Kowloon High-School Chronicle

Kowloon High-School Chronicle
N/A
Metacritic
88
Steam
59.25
xDR
Our rating is calculated based on the reviews and popularity of the game.
Price
$19.99
Release date
9 November 2022
Developers
Publishers
Steam reviews score
Total
88 (26 votes)

A school romance adventure masterpiece is remastered and now released on Steam!

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Kowloon High-School Chronicle system requirements

Minimum:

  • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
  • OS: Windows 7 / 8 / 8.1 /10
  • Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6300
  • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 7800GT
  • DirectX: Version 11
  • Storage: 6 GB available space
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King 100 Hat
King 100 Hat

This game slaps. Just like how you can slap two items together and end up with infinite energy, or how you can just jam a pencil inside a stupid demon bat's face (and you might be asked to do so by a small impoverished child).

There's certainly a mechanics issue where the player can get knowledge checked such as the importance of AP in combat and just how crucial the Mind stat is to character development, but these do not diminish from the game much as it is a decent length so if you feel you screwed up your character, you can easily restart and fast forward through the dialogue at your leisure.

There's some unfortunate content in the game (Is Sudo trans or gay? Either way it's a bad look) but seeing as it originally came out in 2004 and how the original publishers would end up doing a lot worse on that front? That can be chalked up to the times. In a way, this helps center the game in the past of 2004 with its bizarro laptop tablet with text message capabilities and delightfully "cheap" pictures as background backed with an amazing soundtrack.

This game has a vibe and I encourage you to take a look at the gameplay, the characters and if it strikes a single chord in you, dive in. You'll find something in these ruins.

bishop
bishop

Playtime on Steam is misleading. I've played this game thrice- once on the PS2 in it's original Japanese, once on the Switch, and now on Steam (primarily on the Deck). This is one of my favorite games of all time (if not just my fav straight-up), and one that hugely changed the way I look at games as an artform. A very unique blend of genres, styles, and aesthetics that hasn't been replicated before or since. While it's frequently, reductively compared to Persona (and it'll certainly appeal to many fans of that series), Kowloon's deeply strange systems, singular focus on characters, episodic structure, and wider, weirder blend of genres makes the comparison mostly falter past surface-level.

It's definitely not for everybody- the game is intentionally obtuse, massively important systems go poorly explained (if at-all), the translation is occasionally wonky, and the pace can charitably be described as a slow burn. The game also includes some problematic tropes from the time of its release, that'll unfortunately turn off many who are unable to look past them. If you are however, and you're looking for a deceptively ambitious, one-of-a-kind work of art that manages to become more than the sum of it's parts, I'm more than willing to give this a glowing recommendation. Purveyors of the weird and obscure in particular should absolutely give this game a play: there's nothing else quite like it. If it hits for how it did for me, you'll never be able to look at the medium the same way again.

Overkill of ASE
Overkill of ASE

Naughty Dog is spending hundreds of millions of dollars remaking a game that came out in 2020. Meanwhile a perfect candidate for a remake is sitting right here.

Arc apparently wanted to make its own dungeon crawler with Persona-like S-link management. At that... they half-succeeded. The core of the gameplay rests on grid-based combat and exploration alright, but unfortunately those aspects get old fast. You'll find most encounters (and at times you'll be forced to grind) to be interesting puzzles at first that gradually become easier and more tedious as you repeat them.

The exploration aspects are also a mixed bag. Most puzzles are either dead simple or (and no thanks to an apparently not great translation) inscrutable as hell. I had to rely on mashing out a few puzzles, but most can be done with some thought. And then that's it.

While the gameplay is saddled with repetitive and half-baked ideas, at least the story parts are interesting enough. There's even romances if you're into that kind of thing. I think you'd have to know quite a bit about Japanese mythology to understand what's going on most of the time though.

The real downsides to the game are its inventory management, which involves simplistic item gathering at the map level. At least you'll never run low on most supplies, and there is a basic crafting element that has all the problems a crafting mechanic can have. The interface is also a pain in the ass to navigate at times.

