Gaming

What are the best murder mystery video games?

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The Wolf Among Us vs Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney vs The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

 vs Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony vs L.A. Noire vs Ghost Trick vs Detective Grimoire vs Danganronpa 1 - 2 Reload vs Return of the Obra Dinn vs Murdered: Soul Suspect vs AI: The Somnium Files vs Garry's Mod: Murder vs Dangan-Ronpa 1.2 Reload first Privilege

Specs

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Steam Rating

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Platforms

Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo DS, Wii, Game Boy Advance, Android, iOS, Windows

Genre

Visual Novel, Adventure

Steam Rating

-

Platforms

PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows

Genre

Horror, Adventure, Puzzle, Narrative

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-

Platforms

Windows, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4

Genre

Adventure, Visual Novel

Steam Rating

Mostly Positive

Platforms

Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Windows, Xbox One, Xbox 360

Genre

Detective Action-Adventure

Steam Rating

Very Positive

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Platforms

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Genre

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Steam Rating

Very Positive

Platforms

PlayStation 4

Genre

Visual Novel, Horror, Adventure

Steam Rating

-

Platforms

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Genre

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Steam Rating

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Platforms

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Genre

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Steam Rating

Very Positive

Platforms

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Genre

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Steam Rating

Very Positive

Platforms

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Platforms

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Pros + Cons

Pro
 Refinement of earlier success

With the success TellTale achieved in their Walking Dead series, The Wolf Among US takes every good aspect of that gameplay and refines it even further.
Comment

Pro
 Characters feel real

The writing is so well done that the character and their story fell very real, even when realizing the story takes place in a fairy-tale world. This allows for immersion in the game that is often not matched by other point and click adventure games.
Comment

Pro
 Great in-game encyclopedia to fill you in

While most players will recognize fairy tale characters like Snow White or the Big Bad Wolf, there are many obscure characters such as Ichabod Crane or Bluebeard. Luckily enough, the game has an in-game encyclopedia that will update as you encounter new characters. Their encyclopedia entry will contain background info and the fairy tale they first appeared in while also providing insights on their current situation. The encyclopedia not only fills you in but also is a very enjoyable and interesting read.
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Pro
 Unusual setting

The story takes place in a fictional part of Manhattan called Fabletown, which is inhabited by humans and creatures from fairy tales and folklore. It's really interesting seeing how everyone makes ends meet in an unfamiliar world. From working as a janitor or a receptionist to running a shady night club and abusing magic for extra profits. It's the type of setting that appeals to both the kid and the adult within you.
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Pro
 A really enjoyable interactive story

The Wolf Among Us is a murder mystery story that has great characters, action-packed moments, and really interesting twists. What's even better is that you can affect how the story plays out with dialogue options, investigation choices, and even actions during a fights or chase sequences. Your actions as a player have consequences in this story, which feels really nice.
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Pro
 In game encyclopedia

For those that want more back-story into the Fables comic there is an in game encyclopedia that allows for a more in depth analysis of the characters and their surrounding story.
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Pro
 Easily played on most platforms

Available on Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, OS X, PlayStation 3, iOS, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Android allows one to choose their favorite platform to play the game on.
Comment

Con
 May be too gruesome for kids

With all of the cursing and the not to mention the severed head, this story may not be appropriate for children.
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Pro
 Polished character designs

As this is a character-heavy visual novel game, it helps a lot that the art for the characters are all really well-done. Full of expressive personality, they look just like the ones in the series' anime. Their exaggerated humor shows through their designs and animations, helping the game to stand on its art and writing without more complicated animations or even much voice acting. Experiencing the story through the character art doesn't get tiring, since it does such a good job of carrying the whole legal drama.
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Pro
 Charming music

Since this is a port of an older game for the Game Boy Advance, the music still has a rather old school sound to it, but this only adds to the charm. It's great at setting the tone in any given scene, sounding more serious with lower instruments for when you're collecting evidence, and then again when presenting that evidence to the court, while it's of course much lighter during funny conversations with silly characters. There's always a computerized sound throughout that makes it charming to listen to, like going back in time before the more modern orchestral music in gaming today.
Comment

Pro
 Accessible learning curve

Even if you don't know anything about legal cases and courtrooms, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is easy to grasp and learn. The first case is more of a tutorial for how the game works, and it does a great job at getting you used to the mechanics with collecting evidence, questioning witnesses, and going through the motions of presenting your argument before the judge. You don't need to know any special legal language or anything like that; you can still have fun with this game while getting to feel like a defense attorney in an entertaining way.
Comment

