Brother and sister, can I have a minute to tell you more about our fantastic SHUTEN ORDER?
Brother and sister, can I have a minute to tell you more about our fantastic SHUTEN ORDER?
Do you want to be part of a group free of prejudice, where you can be yourself? Do you want to enjoy an adventure told through five different game styles ranging from mystery to romance and even stealth? Do you want to see the latest twisted story from the creator of Danganronpa? If so, come and enjoy a “Happy New End” by solving a wild mystery and learning what it truly means to be a member of the SHUTEN ORDER.
Happy New End!
The protagonist, Rei, wakes up one day with no memories of her past until two very sketchy characters appear and claim that she has died. They tell her she has four days to find her killer or she will die for real. They also claim that the main suspects are the five ministers of the SHUTEN ORDER, the group that controls the nation of Shuten. There is one more detail. Apparently, she is the Founder of the SHUTEN ORDER, which makes her the most important person in the country. The five ministers are supposed to be her closest allies.
The Founder.
While Rei is confused and hesitant to trust these strangers, she has no other source of information, so she decides to investigate her own murder. Since time is limited, she must choose one of the five ministers to fully investigate and hope that she has made the right choice.
Might as well go with the flow…
At this point the game presents the player with five different gameplay styles, one for each minister. I found this type of storytelling to be very fun since it feels like experiencing five different adventures within one game.
Love the art direction!
Although the story as a whole is fantastic and the art direction is consistently great, it makes sense to look at each route separately because the gameplay changes so much. Since the game structure is unconventional, this review will be unconventional too and will dedicate a section to each route. The order reflects how I played them, although players can choose any sequence and still enjoy the mystery of this unique story.
Prime numbers!
Romance Adventure (?)
I enjoy dating sims, so this was an easy first choice. The little question mark in the description intrigued me because I expected a twist on the usual tropes, and that did happen. If you expect something major like the twist in “Doki Doki Literature Club,” you will be disappointed. Still, it is not a typical dating sim for better or worse.
… and the guy is Ten.
As a fan of the genre, I felt slightly let down because the dating elements were very light and sometimes felt like a parody. On the other hand, this probably improves accessibility since the game never leans too heavily into romance, allowing any player to enjoy the story.
So many!
Rei has to choose among three girls and get a confession before her time limit in order to persuade the Minister of Education to reveal information about the Founder’s murder. Over the course of three days, she gets several chances to win the girls over.
Gameplay is harmless.
Overall, this was my third favorite route. It contains the only major plot twist I failed to predict and was a fantastic introduction to the world and to the SHUTEN ORDER.
Love Events!
Stealth Action Horror
I hate horror, so I chose this route second to get it out of the way. This turned out to be a great decision since the horror elements were light and manageable. Even so, this was my least favorite route of the five.
My only highlight, gameplay-wise, in this route.
Rei teams up with the Minister of Security to track down a serial killer. She soon finds herself trapped in multiple locations where she must use stealth to escape the murderer while solving light puzzles.
Minister of Security
I was never scared, and I scare easily. Only one puzzle stood out as truly enjoyable. Although the route expands the worldbuilding in interesting ways, the gameplay was too weak to make it memorable.
Mirrors were very important.
Multi-Perspective Novel
Golden. Simply great. This route could have been a standalone game. While it is shorter than a full novel, the story it tells is touching and wonderfully presented, even without considering its connection to the larger plot.
Please, tell us more about deliquescence.
A terrorist attack on a research facility must be stopped before the Minister of Science will comment on the Founder’s death. Rei joins forces with several characters to handle the threat.
The “thing” was really, really important.
The story unfolds across multiple points of view. Choices made with one character can affect another character’s progress. It is extremely fun to see different outcomes, and the route excels at surprising you just when you think the end is near.
Love the different perspectives.
The supporting cast here is the strongest in the game. Arale, Ku, and Teko are multidimensional, with detailed backstories and excellent character development. Arale was my favorite secondary character.
Yes, let’s do “it”.
Mystery Adventure
The best praise I can give this route is that it felt like an Ace Attorney case. The murder mystery is cleverly constructed, the characters are quirky, and collecting evidence to later present in a trial is engaging.
Solemnity.
Right from the start I suspected this would be a top two route for me. The Minister of Justice is arguably the most interesting character in the game after the Founder. He is flawed yet committed to justice, funny yet serious when needed, aloof yet engaged, and extremely underrated in Shuten despite being very smart.
Another very interesting character.
The gameplay consists of visiting crime scenes, gathering evidence, interviewing people of interest, and solving contradictions. As in the Minister of Security route, the story content mostly expands your understanding of the world. Most details about the Founder’s murder are revealed at the beginning, so you can focus on the route’s internal mystery and enjoy it fully.
Wise words.
Extreme Escape Adventure
This was my biggest disappointment. It was not my least favorite route because I enjoyed most of the puzzles, yet much of the gameplay was dull. You spend a lot of time wandering through empty hallways hoping to find a door that contains a puzzle.
Mmm, I actually picked you last…
The puzzles involve placing pieces on a grid or connecting dots by matching colors, but there are no accessibility options for color-blind players. There is only one true escape room. While it is mostly fun, it also contains an awful puzzle that took me half an hour to solve and nearly ruined the momentum.
I. Hate. You.
To be fair, maybe the puzzle was simple and I just approached it poorly. As a mathematician, I used a logical and systematic method, yet my progress was painfully slow. What made this more frustrating was that the story at that point was extremely engaging, and I was eager to learn what happened next.
I don’t.
Rei and the Minister of Health finally get close to discovering why twenty-one people, including themselves, were kidnapped and forced into a death game. The reveal is fantastic and the connections to the main plot are among the strongest, on par with the major twist in the Education route. Unfortunately, the gameplay lets the route down a bit.
I like you.
After the routes
Once you complete all five routes, you piece together what really happened and solve the central mystery. The ending drags slightly, yet it is very well written, with solid logic and many emotional moments. Every question receives a satisfying answer, and the links between gameplay and story are unexpected but subtly foreshadowed.
Suuuuuure…
The music is good, sometimes reminiscent of Danganronpa or The Hundred Day Academy. Each route ends with a classical music piece that fits the setting perfectly. The art direction is spectacular and varied. There are a few minor typos, which is understandable for such a lengthy script. Finally, the performance is almost flawless, with only occasional stuttering.
Sherlock Holmes!
Summary
SHUTEN ORDER is twisted, engaging, and more than the sum of its parts. Some sections have weak gameplay, yet the story never stops being intriguing, and the setting is unique and wonderfully strange. The storytelling is masterful and the reveals, no matter how surprising, are always cleverly foreshadowed.
