It’s not very often that we get to see interesting new IPs that are promising these days. With games fizzling before they’re even released due to public feedback and the cost of creating games skyrocketing, few companies are willing to spend the capital to get a new series off the ground. Fortunately, developer Toybox Inc. and publisher Aksys Games are still willing to toss the dice once in a while and as a result we are being treated to the first game in a new three part series: Path of Mystery: A Brush with Death. 
This is an interactive visual novel where you’ll be playing Doppo Akazawa, a university student who has joined a new Mystery Research Club arranged by Professor Minato of Teito University. The club’s first assignment is to travel to Narumizawa in Nagano Prefecture to investigate an unsolved murder from 30 years ago. While the police thought they had the right suspect, that suspect died by suicide and there may be more going on than meets the eye. It’s not easy to investigate a three decade old murder, but fortunately, you’ve got a few tricks up your sleeve. 
As Doppo, you have a weird ability called retrocognition. Depending on the circumstances, you can see a strange violet glow around objects and people. By interacting with them, you drop into a trance where time slows and you can jump backward in time to events related to that object or person for a short time, finding out key facts and allowing you to make conclusions in the present. You’re not in complete control of these abilities and don’t fully understand them, but as they happen more frequently, it seems like there’s some larger purpose to the appearance of the haze. 
Doppo isn’t alone in his investigations though. The other members of the club are there as well, including the detective’s daughter Alice Nanjo, the girl crazy Kotaro Izawa, and the overconfident Kagero Tono. Doppo’s sister Mizuki is also wandering about town and she’s the only other person that knows the secret of his retrocognition. The cast here is dynamic and their interactions are fun as there are many disparate personalities in the Mystery Research Club. Kotaro and Kagero are frequently at odds, Alice is guarded and suspicious, and you tend to be so as well because revealing your abilities could cause some big problems. There are plenty more cast and supporting cast members waiting in the wings to show up as well. 
What makes Path of Mystery interesting is that you have to pay attention. Most visual novels, even interactive ones, tend to have gameplay loops that require limited attention to detail. For example Phoenix Wright games and Vampire Therapist (review here) have you work through a set of stock responses to find the correct pathway, masquerading as choice while actually ending up being entirely linear experiences. That’s fine and doesn’t make them any less fun but Path of Mystery: A Brush with Death takes a more aggressive approach. Throughout the game, you’ll have to either answer various questions or guide your fellow club members with your retrocognition. To do that you’ll have to choose from a selection of dialogue options, choosing the right ones to allay suspicion and solve pertinent questions regarding the case or what’s going on at any given time. Choosing the wrong one loses you points and makes the other members question your statements. There’s no going back here either, so you’ll have to move on, knowing you could have done better, unless you want to save spam or use the rewind function in the conversation log (there are no penalties for either approach). 
Having your choices make a difference isn’t the only thing that Path of Mystery: A Brush with Death does well though. The dialogue is fantastic and as you slowly progress through the chapters of the game, you’ll find that there’s a surprising amount of depth behind the seemingly shallow characters of the Mystery Research Club. Tiny comments and side discussions lead to the expansion of characters you would have sworn were two-dimensional anime tropes and the world-building is top-tier here. Occasionally text will be purple as well, allowing you to expand it with the plus button to learn more backstory. What’s particularly interesting about this is that the information you’re being provided with often breaks the fourth wall as well, setting you temporarily outside of the story and hinting at or revealing future events in the series. Remember how we said this is a trilogy? Well, you’ll learn quickly that a fair portion of that story is integrated into A Brush with Death too, hidden away and easy to skip past unless you’re paying attention. 
When Doppo’s retrocognition kicks in, objects and people around him glow purple. If he touches them, he’s instantly transported to the past, interacting with events as if he was the person they were happening to. The visuals shift from modern anime VN style to an 8-bit pixel version of reality, clearly delineating the past and you’ll have to interact with everything through an old-school menu-style interface, using look, talk, and other classic responses to progress. These sequences are fairly short and invariably reveal key information about the case, but that doesn’t mean you can’t fail here. The longer you stay in the past, the harder it is to maintain a connection and you have a limited number of choices to make before you’re booted out and have to try again. As these are story elements that are mandatory, you’ll be sucked right back in and have to start over rather than losing, but there’s still pressure to figure out what’s going on expediently. Finish a past sequence and a chime goes off, booting you back to reality where only a couple seconds have passed, just enough time for your weird behavior to register with your friends. 
What may catch you off guard when playing Path of Mystery: A Brush with Death is that the credits roll very, very quickly. That’s because the entire game is presented in anime style with each chapter serving as an individual episode. As you complete each one, the credits will roll and you’ll get a preview of the next chapter. The beginning of each chapter also has a rather cool anime intro too. The whole thing is smooth as heck and looks cool, creating clear transitions between major story points and serving as excellent break points for multiple play sessions. The production value of the game is fairly high too, so story sequences, background art, and characters all feel like they’re out of a premium anime, complete with unique character quirks, oddball comedy, and more than a bit of gender-based humor. 