Con
 Not for players who want more involved gameplay

Since this is a visual novel without much voice acting, that means there's a lot of reading. You won't find typical gameplay here with responsive controls and freedom of movement. The gameplay is all about being an attorney and an investigator, through gathering evidence and presenting evidence to defend your client. If you're not used to these types of games, this may not be for you unless you're willing to try something new.
Comment

Pro
 Engaging choice-based gameplay

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is all about choosing your own adventure through living the life of a defense attorney. It's up to you to do a good job for your clients, meaning you have to make the best choices when going through the case. When you interview witnesses and suspects, there's a dialogue tree where you choose what you want to ask them, and then during the trial, you carefully choose the best evidence to support your argument. You get to the bottom of each investigation and trial on your own terms, either by following your instincts or listening to helpful suggestions from other characters.
Comment

Con
 Puzzles are not always balanced

Puzzles in the game are not evenly balanced in difficulty, which can be frustrating when one of the more difficult to solve puzzles come up. It would be one thing if the more difficult puzzles were found at the end of the game, but more often than not they are found in the middle and scattered around.
Comment

Con
 Weirdos

Almost every character is some kind of weirdo.
Comment

Con
 Pacing feels unbalanced

There is one notable part of the game where the player spends an uneven amount of time in that the environment is lackluster as well as holds many frustrating puzzles. This makes for what feels like unbalanced pacing and is an aggravating section of the game.
Comment

Pro
 Challenging and rewarding puzzles

The puzzles require great observational skills with many clues being found only after thoroughly exploring the location in which the puzzle resides. Oftentimes, these clues are very discreet, well hidden, and integrated into the environment in creative ways. Piecing everything together can be quite a challenge at times as the puzzles provide no instructions, but also very rewarding as bits of the story are revealed after each successful solve.
Comment

Pro
 Heavily exploration based

With the exception of a few storyline gated or locked areas, you have the freedom to explore the entire game world from the very beginning. From the dark forests to the run down old houses, you can wander and go wherever you please, stopping to enjoy the scenery or investigate locations at your leisure. There are no linear story paths to follow and most of the puzzles can be completed in any order. This unhindered exploration allows you to explore the world and unravel the mystery completely at your own pace.
Comment

Pro
 Can be played on a users choice of device

Available on the PS4 and PC allows the user a choice of which platform they would prefer to play on.
Comment

Pro
 Runs at 1080p and 60fps

The game runs at 1080p and 60 FPS.
Comment

Pro
 Gorgeous, state-of-the-art graphics

During development, real objects were photographed, scanned, and put into the game world using a process called photogrammetry. As a result, everything in-game renders as photo realistic without jagged lines or appearing pixelated. Everything from buildings and trees down to the smallest details like rocks and blades of grass look great.
Comment

Pro
 Very surreal and mysterious storytelling

While the game starts out with the premise of a detective trying to solve the disappearance of a young boy, the story quickly takes a sharp turn and begins mixing in some very surreal, strange themes. These themes border on the paranormal and supernatural, and it quickly becomes apparent this is not a clear cut missing persons case. During the course of the game, the story keeps you guessing and invested as you try to figure out exactly what's going on. Additionally, due to the way you explore the nonlinear world, you might be witnessing events out of order which makes it even more mysterious.
Comment

Pro
 Immersive atmosphere

While wandering the landscape, it's easy to believe you are exploring an old forest and town lost to time. The buildings are run down and decrepit, the roads and railroad tracks are overgrown with grass, and save for the chirping of birds or the river babbling, it is eerily silent. Exploring around and poking into every dark corner of the vast wilderness, one can't help but feel a complete sense of awe and become fully immersed in the mystery.
Comment

Con
 Framerate drops from 60fps

There are framerate drops in the game but they never go below 30fps and do not tear due to the progressive vsync.
Comment

Con
 Not much dialogue

For a game that is heavily steeped in storytelling, there is a surprisingly low amount of actual dialogue and spoken lines. While it doesn't detract much from the experience, some people might be expecting a lot more writing for a game that boasts its story as a selling point.
Comment

Con
 Horrible character models

They are very plain and look almost cartoonish in nature, which is a stark contrast to the photo realistic environment they inhabit. The same level of work that went into the game world didn't quite make it into the character models, and as a result, they are disappointingly bad.
Comment

