Longes
Augur
- Joined
- Jan 13, 2013
- Messages
- 439
Over this weekend I played a 1998 eroge called "Shuusaku", and experienced a moderate amount of psychic damage. I caught a glimpse into the golden era of art, now forever gone. Know, that before there was Doki Doki Literature Club, before there was YOU and ME and HER: A Love Story, before there even was Spec-Ops: The Line - there was Shuusaku. Japanese porn games have turned to making deconstructive meta art over a decade before the rest of the industry caught up.
I went into the game completely blind, knowing nothing about it, but here's a recap of the game and the interesting things it does. Most screenshots borrowed.
Shuusaku is a game I would describe as the "stalker time management simulator". At the start of the game, you enter your name, while the main character's eye follows your cursor through the peephole.
Shuusaku is watching you type
Then in the prologue, the main character, called in subtitles "Shuusaku", runs into an old man in the pachinko parlor, chats with him, and learns that the old man named Kato is about to take a job as a manager of a female dorm for an elite musical school. Time skip happens, and Shuusaku is now a manager of a female dorm and everyone calls him "Mr. Kato". It's 5 pm on Saturday, and Shuusaku is warned that on Monday morning he's expected at the principal's office - the gig is probably up. So Shuusaku intends to speedrun his nefarious deeds - in one day and two nights, he must gather blackmail on the dorm residents, rape all of them, and then escape by 5 am Monday. At this point, you get a choice.
Shuusaku is a man with a plan. His plan is stupid.
You can tell Shuusaku to go kill himself, which he will do, grin, and bring you back to the choice. You can repeatedly disagree with his plan, promise to go refund "Shuusaku" the game and buy a Pure Love game, at which point he'll cuss you out and crash the program. Or you can begrudgingly agree to do what he wants and start the game proper.
The gameplay is time management. Every 15 minutes you can visit one of the locations in the dorm, and either have an event with the resident if they are present or install a camera that will gather 1 hour of footage. Once you retrieve the camera, you can see if you caught any nudity. Once you've gathered enough compromising photos you can go blackmail and then assault one of the ladies. There are caveats to this - some dirty situations must be triggered in advance, for example by spiking dinner with aphrodisiacs or overheating/underheating the baths.
This is how you choose where to go every 15 minutes
The schedule of girls and locations. This is filled in and preserved over multiple playthroughs, eventually making it easier to figure out what to do and when.
Talking to a woman - cringe
The girls have friendships with each other, so for some, you must dismantle their friend first so they have no one to turn to when blackmailed. It's all very grim and dark. It's kind of like a twisted dating sim where you learn girls' schedules and habits to avoid and manipulate them. Shuusaku himself is Patrick Bateman of rapists. He constantly talks about how much above everyone he is, how all the girls are rude and lazy sluts, how he has a billion IQ and magnetic charisma, etc. Most of this is untrue and just serves to show the extent of Shuusaku's ego. For example, to assault the teacher you need to lure her into your room and have her drink spiked tea. Easy, right? Well, it's not. Shuusaku's method for doing that is to call her over and over after midnight, making incredibly stupid excuses for what he needs to talk about until finally, he manages to brute force a topic she's concerned about. You need to call her like ten times. Master of manipulation my ass.
Chad in his natural habitat
Shuusaku also loves talking about his "aesthetics" as a rapist and why he won't do direct assault - he has "principles". Basically - the dude is a total incel. He doesn't need to eat or sleep, insisting that he sustains himself purely on feminine energies and fluids. Overall he behaves more like a malignant spirit of dark eroge than a person. He also doesn't have an internal monologue. What normally would be thoughts in other games, Shuusaku says out loud, turning to you the player to say. And he does actually turn, because numerous times someone walks up from behind him and surprises him.
She's right behind me, isn't she?
Another strange point is the sex scenes. When one happens, you can choose between letting Shuusaku do the did or wishing he'd crack his head open. If you do the latter, the POV becomes first person, and the narration style changes. The subtitles also change from "Shuusaku" to the name you input at the start of the game. And once the scene is done, Shuusaku takes over again.
One of the girls, Eri, is very paranoid about your presence, seemingly always knows where you hide the cameras, and in general, you can't get any dirt on her. So she's not actually assaultable.
Eri always knows
Once Monday 5 am strikes, Shuusaku makes his escape. Except he forgot to wipe his computer, where he stored his blackmail, so he goes back to wipe it. And he finds Eri in his room, going through his computer.
Cowboy Eri at his computer
Enraged, Shuusaku assaults Eri. If any other girl is still untouched - they come to help Eri, Shuusaku flees and is hit by a passing car.
