I’m always happy to check out a new visual novel, and back in 2023 Square Enix gave us a fantastic one. Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo was an absolute delight, with clever puzzles, loads of history and lore to dive into, and some seriously scary moments. It was a real breath of fresh air, and easily one of my favourite games that released that year. At the time I was pretty sure it was a one off title, and was more than happy with that. When the sequel was announced in a recent Nintendo Direct I somewhat lost my shit, and it turns out I was right to do so. Paranormasight: The Mermaid’s Curse has a very different vibe to the first game, but is still an absolute must play.
Instead of the urban setting of Tokyo, this time around Paranormasight takes place on the quaint island of Kameshima. This place is steeped in history, especially that centred around diving. Ama divers are central figures in this community, and for centuries have been exploring the ocean floor for various tasty sea treats. The first character you play as is actually a descendant of some particularly well respected divers, and after a tragedy five years ago has decided to come back to the island and try to find out more about his family past. Yuza is a rather likable protagonist really, although he has absolutely no idea what he’s about to get into.
Whereas the start of the previous Paranormasight game was full of murder and curses, The Mermaid’s Curse begins in a much calmer way. You and your best friend go to explore the ocean floor where the storm of five years ago began, and that means a bit of relatively relaxing diving. The diving minigame is surprisingly compelling, with you gaining points for catching different scallops, urchins and crustaceans. You’ll only have a limited time underwater before you need to reel up to the surface for a breather, but you’ll gain points for the haul and can then level up various diving stats. I spent much longer than I needed to in the sea, and even made a few sinister discoveries.
There’s some pretty dark local folklore passed around on Kameshima, and most of it is rather mermaid based. They say that if you eat the flesh of a mermaid you’ll become immortal, and that means there are plenty of shady characters with an interest in them. When a mermaid corpse washes up on the shore various paranormal affairs agents arrive in this sleepy seaside paradise, and the locals start to worry about more calamities on the horizon. There’s a lot to take in as you play through the game, and you’ll learn a lot more about the situation on the island as you move between different characters.
The structure of Paranormasight: The Mermaid’s Curse is fairly similar to that of the first game, and is one of the most engaging aspects of the series. You’ll play as multiple people as you move through the game, and see different events transpire across the island. Often in conversations you’ll see “Remember” text appear in the top corner, and by hitting the shoulder button alongside it you’ll unlock a past scene in the timeline you’re on. Despite being an observer of this story you need to take the knowledge you get from other perspectives to progress sometimes, and it feels great when you work out what’s going on thanks to the interweaving tales.
There’s always a different level of interaction when it comes to visual novels, and with Paranormasight it’s much more hands-on. In each chapter you play you’ll have to scan the 360 degree environment for clues, and will often need to move between areas and choose conversation options while chatting with the locals. It’s actually closer to a classic adventure game than a pure visual novel, and I tend to prefer it that way.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from a sequel to the rather unique first game in this series, and I must say Paranormasight: The Mermaid’s Curse does feel like a significant departure. It isn’t just the setting that does this, but also the somewhat toned-down horror. Especially early in the game you spend way more time learning about diving than you do getting scared by spirits, and although the twists and frights do come it’s much more of a slow burn.
I had an absolute blast with The Mermaid’s Curse, but it does have a small element that didn’t quite rock my world. The density of the historical notes you get on your files page is absolutely outrageous, with descriptions of specific cities or events going on for so many pages. I always wanted to feel like I knew all the intricacies of the story in case I was asked to type a specific answer later in the game, but I really couldn’t bring myself to read some of these dryer essays.
Paranormasight: The Mermaid’s Curse is a wonderful entry in this series, which lives up to its predecessor and is just as surprising and unique. The more rural vibe makes the whole experience feel different, and there are still puzzles and situations that require you to think outside the box and explore different scenarios to solve them. Now we’ve had two Paranormasight games I’m not going to shut up until we get a third, because these visual novel adventures are dark, delightful and seriously daring.