Con
 Simplistic gameplay

There is very little direct interaction with the world outside of solving puzzles and reading notes. Much of the game is simply walking around and exploring. From time to time, you will stumble upon a location in which you can manipulate items to solve the various puzzles, read notes, and watch story cutscenes play out.
Comment

Con
 Repetitive puzzle solving

Without revealing spoilers, almost every major puzzle in the game is solved using the exact same logic. While the puzzles themselves are thematically different, the way you approach them and the mechanics they use are the same. After you've figured out how the first one works, you'll be applying the same basic principles to every puzzle in the game thereafter.
Comment

Pro
 Unique blend of different gameplay concepts

Filled with heated debates, character bonding and relationships, whodunit murder mysteries, along with mini-games and dungeon-crawling, Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony is a blend of ideas and mechanics that manage to work as an unexpected, yet cohesive package. This is a game that sounds impossible on paper, but everything fits together as a package surprisingly well.
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Pro
 Quirky storytelling

Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony is a mish-mash of a visual novel, an adventure game, a colorful cast of anime characters like talking bears with varied creepy designs and a host of high school characters solving a murder mystery, all packed together as a competition of wits to investigate each crime scene and figure out what happened. Getting fellow classmates to believe the player's version of events involves stylish debates with text flying across the screen, where the other characters can be swayed by the correct answers or timely lies that risk the chance of perjury.
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Pro
 Eccentric cast of characters

The sixteen main characters in Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony are all at the "ultimate" level of their specialties, such as the ultimate detective, the ultimate tennis-player-turned-convict, the ultimate artist, and many more. Their personalities shine through during debates as they argue their points of view, some with no shortage of pointed vulgarities, with other outright lying in order to keep the player on-edge. The localization's many pop culture references to "alternative facts" and misinformation campaigns helps the characters feel relevant and real.
Comment

Pro
 Great music

DRV3's soundtrack encompasses many genres, allowing you to enjoy a wide variety of instruments, which includes guitars, drums, brass instruments, synths and many others. The end result is a gritty, futuristic soundtrack with punchy, energetic songs that make the proceedings feel action-packed while also making key story moments memorable.
Comment

Con
 Polarizing ending

Love it or hate it, the ending is undoubtedly polarizing, with some fans enjoying the conclusion to the game's many twists and turns, with others left feeling disappointed or annoyed. Your experience will vary, so be prepared to fall on either end of the spectrum once you reach the end of your 30+ hour series of investigations.
Comment

Con
 Questionable mid-story pacing

Unfortunately, things begin to drag on toward the middle of the story, where the plot begins to feel tedious and repetitive. These crimes in the middle are more tedious and repetitive than anything, lacking the finesse and enjoyment of other parts of the game.
Comment

Pro
 Incredibly realistic facial expressions

Every single character in the game looks true-to-life because of how their faces look and move. The developers used some neat motion scanning technology to capture the voice actors' faces as they gave their lines. You get to see every wrinkle, every shift of their jaw lines, and every twitch of their mouths as they speak and emote. There's so much attention to detail that it looks like you're watching a movie with real people. It's really stunning and stands out as a great example of advancing technology in video games.
Comment

Pro
 Great story set in 1940s Los Angeles

The detective drama in L.A. Noire is creative and intriguing. Playing as an honest cop named Cole, you get to see the magnitude of crime and racial tension in Los Angeles in the years after World War II, told through the stories of the authentic cast of characters you meet. As a cop, you solve crimes and nail crooks, moving up the ladder in the police department. Each of your investigations take you all around the great rendition of the city in the 1940s, rich with the styles of cars, fashion, and music from the time period. It's a unique experience and setting that not many other games explore.
Comment

Con
 No real consequences for failing to solve cases

Even if you continually mess up with the cases, you still get promoted in the police force. You could be the worst cop ever, making terrible decisions and getting yelled at by your superiors. But then in the next cutscene, your bosses tell you what a great job you did and that you're moving up to a more important department. It doesn't make any sense and gives you no reason to do your best during investigations.
Comment

Pro
 Detailed crime investigation gameplay

Investigating crime scenes is great because of the attention to detail in each mission. Looking over murder victims for patterns in their wounds, for example, gives you an idea of how or why they might have died, which you then jot down in your handy notebook that keeps track of all the information you collect. Observing tire tracks, bloody murder weapons, business cards, and even picking through trash cans leads you to new clues to find and paths to follow. It's up to you to pick out which details may or may not be important, keeping you in control of where each investigation leads.
Comment