But if you assaulted all of the girls - things get weird. The scene is forced into first-person view. And you, the player character, are confused. You don't really want to assault Eri, but Shuusaku insists from behind your back. And when you turn around - Shuusaku is there. Looking through the monitor, mouse in hand.
Do you feel like a hero yet?
He accuses you of betraying him at the last moment, and as a show of power restarts the game. We are back on Saturday, 5 pm. Only now the player character is the dorm manager, and Shuusaku is making choices. Despite the PC's reluctance, Shuusaku is in control. Except Eri runs into the room. She's clearly aware of what is happening, and determined to stop you. Though, forced by Shuusaku, you try to repeat the blackmail-gathering procedures, Eri follows you, removing the cameras you place, stopping you from entering bathrooms and such. And she helps you cook dinner, though she steals away all the aphrodisiac from you.
It all gets really nice. Instead of Shuusaku being constantly hostile with everyone, Eri smooths out the situations and we can have a few nice chats with the girls. We can learn more about them. Learn about them as people - not as victims. And when the two of you are cooking dinner and having a nice moment - Shuusaku's control wanes. He voice goes quieter, and PC can say a few words of his own. It doesn't last - Shuusaku soon pushes you to try gathering blackmail and assault again. But for a moment he was beaten. And as you keep going, Shuusaku gets nowhere. At every step, Eri stops you from doing terrible things while Shuusaku malds from the other side of the screen.
Once Monday morning comes, Shuusaku forces your hand. You get a choice menu that consists entirely of "Assault Eri" over and over. And he still can't win. The Player Character resits, Eri confesses her love to you, the player, and Shuusaku's control is gone completely. What was a sleazy crime story is now a pure love tale. Eri knows there can be no relationship - she's a video game character and you are the player in the real world. So she only asks that you press your hand against hers and restart the loop. To the one where there is no Shuusaku, where there's just Mr. Kato the dorm manager, and all the girls can live happy lives.
Press your hand against hers. Remember her.
There's actually a reference to this in the "Rainbow Girl" ending of Needy Streamer Overload. Those devs were cultured as heck.
Thank you, God...
And that is. That's the end of my story. Shuusaku is an odd game. Its gameplay didn't age well - it's all trial and error. The graphics still hold up fine, the voice acting is great, and the writing gives you the taste of the finest edgelord incel cringe. It hasn't been translated into English so you are probably not going to play it anyway. Nonetheless, it is part of the videogame history and it deserves to be remembered.
I went into the game completely blind, knowing nothing about it, but here's a recap of the game and the interesting things it does. Most screenshots borrowed.
Shuusaku is a game I would describe as the "stalker time management simulator". At the start of the game, you enter your name, while the main character's eye follows your cursor through the peephole.
Shuusaku is watching you type
Then in the prologue, the main character, called in subtitles "Shuusaku", runs into an old man in the pachinko parlor, chats with him, and learns that the old man named Kato is about to take a job as a manager of a female dorm for an elite musical school. Time skip happens, and Shuusaku is now a manager of a female dorm and everyone calls him "Mr. Kato". It's 5 pm on Saturday, and Shuusaku is warned that on Monday morning he's expected at the principal's office - the gig is probably up. So Shuusaku intends to speedrun his nefarious deeds - in one day and two nights, he must gather blackmail on the dorm residents, rape all of them, and then escape by 5 am Monday. At this point, you get a choice.
Shuusaku is a man with a plan. His plan is stupid.
You can tell Shuusaku to go kill himself, which he will do, grin, and bring you back to the choice. You can repeatedly disagree with his plan, promise to go refund "Shuusaku" the game and buy a Pure Love game, at which point he'll cuss you out and crash the program. Or you can begrudgingly agree to do what he wants and start the game proper.
The gameplay is time management. Every 15 minutes you can visit one of the locations in the dorm, and either have an event with the resident if they are present or install a camera that will gather 1 hour of footage. Once you retrieve the camera, you can see if you caught any nudity. Once you've gathered enough compromising photos you can go blackmail and then assault one of the ladies. There are caveats to this - some dirty situations must be triggered in advance, for example by spiking dinner with aphrodisiacs or overheating/underheating the baths.
This is how you choose where to go every 15 minutes
The schedule of girls and locations. This is filled in and preserved over multiple playthroughs, eventually making it easier to figure out what to do and when.
