Shuten Order is an action-adventure game developed by Nelio Inc. and published by EXNOA LLC and Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd. You are a recently revived person who is tasked with finding your murderer in a few days. There are five suspects, and who you choose to investigate can drastically change gameplay. Take what you learn from each suspect to piece together the real truth of your death.
Having five different stories with vastly different gameplay genres adds variety to the standard visual novel presentation. The story also incentivizes you with facts that don’t line up to finish every story route. Each route lasts a few hours, and you must finish it entirely to fully understand the story. The varied gameplay also makes the story feel unfocused, leaving its biggest revelations towards the end. Shuten Order has a grand plan, but it relies on you fully playing to the end. Without it, this game’s potential never appears.
The premise of Shuten Order is that the Founder of the titular organization has been killed. They revive and take on the name “Rei Shimobe” after being briefed by two angels. Someone murdered them and there are five suspects belonging to the highest echelons of the organization. You must investigate the leaders and figure out who killed you. Along the way, the truth moves in various directions, forcing you to reconsider who’s actually on your side.
Each route presents a different look at the suspect, doing a deep dive that complicates your original suspicions. This drives you to complete all the routes because you need all the information. You can’t help but feel curious to know how the story ends and what the actual truth is. Players who can’t resist a good mystery will find it difficult to put down the game because you can’t shake the feeling that something’s wrong.
However, this hook comes with a double-edged sword. This isn’t a story that you can drop midway and retain a strong grasp on the plot. You must play this game from start to finish to fully understand everything that’s going on. This may lead to fatigue because at some point you just want to know the answers to the biggest mysteries. However, you can’t confirm anything until the end.
This isn’t helped by the fact that each story route has a storyline that isn’t relevant to your character’s main goals. While you are undercover and trying to investigate, there are several subplots thrown at you. These subplots pay off later, but it takes a long time. You shouldn’t rush a story, but it feels like the stories could include more elements relating to the main plot. Otherwise, it feels like five separate stories with a weak connection.
Shuten Order calls itself an action-adventure game, but retains strong visual novel elements. Each story route has a different gameplay genre to stand out. One is a detective game, while another takes inspiration from survival horror. They all keep their visual novel roots but delve into each genre to create something entirely different. Instead of going through several paragraphs of text, you can look for clues or solve puzzles to progress.
This unique take keeps gameplay fresh and appealing since you are curious to see how the game approaches the genres. No route shares the same genre, giving you an additional incentive to see how events play out. Unlike mini-games that provide a nice distraction, these routes make you approach situations differently instead of reading. You actually feel like you have some control and that immerses you in the story.
Despite the genre variety, the execution isn’t as great. For example, instructions or help guides may not fully inform you of what you must do. Clues can also be lacking at times, leading to situations where you get stumped and are unable to proceed. It feels like artificial difficulty to extend the game length rather than situations where quick thinking saves the day. Without a guide, you may struggle to proceed in some areas.
The Nintendo Switch 2 also picks up some grammatical errors, and there are times speech bubbles don’t fit the screen. While these are minor issues, they are prominent enough that you can’t ignore them. With extra time, the issues can be fixed, but it does give the feeling that the project was rushed.
Shuten Order innovates on the visual novel formula to deliver a mystery that’s hard to put down. Giving you different gameplay variations keeps things fresh and entertaining. You can’t drop the story halfway, and the routes have several subplots that deviate from the main story. This is a game whose story only works if you remember all the details and stay to the end. If you can do that, you won’t find a more unique visual novel experience.
Victor reviewed Shuten Order on Nintendo Switch 2 with a provided review copy.
