Anima Mundi: Dark Alchemist (Hirameki International Group Inc. 2006) is a Japanese gothic horror game targeted to girls, or to be more exact, interactive visual novel giving a player change to influence how the events progress. It is very similar to Fighting Fantasy game books published in 80’s. In the beginning choices offered to a player are very scarce: Later on there are more choices after Georik (the player character or protagonist) is introduced to alchemy–the forbidden art: to search material, do research, buy materials, or to go to library. How the game progress is determined by the choices the player makes (including how alchemy research progress). Anima Mundi is like puzzle where one tries to find right combination of choices that lead to a good ending.
Anima Mundi is charming and engaging game–despite that you need to be ready to sit back and watch how situation evolve after making choices. Minuses are also that some twists are quite predictable and there are some inconsistencies.
I also bought Chain: The Lost Footprints (ZyX Inc., 2003). It is a hard-boiled suspense dating sim game, where a player takes a role of private detective who has been hired to investigate extramarital affairs. I need to find time to play it…
Petri Lankoski 