Kotodama: The 7 Mysteries of Fujisawa is an aesthetically stunning adventure game published by PQube Limited and developed by Art Co. Ltd. It is a mystery visual novel that will have you investigating across seven chapters. Each chapter features a character who hides the truth to one of the seven mysteries. It is up to you to strip your target naked—literally and figuratively—to expose the truth behind the lies. The game is crossed with a match-3 genre and uses your power of puzzle-solving to progress. Nothing is as it seems in this game. It intentionally plays on classic topes and clichés to further twist the story and surprise its players. 

Dark, Strange, and Silly

Kotodama: The 7 Mysteries of Fujisawa introduces you to a fictional institution in Japan, called Fujisawa Academy, where every student hides a dark secret. In this game, you will play as a nameless new student who, after making a pact with a demon fox, must uncover the sinister truth behind the schools seemingly normal façade. You will need to chat with the characters, uncover clues, and eventually confront each of the chapter’s antagonist so they’ll tell you the truth.

And how will you force them to tell the truth, you ask? By literally stripping them naked, and this is where the match-3 puzzle segment comes in. By matching three or more orbs horizontally and vertically, you can uncover not only the truth but the student as well. There is no full nudity in the game, so you don’t need to worry unless that’s what you want.

And as if the strip puzzle segment is not weird enough, the game is filled with awkward tonal shifts. The scenes change so fast you will jump from animal abuse to violin practice to suicide without preamble. The game progresses in a breakneck speed, with each chapter lasting no more than ten to fifteen minutes.

All in all, the game comes with a lacking and seriously super weird storyline. But what would piss the players more is the fact that there is no autosave and failing a match-3 section sends you back at the beginning of the game.