Chaos;Head

Chaos;Head, released on PSP, PC, PS3 and X360, is a visual novel adventure game. The game was developed by 5pb. and Nitroplus. Both developers are well known to fans of visual novel and Japanese pop culture. The developers have made many console titles, but only a small percentage of them were released in the Western. Chaos;Head is the first installment of the sci-fi adventure series with the characteristic semicolon in the title. The games from this series take place in contemporary Japan and are loosely related to each other. Their plot touches on themes related to technological progress and scientific experiments, as well as using ideas derived from urban legends and conspiracy theories.

Plot

Chaos;Head takes place in 2009 in Tokyo's Shibuya district, and the developers have made sure that players see the most important places in Japan's capital. The main character is Takumi Nishijo, a student of Suimei private high school. Takumi is a typical otaku, spending most of his free time playing online games and chatting online. One day, a stranger sends him pictures of a brutal murder - this shocked the boy. The next day, Takumi is an accidental witness to the crime he has already seen on the computer screen. Terrified, he starts to lose his senses and balances on the verge of madness, no longer able to distinguish his fantasies from reality.

Mechanics

The gameplay model does not differ significantly from visual novel standards. We spend the majority of the game reading the on-screen texts and listen to recorded dialogues, which are accompanied by two-dimensional graphics depicting the place of action, as well as characters interacting with the hero. From time to time, players are asked to make decisions that influence the further development of the plot and open the way to one of the several endings. Apart from this type of choice, the authors also introduced another method of influencing the course of the plot. In some situations, two tags, green and red, will appear at the top of the screen. Players can choose one of them. They reflect Takumi's state of mind. If we choose green, we run a cheerful and often humorous version of the scene. The unstable state, red, makes it full of violence and unexplained phenomena. If you don't select a marker, the plot continues along the normal path.

Technical aspects

The graphics design of Chaos;Head consists of two-dimensional portraits of the characters and backgrounds depicting the interiors and streets of Tokyo. Most of the dialogues were recorded by professional actors. They are accompanied by music that introduces the right mood and builds the right atmosphere, depending on the state Takumi's mind.

Last updated on August 7, 2019