he treats LD and acts so superior is just so perfect. Other characters also feature, surprisingly enough, including; - a man who watches the islands die and ensures nothing wrong comes into the next island - lady with a goat head - skeleton bartender - a demon named shinji One of the most interesting characters is Henry Division, being the so-called culprit. He is a Citizen who was possessed by a demon on the current island sequence and is held captive on a remote island by the main Marshal, Akiko. Each character is an iconic and unmistakable design. They all have some hints to their origins or their beliefs, and they all have very distinct personalities too. I wish I could write a lot about the characters, but a lot of what I will write about links to the gameplay section, and what makes the characters really good is related to the story. Either way, I love the setting and the themes of this game. I love the aesthetic and the story, and I sincerely regret not being able to talk about the story or characters much, but the beauty of the game is the story and its characters. Music The music is primarily composed by Barry “Epoch” Topping, and as I usually do, I listen to the soundtrack while writing these reviews. Out the gate, it gets the setting down perfectly. Summer vibes with that city pop mixed in that became so popular all of a sudden again. If you know only one song, it will definitely be Plastic Love. Songs like Paradise (Stay Forever) replicate the attitude of such tracks perfectly, and as Barry himself said, city pop is a trend for a lonely type. You roam the lonely island, encountering a maximum of 8 to 9 characters, looking at an empty and dead paradise with the ghost of its history roaming around each corner. Mix the vaporwave visuals, it really compliments each other, but within the lyrics you see a lot of the underlying themes of the game. It is phenomenally done, because you can enjoy the songs on a surface level and have a fun time, but those really invested in the game will find it a complimenting side with a little sprinkled in there to really pay forward. The songs all exist within the world as actual tracks and LD goes around the island collecting them, but it lends credence to the opulence and atmosphere of the island itself. Each track has a little snippet of information to go with it, and the soundtrack description on Steam really sold me on to the premise before I even started playing the game; “Remember when we danced along the beach? Along the streets of Paradise? You made this mix tape on the roof of your apartment block. We stared at the moon. You said you’d kill the moon. I didn’t believe you. I was wrong.” Just chills. The music, when mixed in with the story and setting, really builds an image of these wannabe gods. Of these used-to-be teenagers who would go around promising each other the stars and moon, throwing life out the window to exist within this island, this Paradise. Now the music is left over, but times have changed, and people have grown up even if immortal. The beauty of the game, like a few games have done before, is you build your own playlist out of the tapes you find and pick up around the island. The designers have talked about how they specifically placed certain tracks in certain places, Lady Blue is found while looking out at the ocean, it pushes you to understand why the music exists within this world and what the in-world composer could have been thinking while seeing the view. The customizable playlist also means you can build your own atmosphere at any given time. Time is up. Paradise is over. Might as well party to the song of the end. Also, if you wish to hear the full thoughts and ideas by the designers and composer, do watch the “Making the Music of Paradise Killer” video by Kaizen Game Works, it lends a lot of insight into the creation process and inspiration of the soundtrack while also having a lot of fun trivia. (They mention Flower, Sun, and Rain so it’s me approved.) Gameplay I have missed the crime solving video game. I played Sherlock Holmes and the Devil’s Daughter not that long ago because I needed a good mystery/detective game. I must say Paradise Killer definitely hit the spot; I am most definitely like an addict scratching at my arms asking the dealer if they have anymore of the good stuff when it comes to a few types of games. I have been asking for a new Suda game for a while, I have been asking for a new detective game in this style for a while too. It just so happens the two met and made some interesting choices for it to come together. The game is what I lovingly call Danganronpa 2.5. It has the island resort setting, it has the murder mystery, it has a trial at the end, and it is open world. Now, I’m not the biggest fan of Danganronpa but I cannot actually describe the game in any other way too much. Obviously the game has major Suda inspirations, it has a funny laughing demon and a cybernetic voice that is just a few modifications away from saying “Bad Girl” with a guitar riff at the end, but at the same time Paradise Killer hit me in a spot in my brain that Danganronpa 2 failed to do. At the same time Paradise Killer satisfies a hole that I found with Flower, Sun, and Rain. Now, FSR