If you could read minds, how would you feel about the people around you? That question kicks off the unsettling story of Sister Other Paranoia, a short visual novel that pulls the player into its protagonist’s dark and cynical mindset.
I love visual novels, and when I heard about Sister Other Paranoia, I was immediately intrigued. The main character is Hasuya, a young writer who can read people’s thoughts. This isn’t presented as a supernatural ability, but rather a sort of hyper-sensitivity that lets him intuit what people are thinking by observing them. His ability torments him and leaves him isolated, because he sees everyone’s dark side, from their insecurities to their ulterior motives. At the same time, however, he uses this knowledge to manipulate people. An early scene sees him use it to drive a classmate to suicide after he upset Hasuya’s little sister, Sahana.
Sahana is the only person Hasuya really cares about. He sees her as pure and kind, in contrast to his increasingly misanthropic view toward the rest of humanity. Meanwhile, she often offers a rational balance to his extreme views of the world and suggests motives for his behavior that he’s lying about even to himself. Sahana is even more isolated than he is, and they often express the idea of living in a world where only the two of them exist. Now, a story with that sort of premise raises certain questions, so let’s get it out of the way: there are no incestuous themes or implications in Sister Other Paranoia. In fact, although Sahana plays an important role, she doesn’t even feature as heavily as I expected.
After the opening scenes set the stage, you’re able to choose between stories to follow different aspects of Hasuya’s life. For example, one story follows his interactions with his co-worker at his part-time job, while another deals with his parents’ crumbling relationship. Each has multiple scenes, and you can follow one to its conclusion or switch between them. In between these scenes, there is dialogue between Hasuya and Sahana, as well as short animated clips of her. This helps to establish her as an important part of his life, but unfortunately it never quite felt real to me. She’s a genius, which can justify her dialogue not sounding childlike, but she often feels more like a plot device to contrast Hasuya’s views than an actual character. However, maybe that’s intentional. Maybe Hasuya’s idealized view of his sister prevents him from seeing her as a nuanced person, while he’s quick to see everyone else’s flaws.
Following the viewpoint of a misanthropic protagonist like Hasuya can be disturbing. He’s so cynical and pretentious that you might start to question if his views are meant to be taken as objective fact or if we’re seeing his delusions instead. The same is true of his powers. Reading people’s minds and seeing such jealousy, hatred, and insecurity all the time would lead one to resent them, but is that what happened to him, or is it the other way around? Does Hasuya’s ability to read minds fuel his cynicism, or does his cynicism make him assume he knows what people are thinking? The longer I read, the more I questioned that, and it made the unfolding tragedy even more interesting. I love that sort of thing, where I can’t fully trust that the information being given to me is objective fact.
Sister Other Paranoia is a short visual novel that lasts only a few hours. It includes minimal gameplay elements, such as clicking certain elements of a scene to get Hasuya’s thoughts on them, and it’s largely a kinetic novel without branching paths. Despite that, I wish it was more upfront about its controls. I hit every key trying to open the menu before I discovered you need to hover near the top of the screen to access it.
Meanwhile, everything from the disturbing visuals to the dissonant soundtrack contributes to the sense of unease and delusion. Sister Other Paranoia features heavy content such as suicide and murder, including visual depictions, with an oppressive tone that feels over-the-top when paired with its protagonist’s cynical views. It also has some sexual themes, though none of that is shown on-screen. Now, for as bleak and dark as the story is, there is actually a happier “true ending” hidden away. I didn’t even realize it existed until I noticed I was missing scenes in the gallery, but I don’t mind that approach. I wish the true ending had been fleshed out in more detail, but it brings a refreshing touch of hope to its dark narrative. Overall, I found it to be a nice way to bring the story to a conclusion.
Good
The Final Word
Sister Other Paranoia might come across as edgy, especially as it pulls you into the paranoid mind of its main protagonist, but it raises interesting questions about how we see the world and perceive the people around us. Bleak at times, depressing at others, it nevertheless holds onto a spark of hope that makes it an enjoyable, albeit strange and unsettling, journey.
