Divi Dead

I was quite surprised by Divi Dead. I knew going in that this was a popular sexual visual novel game, but I was very surprised at just how much horror and suspense were also part of this game. One of the things that did blow me away was the fact that this game was originally released in 1998! I must say, it holds up very well and is worth checking out.

A Second Chance At Life

The story is perhaps the strongest aspect of the game which is a good thing. The protagonist of the game is called, Ranmaru and he has had a hard life. He has been sick most of his life, spent chunks of it in hospital and so on.

As he has gotten into his teenage years and gotten older, his illness has started to get better. His rich uncle who is in charge of a prestigious private school gives Ranmaru a second chance at life by allowing him to join the school…. But there is a catch.

What Is Going On Here?

You see this school which is in a very remote location is not the happiest place on Earth. Ranmaru’s uncle wants him to investigate the strange and horrific goings-on at the school which includes missing students, sexual assault, murder, and suicide! You are tasked with looking into what is going on and reporting it all back to your uncle. The game has many horror movie tropes, but the way the story unfolds in Divi Dead is very clever. It has twists, turns and an awesome ending that I did not see coming at all.

Disturbing Choices

There are different endings in the game which will happen as a result of the choices that you make as you play. It is no more interactive than any other visual novel game that I have played. One of the things that I feel will make or break this for you is your tolerance for disturbing imagery. While the sex is, of course, very graphic, so is the sexual assault and things like murder and suicide. It can be rather hard to stomach and I did find myself turning my head on a few occasions. If you find this kind of thing hard to take I would perhaps advise looking online to see if you think you can stomach this before you play it.

I think that Divi Dead is a visual novel that has actually aged very well. Some of the artwork (while extremely graphic) still holds up very well to this day. Of course, the subject matter here is very dark and this is something that I must admit I struggled with. The funny thing is the story is quite excellent and I feel that some of the graphic sexual assault scenes take away from the game in all honesty.

Final Score: 8/10

Pros:

• I loved the premise of the game
• The story has many twists and turns
• Some of the twists are truly mind-blowing
• For a game that is 20 plus years old, it still looks good
• The soundtrack fits the game perfectly

Cons:

• Some of the imagery is a bit too graphic for my taste
• I do not think you would want to play through this multiple times