It’s been three million days since Lady Love Dies has left the Idle Lands. To her, the next day would simply be three million and one days but on sequence 24 it was the day before Paradise reached perfection. Unfortunately for the inhabitants of Paradise perfection was never achieved thanks to the murder of The Council. Called upon by the Judge, Lady Love Dies, a “freak” investigator is brought on to figure out who killed The Council and prevented Paradise from reaching perfection.
Taking on the role of Lady Love Dies, players will investigate the murder of the council through a series of interrogations, light puzzle solving, and carving their own way around Paradise. With “player freedom” being the design philosophy behind Kaizen Game Works, Paradise Killer’s developer, there’s very little hand-holding or railroading that happens in Paradise Killer. While the tutorials are light and the game direction is open, there’s plenty to explore on Paradise. I spent a lot of time interrogating island inhabitants but the bulk of my playtime was spent exploring. Presented in first-person, I didn’t love the minor platforming involved in getting some of the items necessary for solving some puzzles. Though the items I was going for were story-related, my progress did not seem to be hindered by not having them.
It becomes apparent very quickly that you’re being unleashed into a world with no discernable direction. I started the demo up several times and went different ways once the world opened up and was presented with only a few obstacles each time. Few games exist without rules but it felt like Kaizen was sticking to their “player freedom” guns. Though “player freedom” might be considered a detriment by some people, Paradise Killer flaunts this freedom by drilling into the player that their decisions and choices WILL affect the outcome.
Unfortunately, the Paradise Killer demo I was presented with doesn’t give me too much time in the world of Paradise. Kaizen clearly has some work left to complete the game. The story hook definitely didn’t land as hard as I would have hoped. However, between the world-building and dialogue, I have high hopes for Paradise Killer. Almost amusingly, Paradise Killer takes an artistic note from another murder-mystery visual novel with flat characters and jazzy music playing around the island. Even still, Paradise Killer looks to set its own identity through the bizarre characters and strange world concept. I can honestly say I’m looking forward to Paradise Killer’s release this summer when it releases on Steam.
