I always like to start with the things I liked, and I’m happy to say that Kutsu has many. Right off the bat the art style is striking, combined with the film grain effect, and “glitch” effects, it creates an unsettling atmosphere that I can’t look away from. The limited use of colours is quite interesting, red definitely stands out among the black and white aesthetic but I wish it was used just a bit more throughout the game, perhaps as a way to highlight some more key points for the player to investigate. The sounds used throughout the game are well put together as well, I particularly liked how the looping school bell is used to solve a puzzle, it’s a good example of how you can incorporate a games environment into its puzzles. The spook factor is definitely on point with Kutsu as well, the art style really lends a hand here in creating some pretty chilling scenes, along with the use of some well-timed music/sound effects.
There’s only one thing that I can point to and say I didn’t like, and that’s with the lack of direction with some of the puzzles. When I found the book in the library, I became somewhat confused as to what I was looking for, I figured I was looking for a pair of shoes, not necessarily an empty shoe cubby hole near the entrance of the school, so this created some mild confusion as to how I was to progress. Once I got going and into a grove of things, I had no trouble completing the game after that.
I’m happy to report that I didn’t run into any bugs throughout my time playing, mostly impart to the devs stating where a game breaking bug is located. I hope this gets fixed however, as not everyone is going to take the time to read the games description, regardless of how short it may be.
Overall this is a very solid point & click horror experience, and one that I would recommend. Everything from the art style, to the sound design helps to create an intriguing horror atmosphere that is usually fairly challenging to create in a 2D game, but here it’s been done very well.
Cheers, and best wishes,
Killjoy