Raging Loop

Genre: Visual Novel / Horror

Players: 1

.

Review:

Raging Loop is a Visual Novel with Horror elements released on PC in 2017, ported to PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch in 2019, then to mobile devices in 2021, and then to Xbox One in 2024. This game has players taking the role of a young man who finds himself in a rural Japanese village at the start of a macabre spiritual ritual that entraps its inhabitants and secretly turns a few of those inhabitants into murderous werewolves aiming to murder all of the normal humans in the village.

The plot of this game is clearly based on the classic Werewolf/Mafia social deduction game (probably best known to modern gamers from the game Among Us). This is not the only time this game has been adapted to a Visual Novel, and not even the only time a Japanese developer has done so, with Gnosia providing another solid example of exactly that, and it even features a similar mechanic involving the protagonist going back in time to correct earlier mistakes. However, while Gnosia’s story is a bit more abstract and places its focus squarely on the meta-narrative that its Groundhog Day-style time loop provides.

Raging Loop, on the other hand, is focused squarely on the story, building its world and its characters, and focusing on the horror and drama that plays out when what is basically a lighthearted party game is played for life and death stakes in a tight-knit local community with its own family ties, fractious divisions, and superstitions. It’s easy enough for everyone to decide who to vote off the ship in Among Us with a press of a button because they’re “acting sus” and watch them floating out in space as a result… but it’s an entirely different matter in Raging Loop, where the person people are voting on is someone they’ve known your entire life, and who your group will have to hang from the neck themselves.

To really drive home this tense psychological drama, you would really want this game to have deep, well-crafted characters, and Raging Loop absolutely delivers here, with every one of the game’s fifteen main characters given a fair amount of depth, backstory, and complex relationships with the others present. Even your character, one of four visitors to the village, has unique dynamics with the others present – at least one of the ladies in the village takes an immediate liking to you, while others may view you with distrust, dismissiveness, or jealousy before the darker events of the game even begin.

The community itself is also a character, being secluded, poor, and steeped in religious beliefs that all add up to make the game’s events even creepier. And as your character discovers more about what’s going on and brings that information back into subsequent trips through the game’s branching timeline (managed here through a system of locks and keys shown on a handy spreadsheet), you come to find that there’s more going on here than it seems, and there may be even darker events going on than a small community being forced to kill each other.

The game’s spoken dialogue is fully-voiced in Japanese, with the acting seeming pretty good as far as I can tell, helping to give you a feel for the characters’ distinct personalities. I do think the localization falters at points in the game’s mostly-excellent text, with a few odd moments that don’t quite seem to make sense. In particular, one moment early on just before the game’s events start to turn violent seems to have left odd placeholder notes in the text. Given the mind-altering weirdness that’s taking place during this scene, it’s possible that this is deliberate, but it doesn’t seem like it. Also, beyond mistakes in the localization, be aware that this game has a lot of Japanese names, customs, and mythology, which might be a lot to take in for those who are unprepared for it.

Another issue here is the game’s visuals, which are fine but not nearly varied enough. The game features some largely static 2D backgrounds with some really nice anime-style character art, but these characters have extremely minimal animation (mostly just eye blinks) and a limited range of expressions. Furthermore, the backgrounds don’t give you a great idea of the area’s layout, and the few times you’re actually shown what the werewolves look like, it’s a bit underwhelming. Oh, and while the game’s text describes some pretty gruesome scenes, the visuals rarely show anything more than a blood spatter, or a corpse’s arm poking out from under a blanket. It’s an odd choice – if the game was going to describe graphic violence in such a manner that it would necessitate an M-rating, you’d think they’d take the opportunity to show us the horrifying murders to drive home the intensity of the situation.

The sound at least is mostly pretty good, featuring a good range of dour or off-putting background themes, with sound effects befitting the scene. Although I will take a moment to complain that the game’s “heartbeat” noise sounds nothing like a heartbeat, really undercutting the tension in moments where this is used.

Another complaint I have is that this game is somewhat slow-paced, and in particular the beginning takes a while to set things up. Also, players who know of the game’s Werewolf/Mafia inspiration may get the wrong idea and think that this game will be played the same way, by deducing who’s a threat and voting on them, when in fact these votes happen infrequently through the story, and in fact you won’t be actively participating in any of these votes during your first play-through, as an outsider the villagers don’t trust. Although “play-through” is a bit of a misnomer, as the protagonist’s memory of prior play-throughs makes for an overarching plot that extends beyond one trip through the story’s events, making for wildly different events happening in subsequent attempts.

I should also note that this game’s ending is pretty convoluted with some odd shifts in tone, and despite its convoluted nature it still leaves some major loose ends that aren’t tied together until you watch the unlocked supplemental materials.

It’s hard to deny that Raging Loop has some serious flaws in its pacing, its localization, and its presentation. Yet despite these flaws, I was absolutely riveted by this game. Its well-crafted characters, wonderful world-building, and fascinating look at a classic party game through a Horror-tinged lens and focus on story are truly thrilling, and while it’s slow to get going, once things finally got into gear I could not tear myself away from this one. If you’re a fan of Visual Novels or Horror, you should not miss this one.

tl;dr – Raging Loop is a Visual Novel with Horror elements about a poor rural Japanese village thrust into a ritual where a few of the villagers secretly transform into werewolves aiming to slaughter everyone else. This game has some pacing issues, presentation issues, and occasionally spotty localization, but it nevertheless thrives due to an amazing story with wonderful world-building and great characters. Visual Novel and Horror fans alike should definitely give this a look.

Grade: A-

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