游乐园逃脱恐怖视觉小说《1999 Tokoyo Building》推出 Steam 试玩版

Publisher Kodansha Game Creator’s Lab and Japanese indie studio TOKOYO FUDOSAN have released a demo for the upcoming amusement park escape horror visual novel, 1999 Tokoyo Building. The full game is set to release on November 10 via Steam.

Set toward the end of the 20th century, 1999 Tokoyo Building follows Akira Hiruyuki, an amnesiac boy who finds himself forced to work at the titular Tokoyo Building after getting caught stealing by the owner (Akira happens to be very good at lockpicking). Tokoyo Building is a run-down indoor amusement park surrounded by a massive water tank. While the place has seen better days and is rumored to make people disappear, it remains open thanks to its live-in staff.

As it turns out, all of Akira’s fellow staff at Tokoyo Building are dangerous individuals. From a performer dressed like Count Dracula to Tokoyoman (the park’s resident tokusatsu mascot), each individual has their own dark secrets they would rather keep hidden. To avoid meeting an untimely death (and to gain some leverage on his coworkers), Akira uses his lockpicking skills to break into his colleagues’ rooms and learn their secrets. He uses this information to foster relationships with the staff members, with his end goal being to escape Tokoyo Building.

Gameplay alternates between point-and-click exploration segments and visual novel-style story sections. During exploration, you use your lockpicking skills to sneak into your coworkers’ private rooms. Once inside, you search the low-poly-style, 360-degree environments for clues that uncover various secrets, which will hopefully help you in conversations.

In the visual novel sections, you talk to your coworkers and make appropriate choices. The characters’ reactions change depending on your responses, and you can fail conversations by upsetting them even a little. Knowing too little about them gives you no leverage whatsoever, while knowing too much could get you found out. It seems that the trick is knowing what and how much to divulge to your coworkers so you can learn more about them. Provided you establish a good enough relationship with them, your coworkers will slowly confide in you about their worries and suffering.

1999 Tokoyo Building’s anime-like characters are animated using Live2D. The game’s music, produced by “and Roger” composer Yasuhiro Nakashima, continuously shifts based on Akira’s changing emotions. The developers warn for depictions of violence, frightening scenes, and suicide.

The newly released demo includes the entire first chapter, which takes roughly two hours to complete. It has not been confirmed if progress from the demo will carry over to the full game.

1999 Tokoyo Building is set to release on November 10 for Windows (Steam).

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