The artwork ranges from interesting to unfortunate. Most character sprites are passable and the game is fully voiced in Japanese, though that also includes your little computer helper when you're dungeon crawling that NEVER SHUTS UP.

This game is probably for people who just want a Persona/SMT fix, but it won't be a quick one, so only play this if you really really like them. Incidentally it also has a little NES-style SMT game that you can play for some bonus stats.

Now, if someone wanted to remake this game with a real budget and fixes/changes to its gameplay and stuff, you could have a real hit on your hands. Maybe after they remaster Starfield.

EDIT: I forgot that this version is technically a remaster, but as western audiences never got around to this the first time it makes no difference.

Mail
Mail

Fun VN and dungeon crawler. Great cast of characters in an episodic mystery. If you are interested in obscure games that used to only be available in Japan; you should absolutely give this one a shot. Best played with a controller but you can get by with the keyboard controls (no mouse support).

Also it runs great on Steam Deck!

modern
modern

was working on a fan translation of the Japanese/Chinese Switch release before this port came out and beat me to the chase lol
it's an OK port but it uses the Chinese translation's formatting as a base for the text formatting, leading to really wonky text placement and sizing in almost every UI element (you can see this in a few of the steam screenshots)
still recommend picking up, but be aware that the port is pretty barebones

Yomigael
Yomigael

Gave it a quick go and it feels surprisingly fresh.

I'm not big on the dating sim aspects, but the dungeon crawling feels top-notch. Definitely recommended for those who want to try something new and different from what they've played before.

This is a temporary review until I finish this game.

BATAMUTE
BATAMUTE

Its finally here! I played this when I played fan translations and played it without subs. The game is a wonderful mystery and adventure steeped in japanese and cultic backgrounds in general, with well drawn potraits and UI, followed along with a understandable and well-made battle system. Buy at full price if you can! or wait on sale if you can! Get your hands on this game.

etch
etch

Pretty basic port. Game seemed locked 60 when I used Steam's built-in FPS counter. Every time you boot up the game, a basic launcher window appears asking if you want the game in 1280x720, 1600x900 or 1920x1080 resolution and if you want it windowed or not and which monitor you want to use. Supports controller, but seems to only have button prompts for Xbox. There is keyboard controls, but no use of the mouse. Lots of options for rebindable keys and buttons, but haven't experimented with it. You need to use the keyboard to exit the game(esc key) and need to use the keyboard to open the controls menu(F2) even if you are using a controller plus there are a few keyboard inputs required such as for the player character's name at the start of the game. Only real issue I have faced thus far is controller input seems to be very sensitive especially when dealing with menu navigation with the joystick or DPAD no matter the controller as I tested three different ones. I have already played the game on Switch and PS4 in the past, but the dungeon-crawling is very interesting and enjoyable as it focuses on exploration and treasure hunting. The concepts presented are intriguing and gives a decent amount of depth to the world-building.

Mace
Mace

Definitely more of a VN than dungeon crawler.

Quick notes:
Keyboard controls are not intuitive - use a controller... though I spent a lot of time pressing random buttons instead of looking at the controller config.
The emotion wheel (or whatever it's called) is not easy to understand at first (the text font sucks) - not sure if "choices matter" either.
VA is pretty random as there's not a lot.
HANT (your PDA) VA is annoying as it is both English and Japanese.
Volume is ear bleedingly loud even at the lowest settings
Some very slow parts - especially going through the school. That took over 35 minutes (reading very fast) and without the ability to save until the end of the day.
Puzzles seem to be fairly easy - granted that is based off the first dungeon (pro tip - you can scroll down on the item screen)
Combat seems to be simplistic
Dungeon movement is a little annoying - don't expect a dungeon crawler control scheme. There is no strafe and pressing down makes you do a 180 and not go backwards.
Funny enough, the emails or notes still reference 2004.

Right now I'd give it more of a recommended if you're into VN's with a little action, but not to anyone looking for a true dungeon crawler.