Masks of the Lunar Eclipse Evaluation – One other Spooky Addition to the Sequence

A PC evaluate copy of Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Escape was supplied to IGN India by Koei Tecmo.

Japanese online game maker, Koei Tecmo has simply launched a remaster of Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Escape in March 2023. For individuals who don’t know, the Deadly Body collection, often known as Challenge Zero in Europe for some motive, consists of a number of Japanese survival horror video games. First launched in 2001 on the PlayStation 2, Deadly Body obtained reward for its horror parts and is extensively thought-about top-of-the-line horror sport collection to come back out of Japan.

Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse is the fourth sport within the collection that was launched in 2008 for the Nintendo Wii. The sport launch was restricted to Japan solely. A European launch was deliberate, however that didn’t come to fruition. Nevertheless, the seventh sport within the collection, 2014’s Deadly Body: Maiden of Black Water (additionally unique to Japan), obtained a remaster in October 2021 with a worldwide launch. Followers of the horror collection outdoors Japan have additionally been ready for Masks of the Lunar Eclipse. Now, a lot to the delight of Deadly Fame followers, the remaster is lastly right here.

The sport is about on Rogetsu Isle, a small fictional island in southern Japan. Right here, a pageant named Rogetsu Kagura is held as soon as each ten years. 5 ladies who stay in a sanatorium mysteriously disappear on this isle throughout the pageant. Later, a detective manages to rescue them. However their reminiscences of this incident are misplaced.

Ten years later, it’s discovered that two of the ladies who disappeared once more have been discovered lifeless. To seek out out what occurred to their associates, Misaki and Madoka journey to Rogetsu Isle. The remaining lady, Ruka Minazuki additionally follows them afterwards to know the whereabouts of Misaki and Madoka in addition to the prior loss of life of her associates.

For a lot of the sport, we play as Ruka, as we slowly discover this deserted mansion that after housed them. We uncover secrets and techniques piece by piece together with the characters, as spooky particulars in regards to the island’s previous emerge. I discovered the narrative and the vibe of the sport glorious and fairly partaking. The sport additionally has some distinctive gameplay relating to fight. Nevertheless, Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse additionally drags on for too lengthy and has some clunky controls.

Say cheese

A traditional survival horror sport trope entails the participant exploring a location with a torch of their hand. Deadly Body: The Masks of Lunar Eclipse additionally options this trope. As well as, it additionally has an attention-grabbing device referred to as the Digital camera Obscura, a staple of the collection. This can be a digital camera that may evade ghosts and exorcise them. The fight system of the sport is reliant on this digital camera, as our goal because the participant is to snap footage of the ghosts that we encounter to eliminate them. Nevertheless, there’s additionally a requirement to purpose the lens correctly on the ghost and have the digital camera’s particular capacity cost up to have the ability to do any appreciable injury. Ghost encounters may be legit scary for the primary couple of hours, however they put on off after some time.

Exploration and different sport mechanics in Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse

Apart from fight, Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse additionally options exploration and puzzles that you will need to resolve to progress. The mansion is big, and you’ve got a number of rooms and corridors to make your method via. Whereas making your method via the rooms, you will discover new gadgets to improve your digital camera. The characters stroll fairly slowly, and the run choice doesn’t assist a lot. I discovered myself wishing I might make my method via the mansion sooner. This was probably accomplished to maintain a way of realism and invoke some eeriness.

Shifting to the puzzle fixing side of the sport, they weren’t that troublesome to determine. The sport maintains an excellent steadiness relating to exploration, fight, and story, which allowed me to take my very own time and get immersed within the environment of the creepy mansion.

Whereas all that sounds nice on paper, it’s the controls that are available in the best way of immersion. I discovered these to be a bit clunky and finicky. I most well-liked taking part in on the controller to the keyboard and mouse. Whereas taking part in with the controller, it took me a while to get used to the truth that each the left and proper sticks transfer the digital camera in several methods.

The digital camera can be sluggish to purpose, making it troublesome to get an excellent shot of the ghosts. This wasn’t an enormous downside for me, however the controls are one thing that wanted some extra polish. The slim and cramped corridors may also be an issue when making an attempt to purpose at a ghost. This turns into exceedingly troublesome when there are a number of ghosts coming at you on the similar time. Nevertheless, I did discover the claustrophobic feeling as a further side of the horror ingredient current within the sport.

Haunting melodies

Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse seems like a product of its time, and I imply that in a great way. Graphics within the sport assist set the tone of the unsettling environment. The environments of the sport are a mixture of conventional Japanese and fashionable parts. Digging additional, the mansion can be detailed, as I discovered myself stopping a number of occasions to take a look at what’s on a portray or what information article is pinned on a discover board.

The lighting is used very properly within the sport, as I discovered myself feeling uneasy whereas exploring. It made me unaware of what to anticipate with each step I took. Speaking in regards to the character fashions current within the sport, I discovered them fairly detailed and prime quality. Nevertheless, they don’t present quite a lot of emotion even in cutscenes. At occasions, the character fashions regarded misplaced once they’re speculated to be scared out of their wits. As a substitute, they might barely transfer their eyebrows as a response.

I imagine that the precise use of soundtrack performs an enormous half within the success of horror content material throughout a number of media codecs. Happily, Koei Tecmo, together with composers Masafumi Takada and Etsuko Ichikawa knew what they have been doing. If Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse doesn’t scare you with its creepy ghosts, it would definitely provide you with a number of soar scares with using its music and sound results. Simply wandering across the mansion feels completely unnerving due to the soundtrack. The whispers and different minor sounds simply add to this impact. The builders managed to create rigidity completely via music as I used to be on the sting many occasions anticipating a ghost to leap at me.

A darkish folktale on a spooky island

Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse setting is fascinating, and the lore uncovered slowly throughout my playthrough needed me to know extra in regards to the thriller. There are quite a lot of suspenseful moments within the story as properly with some glorious performances by the voice actors. The sport is just accessible in Japanese audio, which could alienate some gamers. Nevertheless, it wasn’t a difficulty for me as I actually loved the voice appearing performances and most well-liked to play with the unique audio.

If in case you have by no means performed a Deadly Body sport earlier than, the characters might seem complicated at first. Particularly as a result of we do not get to spend so much of time with all of the characters and see them get fleshed out early within the sport. You have to to concentrate to the story and browse all of the logs, articles, and letters you discover all through your journey within the mansion to determine what’s going on. That being mentioned, the story slowly unfolds as we spend time uncovering the secrets and techniques of this thriller, discovering out what occurred prior to now, and understanding this world we discover our protagonists navigating via.