Masks of the Lunar Eclipse Overview – One other Spooky Addition to the Collection

A PC evaluation copy of Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Escape was supplied to IGN India by Koei Tecmo.

Japanese online game maker, Koei Tecmo has simply launched a remaster of Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Escape in March 2023. For individuals who don’t know, the Deadly Body collection, often known as Mission Zero in Europe for some purpose, consists of a number of Japanese survival horror video games. First launched in 2001 on the PlayStation 2, Deadly Body obtained reward for its horror parts and is broadly thought-about probably the greatest horror sport collection to come back out of Japan.

Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse is the fourth sport within the collection that was launched in 2008 for the Nintendo Wii. The sport launch was restricted to Japan solely. A European launch was deliberate, however that didn’t come to fruition. Nonetheless, the seventh sport within the collection, 2014’s Deadly Body: Maiden of Black Water (additionally unique to Japan), obtained a remaster in October 2021 with a worldwide launch. Followers of the horror collection outdoors Japan have additionally been ready for Masks of the Lunar Eclipse. Now, a lot to the delight of Deadly Fame followers, the remaster is lastly right here.

The sport is about on Rogetsu Isle, a small fictional island in southern Japan. Right here, a pageant named Rogetsu Kagura is held as soon as each ten years. 5 women who dwell in a sanatorium mysteriously disappear on this isle throughout the pageant. Later, a detective manages to rescue them. However their recollections of this incident are misplaced.

Ten years later, it’s discovered that two of the ladies who disappeared once more have been discovered useless. To seek out out what occurred to their associates, Misaki and Madoka journey to Rogetsu Isle. The remaining woman, Ruka Minazuki additionally follows them afterwards to know the whereabouts of Misaki and Madoka in addition to the prior demise of her associates.

For a lot of the sport, we play as Ruka, as we slowly discover this deserted mansion that when housed them. We uncover secrets and techniques piece by piece together with the characters, as spooky particulars in regards to the island’s previous emerge. I discovered the narrative and the vibe of the sport wonderful and fairly partaking. The sport additionally has some distinctive gameplay relating to fight. Nonetheless, Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse additionally drags on for too lengthy and has some clunky controls.

Say cheese

A traditional survival horror sport trope entails the participant exploring a location with a torch of their hand. Deadly Body: The Masks of Lunar Eclipse additionally options this trope. As well as, it additionally has an attention-grabbing device referred to as the Digital camera Obscura, a staple of the collection. This can be a digital camera that may evade ghosts and exorcise them. The fight system of the sport is reliant on this digital camera, as our goal because the participant is to snap footage of the ghosts that we encounter to do away with them. Nonetheless, there’s additionally a requirement to intention the lens correctly on the ghost and have the digital camera’s particular potential cost up to have the ability to do any appreciable injury. Ghost encounters could be legit scary for the primary couple of hours, however they put on off after some time.

Exploration and different sport mechanics in Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse

Apart from fight, Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse additionally options exploration and puzzles that you could clear up to progress. The mansion is big, and you’ve got a number of rooms and corridors to make your method by. Whereas making your method by the rooms, you will discover new objects to improve your digital camera. The characters stroll fairly slowly, and the run choice doesn’t assist a lot. I discovered myself wishing I might make my method by the mansion quicker. This was probably finished to maintain a way of realism and invoke some eeriness.

Shifting to the puzzle fixing facet of the sport, they weren’t that tough to determine. The sport maintains an excellent steadiness relating to exploration, fight, and story, which allowed me to take my very own time and get immersed within the environment of the creepy mansion.

Whereas all that sounds nice on paper, it’s the controls that are available the way in which of immersion. I discovered these to be a bit clunky and finicky. I most well-liked enjoying on the controller to the keyboard and mouse. Whereas enjoying with the controller, it took me a while to get used to the truth that each the left and proper sticks transfer the digital camera in several methods.

The digital camera can also be gradual to intention, making it tough to get an excellent shot of the ghosts. This wasn’t an enormous drawback for me, however the controls are one thing that wanted some extra polish. The slender and cramped corridors may also be an issue when making an attempt to intention at a ghost. This turns into exceedingly tough when there are a number of ghosts coming at you on the identical time. Nonetheless, I did discover the claustrophobic feeling as an extra facet of the horror factor current within the sport.

Haunting melodies

Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse seems like a product of its time, and I imply that in a great way. Graphics within the sport assist set the tone of the unsettling environment. The environments of the sport are a mixture of conventional Japanese and trendy parts. Digging additional, the mansion can also be detailed, as I discovered myself stopping a number of occasions to take a look at what’s on a portray or what information article is pinned on a discover board.

The lighting is used very effectively within the sport, as I discovered myself feeling uneasy whereas exploring. It made me unaware of what to anticipate with each step I took. Speaking in regards to the character fashions current within the sport, I discovered them fairly detailed and prime quality. Nonetheless, they don’t present numerous emotion even in cutscenes. At occasions, the character fashions regarded misplaced after they’re imagined to be scared out of their wits. As a substitute, they may barely transfer their eyebrows as a response.

I consider that the proper use of soundtrack performs an enormous half within the success of horror content material throughout a number of media codecs. Thankfully, Koei Tecmo, together with composers Masafumi Takada and Etsuko Ichikawa knew what they have been doing. If Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse doesn’t scare you with its creepy ghosts, it’s going to definitely provide you with a number of leap scares with using its music and sound results. Simply wandering across the mansion feels totally unnerving due to the soundtrack. The whispers and different minor sounds simply add to this impact. The builders managed to create stress completely by music as I used to be on the sting many occasions anticipating a ghost to leap at me.

A darkish folktale on a spooky island

Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse setting is fascinating, and the lore uncovered slowly throughout my playthrough needed me to know extra in regards to the thriller. There are numerous suspenseful moments within the story as effectively with some wonderful performances by the voice actors. The sport is barely out there in Japanese audio, which could alienate some gamers. Nonetheless, it wasn’t a problem for me as I actually loved the voice performing performances and most well-liked to play with the unique audio.

In case you have by no means performed a Deadly Body sport earlier than, the characters might seem complicated at first. Particularly as a result of we do not get to spend so much of time with all of the characters and see them get fleshed out early within the sport. You’ll need to concentrate to the story and browse all of the logs, articles, and letters you discover all through your journey within the mansion to determine what’s going on. That being mentioned, the story slowly unfolds as we spend time uncovering the secrets and techniques of this thriller, discovering out what occurred prior to now, and understanding this world we discover our protagonists navigating by.