In between these episodes, you’ll be hanging out at the Café Honolulu, a Hawaiian themed café chain that apparently appears throughout the trilogy. The Café Honolulu in Narumizawa is a cozy diner that the entire cast hangs out at. It has an arcade machine with a couple of games (yes, they’re playable) and Nagisa (one of the key characters in the game) will also provide you with hints to find the keychains hidden around town, a minigame created by her high school to increase enthusiasm for tourism in town. Finding all of them might yield something neat, but they’re tiny and hidden in the background all around town and there are hidden keychains in addition to the ones you receive clues for. There is a trick that allows you to find the keychains easily but you’ll have to figure out that one on your own! 
Conversations with the various characters in the game can also yield a variety of trading cards. These trading cards are only available if you select the correct dialogue options during various conversations. Most conversations with choices can yield a card, so if you want to collect them, you’ll probably be making use of the rewind function. Cards also have different rarities and collecting them all might unlock something else as well, but that’s not necessarily easy either. There are lots of hidden items (cards, additional details, and keychains) hidden throughout Path of Mystery: A Brush with Death and unlike many games, it’s fairly fun to find them all. The stops in Café Honolulu make for good transition points to break up the slow burn of the story too, adding even more backstory and depth to an already well-written story. Remember those arcade games in the café? They’re fully realized retro games that you can play through! There are two different games, one that replicates a ‘70s arcade game and one that replicates an ‘80s one. The ‘80s game is a combination of Asteroids and a shmup and it is surprisingly easy, while the ‘70s one is more like a fast-paced Dig Dug with treasure hunting mechanics. Getting a high score on each will net you additional prizes if you are determined enough, and that’s a particularly tough challenge with the ‘70s game, so expect more than a few failed attempts! 
Path of Mystery: A Brush with Death is a slow burn for story, so be prepared for a number of the chapters to feel like nothing more than build up until the last third of the game or so. At that point, the entire game seems to speed up and all the different story threads start to come together rapidly and end up a lot more interesting than you might expect. Patience is definitely a virtue with this one as the first third of the game is quite slow and manages to establish both characters and plot well, but feels like it isn’t nearly as engaging as it could be, even with the unique concept of Doppo’s retrocognition. Sticking it out makes it all worthwhile though! 
The transition from two-dimensional characters to a fully-realized world wouldn’t work in the game without exceptional artwork and Path of Mystery: A Brush with Death definitely has that. This is a gorgeous game that focuses on detailed character art with lush backgrounds, a refreshing change from some of the lower budget VNs we’ve seen in the last couple of years. Complex scenery lends itself to the realism here and characters blink and react rather than being static images, making them seem more alive. There are plenty of anime-style reactions as well, accentuating key scenes and character reactions and reinforcing the emotional states of the Mystery Research Club as the story progresses. The throwback visuals are also excellent, especially the 8-bit approach to Doppo’s adventures in the past and the arcade games in the café. This is a gorgeous game through and through with the only noticeable visual problem being a slight vertical white line on the top right corner occasionally appearing during some videos. 
The music and sound effects are a bit different from what you might expect however. There are opening and ending sequences for the intro and credits of course, and several recurring musical themes during gameplay as well. Oddly, the music will cut out mid-scene if you leave the game sitting on a conversation point for too long. It’s not clear whether this is a glitch or there’s just no repeat set on tracks, but sometimes it seems a bit too quiet during some of the scenes. Since this is more of an anime than a traditional game, there’s not music running all the time anyway, but it does seem like there could be a smidge more music. The sound effects are excellent however, accompanied by suitable visual responses (shaking screens, facial changes, visual prompts, and so on) and in a quieter game, the sound effects have a strong impact, accentuating scenes and making them feel much more realistic. The entire game is also voiced as well and the Japanese voice actors are excellent. Nothing is overdone or too unrealistic, so you don’t get tired of the voices and while in some games, we’ll turn down the voice work, there was no need here and the voice actors absolutely nailed their entire performances. 
Path of Mystery: A Brush with Death is an outstanding game that slowly but firmly engages players, dragging them bit by bit into its fully realized world and effectively setting up for the next two games in the series while it does it. In fact the only thing the game is missing at all is touch screen integration on the Switch (which would have been nice). The story is solid, the twists are excellent, and the overall experience ends up being remarkably fun, even if you’re not sure quite what to expect at first. This is one of those rare titles that doesn’t overstay its welcome, wraps up everything with a satisfying conclusion, and rewards you for your diligence throughout the entire experience. It’s a treat to play and one of the most fun VNs to come out in a while. Even though it’s on the shorter end at about 15 hours or so, it’s fun the whole way through and nothing really feels like filler. At $40 it isn’t the cheapest game but you’re definitely getting your money’s worth here and this is a VN you’re not going to want to miss out on! At this point, all we can say is strap in and get ready for Path of Mystery: A Brush with Death because once you finish the game, you’re going to be waiting impatiently to play the next game in the series just like we are! 
This review is based on a digital copy of Path of Mystery: A Brush with Death provided by the publisher. It was played on a Nintendo Switch in both docked and undocked modes and played equally well in both. Path of Mystery: A Brush with Death is exclusive to the Nintendo Switch.
Nate Van Lindt has been a gamer since the days of yore (aka Commodore 64), and has played a bit of virtually everything out there. He's also an avid comic book collector, both vintage and current, and reads a fair amount of sci-fi and fantasy. On top of that, he watches a fair number of movies and TV shows as well. Oh, and he has a family, a full-time job, and lives somewhere in the urban wilds of Southwestern Ontario, Canada, foraging for old video cables and forgotten game soundtracks.