THE MIDNIGHT SANCTUARY Review for Nintendo Switch

Normally, I’d start off by talking about the stuff like release date, or developers, or what have you, but this time I’m just going to cut straight to the point: The Midnight Sanctuary from Sony publishing label UNTIES and developer CAVYHOUSE (Japanese)is one of the worst games I’ve ever played. I’d put it on the same level as games like Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing, if I’m being honest. But…one step at a time.

The game is set to release on October 4^th, and is essentially a point and click adventure game, where you select items on a menu to advance the story. Now, as for the story in particular, it left me feeling very…bored, by the end of the experience. The game is very heavily rooted in Christianity, even mentioning it and God by name, and having stand-ins for Jesus and Satan. Needless to say, I’m sure the story itself has meat beyond a standard “God/Jesus is good, Devil is bad” storyline, and indeed there is a twist on this later in the game, but not only is the twist itself very played out (which I won’t say so as to not spoil the experience), but the story itself simply didn’t engage me. Firstly, all the dialogue is in Japanese, with no option to change the text language. So if you can’t understand hiragana, you won’t be able to even understand the words the characters are speaking without the convenient subtitles. Granted, I’m rather happy that there are subtitles to begin with, but it doesn’t change the fact that all the Japanese characters don’t have much in the way of voice differentiation, meaning that all of the characters somewhat blend together.

Now, as for the characters themselves, they’re alright. Hamomoru is pretty much your standard klutzy, yet pure anime girl, Jyuan Daiusu is somewhat stoic but hides secrets behind his façade of imperiousness, Eku Tarao is rather quirky and off-putting at first but reveals herself as a kinder soul later on, and the Saint who rescues people from their torment and turns them into the Dead is rather silent at first until the endgame. There is one more major character, but he appears quite late so I won’t say anything about him.

You might have noticed that I didn’t really mention the gameplay all that much, and…there’s a reason for that. I pretty much described the gameplay in one sentence. It’s a point and click adventure. You select locations on a town map and watch cutscenes. Once the cutscene is done, you click on another location and do the same thing. Repeat ad nauseum until you’re done with the game. You might think I’m exaggerating, but no, that is all I did for the 5 hour adventure. Yes, this is a 5 HOUR game where all you do is select menu icons. Absolutely riveting. And this is the second reason the story didn’t entertain me, I didn’t have to put any effort into actually finishing the main quest. In games like Danganronpa and Ace Attorney, which have a similar point-and-click feel, they at least require you to do tasks like solving court cases and murder mysteries using the evidence gathered in the cutscenes, so they keep the player engaged the entire time. The Midnight Sanctuary does not do this, and ultimately is the game’s fatal flaw.

As for the presentation, it is rather unique. The game has a style very similar to the first season of Roosterteeth’s hit show, RWBY, in that the characters don’t have outlines and the unnamed characters look like colored people with no distinct skin features aside from their cloaks. However, the game does have a unique edge in combining this style with tapestry patterns, using pure tapestry for the loading screens and any non-human graphical effect, meaning that sometimes the tapestry artwork can even appear on the human models themselves! It is admittedly rather disorienting at first, but overtime I grew to really like it. The music is also rather solid, having a holy vibe befitting the game’s religious overtones, but also carrying a faint air of dread, while simultaneously sounding very relaxing. It’s a very good ambient soundtrack.

Overall, though, these positives don’t mask the fact that The Midnight Sanctuary barely qualifies as a game. If I didn’t have to review the game, I would have stopped at the 1 hour mark, because at that point you’ve pretty much seen everything the game has to offer. I don’t foresee myself ever touching this game again, but I did get it for free so I can’t say I’m too miffed. That being said, if you still REALLY want the game despite all I’ve said, please wait until it’s about 2 dollars or less. Any more than that is a rip-off of the highest caliber. Also try to play it in VR or Oculus Rift if you can, as that adds a bit more interactivity to make the game a little more interesting, even though I unfortunately could not.

Check Out The Midnight Sanctuary Trailer:

The Midnight Sanctuary arrives on Nintendo Switch, PS4, PSVR, and Steam on Oct. 4. VR support will curse Steam later. There is a free demo on Steam right now.