Perceptions of the Dead 2, Episode 2, 3 & 4 Review (Visual Novel DLC)

Perceptions of the Dead 2, released on Steam on June 2018, is a light-horror visual novel by Ithaqua Labs, a team whose titles stand out from the usual output of Western VN studios through their unique, vibrant artstyle and full voice acting. Soon after the game’s initial release, I’ve reviewed its then-available first chapter, Misty Mournings. It was an hour and a half piece of content tying together all the stories and characters from the first, freeware Perception of the Dead, with the main storyline revolving around nulls – mysterious ghost-devouring creatures that pose a mortal threat to both spirits and human mediums. This, however, was meant to be only the beginning of the game’s story, with three more chapters promised in the Kickstarter campaign and scheduled for release over the next year. With the fourth story, House Haunting, now available and Perceptions of the Dead 2 experience complete, I’ve decided to revisit the game and take a closer look at all that additional content. Did it maintain the positive impression I’ve got from the first chapter?

 

The game’s unique artstyle and creative visual design are still among its greatest assets

 

Perceptions of the Dead is a strange series in that it’s made of relatively short episodes telling interconnected, but ultimately self-contained stories with a very limited overarching narrative. While some could expect that to change with Perceptions of the Dead 2, a larger and commercially-oriented project (while the first game was more or less a collection of Ithaqua Labs’ early works in a shared universe), the new chapters also take their own paths, exploring the game’s world and characters only in vague connection to the events of the initial story, Misty Mournings. Episode 2, Undercover Undead, features a brief section exploring the fallout of the previous events, but focuses on Jill and Tyrone investigating disturbing paranormal phenomena in a sleepy town. This leads them to infiltrating a local high school and discovering a threat way over their expectations. It is also the first time Tulip, the ghost of a teenager which haunts Tyrone, plays a major role, and the largest of new chapters – over an hour of reading with significant branching paths. Episode 3, Garage Reverie, features Jill talking at her home’s garage with her childhood friend. This gives us the opportunity to learn about her backstory and the ways she copes with the discovery of the supernatural world turning her life upside-down. Episode 4, House Haunting, briefly explores the developing relationship between Marcus and Ripley, the other major characters of the series, and reveals the true origins and nature of nulls. Those last two offer around 30 minutes of content, making all the post-launch chapters together offer a similar amount of reading as the game’s initial build.

The overacted VA and annoying personality of Tulip take quite a lot of appeal from the second story, but is the only major issue I had with the new chapters

 

While, at this point, I could complain about lack of any grand narrative within PotD2, the episodes themselves are rather enjoyable and it’s hard to not appreciate the variety they offer – from the genuinely-interesting mystery plot of the second episode to the long, nostalgic dialogue sections of the third one, pretty much everything the game has to offer is enjoyable in its own unique ways and adds to our understanding of its world and characters. Jill and Tyrone and still very good protagonists, both likeable and relatable despite their involvement with the supernatural. Art is still a joy to look at and is often used in a way atypical for VNs – for example, Garage Reverie uses panoramic, mildly animated drawings and comic-book-like dialogue clouds to present the conversation between Jill and her friend. More dramatic scenes are often portrayed with interesting visual tricks and distorted images fitting the mild Lovecraftian theme of the game. Voice acting is top-notch as always, with one glaring exception – Tulip, whose lines are nearly universally overacted and annoying. This was at least partially by design, as her dialogue makes it clear the writers wanted her to appear as an irritating brat over-the-top obsessed with Tyrone, but the substance of her lines could easily communicate that without making them unbearable. This contrasts strongly with the overall very solid direction of the voice acting and leaves a very unfortunate taint on my whole impression from PotD2’s new content – the role Tulip plays in Chapter 2 is crucial, especially in one of the story branches, making it significantly less enjoyable. I’m still surprised that a studio with such a strong record in this department let something like this slip through.

The length of the second and fourth episodes might be disappointing, but all four stories together create a rather compelling experience and a good value proposition

 

In the end, though, I think the new content for Perceptions of the Dead 2 offers some very solid additions, making the game and overall satisfying and well-priced package (currently sitting at $7.99 on Steam). It’s still a very unique and peculiar title that might not fit into people’s expectations: it plays on horror tropes and contain some grim/disturbing moments, but is ultimately fun and light-hearted (and distinctly colourful when it goes to visuals). It also puts quality over quantity, making even the really short episodes work thanks to their unique style and well-written stories. The 3-4 hours of reading time for the whole game might seem like relatively little, but most of what is in there is way more memorable and fresh-feeling than your usual EVN content. Of course, I can’t completely ignore the tiny length of the final two episodes and the aforementioned problems with the VA, thus making my final score for PotD2 new episodes slightly lower than the one I gave to the initial release – however, I still wholeheartedly recommend giving it a chance, especially if Lovecraftian themes and horror-comedy are something you usually enjoy.

Final Score: 3/5

Pros:

+ More of great artwork and fun, creepy story

+ Interesting and varied storytelling

 

Cons:

- Tulip’s VA

- Short episodes with little overarching narrative

VNDB Page

Buy Perceptions of the Dead 2 on Steam or Itch.io