Made with love “horror-light” VN with almost non-existent investigative element.
Although Gwan Moon turned out to be not the game for me, it’s not a bad game per se, so I’m giving it a thumbs-up with a few reservations. First, I’m not a visual novel person, but I’m very much a horror person. Not that long ago I accidentally came across and really enjoyed Spirit Hunter: Death Mark and its companion game Spirit Hunter: NG. These games are superb horror VNs with investigation component. (Emphasis on horror). Having played the demo for Gwan Moon, I was expecting something along those lines, maybe a bit tamer, but still in the vein of. And that was, perhaps, my mistake. When I think of horror VN, I think of a horror story told in the visual novel style; here, however, it’s a visual novel first and foremost (with concentrating on writing and development of characters, their interpersonal relationship and school life) that is happening within the horror background. I think it would be much more appreciated by those who like anime, manga and traditional VN than by people who are getting this for chills and creepy stuff, like I did (which is why the enjoyment from the game will largely depend on what the player is seeking here). If only the game hit a little harder with its horror and interactive element, it would have been a winner for anyone seeking anything, as it stands now – it threads lightly in every department besides characters’ relationships.
The initial set-up isn’t overly complex – a bunch of kids end up in school after hours for various reasons; it happens to be a “special night” for spirits to visit this world, so off they go – encountering a large, diverse amount of them and scaring the bejesus out of each other, quite often just by bumping into one another or yelling too loud. Despite the set-up, I couldn’t help but feel that the focus of the writing (and the whole game) is relationships between all the schoolmates, their everyday struggles, schoolwork, and personal life – all of which is being told while they walk around dark corridors trying to see or trying to avoid the spirits. We get a group of vastly different personalities and their quirks (I only found several of them tolerable, and less than few that I liked), learn how they got to know each other, what is their background, a few romantic sub-stories and loads of arguments – and all of this will absolutely dominate the dialogue throughout the game. It’s more of a teenage slice of life story in a horror setting than a serious genre representative meant to terrify, or spook, or repulse.
As far as investigation goes… There’s the “Search” part but it’s almost insultingly easy, so it really isn’t worth mentioning as any kind of “puzzle element”. The object is not just obviously placed on the screen, but also shimmers as if it really wants to be found. That’s about the entire interactive aspect here, and If only this part was expanded on – the game would have been a lot more engaging. There’s a map, but it’s rendered useless as I don’t get to choose where to go; the game took me from place to place on its own; so, what does it matter if I’m in a classroom 3-10 or 2-6 or “left staircase”, if I haven’t picked to be there, nor will I be able to pick next destination? There’s also a pretty serious cataloguing of events and personal characteristics (along with ghost stories) going on which I was excited about, thinking that’s how I’d investigate everything. Nope, no such thing. All the stuff collected in the journal was purely for “padding the story” reasons, as I wasn’t being able to use any of the info – the group of teenagers made their own (sometimes quite dubious and far-fetched) conclusions on where to go, what to do and what kind of spirit did they just see. It amounted to me reading a bunch of dialogue filled with details about a particular event, then having those details recorded in the journal to … just read it again, I guess? I couldn’t do anything about what I collected. Even though it has all the bells and whistles for it, Gwan Moon is lacking an interactivity component of any kind. The only times I felt like I had any kind of player’s agency was during a few dialogue choices, 90% of which will strictly result in “die right now” or “you may proceed” options, so it’s not like there is a brand-new branch of narration or a way to go about events differently. There’s so much potential in this game, but it’s doesn’t seem to be particularly bothered with being scary enough, interactive enough, or even making a use of a pretty UI that’s just there to simply be.
Speaking of “die right now”. Every time I died in Gwan Moon, the game simply offered me to return to the place where I made the wrong choice or the chapter selection (where already short chapters can be skipped in under 10 seconds) immediately and ad infinitum. This mechanic didn’t just make save system unnecessary (I ended up not saving at all), but also took all the meaning and urgency out of dying in the game, which in horror genre has a significant impact on the overall experience.
The visual element is relatively simple but has clearly involved lots of TLC. This especially can be witnessed when it comes to spirits/monsters. Some of them are spooky but not frightening, some can be downright chuckle-inducing, yet rare ones manage to cross into the true horror territory (helped by a jump-scare device on occasion). The most consistent visual aspect is characters themselves, and they are lovely drawn, although I couldn’t help but wish for more then 3-4 poses and facial expressions each of them was capable of throughout the game. The backgrounds, however, did wear out fast. The entire school starts to look the same few hours in, and that won’t change, unfortunately. Some intermissions and side stories did bring much needed visual variety, but again – I felt like the potential for being a lot more intricate was lost when it came to graphics as well.
There’s no VO in this game (it would have been a nice addition, so I’m assuming – budgetary reasons), and the music element is scarce. Main theme stood out and was pretty catchy, but it’s clear that soundtrack isn’t something this game was banking on. Sound effects, just like the backgrounds, can wear out fast; the sound of “students walking” followed me (no pun intended) for a while after I finished playing. Clever use of sound effects can bring a whole lot of tension to any game, and Asian horror is specifically famous for using all kinds of sounds to make hair on the back of the neck prickle… but I think at this point it’s quite clear that Gwan Moon didn’t set out to terrify.
Which brings me to why I ended up giving it a thumbs-up in the end. I approached it from a position of horror first, I like being spooked. This game, however, is horror “light” at best, despite having the story and the set-up that’s hinting otherwise – it is simply not scary. Looking for anything along the Death Mark lines or just a pure form of the genre will be a rather disappointing affair. The host of other small issues could be addressed by the fact that it’s a debut game, and it’s a job decently done for a first-time developer. But Gwan Moon can certainly be appealing for people who like visual novels for what they are famous for – involved character development, plethora of background stories, and lots and lots of character exchanges and banter, which is what this game 100% is. Depending on the overall approach to it – Gwan Moon can either be something that had potential but ended up falling slightly short, or a very enjoyable playthrough with interesting substories. The question is what exactly being sought after on the dark school grounds of this peculiar school by a potential player.
