Tsukihime is a Visual Novel initially released in the tail end of the year 2000 and is made by the same folks that would later release the more widely known Fate Stay Night series four years later. It follows the story of a young high school student named Tohno Shiki, as he one day receives a notice from his wealthy family that disinherited him eight years prior, telling him to come back to their mansion. Leaving behind the normal life he has been living since then, Shiki will soon find himself in an entirely otherworldly and dangerous situation as the mystery of his town’s recent homicides entwine with his own fate.
Shiki is a fascinating protagonist as he is not a bright-eyed kid with an overwhelming sense of justice. He is a rather cold and calculating person that really only goes out of his way for people he comes to care for. I wouldn’t call him an antihero by any means, though the demons that he carries doesn’t make his flawed personality someone you much care to root for either. In fact, it isn’t long into the story before he ups and temporarily loses his mind, killing a woman with a knife in the process. Given his unique eyes that allow him to see lines of death, which enable him to slice apart any physical or spiritual object like if it were nothing, it was a particularly violent death.
This first murder of his backfired spectacularly, as after a night of grief about what he did and trying to convince himself it was a dream, he spots his victim smiling at him as he walks to school the next day. Understandably freaked out, Shiki runs for dear life as this woman effortlessly strides along behind him and eventually corners him in an alleyway. Mildly entertained by this, she introduces herself as Arcueid, which then informs him that she is a vampire. Weakened by being killed by Shiki’s unique ability, she gives him the option of either dying right then and there or helping defeat the enemy vampire terrorizing the city.
Arcueid is one of the five main heroines that Shiki can romantically pursue. Starting off, only two of them are available and each offer up a new branching storyline. These are more than just conquering a different girl at the end, all fill you in on some backstory detailing why and how certain things happen, as well as splinter off into their own adventures. It is like five remixed versions of the same general plot-line, each possibly containing new villains and learning more about your chosen love interest. While they change things up quite a bit between the branching paths, it still grows a bit dull following the same narrative structure that connects them together. To their credit however, it somehow still manages to have a sense of mystery all the way through.
The single strongest aspect of this title has to be its characters. Each of the heroines are incredibly interesting and have far more depth to them than you can decipher by merely having them at the sidelines as you pursue someone else. That more than anything else made replaying the same title five times over a real pleasure, with the wealth of unique content each offered being icing on the cake. Even the side characters are all memorable. Shiki himself as previously stated is also quite the interesting unwilling hero, whether following around the mysterious blue-haired girl called Ciel or tailing his emotionless maid Hisui. Just top marks all around in that regard.
It is also an appropriate time to mention that this is an eroge title. There will always be a sex scene with each of the heroines towards the end of their route. Whether or not that is a good thing depends on the individual reader, though flat out dismissing the game because of that content would be ill-advised. Most of these scenes feel natural and not forced in for some contrived reason, with the exception being the Ciel route. They are typically a lengthy to read and detailed affair, though due to the fact that there is no voice acting in this title, nor any sex-specific sound effects, it is ultimately tame by today’s standards.
With that said, the lewd bits are hardly what Tsukihime focuses on. The story and characters are its primary concern. I’ve yet to talk much about the story, and that’s for a good reason. The plot is heavily reliant on its mystery. Sure it has plenty of cool action scenes to get the blood pumping, as well as a semi-horror vibe when things get serious, but it spends as much, if not more time dealing with issues such as declining mental health and its results that leave you questioning what is real. Each of the multiple story-lines share a common starting origin, with the other repeating factor being the delusions and situations brought about by Shiki’s mental state. It should come as no surprise that the game can get pretty dark, having situations such as rape or random acts of extreme violence.
The game is subdued with what it shows you in regards to its more extreme moments. It leaves it to your imagination most of the time. As good as the characters are, there are not enough villains sadly. That is the main reason I found having the read a similar story five times a tad dull. Once you’ve played through it once, only a single “new” foe will show up afterward. For the sake of your sanity and time, I’d recommend going into the menus and turning on ‘skip parts previously read’ to get right to the new content that each route offers. Most of the branching routes offer up a few different endings, for a total of nine to see. On top of that, seeing all of them will unlock an after-story epilogue.
All throughout your adventures, you will be given quite the number of choices to try to survive an event or simply divert into a new route. It is interesting seeing how things turn out and even if things go badly, it will usually net you a new CG, of which there are a ton. All of the character sprites hold up well and have that old school anime charm. Backgrounds, on the other hand, are seemingly real-world locations with different filters over them to offer a surreal vibe. It fits that whole theme of mental health well. There are ten music tracks overall, which range from tribal, casual elevator like tunes, and depressing. Most of them are placed rather well, yet oddly enough they put a depressing sounding one in the hentai scenes giving them a bizarre feel.
Tsukihime despite its age still has plenty to offer for fans of Visual Novels, especially those who love a good bit of mystery. With a cast of five heroines, it is still a wonder how they managed to make each and every one of them into incredibly interesting and lovable characters. What they have done with typical vampire lore is quite cool as well, making it that much more of a shame that new foes never pop up after your first playthrough. Having five standalone, yet slightly connected storylines to get through will take you a fair bit of time to accomplish. Given that you also have nine endings and an epilogue afterward, Tsukihime has no shortage of content to suck you into to its world should you give it the chance. I would definitely recommend taking that dive.
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