Root Letter

MC receives a mysterious letter 15 years after his pen pal Aya stopped writing. As this pen pal was important to him and the letter is so perturbing, he drops everything to go find her. Except, when he arrives in beautiful Shimane, no one has a straight answer for him as to who she was. Or what happened to her.

I looked forward to this game when it first launched. The mystery solving seemed a bit tedious at times, and the “Max” mode mini game feature used for confrontation and interrogation...I still am not sure I was a fan of it. But I liked the setting (boy did I, when I travelled to Japan, I really wanted to go to Shimane!), I liked the story and the way the game kinda weaves through possibilities of what might be going on is positively amusing. The endings range from sweet and romantic to dark and creepy. I am not sure I am completely satisfied with all of them, but I was glad I explored them. The variation between endings depends directly on what Max wrote in his letters to Aya 15 years ago (chosen by the player between chapters). It was a good story with some very interesting twists and turns.

I heehawed over the switch re-release. They added some extra content, and also added a real life mode (where all the pictures are photographs instead of cg art). But I already own the game for the vita, so I decided not to buy it again.