Title: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
Platforms: PC (Steam), Switch, PS2, PS3, PS4, PsVita, Nintendo DS, Android, iOS
Summary
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni takes place during June 1983, at a fictional rural village called Hinamizawa, which has a population of approximately 2000. The main character, Keiichi Maebara, moves to Hinamizawa and befriends his new classmates Rena Ryugu, Mion Sonozaki, Rika Furude, and Satoko Hojo. Keiichi joins their after-school club activities, which consist mostly of card and board games (and punishment games for the loser, usually him.) Hinamizawa appears to be a normal, peaceful, rural village to Keiichi. However, the tranquility abruptly ends after the annual Watanagashi Festival, a celebration to commemorate and give thanks to the local god, Oyashiro-sama. Keiichi learns that every year for the past four years, one person has been murdered and another has gone missing on the day of the Watanagashi Festival. Keiichi himself soon becomes drawn into the strange events surrounding the Watanagashi Festival and Oyashiro-sama. In each story arc, he or one of his friends become paranoid, and a crime is committed. Usually, the crime involves the murder of one of their own friends. While it seems impossible to tell their delusions apart from the mystery of Hinamizawa, slowly the truth is revealed.
VNdb Link: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni | vndb
Language difficulty: 6/10
Average Game Length: Around 10-15 hours per chapter according to howlongtobeat
Hookable: Yes (I tested it briefly myself a few months ago)
Voiced Audio: Yes
Spoken Lines Replayable: Yes*
Trigger warning: I’m pretty sure there’s blood and murder
Nomination Reason: Higurashi is considered to be a classic VN and a must play by many, and is one of the few VNs I’ve seen that is broken up into a reasonable chapter structure that would suit a reading club. The first Chapter is also permanently free on Steam, which eliminates any possible issues around availability.
Note:
It seems to be highly recommended that people play the game with the 07th expansion mod, which allows one to swap sprites, BGs, OST, has an optional ADV text mode, and also adds the ability to replay voice audio in the log. It’s also possible to hot swap languages with a hotkey if one isn’t inclined to tinker with text hooking.
