‘Raging Loop’ Review: You Go Back, Jack, Do It Again

The visual novel genre of video games is truly a haven for those wanting to experience a well-crafted story with a minimum amount of gameplay. This may be a controversial take, but there have been more compelling characters, intriguing plots and some of the best works of fiction in this medium compared to the predictable novels churned out by the publishing industry in the past decade. Utilizing the full potential of interactive fiction, visual novels push the limits of the medium to give you an immersive experience whose outcome usually hinges on your decisions.

Raging Loop is one such visual novel that puts you under its spell from the get-go. But before getting to that, a quick interjection to a very different game — Werewolf.

Werewolf or Mafia depending on how you play it, is a popular party game. There are four roles — the werewolves/mafia who kill at night, the detective who must uncover the identity of the killers, the doctor who can save one life per night, the villagers who are the hapless humans being picked off one by one and finally the narrator/Game Master who presides over the game.

Using Werewolf as a foundation, Raging Loop weaves a story of the mystery surrounding Yasumizu, a settlement in rural Japan. It is a settlement for the outcasts of the neighboring village of Kamifujiyoshi, a place steeped in superstition and rigidly traditional, worshiping their god Shin’nai-sama. They believe that the river that flows there — the Saranaga rapids — is the entry point of the Yomi, the corruption.

Haruaki Fusaishi is an unfortunate outsider who stumbles into Yasumizu at the wrong time due to a bike accident. The locals seem unfriendly and suspicious of him and urge him to leave ASAP. Luck doesn’t seem to be on the cards, as a dense mist soon rolls in. With it comes a dreaded, horrific, barbaric ritual called The Feast of the Yomi Purge. A game of Werewolf where one’s life is literally on the line.

It is up to Haruaki (and the player) to make it out of the Feast with his life and sanity intact.

Spoiler alert: he doesn’t. Not the first time, anyway. Haruaki soon realizes that every time he dies, the days are reset, he finds himself back at the beginning all over again. And so it begins, the raging loop that goes on and on, giving Haruaki a chance to save himself and the others.

The mechanics are easy, Haruaki is presented with choices that change the trajectory of the Feast. Some of these choices are easily available while others need to be unlocked using the knowledge Haruaki gathers on his various attempts.

The Feast of the Yomi Purge doesn’t get boring despite attempting it multiple times as the roles are swapped. While you can guess who’s a wolf and who isn’t, Haruaki still needs the keys to progress.

Haruaki himself is not a typical protagonist. That’s what makes him such a memorable character. To borrow the words of the others who populate Raging Loop; he’s a scumbag and a psychopath; he’s charismatic, intelligent and incredibly astute. He will use anyone to get to the end goal and is aware that he isn’t exactly the paragon of virtue. Normally, a protagonist is thought to be good, perhaps an antihero that’s morally gray.

Haruaki is a chameleon who changes constantly, befitting the environment he’s in. He’ll egg on anyone and everyone to make a decision that influences the outcome of his looping experiments to get what he desires. He’s rational and clever, never once has he displayed the foolishness that most horror protagonists make. He’s also self-aware, he knows the consequences of his actions, be it good or evil. Despite his slightly villainous leanings, he’s a bleeding heart and more than his malicious actions, it is his kindness that hurts the people around him. Haruaki is an enigma and continues to be so, long after you shut down the game.

Aside from Haruaki, there is a very strong well-written supporting cast. There’s something very real about the way they act, and all of them are distinct. They grow on Haruaki (and you) and despite what you may think, you mourn their demise when they fall to the Feast. Everyone in this game has strong motivations for each of their actions, you even end up feeling sorry for the mastermind by the end. Because you end up so invested in them, the sixth chapter in this game is particularly painful to play through. Even Haruaki mentions that he wants to end that particular loop and forget about all of it.