Talking to a woman - cringe
The girls have friendships with each other, so for some, you must dismantle their friend first so they have no one to turn to when blackmailed. It's all very grim and dark. It's kind of like a twisted dating sim where you learn girls' schedules and habits to avoid and manipulate them. Shuusaku himself is Patrick Bateman of rapists. He constantly talks about how much above everyone he is, how all the girls are rude and lazy sluts, how he has a billion IQ and magnetic charisma, etc. Most of this is untrue and just serves to show the extent of Shuusaku's ego. For example, to assault the teacher you need to lure her into your room and have her drink spiked tea. Easy, right? Well, it's not. Shuusaku's method for doing that is to call her over and over after midnight, making incredibly stupid excuses for what he needs to talk about until finally, he manages to brute force a topic she's concerned about. You need to call her like ten times. Master of manipulation my ass.
Chad in his natural habitat
Shuusaku also loves talking about his "aesthetics" as a rapist and why he won't do direct assault - he has "principles". Basically - the dude is a total incel. He doesn't need to eat or sleep, insisting that he sustains himself purely on feminine energies and fluids. Overall he behaves more like a malignant spirit of dark eroge than a person. He also doesn't have an internal monologue. What normally would be thoughts in other games, Shuusaku says out loud, turning to you the player to say. And he does actually turn, because numerous times someone walks up from behind him and surprises him.
She's right behind me, isn't she?
Another strange point is the sex scenes. When one happens, you can choose between letting Shuusaku do the did or wishing he'd crack his head open. If you do the latter, the POV becomes first person, and the narration style changes. The subtitles also change from "Shuusaku" to the name you input at the start of the game. And once the scene is done, Shuusaku takes over again.
One of the girls, Eri, is very paranoid about your presence, seemingly always knows where you hide the cameras, and in general, you can't get any dirt on her. So she's not actually assaultable.
Eri always knows
Once Monday 5 am strikes, Shuusaku makes his escape. Except he forgot to wipe his computer, where he stored his blackmail, so he goes back to wipe it. And he finds Eri in his room, going through his computer.
Cowboy Eri at his computer
Enraged, Shuusaku assaults Eri. If any other girl is still untouched - they come to help Eri, Shuusaku flees and is hit by a passing car.
But if you assaulted all of the girls - things get weird. The scene is forced into first-person view. And you, the player character, are confused. You don't really want to assault Eri, but Shuusaku insists from behind your back. And when you turn around - Shuusaku is there. Looking through the monitor, mouse in hand.
Do you feel like a hero yet?
He accuses you of betraying him at the last moment, and as a show of power restarts the game. We are back on Saturday, 5 pm. Only now the player character is the dorm manager, and Shuusaku is making choices. Despite the PC's reluctance, Shuusaku is in control. Except Eri runs into the room. She's clearly aware of what is happening, and determined to stop you. Though, forced by Shuusaku, you try to repeat the blackmail-gathering procedures, Eri follows you, removing the cameras you place, stopping you from entering bathrooms and such. And she helps you cook dinner, though she steals away all the aphrodisiac from you.
It all gets really nice. Instead of Shuusaku being constantly hostile with everyone, Eri smooths out the situations and we can have a few nice chats with the girls. We can learn more about them. Learn about them as people - not as victims. And when the two of you are cooking dinner and having a nice moment - Shuusaku's control wanes. He voice goes quieter, and PC can say a few words of his own. It doesn't last - Shuusaku soon pushes you to try gathering blackmail and assault again. But for a moment he was beaten. And as you keep going, Shuusaku gets nowhere. At every step, Eri stops you from doing terrible things while Shuusaku malds from the other side of the screen.
Once Monday morning comes, Shuusaku forces your hand. You get a choice menu that consists entirely of "Assault Eri" over and over. And he still can't win. The Player Character resits, Eri confesses her love to you, the player, and Shuusaku's control is gone completely. What was a sleazy crime story is now a pure love tale. Eri knows there can be no relationship - she's a video game character and you are the player in the real world. So she only asks that you press your hand against hers and restart the loop. To the one where there is no Shuusaku, where there's just Mr. Kato the dorm manager, and all the girls can live happy lives.
Press your hand against hers. Remember her.
There's actually a reference to this in the "Rainbow Girl" ending of Needy Streamer Overload. Those devs were cultured as heck.
Thank you, God...
And that is. That's the end of my story. Shuusaku is an odd game. Its gameplay didn't age well - it's all trial and error. The graphics still hold up fine, the voice acting is great, and the writing gives you the taste of the finest edgelord incel cringe. It hasn't been translated into English so you are probably not going to play it anyway. Nonetheless, it is part of the videogame history and it deserves to be remembered.
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