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Shuten Order is the latest visual novel experience from Neilo Inc and Too Kyo Games, following up on their incredibly successful Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy. However, this game has an extremely different concept from Hundred Line, as instead of being an SRPG with one hundred endings, this game is structured into five different routes, with each one having a different gameplay style and writer.
The game’s story immediately throws players into the deep end, explaining that they have been murdered by an unknown killer and have four days to investigate five different suspects. This is a unique murder mystery concept that is very different from the other works in the Too Kyo Games catalog.
Each of the five suspects you must investigate has a different gameplay style, which massively changes both the gameplay and visual style of the game. This is where Shuten Order shines. Every few hours, you will be given an entirely different experience tailored to tell a new story.
Because of this game’s unique structure, where not only does every route have a unique gameplay style, but also a different writer, it makes the most sense to review each of them individually.
Murder Mystery Route
We’ll start by covering what will likely be the first route that many gamers try first: The Murder Mystery genre route. This route was written by Takekuni Kitayama and Takumi Nakazawa. The story and gameplay mechanics mostly resemble other mystery genre games like the Ace Attorney and Danganronpa franchises.
This route’s structure can be separated into two sections: investigations and meetings, although the gameplay is relatively the same in both, as the primary gameplay mechanics, “Snapping,” is all about objecting to statements characters make and asking them to either elaborate or present a piece of evidence to them.
Of all the gameplay styles featured in Shuten Order, this is one of the most fully developed and expanded upon (likely due to Too Kyo Games having developed several games in this genre already). As both the investigations and Meeting segments ask the player to think through their Snapping and truly think about what the evidence they’ve gathered means in the greater picture.
Visually, this route is the one which most closely resembles the prologue, especially in the investigation segments. Text boxes and the way they are presented are almost identical to the opening hours of the game.
However, things do take a slight turn during the Meetings, as in order to properly showcase all of the characters arguing with each other, the entire group has their portraits displayed at the same time, with the game’s camera constantly moving to show who is talking in a manner similar to that seen in Danganronpa.
Overall, this is one of the more interesting routes in the game, both due to how developed the gameplay is and how intriguing Inugami is as a character, so getting to spend a whole route with him is quite a joy.
Multi-Perspective Adventure Route
Next, we’ll cover the Multi-Perspective Adventure genre route, where the player must investigate Teko Ion. This route was written by Kyohei Oyama, with some sections being written by Sei Uryu.
The Multi-Perspective Adventure genre route turns the game from an ADV-style VN to an NVL-styled one. Here, the player must switch between the stories of multiple characters and make specific choices, as a choice in one character’s story can lead to another character facing a bad end.
This route is a clear homage to games like Takumi Nakazawa’s Infinity series and also other NVLs like 428 Shibuya Scramble. Because of that, it is just as developed as the Murder Mystery route and is actually the longest route in the game length-wise.
The plot of this route is also one of the best in the game, having plenty of twists and turns that remind you of how hard it is to trust people in the situation you have been thrust into. The line between ally and enemy is incredibly blurred to great effect.
This type of visual novel style has always piqued my interest, making choices as one character, which can either result in the other making it to a safe location or being eaten by a T-Rex of all things, is extremely satisfying.
If there is one flaw that can be found in this route, it’s that it isn’t possible to immediately go to a choice when switching characters. You must always watch the entire scene that leads to the choice, which can take quite a bit of time, even if you’re holding the text skip button.
I would describe this as one of the best routes in the game and a brilliant showcase of Shuten Order’s concept and how a VN that constantly switches style can achieve it.
Escape Game Route
The third route in the game is the Escape Game genre route, written by Yoichiro Koizumi. Here, the player must investigate Yugen Ushitora as they and twenty other individuals are thrown into a killing game scenario reminiscent of those in the Zero Escape franchise.
Unfortunately, this route is not nearly as well developed as it should be. Despite being a route about an Escape Game, there aren’t actually any escape rooms to solve until the very end of the route. Instead, the puzzles are all very simplistic things like connecting dots or placing cubes in the correct slots.
Considering the brilliant staff at Too Kyo Games and their previous work developing games in this genre, it’s hard not to be disappointed by how simplistic the gameplay in this route is. While the difficulty will occasionally ramp up, it doesn’t change how simplistic these puzzle types are on a conceptual level.
