Game Review: Parascientific Escape: Cruise In The Distant Seas

Game: Parascientific Escape: Cruise In The Distant Seas
Console: Nintendo 3DS
Developer: Circle Entertainment
Release Date: 3rd March 2016

Another recent game from the Nintendo 3DS eShop, Parascientific Escape: Cruise In The Distant Seas is a hybrid point and click adventure/puzzle/visual novel style game with strong escape the room elements. Players must harness the psychic powers of the main character, Hitomi in order to help 3 other girls and herself escape from a sinking cruise ship. As the game progresses, a story unravels regarding Hitomi's father, a distant war, the heiress of a conglomerate and the events which tie the four girls together.

Plot wise, the story does feel a little contrived and has some predictability for those who've played graphic novels in the past. The character development seems as if it'll be pretty deep from the start of the game, but stagnates towards the middle and end as Hitomi and her best friend essentially confirm that she's a dreamy airhead with psychic powers. Anyone hoping for a complex and satisfying plot will be disappointed, but when taken in the context of a puzzle game it's not too unforgivable.

The puzzle gameplay is split between point and click escape sections where players solve puzzles by collecting hidden items and using them to progress, and psychic power sections where players must fiddle with the internals of drawers, compartments and other locations to unlock them, or improve their functionality in some way. It's a good twist which removes the feeling of linear progression that plagues many escape games.

The psychic sections are also somewhat more complex than your standard point and click gameplay, with two main phases. In the Clairvoyance phase players use Hitomi's powers to see inside of the contained location they're trying to unlock or change in some way. There's a limited number of circles to place in order to see what's going on, before the Telekinesis stage begins in which players are allowed to move and rotate objects in order to solve the puzzle.

Graphically the game is fairly simple and is reminiscent of PC escape the room games of recent years, though the addition of anime girls is a plus. There's 3D functionality which is nice, despite not really enhancing the game too much. The UI is a little convoluted and it'd have been nice to have a separate items button to bring up that menu, but it's not impossible to use. Musically there's some very generic accompaniment to the game, which fits but isn't particularly memorable.

Overall there's some original and fun qualities to this hybrid story/puzzle game, and although the story is a little weak at times, and there are some loose ends which don't seem to be resolved with completion of the main game, running through the game was 3 or 4 hours well spent, enjoying a competent room escape game which almost justifies its length.

Rating: 62/100
Grade: C