Jisei: The First Case HD from SakeVisual Games and Ratalaika Games is a visual novel in which you try to solve a murder mystery in a cafe. Learn more in our Jisei: The First Case HD review!

A teenager with no name and no home wanders from one city to the next, burdened by the weight of his extraordinary ability. When he is accused of murdering a woman that he’s never met, he sets out to prove his innocence and find the true killer. The investigation quickly takes a turn for the complicated when a strange voice appears in his head, warning him to watch his step.

 

Jisei is a game that was released a good while ago on PC and is the first entry in the series to make its way to the PlayStation 4. During this journey, it ended up getting the HD treatment and is now available for everyone to play on our favorite console! Jisei: The First Case HD is a visual novel in which you are trying to solve a murder mystery that happened in the café while you were taking a nap. After being the one that discovered a body, you’re immediately considered as the main suspect. There also happened to be a detective at the café at the time of the discovery. Your quest will be to clear your name before it’s too late.

As it turns out, you’ll have to do most of the research to clear your name and solve the mystery. You’ll have to move to the very few different available areas, piecing together the information found and reporting your findings to the detective. Speaking of which, one of the things to draws suspicion onto Jisei is how he refuses to say his name in the game, being nameless from beginning to end.

 

Jisei also has a bit of a special power: he can sense when someone nearby has died, and if he manages to touch the body, he can “feel” and understand how that person died, which is definitively helpful for this first game in the series, since you’ll be working on solving a murder mystery. Speaking of the story, I need to mention that the scope is a bit short, and a single run will last you an hour and change at most.

Gameplay-wise, and being a visual novel, the story unfolds through a lot of text in front of your eyes. You’ll sometimes have multiple choices to make at different moments of the story, and the choices you make will dictate the outcome of the story. You might find different clues that will send you down different paths as you try to find the one who committed the murder. Towards the end of the game, you are asked to solve the mystery, so by then, you hopefully have enough clues in the game to answer.

As for the presentation, the background graphics were beautifully crafted, although there aren’t many areas for you to visit, and the different characters are also very well drawn. I thought that at times the voice acting felt a bit off, but it isn’t a deal-breaker. The opening theme is hand-drawn, and the game also has a nice soundtrack.

As for the trophies, playing the game normally should net you a Platinum trophy in roughly 2 hours while exploring the different choices that take you down different story paths. The game has 1 Silver and 11 Gold trophies on your path towards that new Platinum trophy for your collection, so its a rather short list.

 

Should you buy this game? If you’re a fan of visual novels, then you should know I did like the story, but I thought it was a rather short experience that will last you less than an hour for your first run. Do know that the game is available as a budget release for only $4.99.

To help trophy hunters out there, here’s a helpful trophy guide for Jisei: The First Case HD:

Disclaimer
This Jisei: The First Case HD review is based on a PlayStation 4 copy provided by Ratalaika Games.