Pro
 Interrogating witnesses and suspects is a fun challenge

During investigations, you interrogate suspects in a cool, interactive way. After collecting clues, you use your notebook to decide which questions to ask witnesses and suspects. You read their facial expressions, body language, and their tone of voice to judge if they're telling the truth or not. Using your instincts to guess correctly gets the person to open up more, giving you the information you need. If you get it wrong, they shut you down and you're out of luck. The technology used for facial expressions gives you a lot of leeway to truly spot the shifty-eyed or nervous liars just like in real life.
Comment

Con
 The finale is bland

After all the excitement and gritty realism in the story, the final mission and the ending are a real drag in comparison. The momentum from the plot gets sucked out at the end as you play through an uninspired and predictable sequence of events. It looks too much like the developers phoned this part in for the sake of having an ending that wraps up everything nicely.
Comment

Con
 Not a lot to do in the big open world

L.A. Noire's open world in Los Angeles is huge, but there isn't much to do in it. There's a bunch of space that's just there for the sake of it. Sure, you can take on really short cases as side missions that you find around the map, like taking out bad guys that are about to rob a place, though that's about all you can do. Including period piece locations like jazzy clubs or laid-back diners to visit whenever could have been a lot of fun.
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Pro
 Graphical animation is great

The technical ability of the game to show smooth animations for hand drawn sprite based graphics is far and above many games of similar style of a handheld game. Definitely one of the best animated games to be released on the DS.
Comment

Pro
 Allows for a lot of experimentation

The puzzles in the game require the user to experiment with different ways to solve them as not every scenario is obvious. This makes for lengthy gameplay as the game needs a lot of trial an error in order to advance the story.
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Con
 Text heavy

There is a lot of text dialogue in the game which breaks up the gameplay quite often. For those that would like to get to the meat of the game the constant interruptions can be frustrating.
Comment

Pro
 Easy to navigate

The whole game is laid out in an intuitive manner, from the menus to traversing each level. What's more the player is able to easily see where they need to go through highlighted objects on the map as well as receive hints when stuck.
Comment

Con
 Could be more challenging

Traditionally point and click adventure games have a difficult edge to their puzzles but sadly Detective Grimoire contains puzzles that are often easy, making for not much of a challenge for those that are fans of the genre.
Comment

Pro
 Well written and acted

The characters are fleshed out well through good writing and great voice acting, which makes for an immersive experience that feels believable even though the games story is a bit outlandish.
Comment

Con
 Poor mix of easy children aimed content and an adult theme of murder

The games looks may appeal to children but sadly the content contained withing revolves around murder, which is not much of a kid friendly topic.
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Pro
 Fascinating premise of pitting characters against each other to break them psychologically

The Danganronpa games have a wacky but intriguing setup: locking a dozen or so students in a school together, and forcing them to kill each other in order to be allowed to leave. The twist is that the murderer can only leave if they are not discovered during a class trial. It's really messed up to watch the lengths the school's "headmaster" goes to in their efforts to drive the students insane and force them to kill their friends. At the same time, you get to know a lot about these individuals in seeing just how far they go to scheme and murder each other, all while attempting to cover up their tracks so as to not get found out.
Comment

Pro
 Engaging murder investigations and class trials

Once a group of students discovers a dead body, the "headmaster" declares that it's time for the investigation period. This leads you to a series of events where you search around the crime scene and any other relevant locations in a point-and-click style to find clues about the murder. After collecting all of the evidence, you then move to a courtroom where you have to sort through your classmates' lies and biases to solve the mystery. Every phrase your classmates say show up on the screen as text, and it's up to you to use your "truth bullets", meaning your clues from the investigation, to shoot down anyone's lies or falsehoods to move the trial forward. There are also a few other mini-games that help you figure out the facts, like a cool rhythm game where you have to shoot someone's lies on-screen in-time with the beat. Your closing argument has you put together the missing pieces of a comic book that shows the whole murder and cover-up, from start to finish, using pieces of evidence you uncovered, letting you see everything that used to be unclear. You then get to watch as the murderer gets punished in a creative and twisted way.
Comment

Con
 Danganronpa 2 spoils the first game right from the start

Be careful if you decide to play this game before Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, the first installment. There are spoilers right off the bat, mostly involving certain characters from the first game. This technically is a standalone game since you don't need to know any information from Trigger Happy Havoc, but just in case you end up liking the series, it helps to start fresh from the first entry.
Comment

