Rhythm games and visual novels are my 2 most favourite genres, it is a shame that these 2 are completely orthogonal to each other, and it is very hard to do well at one part without sacrifice the others, so when lowiro announced that In Falsus will be a rhythm game that heavily focuses on lore, I was really doubt if they can pull such a bold move. And as you can see from other negative reviews, it clearly shows that people don't like to read in a rhythm game, which is understandable. However, the developers stated very clearly that this game is NOT just a rhythm game, but also a visual novel, so it is your problem for not doing some research before buying the game.
With that said, let's "dive" into the actual game and the story. I would like to start with the gameplay:
- Rhythm game: Over a decade of playing rhythm game have I never felt this weak when starting a rhythm game. I was really cocky because I'm a ptt 12.8 player in Arcaea, a really high ground for most players, so I thought I would be fine to go in blind without trying the demo. As a result, I barely can clear a FBD 11 song in the game, not even the standard for what the higher difficulties demand, you can see how hard I grind from my play time at the time I wrote this review. And I ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ love it, being a rhythm gamer means you love pain. I would actually like it if the judgement lines for ground notes is a bit higher, the judgement line being near the bottom edge of the screen gives you a feeling that you are in a very cramped space, I don't like it.
- The puzzle/card game: Guys, I don't know if you guys notice, but there is something called ASSIST MODE in the game, which let you skip through the whole puzzle/card games to focus on story and rhythm gameplay, and I'm pretty sure the game told you this at the beginning, please pay a little attentions before you guys write negative comments ok?
Anyway the puzzle and card game, you play songs to collect puzzle pieces, then you use these pieces to craft card, each card has different pattern and can be expanded further with "Explore mode" later in the game, and you equip cards while playing to win the encounter. It is simple right? Furthermore, there is mastery system, which requires you to craft in specific pattern, completing these materies improve your character's skill while crafting or while playing songs. I love puzzles and numbers, so I enjoy spending time to rumaging through the specific pattern to unlock the masteries or to make the card as strong as possible. This may be trivial for most players, but I personally enjoyed it a lot.
And now to the story and visual novel part, which contains spoiler, read it at your own risk, but I will try to spoil as least as possible. Also, if you don't read and just want to unlock the songs, there is >> button that let you fast forward the story, you are welcome:
- Style: The story is told in the perspectives of our 5 main characters, and sometime from other side casts. If you are familiar with Arcaea story (and don't understand ♥♥♥♥ about it), then this game gives you the similar vibe. It throws you into a world that is seemingly similar with our modern society, but then they keep throwing at your face their own terminologies or phenomenas without any direct explaination, such as Bind, Mute, Shroud, RMI, A.A.R.C, the Truth, etc.... you may feel a bit lost at first because of this (especially if you don't have experience with visual novels or just reading in general).
However, it always give you enough hints and contexts, so that you can get what are they talking about. It is the way of the game telling you that: "This is their story, not yours, they have no reasons to explain it to you. If you want to know, pay attention and think". Thanks to this, the flow feels very nature through out most parts of the story, usually in modern visual novels they just explain everything to you.
The chapters are distributed with specific timeline so that you won't get lose in the chronology, which is similar to Cytus II.
- Setting: The story is set in a world where the concept of God is something/someone "real" and "somewhat reachable". The world has its own fundamental rules which force you to accept to follow the psychology of the characters (think of it somewhat like "speed of light is the same in every reference frame" in our universe, something real without any explaination). One of the rule is that every person in this world must wear a Bind, a device that can detect emotions and lies of the one who is wearing it. Because of this, truth is something very strong in this world, since everybody will see it when you lie, with exception of the Mute, those who communicate without speaking. There are other rules that you will discover as you process the story.
Our 5 girls are forced to participate in a incentive program made by government called A.A.R.C, with the hag Freya as their Advisor. Through Freya's weird assignments, the girls are forced to face the problems that lead them to situations where they discover a weird phenomena called "Diving" and "Mindscape", and slowly uncover the truth. You probably have a lot of questions at this point, like what the hell is A.A.R.C? Why the teachers are so careless for letting their students joining an unknown program? The hell is Mindscape actually? What is that giant thing on the sky? Am I speaking Chinese? Instead of trying to find the answer, keep these questions as motivation to continue the story, because in the end, finding out the truth about them doesn't matter, as your own experience is more important (especially if you already paid 35$ or more).
- Characters: When you reading, or watching a something, what is the thing that make you wanna stay most? It's the characters, even if you write a brillant story, but if your leading characters are so ass, then it just gives unfulfill experience. And I ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ love the characters, and I would kill just to touch Aria's abs or have a date with Io (I'm so normal). Nia is a shy and nervous girl, but always stand up at crucial time, she is also a reckless idiot, but she is our (or Mei's specifically) reckless idiot. Mei is a child prodigy girl who is forced to take care of her parent financial problems at very young age, because of this she becomes cold and isolated with others. Iris is a straight forward and punk girl, who is always be there for her friends when they need helps most, and her relationship with Aria is one of my favourite part in the story. Ayame is the one who keeps the mood for the gang, she is that one normie extrovert friend in the group to make them enjoy the mundane of life while also having her own share of hardship, oh yeah and she is very gay for Iris, very important. Story has a very difficult childhood that makes her difficult to trust others. Freya is a hag.
Watching the characters interact with each other and growing together had been my main enjoyment for the game, I personally like it when they just spend time to do mundane things with each other than progressing the story. (We don't have Hikari and Tairitsu 200 chapters of SoL, but at least we get something In Falsus)
- Personal notes (MAJOR SPOILER): After finishing the story, I have so many questions that left unanswered and mixed feeling about it. I really doubt it ends just here, since the prologue didn't even replay by the end of the story. Knowing lowiro, I know they are cooking some ♥♥♥♥, despite Guy (the director of lowiro) said "In Falsus is a completed game", he said the exact same thing (a "goodbye" even) in 2022 when Arcaea released Final Verdict, so who knows?
In conclusion, this is a very bold move from lowiro in trying to combine visual novel and rhythm game together, and for me they did it very well. I paid for this game knowing very well what is lying ahead, not just rhythm gameplay, so I enjoy everything the game has offered. I would recommend people to not expect only rhythm gameplay before buying.
