Keiichi Yoshida, whose past credits include writing the scenario for Square-Enix’s Triangle Strategy and planning on Spike Chunsoft’s AI: The Somnium Files, has released a new game with his team at TENDA Games that forces gut-twisting moral choices upon its players.
Kokutoto, the company’s first self-published original title, was released on Steam in January. The game centers on a short narrative that takes place in a world where “just living eats away at your dignity.” Indeed, one of the central mechanics is a “dignity meter” that is constantly ticking down as time passes. In an interview with Game*Spark, Yoshida and TENDA president Ryohei Asaoka spoke about what went into crafting this urban nightmare.
Kokutoto was selected from among several game proposals for development because of its unique concept of “questioning the boundary of good and evil,” and its narrative-driven nature allowing Yoshida to flex his writing chops as he did on Triangle Strategy. The game’s light survival mechanics such as the aforementioned dignity meter are balanced with the flow of the gameplay to ensure players can experience the story and reach all of its 13 possible endings.
Talking about the game’s tone and aesthetic sense, Yoshida and Asaoka cited several influences, among them Inio Asano’s manga Goodnight Punpun and films that make creative use of monochrome with spot coloring such as Sin City and Schindler’s List. However, the primary influence cited by them both is the works of renowned author Ryunosuke Akutagawa, particularly his 1915 short story Rashomon.
While it lends its title to the Akira Kurosawa film of the same name, Akutagawa’s Rashomon is a largely unrelated story about an unfortunate servant and an elderly woman who are both forced by their circumstances into making morally questionable choices in order to survive. In fact, the title of “Kokutoto,” a literary term that roughly translates to “pitch-black darkness” is borrowed from one of the final lines of the story. According to Yoshida, the project that evolved into Kokutoto began with the question, “Wouldn’t Rashomon be interesting if it were adapted into a visual novel?”
To reflect the game’s concept, the devs conceived a ‘dangerous-looking’ cast of characters representing the dregs of society such as nightlife workers, yakuza, and back-alley doctors.
The protagonist’s design – which bears a resemblance to the lead character of the aforementioned Goodnight Punpun – was described by Asaoka as “his inability to objectively recognize himself, the culmination of a life lived without a strong sense of self, never affirming nor denying anything.” At Asaoka’s request, each of the other twelve characters in the game were designed with a similar intent of having their external appearance hint at their internal turmoil.
While the designers wanted to force players into uncomfortable choices, Yoshida and Asaoka both reassured readers that the game was designed to be approachable first and foremost. Asaoka said “This game offers a large number of endings, but the overall experience is compact. It may sound contradictory, but I want players to enjoy making these difficult decisions in a carefree way. I hope people can come away thinking ‘Wow, that sure was tough!’” Yoshida echoed the sentiment, saying “I want people to think ‘I don’t want to pick either of these options!’ I’d like players to experience the simultaneous guilt and self-affirmation that comes with convincing yourself that you have to do whatever you can to survive.”
While at the time of this writing Kokutoto is only available in Japanese, Yoshida stated that a multi-language localization is in development alongside a port to home consoles.
If the language barrier isn’t an issue for you, you can pick up Kokutoto for yourself right now on Steam.
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