Though I hardly play them, I have nothing against indie games. A lot of indie developers bring out some innovative titles and reintroduces tried-and-true mechanics with a twist to the platform. Many established creators go indie because the big-name companies that once backed them lost their vision due to corner-cutting and corporate greed.
However, I'm oftentimes reluctant to offer my support to such entities in one form or another. Crowdfunding campaigns are often a gamble since there have been a sizable number of cases where the pitched game never comes to be, or ends up being total garbage.
The only indie game that I ended up totally liking is this one: Dead Or School. Created by a studio called Nanafushi which is staffed by only three people, it combines hack-and-slash plus labyrinth exploration under a sub-genre dubbed "Metroidvania", combining mechanics of the two classics used in the portmanteau. The PC version was released last year, and there will be a PS4 and Switch port a month or so from now.
Harajuku is by far the least interesting stage, since none of the major refugees come from here. The story also treats it as a "side rescue stop".
In a dystopian future, a large chunk of Japan's population was afflicted by a mysterious virus that turns it's victims into zombie-like mutants. A three-year war was fought by the surviving humans and the mutants in a winner-take-all face-off.
The humans lost (of course).
With the right to live in the places they once called home taken away, humans sought refuge underground, their memories totally wiped for some reason. Decades of culture and know-how, gone.
78 years later, a group of youngsters from Ikebukuro dared to venture out into the surface, but were set upon by a group of mutants. Hisako, another youth from the same area manages to save them, though she herself is likewise curious about the world above ground. She later hears a story from her grandmother about a place called "School", where young people learn and play together. Hisako's curiosity grows into determination as a result, donning her grandmother's old uniform and venturing out into the unknown to realize her dream of going to school.
Mokuseizaiju's art is simply awesome. Good thing the game had a gallery function.
Though the story isn't exactly award-winning material for the masses(the scenario writer is also a manga artist and he seems to have made it a side-story tied in to the universe of his original work), you have to admit that amid the grim setting, one girl's single-minded, seemingly juvenile ambition becoming a trigger for history to change significantly is quite interesting. Guiding Hisako through the many subterranean tunnels of Japan is quite a fun romp, and of course, this battle is not hers to fight alone. Hisako will inevitably run into a colorful cast of supporting characters starting with the Civilization Investigator Yurika, working their way to the surface and finding out a whole mess of unsavory truths lurking above their heads all the time they've been down under.
Another aspect carried over from the manga is the existence of "machine dolls", which according to the game's story are partly responsible for the disaster 78 years ago.
There are six stages total, though one story event will have you revisiting the first stage with a surface exploration part, making it... erm, six-and-a-half? Each area has specific environmental themes and climates to them, adding unique, individualized touches to otherwise drab tunnels and cities.
Even the JSDF moe recruitment flyer made the cut as one of the collectible souvenirs.
Confrontation sometimes puts the exploration to a complete standstill, since they are often set with barriers like a certain game with a sword-wielding bikini girl. The devs also made sure to add either a large number of mutants or a mess of strong ones before certain save points, sending foolhardy players back to the station platform in defeat with 10% of their war funds gone. Every save point serves as a recovery spot slash teleport device, making it all the more important. Incidentally, if Hisako's HP drops below a certain point, her uniform will be ruined, made apparent by a slightly erotic cut-in, but is unfortunately not reflected in the game sprite. In this state, her stats will get a slight boost. A trip to the save point can fix this quick.
My final setup. May not look like much for some, but it works for me.
Hisako starts the game with nothing but a metal pipe and junk firearms, and that's not enough to get her through corridors of ever-evolving mutants and other dangerous creatures. There are times where it's necessary to grind not only to level up, but to obtain better weapons and accessories dropped by enemies/sold in vending machines . The kind improves per location, starting from inferior going all the way to ultimate. Some items have interesting attributes, and can be strengthened/modified with raw materials and money at any save point. Useless items can also be sold off when the option becomes available. For the people who want to get through the story quick, there is the option to skip some of the grinding, side quests and mini-games by setting the difficulty to Easy, but that's taking away practically 75% of the game proper.
These enemies mean to say "Attack", but due to some odd attempt by the VA at making a mechanical accent, it sounds more like "A Truck". Hisako, who has never seen a truck at all, must be really confused by this...
Though the dungeon map is laid out up-front, it isn't completely straightforward. Objectives have to be met to clear a path in order to progress. There are also out-of-the-way rooms (I'd call them secret rooms, but they're on the map from the get-go so they're anything but secret) with rewards like souvenirs from the old Japan, item boxes and trapped people to rescue. There are also some funky mini-games packaged with the aforementioned, ranging from a mine-cart ride to a hectic building ascent with a big buzz-saw machine hot on your heels.
True to form, many of the objectives and puzzles are quite challenging, oftentimes taking cues from the games of yesteryear. Even so, there's a thin line between challenging and needlessly frustrating, and the latter (dis)honor goes to a particular mini-game in Asakusa where to reach a stranded refugee, you have to cross a sewer stream with a strong artificial current using random bits of driftwood and trash, redirect the flow then make your way further back. The junk that serves as Hisako's footholds appear in a set, albeit hard-to-predict pattern. On top of that, they have odd step detection and inexplicably sink/resurface at certain points. I was able to clear it eventually, but the reward didn't feel worth the frustration I had to endure. On the other hand, the best one in my book is the appearing/disappearing platform room that had two pickups: A refugee and a key.
Though I played the game entirely in Japanese, I changed the language setting just to screencap this. For those who know if there's a place with a subquest on the ???? part, let me know ASAP.
*12/10/19 UPDATE: Said question marks were removed in the 7.03 update. Turns out it was a placeholder for Shinjuku surface quests that was left unused,
Also, another thing that was not elaborated on is why Hisako is super-strong despite her petite frame and also has the ability to make enemies slow down to a crawl during a last-second dodge like gaming's famous gunslinger witch. I'm guessing the devs probably want to leave it to the "determined main character" clause (or the fact that she's related to the main character of "Machine Doll Nanami-Chan", made by the aforementioned scenario writer slash manga artist) despite all the other creatures and characters having sound backstories related to such.
Despite the quirks, Dead Or School is quite a robust game, and I would have been glad to contribute to it had I known about it sooner. That's why even though I've already finished the PC game, I'm still getting the Switch version when it comes out this August. I won't lie though when I say that I'm expecting an enhanced port with some oddities fixed, an added option like "New Game+" or an extra stage and the option to max out all abilities. It would be more console-worthy that way in my opinion.
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