Iwaihime
From hit writer Ryukishi07, the creator of When They Cry, comes a story on the theme of “curses.” Strike down the dark riddle of dolls and soot in this supernatural horror visual novel.
Iwaihime is a visual novel, anime and psychological horror game
developed by DMM GAMES
and published by Shiravune.
Released on October 23rd 2020 is available only on Windows
in 4 languages: English, Japanese, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese.
It has received 739 reviews of which 598 were positive and 141 were negative resulting in a rating of 7.7 out of 10. 😊
The game is currently priced at 4.99€ on Steam and has a 80% discount.
The Steam community has classified Iwaihime into these genres:
Media & Screenshots
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Requirements
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Windows
- OS: Vista/7/8/8.1/10
- DirectX: Version 9.0c
- Storage: 6000 MB available space
Reviews
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
Game seems like pure shock value and attention deficiency for the first three chapters, then you start to understand the game better and it becomes niche aesthetics.
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STORY: Written by Ryukishi07, who is known for its stories with very dark elements, Iwaihime certainly does not stray out of that. It has multiple story arcs that all are well tied together, and every one with Ryukishi's signature mood rollercoaster, with slice of life, cheesy and funny scenes intersped and evolving into much darker and sadder elements. Central and unifying them is a thousand year curse that the characters must confront and address. The writing is well paced and developed, and definitely does not feel like a nearly unreadable wall of text as Ryukishi's many other works in general are known for. ARTWORK: Speaking of wall of texts, the artwork is a cornerstone of this novel, unlike typical Ryukishi's works like Higurashi. Characters are very well drawn, tons of beautifully drawn backgrounds, and lots of high quality CGs... Which range the gamut from your typical fan service imagery, to much darker and gruesome scenes. Overall, I find it very pleasant to look at, as much as or more than to read at. MUSIC: Very well made and excuted. Over three dozen songs offering great variety and fits very well with the story's tone, settings, and ups and downs. The darker songs are in particular are well made. The voice acting included is just as great, conveying the character's emotions just right. SUMMARY: Personally I find this to be Ryukishi's best work yet. Enthralling and well packaged together, and a great pleasure to watch, provided one can handle the dark tone of the story. 10/10
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"Can a mere fist crush a curse?" Note: There are depictions of disturbing topics and images, such as nudity, assault, etc., in this game. Thus, a bit of a heads up. ^^ Iwaihime is a (mostly) kinetic, horror, supernatural visual novel developed by DMM GAMES and published by Shiravune. Although you take on the roles of multiple characters, you mostly play as Suzumu Susuhara, a second-year transfer high school student who has left home to live independently as part of a family tradition to become an adult. In the small town of Susuda where many of the residents seem to be cursed, Suzumu meets various characters, such as Tsubakiko, his distant cousin whom he hasn't seen since they were kids. However, the one notable character who ends up having a major impact is Toe Kurokami, the only daughter who resides in Iwaimoto Shrine and is always carrying a scary doll. Perhaps these two were meant to meet, but getting back to the other main story, Suzumu notices that certain people are having nightmares or hauntings although he doesn't know what's causing them. Can he figure out the cause and end the curse with the power of his fist? I'll stop my story synopsis here to avoid the usual spoilers. XD In regards to the gameplay, the story is mostly linear and is episodic, so you simply play through from beginning to end. However, there is a point in the story where you have to make a choice when it comes to which of the three female main characters - Tsubakiko, Kanae (the senior president of the LCSC), or Riria (first year student who's a pop idol) - for Suzumu to save . However, the order of choices doesn't matter, as the result will always be the same. Also, there are lots of CGs as well as full-on Japanese voice acting and a varied soundtrack. In addition, Steam achievements are present, which count towards a user's global total, and Steam trading cards are available, too. Finally, there's a paid DLC, which expands upon Mayu Hinagata's (the school nurse) story. My review will be covering the DLC as well. ^^ Now that I've gone over the story and gameplay, I'll move onto my thoughts. I remember buying this visual novel way back when it first was available on Steam because I'm such a huge fan of Ryukishi's (yes, that same person who writes all of the stories for the Higurashi and Umineko visual novels) work. (Gosh, I'd probably be way excited if I ever got to meet the writer someday. ^^) However, it's only now that I got around to playing Iwaihime, and it's definitely one of those visual novels that I should have gotten to much sooner. Without further delay, I'll first talk about the story. It starts off with Tsubakiko waiting at Susuda train station for Suzumu, who's planning to live in an apartment where Tsubakiko's parents are the managers of the complex. However, while Tsubakiko is waiting, she has this nightmare and is tempted to jump on the train tracks and get hit by a train. However, when she hears Suzumu's voice, she snaps out of that trance. Well, when you know that a story starts off scary and creepy like that, especially when it's Ryukishi's writing, you're in for a wild ride. I should note that following the overall story can be confusing initially until you realize that the stories are episodic. (The ending credits make this obvious. lol) Although the stories may seem disconnected, they eventually make sense when there comes a pivotal point in which Suzumu is the main focus. At a point in the story, there are a series of flashbacks that narrate the origin of the curse that's plaguing Susuda, which mainly surrounds Toe, Tsubakiko, Kanae, and Riria. So where does Suzumu come in? He's definitely connected to those flashbacks, as he's the descendant of a major character from them. His family has been practicing a special kind of martial arts that's meant to defeat curses (although Suzumu doesn't learn of the latter part until later). Anyway, I don't want to ramble for too long on this part, so I'll just wrap this up and say that I really enjoyed the major twists and turns, especially on my heartstrings. The ending to the main story made me cry, and I enjoyed reading the DLC. I liked how it delved into Mayu's story since she was more of a supporting