Scar of the Doll is an Adventure/Visual Novel game where we take on the role of Asumi Kamijo, a young woman in search of her sister. Starting off, we are treated with her background and are promptly informed that we have called her sister countless times with no reply, almost as if she has vanished from the face of the earth. With that in mind, we set off to Tokyo in hopes of finding her either at her university or in her apartment. This simple task slowly spirals into something far grander that will test the player’s ability to avoid a horrible fate due to bad choices.
Slowly is the key word there. This title takes its sweet time to let you in on its mysteries. Instead, it opts to keep you in the dark with only the gut feeling that something is very wrong. Not knowing what is at fault, be it those around you or in fact you yourself, makes the desire to discover more information really effective. That doesn’t convey well into the early sections of the game where it leaves the player just as confused and disoriented as our character which may scare off those that don’t give it a fair chance. Once the game informs you that your choices are now capable of ending badly for you and the training wheels are off, it picks up steam.
You will have a ton of options to pick from at any one time such as showing an item, where to go or search and what to talk about with others. It being an Adventure game means that even the most seemingly mundane things can either save or come back to haunt you. If it is there, it is likely for a reason and worth checking out. Same with the characters. While they all start off cold and distrustful, making you naturally be wary of them, they may turn out to be valued friends. Who it is that you can trust or even decide to talk to is up to you. Scar of the Doll does an excellent job at turning you into a paranoid, distrustful mess.
It is suggested that you make use of your multiple save slots as you may irreparably get yourself into a situation you will be incapable of getting out of. Most of them are fair and can be avoided if you pay attention though a few are entirely luck based. You can save whenever you want, but it does annoyingly rewind the dialogue back a bit. Not enough to be an outright chore though it is annoying, especially taking into account how often you may want to save. Another slight flaw is that when you are making choices, you must first pick what you want and then go through an unneeded step by clicking on the “Answer” button to verify your action.
Scar of the Doll was originally released in 90’s, and this Steam version features new content and upgraded graphics. The graphics are a mix of 2D sprites for the characters and real objects that have an oily effect added to them, to lend it a surreal look. It is not a horror game, but this art direction does amplify the sense of unease. Most of your time will be spent in your sister’s university lab with only a small portion of it taking place outside its premises. There is no voice acting to be found though a certain scene does feature a screamer that will wake up the entire neighborhood if you have your volume high, rest in peace headphone users. Its music, on the other hand, will not leave you deaf, it is very catchy, and its track placement fit the mood well.
Without a doubt, the two things that make this game worth playing are its story and how well they execute it. From start to finish its narrative is frequently surprising you and is rarely predictable. It is a complicated story filled to the brim with intrigue and is rather grim as well, with death always lingering near you and those around you. After finishing the game, you have access to the additional content that comes in the form of viewing the events of the story from the perspective of another character to better show you why things went the way they did. It is not vital to the story but is a nice addition nonetheless, though it does have an odd issue in where whatever your character is thinking is marked with someone else’s name attached to the dialogue, making it seem like they are the ones saying it. Overall, while Scar of the Doll does very little to grip you in initially and does have some flaws, it is a game I would wholeheartedly recommend to those looking for a brilliant mystery story.
[Review copy was provided]
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