Operation Backlog Completion 2026

Celebrating All Things Spooky: ZENO Daily Life

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Oct 092026
 

Last October, we talked about an intriguing horror adventure game called ZENO, and I mentioned that I might check out the side games.

So this October, I continued the ZENO journey with the sequel ZENO Daily Life.

Despite the title, it doesn’t have a slice-of-life focus or anything like that. Instead, the characters’ peaceful life quickly reaches a crisis when someone with new ideas about how to handle the ZENO virus puts his plan into action.

ZENO Daily Life is much shorter and simpler than the first game. You largely just interact with things in the environment to get items and move from place to place, with very little to figure out.

Well, except for navigating the map. My one complaint about ZENO Daily Life is that despite only having a few locations, it’s strangely confusing to find your way. The way areas connect isn’t intuitive, and at one point I got stuck only to find the entrance I needed in a place that didn’t look like an entrance at all.

Aside from that, I enjoyed this shorter ZENO experience. ZENO Daily Life isn’t as horror-focused as the first one (and even the cannibalism and murder take a backseat here), but it’s nice if you want to see more of these characters.

I know, that makes two “this isn’t quite horror” games in a row. We’ll pick up next week with some games more in the spirit of the month! In the meantime, what are your thoughts on ZENO Daily Life?

Celebrating All Things Spooky: Higurashi When They Cry – Rei

 Celebrating All Things Spooky, Reviews, Video Games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: ,
Oct 072026
 

Last year, I finished Higurashi When They Cry after a 70-hour journey and mentioned that there were still some bonus arcs left.

Well, I kicked off October by playing through the first of those bonus stories, Higurashi When They Cry Hou – Rei.

Rei consists of three stories. The first is Saikoroshi, which serves as an epilogue to the main game. Having reached a happy ending in the previous chapter, Rika now ends up in a different world where everything is different from the world she knows.

I mentioned last year that the horror label no longer quite fit the later parts of Higurashi, and the same applies here, to an extent. Saikoroshi lacks the “spooky” sort of horror that best fits October and instead features a much more somber mood that could still be seen as a type of horror. Although I liked the happy ending of the main story, I appreciate what this epilogue does and the questions it raises about what makes one world happier than another.

The second part is Hirukowashi, in which two ancient magatama are accidentally released. The holder of one will fall in love with whoever picks up the second, so when Rena accidentally swallows the first one, comedy antics ensue. It’s ridiculous and entertaining, but it also includes something truly terrifying: mahjong.

Yes, when the final section of Hirukowashi featured an extended look at a mahjong match, with characters talking about who had various hands and when to call riichi and various mahjong strategies, it was like reading another torture scene.

I’m kidding. Mostly.

The third and shortest part is Batsukoishi, which is basically just the characters discussing detailed fanservice scenarios they’d like to put other characters into as part of the punishment games. I assume this would have felt more ecchi if it had the CGs from the console version, but I never modded Higurashi, so it was just reading stuff like “imagine her cleaning the window with her butt.” Maybe I shouldn’t have played this game for spooky month…

Anyway, Higurashi When They Cry Hou – Rei was a nice capstone to the Higurashi experience, albeit not much of a horror game. You know, except for the mahjong.

If you’ve played Rei, what did you think of it?

Celebrating All Things Spooky: Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo

 Celebrating All Things Spooky, Reviews, Video Games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
Oct 052026
 

Let’s kick off this year’s spooky games celebration by talking about Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo.

I mentioned it briefly earlier this this year, when the sequel was announced in a Nintendo Direct. I was delighted to see a new Paranormasight game, especially because of just how much I enjoyed the first one.

Paranormasight is a horror visual novel from Square Enix. It features a group of characters who end up being “curse bearers,” able to inflict a curse upon someone else in pursuit of the legendary Rite of Resurrection that can raise someone from the dead.

It’s spooky, unsettling, and (best of all for me) a bit of a mystery story as well.

Urban legends and criminal cases both come into play as you investigate the truth of what’s going on, and I really loved the way various events unfolded.

Gameplay-wise, it’s the sort of visual novel that requires you to jump around a flowchart to follow different characters’ stories and find a way to proceed, with some chapters reaching dead ends until you progress a different character’s story first. On top of that, it has some light adventure game elements and some really neat gameplay tricks (as well as a puzzle to reach the true ending that had me stumped for a long time).

The soundtrack is also fantastic. I could listen to the main theme forever.

I absolutely loved the first Paranormasight when I played it, and it’s a shame it took me this long to discuss it in detail here. We’ll get around to talking about the second game eventually, but the first’s haunting atmosphere makes it especially appropriate for this time of year.

Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo is available on Steam and Switch (and mobile devices, too), so if you like this sort of game, please check this one out.

And if you’ve played Paranormasight, what did you think of it?

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