character in the main story. In regards to the writing, it is brilliant, which is no surprise since Ryukishi is the writer. I highly enjoyed reading Higurashi and Umineko , so I had a very good feeling that I would enjoy Iwaihime , too. Of course, I played the English translation version, and I noticed very few minor grammatical errors. They don't distract the reader from enjoying the story. The pacing felt fine, with the horror moments mixed in with the slower, slice-of-life ones. Touching on the gameplay for a bit, I had no problems unlocking all of the Steam achievements although if you want to get all of them, you will need to purchase the DLC (but it's worth it for the story alone). However, I noticed that the text speed was quite slow when it came to voiced lines, even after I set the text speed to high. Pressing Enter would make the text automatically appear, so that helped a little. Also, I should note that when I took screenshots, I had to take them with the game in full screen. Otherwise, the screenshots would look off, with black borders appearing on the right and bottom sides. With the art, it's gorgeous to look at. The backgrounds and sprites are drawn and colored well, and that goes especially for the CGs. They really help set off the mood, going anywhere from the happy moments to the more horror-filled ones. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3285334860 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3285336437 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3285336656 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3285337231 Regarding the music, I enjoyed listening to the variety of tracks. The tracks range from the mysterious to terror-inducing to the happily ever after. They fit perfectly with the scenes they're placed in. Before I forget, I love that there's full-on Japanese voice acting. Everyone is voiced, and the voices set the mood well and help move the story along. You can feel the emotions bursting from the lines, which showcases the talents of the voice actors. Overall, would I recommend Iwaihime ? If you're a fan of Japanese visual novels and especially the ones written by Ryukishi (*points to self*), then you totally need to check out this visual novel. As I'm a slow reader (I like to take my time enjoying the stories that I read ^^), it took me under 30 hours to complete the game and get all of the achievements, which includes the DLC. However, if you're a fast reader, it can take you way less time. For the asking price, I'd say that it's totally worth it, and on a sale, I can't think of a good reason to pass up on it. At the time that I'm posting this review, I recently found out that another of Ryukishi's visual novels is coming to Steam, and I can't help getting excited, but I'll stop here. XD For more detailed, fully complete, high quality reviews like this, please follow [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44702020/]The Introverted Gamer , prioritizing heart and soul always. ^^
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A Century Passes By.. They Are Not Together.. I am glad this VN didn't end in 8 hours, I was getting sick of all the short VN's I have been playing :P This VN is so epic that I honestly felt a bit that this is better than Higurashi. It has themes of reincarnation, gore, disturbing content, urban legends and viewer discretion because of the some content this visual novel. But, I loved it so much, it will be in my heart forever because of the amazing characters and music. Story: Gore but beautiful This story starts in the most fantastical way imaginable with an arrival and union of two relatives. Suzuhara and her distant cousin. Everything is okay in the school and life, but he meets this mysterious girl Toe Kurokami whom he cannot do anything but get attracted to. Their story is spinned in a 1000 year old tale with fragments of deity revenge, mikos, martial arts and certain generational trauma. There are also other side characters, 3 girls and a nurse (DLC) where you will discover their personal trauma individually. It has school setting and village setting same as Higurashi. Each arc is well thought of, well executed and I am still wondering if I can get more. Urban legend wise yes there is an actual shrine dedicated to the long haired creepy dolls featured in the visual novel called Awashima Jinja shrine in Wakayama Japan. With Suzuhara as the main protagonist and its shifting to third person sometimes you get to explore this mysterious and heartbreaking story of a lifetime. Amidst the gore and the trauma there is also light of hope and the grace of romance. Characters: Memorable to death I felt bored of most character of Higurashi, but these characters I can get by with. The cousin is a secret gang member who wants to be the pro waifu one day. There is a child star who joins the club and wants to make a new breakthrough as a j-pop band member. There is also this girl who created a fantasy alice in wonderland scenario in her head to cope with her real life which is pushing her to the brink. They suffer hallucinations but Suzuhara is a little bit immune and the nurse and him tries to help the girls out. Suzuhara is a wonderful character and protagonist which I will always like, he is a country bumpkin but he is gentle and strong. Toe kurokami the doll girl does not speak much, it's like she is in constant pain 24/7. The nurse has a mysterious and cheerful persona but genuine. Gameplay Gameplay has all the necessities that you expect from a visual novel, including auto-mode, fast forward an extra menu. It is bug-free. This is a SOUND visual novel which means you don't get to choose and direct the VN using choices, but at certain instance you can same as Umineko I guess. My only complaint is that the screenshots I take is not the full resolution of my monitor and the aspect ratio is different. I played the whole VN within 22 hours including DLC. Art and Music Very well drawn and polished art, beautiful landscapes and the seiyuus did a very good job doing the roles. Respect to them, Ryukuishi07 story lines need some epic actors to do it. The music is absolutely good. My favorite is the instrumental version of Emi No Hana which I will always go back to listen to. Achievements You will get 11/12 achievements when you play the main game and explore every arc. You need the DLC to unlock the final achievement. Overall I loved the story of this, If there is a sequel I will but it no matter what it cost. I would say the DLC is a bit pricey and since its short maybe on sale. It's a heartbreaking story of love, pain, horror and endurance with a dash of cheerfulness on the side.
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therapy is nice but "hajakensho: crush evil, and demonstrate the righteous path" is a lot faster and cheaper
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Online players
7
Developer
DMM GAMES
Publisher
Shiravune
Release
23 Oct 2020
Platforms