Pro
 Diverse cast of crazy but entertaining characters

There's a great variety of characters here, each with their own quirks and specialties. Every student is a prodigy, or an Ultimate something, such as the Ultimate Programmer, the Ultimate Yakuza, the Ultimate Fashionista, the Ultimate Swordswoman, the Ultimate Affluent Prodigy, and plenty more. And the so-called headmaster is a talking stuffed bear named Monokuma who delights in driving the students crazy enough to murder each other. You can get to know the students as your friends by hanging out with them on your free time and giving them gifts. A lot of them have over-the-top, outrageous personalities that make them fun to be around, and their banter during cutscenes can be pretty hilarious sometimes with the way they argue and snipe at each other. Their specialties tie into the murder mysteries in interesting ways as well, so it's worth it to keep track of what everyone's best at.
Comment

Pro
 Catchy music with an experimental sound

The soundtrack is addictive to listen to and doesn't get old. It's a good mix of different sounds, like pop, rock, trip-hop, and electronica, put together to make songs that don't really sound like any single genre. Even though it doesn't sound all that familiar, the tracks somehow manage to fit every single situation quite well. You won't hear anything like it outside of this game series.
Comment

Pro
 Stylish visuals

Right from the title screen, all the artful details in the game really pop out at you. The colorful UI, the style of text during class trials, and the quirky but interesting character designs are all unique and pleasing to the eye. The cast all have such different hair and eye colors, helping you tell everyone apart and remember who they are. Everything looks amazing and quite impressive.
Comment

Con
 Some of the characters' over-the-top personalities can get exhausting

While the cast of characters never seem to run out of energy, their non-stop bickering and strangeness can wear you down over the course of the game. Not everyone is a chatterbox, but the ones who are never seem to shut up, and can end up turning you off after a while. You may even find yourself feeling relieved once a particularly annoying character gets killed off.
Comment

Con
 The class trials tend to hold your hand to help you solve the murders

During the trials, there's one specific character who tries to steer your thinking in the right direction. There are plot-related reasons for why it is always this character, but their efforts tend to undermine whatever thinking you arrive to on your own. What's worse, the investigation period before the trials doesn't allow you to draw any definite, evidence-based conclusions about who the culprit(s) is/are on your own. This means that you have to rely on this particular character to guide you to the right answer during the trial itself.
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Pro
 Interesting art style

Using a dot matrix art style sets the game apart in looks from just about anything made before. A throwback to classic games but rendered in a 3D modern view.
Comment

Con
 Not released yet

While a demo is available the game is still in heavy development and no release date has yet to be set.
Comment

Pro
 Twist to the normal detective story

The base of the game is that the player must solve their own murder, making for something a bit different from the normal fair of a detective game.
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Con
 Environments are very confined

The environments in game only differ sightly and are pretty limited in the scope that they can be explored. For a "sandbox" game the sandbox is pretty small.
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Pro
 Easily played on most platforms

Available on the PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One allows one to choose their favorite platform to play on.
Comment

Pro
 Great Characters

A good murder mystery has to have great characters and this one does. I guarantee you'll walk away loving at least one of them and they've even made a virtual idol out of one the characters as a promotional event on youtube. That idol is A-Set.
Comment

Con
 Action Sequences are Not Done Well

It's nice that the game tries to spice up the story by adding action sequences which are just quick time events; however, every single one of them (except for the last one) is overly silly and relies on the same continuous joke which ruins the serious moments.
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Pro
 Can easily use community content

Supports community made content such as maps, which expands the gameplay.
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Pro
 Fun with friends

You can mess around with friends as the mod supports asynchronous gameplay with multiple people. One player is the murderer while all other players have to figure out who the murderer is. This makes for a good group game to play with friends.
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Con
 No storyline

There is no story what so ever, which may not appeal to some.
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Pro
 Two games in one for extended gameplay

Dangan Ronpa 1.2 Reload is a combination of two previous games in the series called Dangan Ronpa: Academy of Hope and High School Students of Despair and Super Dangan Ronpa 2: Farewell Despair Academy which makes for a lengthy game as well as a definitive purchase.
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Con
 Japanese only

A PS Vita game that is only available in Japan would need to be imported for non Japanese players to play it. Some understanding of how to read Japanese would also be a hurdle to overcome.
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