Paradise Killer | Nintendo Switch Review.

Publisher: Fellow Traveller

Developer: Kaizen Game Works

Switch Review

*Disclaimer: I was sent the code for this game in return for a review, all opinions are mine and mine alone. 

Paradise killer stands out amongst the crowd due to its vibrant colours and techno 80s theme, i'm a huge fan when it comes to anything 80s and the developers and artists did a brilliant job implementing that vibe. It's certainly a different take on a murder mystery full of unique and strange characters who are just as suspicious as one another. It’s different from other mystery games I have played as it plays out like a visual novel but it’s also a first person narrative game. You play as an exiled character called lady love dies an investigator who has been exiled for many years, when she is called up to investigate the murder of the council she gets to work right away interrogating the island’s residents and trying to find the best way to convince them to tell the truth.

The island which you live on is a beautiful paradise which matches up to its name, it’s strange and endearing due to being a synthetic rock that floats on the ocean. The island is full of a mixture of people, some good and some bad but because of how unique it is demons become attracted to it making it fail. This happens every few millennium causing the island to have to regenerate and start all over again, the reason being is they want to make it the perfect island but on the night of the 24th island sequence the council is murdered killing paradise, this is where lady love dies comes into it, she is the chosen one to find out what really happened and must gather evidence to show to the court in front of the Judge.

Right away you’re thrown back into the world you once lived, you get to see and talk to old friends as well as people who aren't your biggest fan again who you unfortunately are given the task to interrogate, though you may have been friends, people have secrets and those secrets lead to the truth. Each resident you speak to will give you clues and alibis, these unlock dialogue to speak to the next person whilst using snide tactics such as hanging out with them and approaching their friendly side to get them to open up to you. Once someone is able to give you more evidence an exclamation mark will appear on their picture signaling a new opportunity to proceed further.

Along the way you come across citizens who have been sacrificed, it sounds awful but in order for the island to have its 25th sequence there needed to be blood spilled, you can talk to these people as they’re now ghosts and they ask for favours, in return they give you what you need to proceed further with your investigation if you choose. The reason I’m saying this is because you can go to the Judge and start the court proceedings at anytime you choose, I advise against this until you get a real understanding of what is going on and who can be trusted. I spent a big chunk of time walking around the island finding as many clues and blood crystals as I could, these crystals helped me get information, fast travel, buy drinks etc, I started to get a little obsessed over finding them just so I could progress further with the dialogue part of the game and use the crystals to bargain with people.

Lady Love Dies uses a device called the Starlight which holds all of the information she has gathered for the investigation, when loading it up you’re greeted with a wide range of things to use to your advantage. Starlight pieces together the evidence for you to read over and gage what has been said and in what order, there is also a section for notes that lets you know where to explore next and who to find to see if the evidence given adds up. Starlight unlocks doors with the use of hacking and solving puzzles which are pretty simple, some doors require goat puzzles and other cosmos, to solve these puzzles Starlight needs to be upgraded which will cost you, on top of this you have to find where the upgrades are on the island in order to instal them. 

This causes no issue for me because the island has so much to offer and see, I was surprised that such a small island had so many different places to explore, I found myself taking in the environment and how beautifully crafted it was, the vibrant electric colours felt different with each part of the map I proceeded to, especially once I unlocked more songs and chose which one fit the aesthetic of the area I was in. Yes, that’s right you can choose the song you want to play, I was obsessed with  Lady Blue and Breeze With You so I would constantly be changing the music between the two. 

Characters personalities are strange but fun, I found myself loving Dr Doom Jazz way of talking and the fact you could flirt with him but there seemed to be something about him that didn’t feel right at times like he didn’t want to tell the whole story. I also loved the hilarious little demon named Shinji that would pop up all around the map, sometime they were helpful other times they made no sense but most of the time they were cheeky and would leave you questioning how they are even being helpful but trust me they are! The more you interrogate characters the more you come to realise that the story is about much more than murder and delves deeper into love and tactics. 

Accessibility options are ace, the developers really thought about what will affect certain players and how best to work around the issues without taking anything away from the game. Features such as turning off flickering lights and screenshake are a clever idea especially for people who suffer with epilepsy, games usually just give a warning that there are flashing lights within the game but Kaizengames went a step further. Implementing accessibility features in games is always a sign that developers are thinking about more than just the storyline as the player is the one immersed in gameplay, their experience is what matters when it comes to making the most of this game as it’s told from a first person perspective. 

This was a wonderfully immersive game, the artwork is gorgeous and eccentric but definitely pulls you in, the mix of novel telling with exploration mode makes the player feel like they’re in an interactive storybook at the forefront of the drama thats unfolding. Towards the end of my gameplay I would doubt myself and feel as if I didn’t have enough evidence but I proceeded with what information I had gathered and was happy with the outcome, I played well over 10 hours and loved every minute of it!