Yurukill: The Calumniation Games is a rather bizarre game. Players assume the role of prisoners and executioners. The prisoners are various people who have been thrown in jail under what they claim are false pretenses. Meanwhile, the executioners are those who have been wronged by the prisoners’ actions and thus, have a reason to hate them. Players assume these various characters in the world of Yurukill Land, a strange amusement park that feels like it was ripped from the world of Danganronpa. You’ll have to go through various “amusement park” rides which are where the visual novel/Phoenix Wright elements come into play. You’ll have to solve various puzzles, investigate rooms and sometimes avoid a quick death from your executioner by convincing them not to kill you. Yurukill: The Calumniation Games blends these elements quite well to tell a really dark but interesting narrative, but there’s another element that makes this game extremely special and quite challenging!

A major genre to Yurukill: The Calumniation Games is the bullet hell/shoot ‘em up gameplay. At certain intervals of the story, players will enter aerial devices where they must have “mind battles” and try to survive death. The executioners aren’t in danger during these segments but the prisoners can die and must avoid obstacles as well as enter various mind-themed battles where players must answer trivia, related to the particular group you’re controlling, to avoid losing lives. Yurukill: The Calumniation Games can be quite challenging during these segments and even on normal you might find yourself having to restart a section. Still, these bullet hell segments are where Yurukill: The Calumniation Games shines as the various arenas both look and sound fantastic!

There is one gripe that taunted us consistently during our time with Yurukill: The Calumniation Games. The puzzles in the various rooms can sometimes be EXTREMELY simple and other times head tilting difficult. Luckily, there is an easy info button that can be utilized with no consequence but hitting this button three times basically gives you the answer. Yurukill: The Calumniation Games’ puzzles are quite weird and we really think they could have been tweaked a bit to be more understandable and simpler.

While this isn’t an issue with Yurukill: The Calumniation Games we did notice that in a game filled with various people and having you take control of them, some are just downright more interesting than the others. Main prisoner Sengoku Shunju, convicted of mass murder, is your typical anime-like protagonist as he makes jokes despite his very deadly situation and is someone who is righteous and kind. Meanwhile, twins Futa and Raita Yamada are literal yin and yang entities with Futa being the tough delinquent and Raita embracing the calm but cool smart guy demeanor. Some of these characters’ stories and tales just flow with thought-provoking storytelling while others can fall a bit flat. We won’t spoil the entire cast and their strengths/weaknesses but we do feel some of them just missed the mark to be truly incredible characters.