Trouble In Paradise
Creating intrigue, tension and anticipation can be a tough web to weave. The clues must tempt the next revelation while motives are considered and continuously questioned. Paradise Killer by Kaizen Game Works takes an old school adventure game feel and puts a modern spin on it, infusing it with a funky vaporwave personality to create a unique and strange world. The way this all comes together is eclectic and approachable, albeit with a few dragging moments. The shocking crime within it forms the core of the adventure and by the end of it all, you may just want to give it another go from a different angle.
The Crime of the Century
The “Investigation Freak” known as Lady Love Dies has been brought out of exile to solve a mystery. With you in her shoes you will explore this open polygonal world where very little is as it seems, begging you to explore it all. The controls are simple and interact with the world around you, whether it be talking to people or collecting objects, with a splash of platforming to round things out. The core focus of the game is to find evidence, question suspects and find out who was behind a murder of unspeakable magnitude.
The characters and world go hand in hand to give Paradise Killer a personality all its own. The vaporwave aesthetic combined with the classic adventure game feel gives this title a quality that makes it feel like an evolution of the point-and-click genre that keeps the original style and flair. Shades of the Ace Attorney series can be felt within the layered intrigue as well, creating an immersive experience that draws you into its strange charm. The smooth jazz soundtrack feels like the bow on top of the present that wraps it all up as each track brings with it a different mood to add an extra layer of aesthetic immersion.
The Tangled Web
The main draw of Paradise Killer is the open-ended exploration and sense of intrigue the case brings. This leads to interactions with the residents of Paradise, each with their own agendas and motivations for simply existing in this strange world, whose lives have changed since coming to the island. Tales of ancient struggles and temptations, mystical relics and past lives; all of it must be considered to solve the mystery. The colorful and diverse cast of characters that litters Paradise is a compelling one, each with their own charm and that unravels splendidly as the case does. Moods change and tensions rise as the drama unfolds, piecing clues together and questioning the figures of the Syndicate that governs the land to uncover their secrets. Between these interactions you explore Paradise to find the secrets it holds.
Collectibles are all over the world of Paradise Killer. Blood Crystals, Save Points, Soda Machines and more await you on this lonely island to help keep the exploration and platforming interesting. While there is fun to be had roaming about the island and figuring out what makes it tick, it can drag out for quite a bit if you’ve gotten a little ahead of yourself in exploring. The intriguing aesthetic and the qualities it brings to the world help with this but not nearly as much as one would hope.
A Heavenly Experience
Paradise Killer is one of a kind. The retro feel of the gameplay compliments the vaporwave aesthetic perfectly to give this title a personality all its own. This shines through in the immersive character designs and dialogue, whose text-based lines fits perfectly alongside voice clips to deliver a dramatic experience that never ceases to pull you in. While the world is large and offers a fair amount of platforming challenge, it can quickly become a blur of low-res textures when moving from one objective to another after exploring the island. This makes for slight drags in the experience that while not game-breaking, bring stops in the action that feel ultimately unnecessary. For those looking for a chill game with a lot of intrigue and a sweet soundtrack, or if you’re looking for a new spin on a visual novel style title, you’ll love Paradise Killer. For everyone else, wait for a sale.