It is the writing where Raging Loop truly shines. The atmosphere that it creates, the feeling of isolation from the world outside, from normalcy. The suspense, the anxiety, the nail-biting tension of what’s going to happen next. The feeling of extreme unease in an alien environment (for Haruaki at least) and the feeling of dread and paranoia when the night creeps in slowly. There’s the sheer helplessness of the whole situation, of who to trust, who’s a wolf, who to save and who to kill. The Feasts are a battle of wits, psychological warfare where one fights to survive but the threat is present even outside it. It is in the air, lurking within the mist that envelopes Yasumizu.

By his own admission, Haruaki is a good storyteller. He dives deep, describing everything he sees in detail to paint the reader a vivid picture — from the way the Hanging Pine is framed by mist, dyed red with the sunset, to the description of the murdered and mutilated bodies. Though the illustrations and CGs don’t explicitly show anything, Haruaki’s description of the cadavers is more than enough to make up for the lack of visual gore.

Scientific, rational thought and superstition, traditional beliefs are balanced on the knife’s edge. The locals are firm in their opinion that Shin’nai sama’s word is the law, no one will break the rules set by the God of The Mountain. Even if the rules state you might need to hang an innocent. The mental gymnastics that the locals employ to justify their lynching cannot be reasoned with. No matter what logical explanation is presented to them, the answer will be pushed aside vehemently, they remain steadfast in their belief. Raging Loop portrays the realities of what happens in a small, isolated. Impoverished, poor excuse for a village, that is caught in the web of age-old tradition and superstition. A place surrounded by mist and somehow left untouched by the world moving forward around them.

The clash of reason and superstition is handled extremely well. The philosophical conversations that revolve around what exactly constitutes as Kami-sama (God) even as a concept stand out. There’s even a brief but fascinating lesson on Jungian archetypes and world mythology thrown in.

Of course, sticking the landing is what most stories struggle with and Raging Loop’s landing is turbulent. The final arc has a lot to unpack and there’s an information overload as to what’s happening as the story rushes to its finale. The explanations for the events feel somewhat superfluous at times. But aside from that, it is the most riveting visual novel to date and the ending does not take away from the story.

The art style is not the fanciest, it certainly doesn’t scream anime as most visual novels are prone to do. It evokes the same feelings as Yasumizu and its inhabitants; simple, realistic, spartan almost. A lot of illustrations are repeated, and animations are kept to the bare minimum. The font is clear, bold and easy to read, because that is mainly what the player is expected to do.

The soundtrack is nothing to write home about, except for one track that will echo in the dark recesses of your mind long, long after you have closed the game — “The Prayer to Shin’nai-sama.” This chant-like song details the story behind the Feast. It is whimsical and nostalgic, almost like you’ve heard the tune before. At the same time, it is eerie, unsettling and you feel the cold chill you to the bone. And you can’t really get it out of your head.

The voice acting in the game stands out. The game is fully voiced — Japanese only, but one can’t really see how an English adaptation would fit the tone. The translation of dialogue is on point, no complaints here. There’s nothing over the top about how the characters sound, because they sound grounded and real. The quirks in their personality really show through and it adds another layer of immersion. Occasionally, however, when the characters are speaking softly, they struggle to be heard over the background music.

Keep in mind Raging Loop is on the longer side. From start to finish you’ll clock in about seventy hours if you plan to leave no stone unturned in Yasumizu. And that’s just counting the base game. Beating the base game unlocks a new game plus mode, where there’s a lot more insight to the events of the game. The Revelation Mode gives you a glimpse into the thoughts of the characters to give the player a better understanding of why they did what they did and clears up whatever loose ends that needed tying up. Along with the Revelation Mode, there’s also the extras that get unlocked that give a little bit more background on certain mysterious characters. Essentially playing the Revelation Mode feels like playing a brand-new game.

Raging Loop is a hidden gem among the countless visual novels that are in the market. It deserves a spot in your library. It leaves such a profound impression on your mind that no matter how far you are from Yasumizu, there will always be a faint lingering feeling of the inescapable dense mist, a faint echo of the “Prayer to Shin’nai-sama” reverberating in your mind.