Refurbishment

It’s a reasonably nice time for refurbishment proper now. With Metroid Prime’s implausible remaster in current reminiscence and Resident Evil 4’s remake simply up forward, these of us who wish to re-experience outdated favorites with re-done visuals are consuming good. Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse is one thing particular, nevertheless. Initially launched completely on Wii in 2008, it by no means left Japan. Whereas the re-release of Deadly Body: Maiden of Black Water was apparently sufficient to warrant a remaster, I’m shocked Koei Tecmo would go to the trouble of localizing such a distinct segment title.

I’m glad they did. Whereas Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse harkens again to an uncomfortable interval of survival horror, it additionally… uh, harkens again to an uncomfortable interval of survival horror. Again when controls sucked molasses, however you simply couldn’t assist however get engrossed. And that principally sums up this complete assessment.

Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse (PS4, PS5, Swap [Reviewed], Xbox One, Xbox Sequence X|S, PC)
Developer: Koei Tecmo
Writer: Koei Tecmo
Launched: March 9, 2023
MSRP: $49.99

Whereas Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse is the fourth sport within the collection, there are solely minor hyperlinks to earlier video games, and none of them are vital for continuity. It begins off in medias res. Two ladies who had been survivors of an incident on Rogetsu Island return to it 10 years after the very fact. Two of their mates – additionally survivors of the incident – had just lately died, they usually’ve been coping with reminiscences resurfacing. So as to keep away from an analogous destiny and recuperate the remainder of their misplaced reminiscences, they return to the place they had been rescued from to be taught the reality.

Shortly after, Ruka Minazuki, one other survivor who apparently smells and wasn’t invited alongside by the opposite ladies, reveals up. After that, a detective named Choshiro additionally reveals up on the island on the lookout for Ruka. All through the sport, you play as every of the 4 of them as they discover the island.

I hate amnesiac characters. It’s actually laborious to take care of a personality after they don’t have any motivation except for doing precisely what’s in entrance of them as a result of, what else? Nevertheless, the lack of reminiscence is totally central to Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse. Past that, the narrative makes up for its lack of compelling characters by sustaining a dream-like environment. Numerous issues don’t make sense at first, some issues by no means explicitly make sense, however it all tells an entire story that you just unravel alongside the best way. You’re pulled via it, such as you exist in the identical trance because the characters.

Wallmaster

As with earlier Deadly Body video games, you defend your self from ghosts through the use of a particular digicam. It’s like Pokemon Snap, however all of the Pokemon are tortured, malicious spirits. Whereas the digicam mechanic is ok, I principally simply admire the extent of element within the ghosts. Somewhat than merely put them down as monsters, you retain bumping into the identical ones. These are characters inside the backstory, and you’ll examine every of them after you’ve snapped their portraits. The truth that they’ve precise outlined traits make them extra fascinating than simply regular enemies, as you might have an opportunity to attach with them as you learn their diaries and be taught of their torment.

The draw back of the fight is it’s an enormous, vacuous suck. Ghosts seem at seemingly random distances and slowly glide towards you. Nevertheless, they don’t have any hang-ups about showing deep inside the partitions, so you need to simply comply with the markers on the high of your digicam and anticipate them to clip into the surroundings. Nevertheless, the rooms are sometimes cramped, that means you usually have little time to cost your digicam and react as soon as the ghost seems.

It’s possible you’ll say that the fight is unsettling or lends to a sense of claustrophobia, however it’s somewhat simply irritating. It’s laborious to get rid of a ghost that solely seems for a second, and staring on the wall, ready for them to indicate their anguished faces is boring. Uncomfortable as it might be, it’s additionally boring and irritating. On high of that, it feels unbalanced when fights in open areas are a lot simpler.

Often, you’ll must battle a number of ghosts without delay, which is one other form of irritating. Since they’ll continually be popping in round you, you might have preserve whirling round to attempt to cease them from touching your thigh. Harm could be unavoidable, so fight generally will get slowed down as you cram natural cures down your throat such as you’re making an attempt to keep off a chilly. The fight was so vexing that it made me need to throw within the towel early on. I’m glad I didn’t, however I may really feel the ache of that encounter within the room with the four-post mattress.

Pixel-gloss

The controls form of suck usually. All of the characters run like they’re making an attempt to carry in an enema, however that’s type of the least of its issues. The worst is in the case of discovering objects. You get an alert in your HUD that an merchandise is close by, however you possibly can’t decide it up except you shine your mild on it. Nevertheless, the flashlight appears to take digicam motion as solely a mild suggestion that it ought to level in that course. This was most likely higher again on the Wii, however no effort was made to make this extra snug on a gamepad.

By way of a remastering, the overhaul of Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse is just like the current Metroid Prime Remastered. Though you possibly can largely inform it’s flexing the identical bones, all of the fashions, textures, and lighting have been touched up. Nevertheless, in contrast to Metroid Prime Remastered, it’s loads much less constant. Some components of it look nice, and different instances it seems to be like an upscaled Wii title.

What bothered me probably the most had been the textures. Numerous them are grainy as a pair of swim trunks after a day on the seashore. Most remarkably, nevertheless, is that they’re pixelated in a means that I haven’t seen for the reason that creation of texture filtering. Not the character textures, thoughts you, however the environments. I form of favor pixelated textures over blurry filtered ones, however I couldn’t cease looking at them. It’s actually bizarre to see when it’s not particularly an aesthetic selection, like in a lo-fi Puppet Combo horror sport.

Total, I’d say it’s an considerable glow-up, however you possibly can positively see the budgetary variations between Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse and Metroid Prime.

The Swap model additionally has some efficiency issues. It doesn’t run at the perfect tempo on the best of instances, however then there are locations the place it dips additional. It by no means acquired so unhealthy that it bothered me, however I do know there are those that can’t stand to be dipped.

Making reminiscences

Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse begins off extraordinarily gradual, after which it ends gradual. You’re solely actually let off the leash for a portion in the course of the sport. Nevertheless, regardless of all of the drawbacks I might regularly bang on about, it did ultimately develop on me. It’s a quiet, remoted horror expertise. Effectively, till ghosts come out and your TV begins screaming at you in a number of the worst noises potential.

The narrative retains an ethereal high quality, usually avoiding direct solutions, however providing you with sufficient meat to chew on and draw your personal conclusions. It’s a really Japanese horror sport, and I admire it for that.

Alternatively, going into Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse, you need to be ready for an uncomfortable expertise. The fight is a mire of frustration, and the controls actually might have used some tender loving care. Nevertheless, in case you’re on the lookout for some traditional Japanese horror with a stack of cryptic narrative lore to dig via and also you’re conscious of what you may be in for, it’s positively value diving into.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}