October, the month of scares is upon us. Now is the time for all of the ghosts and ghouls to release their games no matter how scary they may be. CAVYHOUSE has brought their latest game, The Midnight Sanctuary. Set in an abstract world for Oculus, PSVR and Switch, this 3D visual novel will leave mixed feelings for many.
In the village of Diausu, a great church is brought to being by persecuted Christians. Protagonist Hamomoru visits Diausu to take note of the local history and folk tales of the people there at the church. The village here is said to be peaceful and trying to move in to the modern world while remembering their own past. A Saint appears suddenly, the Saint of the old village. Villagers begin to worship the saint while everything changes around them. Unknown to the villagers, questions emerge to question if the miracles are real and if people have actually been brought back from the dead.
Immediately upon entering the game there are noticeable visuals. A lot of abstract patterns are used to create the church and environments. Although unique to look at, these patterns can be somewhat hard to look at and interact with. With the VR technology option, being in the environment can be overwhelming. Character designs however are well made and nice to look at, probably because their outfits are toned down against the abstract palette. The many characters are voiced by well known Japanese voice artists which is nice and well done.
Playing through the game is pretty straight forward. Go through and talk to the various characters to learn more information to find out if this saint is going to bring the end of times or restore the church to what it should be. Some characters are ghosts so it seems, while others seem to be from another time or era. Each will have their own story to tell while the mystery starts to grow.
So far, The Midnight Sanctuary is a pretty straight forward visual novel that doesn’t have any huge creep factor, but at least has an interesting mysterious plot. The abstract moving art is a bit much to focus on for too long and the game is pretty quick to play through completely. Totally worth a shot to experience however. Not everyone will be in to this game and that’s OK.
5/10
Available on: PC, PS4 and Switch
