The plot and ambition of Shuten Order are well worthy of praise, but its jack-of-all-trades approach to gameplay leaves it feeling like a drag at times.
Written by Kazutaka Kodaka, the potential lunatic that is responsible for the wildly successful Danganronpa series as well as the recent insanity that is The Hundred Line, Shuten Order follows in these series’ footsteps of having absolutely bonkers plots along with gorgeous art. But whilst the two older releases take their story and make use of a well put together gameplay system, Shuten Order tries to take its story and make use of all the gameplay systems. It’s ambitious, and the story is really quite engaging, but by trying to do too much, it leads to a less enjoyable experience.
The premise is really rather intriguing though. Playing as the founder of the titular Shuten Order, disaster strikes from the moment the game opens. You’ve been murdered, seemingly by one of the five leaders of the different ministries of your order. Lucky for you, you’ve been revived by the Power of God and are given five days to find the culprit, force them to confess, and then kill them to reclaim your soul and be returned to life. Fail to do so in time, and you’ll be turned to dust. Taking on the anime Rei Shimobe, and assisted by two angels, you’ll pick who to investigate and play through a visual novel as you pursue the truth.
It’s difficult to know where to start when talking about Shuten Order, as there’s an awful lot going on. Without spoiling much, once the prologue is out of the way, you select one of the five ministers to investigate and play through that path, only to return to the beginning and select another one. Only once you’ve taken on all routes will you be able to get to the actual truth of the matter, but that’s getting into spoiler territory, and I don’t want to dig too deeply into that.
Each minister’s story takes around five hours and has a very different approach to gameplay. Whilst the bulk of each route is in the form of a visual novel in which you read a lot and interact little — this isn’t a criticism, merely how a lot of visual novels play out — there are elements that are unique to each path. For example, when investigating the Ministry of Justice, you’ll need to “snap” information to use in minigames to identify culprits, whilst in the Ministry of Security route you participate in stealth sections to avoid an enemy and solve puzzles.
The routes do include these different elements, but around 80% of each path is still in the form of a visual novel, so if you’re a fan of that genre, you’ll likely still find a lot to enjoy as the story really is quite enjoyable once it gets going. Who are the angels? Why would a god have taken interest in you? Why did each ministry leader keep a body part of the founder? There are loads of intriguing plot threads to chase right from the off, and when a revelation hits it really does land as a great twist.
Those gameplay elements are much more hit and miss though. I quite liked the Ministry of Health’s escape rooms, but I wasn’t a fan of where it dropped in sliding tile puzzles over and over. I enjoyed the stealth horror of the Security route, but when the enemy was patrolling in obnoxious areas it really slowed the pace. The multi-person Science path is neat in principle, but it results in you experiencing the same plot elements over and over. Honestly, there were times where I would have preferred a regular visual novel with fewer interactive elements.
Still though, the characters were very engaging. All the ministers have their own motivations and background that’s a joy to gradually uncover, and each route reveals a little more about the order and why it even exists in the first place. The discovery really drove me forward even when some of the more tiresome gameplay sections dragged on.
The, frankly expected, stellar artwork and music really help too. Everything is beautifully colourful and every scene is something of a feast for the eyes thanks to characters that nearly pop off the screen and wonderfully detailed backgrounds. There’s little in the way of animation here save for the occasional cutscene, but every character feels full of life thanks to how well drawn they are. The music is that funky, fun background that you’ll be familiar with from the likes of Danganronpa and its ilk. There aren’t quite as many ear worms, but there’s plenty to love. Nearly everything is fully voice acted, but there’s no dub here. That isn’t an issue for me, but I’d understand if it’s off putting for some, so certainly worth mentioning.
What’s also worth mentioning is the occasional visual issues that crop up. Several times in each route, a character’s speech bubble would stretch across the screen to the point that half the text would be missing. I expect this is a localisation issue due to the differences in how English and Japanese are written, but it happened far more than I would have expected considering the game’s mostly linear nature. You can quickly scroll back through the text log to find what you missed, but it does break the immersion during intense moments.
Regardless, there’s a tremendous story to enjoy in Shuten Order, and so long as you don’t mind some slightly irritating gameplay sections, you’ll likely have a good time with it. This certainly won’t sway those who aren’t fans of visual novels, but those who are will feel right at home with a twisty-turny narrative filled with surprises doled out by entertaining, larger-than-life characters. It might not be quite as mad as the high school teddy bear murder simulator, but it certainly does have its moments.
Shuten Order is available now on PC.
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