is a fantastic and I dare say perfect game. I just love a murder mystery a bit too much for me not to say some part of me was still disappointed by the lack of murder mystery in it. I think Paradise Killer hit itself into a niche that I just crave more of. However, tangent aside, I should actually write about the gameplay. Again, Paradise Killer is an open world mystery/detective game. Its open world nature means you can go into any corner of the world from the beginning. In fact, I did that. I left the courthouse and instead of turning left to go to the crime scene, I turned right and went up a mountain. There I found a case almost immediately. This case is crucial in the long term, but I appreciate the open world nature of a game like this because it does, in the end, feel like a proper open world game with the appropriate limitations in place at times. The game designers talked about how making the game open ended was difficult, but I have to respect the thought process and decision making because it definitely paid off in the end. I think the game being more linear would not pay off anywhere as near. I am personally a bit tired of linear games with similar premises, I think some people need to dive off into the deep end and create something like this more often. The way the game sets out is you have your handy little “Catherine” that will record any and all evidence, automatically assign it to the potential suspects and also notify you of any cases still left around. What it also does is provide some clues, just some little pointers into what exactly it is you should be looking around for, but even then, there is a lot to the game you will have to find yourself. There is no extreme gameplay, nothing really much apart from jumping and interacting with the environment. You get movement upgrades, you will be able to dash, double jump and gain an ability to see every collectible on the island, but aside from that you’re free to go as much as your movement will let you. There are three major gameplay aspects. Exploration, interaction and interrogation. You will speak to characters, ask them questions and try to suss them out while presenting testimonies or evidence to try and see what you can pry from between the teeth of all these interesting characters. There is a mild relationship system, which I promptly messed up for all but, I think, 3 characters but it provides little mementos that lend some insight into the characters or their relationships to Love Dies. The relationship system also is crucial to the overall gameplay through the fact that you can build a character’s trust and in return get little testimonies relating to other characters, but I cannot say much beyond that. The game ends with a large-scale trial in which you accuse the people you suspect of the crimes committed. Obviously, you can just accuse Henry Division at the very beginning of the game, clean your hands of the ordeal and go back to your exile, but you need to prove it really was him if you want to do that. You need to explore the island, come up with the evidence, and that at very least involves talking to the people involved. The trial is fantastic as well and it did have me stumped at times. It is not any Phoenix Wright or Danganronpa however it is definitely something along those lines and you get a similar level of satisfaction as you do from Ace Attorney. I cannot say too much beyond that, the game works better the less you know about it. At this rate, come down from exile and be ready to execute justice. Or as the game puts it, EXECUTE JUSTICE. Final thoughts It does not take an investigator like Lady Love Dies to see this game was built with passion in mind. As a player, I am stunned and amazed at the depth of the game, at the beauty of the setting and at the depth and intricate detail within the story. I found myself often just laughing to myself as something finally clicked in my head as I went on a random tangent to my housemate trying to reason to myself, more than him, about some piece of evidence. That sensation of it finally clicking together will never get old and this game is just BUILT on that feeling, the game never makes you feel like an idiot for not getting something, you’ll uncover the truth eventually. As a game designer, even if I’m still new at it, I am just stunned that such a game exists. The thought process of building a game like this is just something beyond my capacity. This game has got me feeling a lot of things, it is definitely a game I can confidently put at a strong 9 or perfect 10, even if the one bug I experienced at the literal end of the game meant I had to go back through the entire trial again. I do hope that bug was fixed, though for a moment I thought it was a gameplay thing, as I jumped and started floating upwards towards the sky. Honestly, I just have to thank the creators for what they’ve created. This has definitely become one of my game of the year contenders. I look forward to your next works. You got my laughing, you got me confused, you got me angry, you got me crying all in one game in the span of 16 hours or so? For that price? Pick up Paradise Killer if you have not. I can’t help but strongly recommend it. It is a beautiful game.