Imagine this: you wake up as a ghost with no memory of your past, except for your name. In a desperate attempt, you repeatedly kill yourself, hoping that the next death will be your last. That’s Kugayama Shiori’s Death Diary in a nutshell, only instead of playing as the titular deceased Shiori Kugayama, you take on the role of the only living person who can see and talk to ghosts.
Together with Shiori, you work to uncover what ties her soul to the land of the living, recover her lost memories, and ultimately find the truth behind her death. While the subject matter is heavy and includes scenes of violence, frightening imagery, and suicide, the game wraps it in a vibrant, colorful art style (the developers at Laplacian disclose that generative AI was used to help create some background assets) and a catchy soundtrack that makes you second-guess its intentions. Those who find in-game depictions of blood to be unsettling can turn on the Blood Filter, which changes the color of blood from red to something more alien-like (this does not remove or change any of the other sensitive content, however).
Kugayama Shiori’s Death Diary features choice-based gameplay. In addition to learning more about Shiori’s death and past regrets, you’ll also interact and discover more about other ghosts. These include Gyaruko-san, a female high school ghost who spends her time chatting up other spirits, and Ms. Librarian, so-called because of her penchant for staying in the local library (unlike other ghosts, the latter retains her memories from when she was alive). As you learn more about the world and its inhabitants, you will acquire archive entries that will fill out your Urban Legend Encyclopedia, bringing you ever closer to the truth.
With an estimated playtime of 10 hours and multiple endings, Kugayama Shiori’s Death Diary will have you making every possible decision to find out just what happened to Shiori. The game is set to release on Windows (Steam) as soon as the Steam review process is complete, while a Nintendo Switch version is scheduled for July 30.
