Umineko When They Cry

Released

Release Date: August 17, 2007

Adventure, Detective, Horror, 2D, Visual Novel, Episodic, Singleplayer

Umineko When They Cry is a Japanese visual novel. It tells the story of mysterious murders that took place on a private island in the 1980s. Studio 07th Expansion is responsible for the creation of the game.

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Plot
Mechanics
Technical aspects

Umineko When They Cry is an episodic adventure visual novel. The game was developed by the Japanese studio 07th Expansion, known for Higurashi When They Cry.

Plot

The action of the game takes place mainly in 1986 on the island of Rokkenjima, owned by the wealthy Ushiromiya family. On October 4, its members arrive at a residence located there to discuss the division of the property of the family's head who is already one foot in the grave. They are trapped by a storm that cuts off the island from the rest of the world. Shortly afterwards, there is a series of murders and there is much to suggest that they are somehow linked to an old legend about a witch named Beatrice.

The plot consists of several episodes and each one shows an alternative version of the events that started on October 4. The stories are interconnected and step by step reveal all the secrets of the Ushiromiya family to the player.

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Mechanics

Limited interactivity is what distinguishes Umineko When They Cry from other typical visual novels. Most episodes do not offer any possibility to influence the plot's course, presenting a completely linear story. The role of the player comes down to just following it. The fun is enriched with numerous bonus materials, which include additional information to help us understand the course of events.

The exception is the last episode of the main story, Twilight of the Golden Witch. In it, we have to make decisions from time to time that ultimately lead the story to one of the two alternative endings.

Technical aspects

The quality assessment of Umineko When They Cry is complicated, because since its release many re-releases have been published, offering very different visuals.

Umineko When They Cry debuted on PC in 2007 in Japan. The game presented simple graphics combining rather ugly two-dimensional sprites with static backgrounds made from reworked photographs. Then, thanks to Alchemist studio, the production was released on PlayStation 3, featuring completely new visuals developed for this edition, with attractive sprites of characters and backgrounds. This release was then ported to PlayStation Portable.

For a long time, Western players who did not know the Japanese language could only play an unofficial fan translation. Umineko When They Cry was officially released in English only in 2016. This version is only available on PC and offers two modes of play. The first one is identical to the original one from 2007, while the second one offers the possibility of changing the character sprites to new ones, made in a nicer style. What is interesting, however, despite similarities, these are not the same sprites as in the console edition.

The PlayStation 3 edition elements were only released to PC players in Umineko When They Cry: Gold Edition. This release enables us to switch between the original 2007 graphics and the PS3 version visuals.

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