Urban Myth Dissolution Center

When Azami Fukurai realises she can see unexplained things, she turns to the only place that might be able to help her: the Urban Myth Dissolution Centre. If you’re immediately reminded of something like The X-Files, first, how’s your back doing these days? And second, yes, the setup is very similar. Led by director and Level S psychic Ayumu Meguriya, the Centre looks into events that go beyond what regular police might investigate. To try and find out what it is that bothers Azami, director Meguriya invites her to take a seat. As there is only one chair in the entire room, Azami sits down on it, only to feel a tiny pinch in her leg. That’s when Meguriya informs her that she shouldn’t have used that chair, as it is there to be investigated itself: there appears to be a curse on it, causing everyone to sit on it to… die!

Immediately, there are high stakes in play: you have to use your gift/curse of clairvoyance to find clues within the centre as to how you can prevent your own death. Using your power is aided by a pair of glasses the director gives to you, enabling you to see a kind of shadow of someone or something that was there before. Through your clairvoyance, you discover that the chair isn’t magical or anything; there’s just a mechanism on the bottom that injects you with something when you sit down. To show this to the director, you try to take the mechanism apart, but instead, you break down the whole chair.

This is where the game’s sense of humour pops up for the first time: you are blamed for destroying the chair, and to work off your debt, you now have to work for the Centre and use your power for the greater good. It immediately sets the tone for the rest of the game: even though the six cases you’ll investigate seem pretty spooky at first, there is more than meets the eye to all of them.

Gameplay boils down to two different types: social media research and crime scene investigation. En route to the crime scenes, you are driven around by Jasmine, a co-worker who seems to not be completely honest about her own involvement in everything. During that drive, you take a look at social media on your phone, discovering clues that are important to your investigation, while also uncovering keywords through the use of your power, enabling you to broaden your investigation even more. Once you find all the necessary clues, you make it over to the actual crime scene.

There, you will talk to people involved in each case, whether they be the victim or an innocent witness. You’ll switch between your regular view and looking through your glasses to uncover more details, which will lead to the first big step in the investigation: identifying the urban myth. The director calls you and asks you to relay your findings, and in a very flashy ceremony, you discover what urban myth you are investigating. Having done that, cases usually take place over a couple of days, during which you’ll do more of the same two types of research.

With each case usually escalating while you’re investigating, it becomes important to reach a conclusion within a certain amount of time. When you’ve finally figured everything out, it’s time for the big set piece of each case: the dissolution. Once again, the director will call you, and through a conversation and some Obra Dinn-type entering elements into a conclusion, you’ll discover the truth behind the urban myth.

Through its investigation and creating conclusions, Urban Myth Dissolution Centre really reminds me of the Ace Attorney series, although those games might have some better pacing by being just a little quicker. But the influence is definitely there, as is the aforementioned X-Files: you have your cases of the week, but there’s a bigger story going on in the background. Especially with the game putting such a focus on the power of whispers and rumours, it brings the mystery of Mulder and Scully’s adventures into the modern day. There’s a tad of Men in Black involved as well, but the influence that pops to mind the most while playing this is… Scooby Doo. Yes, it quickly becomes clear that the paranormal events in this game are usually not all that special. Because of that, each case boils down to a really well-written whodunnit. Unless… there’s more at play than even the Centre realises?

I really enjoyed my time with Azami, Ayumu, and Jasmine. You can feel the bond between the three of them growing, even as the threat levels around the city continue to rise and rise. The game uses a classic formula but plays around with the ingredients just enough to make everything feel fresh and exciting. Even though a lot of the gameplay is linear, coming to the right conclusions feels incredibly satisfying. The cases also switch it up once in a while to keep things interesting, with the nightmare tour halfway through the game being one of the more memorable cases.

The visual style on show here is really cool, using its pixel graphics with a limited colour palette to good use. The touches of red that signify everything paranormal work wonderfully here, and the music adds to the atmosphere brilliantly. But, as has happened often with games I’ve reviewed, it’s the writing that stands out the most. The game’s critique of how we are all so willing to go with the flow once a rumour spreads feels very apt in the post-truth society we currently live in. And sure, the game might have some points that feel just a little too slow, but the build-up to the final chapter works incredibly well.