While this does make the route disappointing from a gameplay perspective, from a story perspective, this is one of the game’s strongest routes, as having an entire cast of characters to play off makes both the game’s drama and comedy shine forth in a way that some other routes sadly cannot achieve.
One character in particular, Suzuhiro, is an absolute highlight of the entire game, and seeing how her story unfolds is one of the biggest reasons I would recommend this title to readers.
The gameplay of this route may be disappointing, but it doesn’t become too much of an issue as the route isn’t nearly as long as the previous two we covered, and the story experience helps make it a good part of the Shuten Order experience.
Stealth Horror Route
While many in Western internet circles will be speaking of this title as a Kodaka game, he actually only wrote the prologue and a single full route: the Stealth Horror Genre route. Unlike the other routes in the game, which feel like parodies/homages of specific games, this route feels more like it’s homaging the concept of horror games rather than anything specific.
This route’s visuals are unique in that they repeatedly switch between the VN format seen in the prologue and a 3D, top-down perspective whenever the player is in an actual horror chase segment. It’s a simplistic look, but the correct vibes are there.
When it comes to describing the actual gameplay of these segments, there isn’t much to them aside from walking around and occasionally picking up an item, which is required to progress. The main mechanic involves running away from the creature that is stalking you, but any horror the situation may create goes away once you realize that the monster disappears entirely the moment you enter a closet.
To the game’s credit, there was a single moment when the creature chasing you legitimately caught me off guard, causing me to hop in my seat. Thus, it is hard to call the route a complete miss in the horror department.
The biggest downside of the horror route is, sadly, its story, which spends a long time foreshadowing a specific twist in a way that makes it no longer shocking when the ball eventually drops. While the character interactions with Manji are fun, she is also the only other character in this route, and can make the whole thing feel cramped and underdeveloped.
Romantic Adventure Route
The Romantic Adventure genre route, written by Takumi Nakazawa and Yasuyuki Mochida, sees the player be put in a high school setting where they must romance three girls, juggling their relationships as they get to the end of the game’s three-day time limit. This route is an open and welcome homage to Konami’s Tokimeki Memorial, going so far as to include a romance bomb system.
While the idea of juggling various different romantic partners is one of the main appeals to this route, it is actually much more linear than one would expect, as the game introduces the girls one at a time, only making you juggle meetings between the girls after you have fully romanced one.
Sadly, this is easily the least developed of the title’s gameplay styles, as there is very little in the way of mechanics and choices in this route. You only need to spend time with each girl a few times for them to reach max affection, leading to the bomb mechanic feeling like an afterthought, as you can get a girl to near max affection before the others even have a chance to blow up.
Romantic Adventure is also easily the shortest route in the game, lasting only a few hours. Because of this, even the plot can come across as underbaked compared to the others since the player barely gets to know their suspect, Honoka Kokushikan, in the time they have.
The Experience as a Whole
You may have noticed now that I have described nearly every route in this game as flawed in some manner and are potentially thinking the game as a whole isn’t worth it because of that, but you couldn’t be more wrong.
While no individual route of Shuten Order is the greatest thing ever, this is a title that is more than the sum of its parts. Experiencing how each piece of this puzzle comes together to form a compelling and complete mystery.
In many ways, this game and The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy mirror each other and feel like sister titles both conceptually and narratively.
From a concept standpoint, it is very interesting to compare a title with one hundred different endings but a singular gameplay style and structure in all of them to a game with only a few routes, but with each of them having a vastly different style from each other.
Narratively, there are also plenty of parallels between these two titles as both take place on a desolate planet ravaged by humanity’s actions, with the concept of what would be morally okay to continue the species’ existence coming into question repeatedly. I shall not go into plot details for this review, but the way these two titles handle very similar themes throughout their tales practically invites comparison.
I would go so far as to say that fans of either Hundred Line or Shuten Order should go out of their way to buy the other title as well. The amount of similarities and how both titles differ when handling similar plot points warrants personal examination and should be experienced firsthand.
Aside from the very unique gameplay concept, Shuten Order’s greatest strength is its visual style. This is one of the most visually impressive VNs I have ever played. The vibrant and colorful art style and character designs are immediately recognizable at a glance and stand out from the other titles in Too Kyo Games’ catalog.
Nearly every scene in the game has multiple new CGs, and while that alone would have been impressive, the mere fact that every one of the game’s routes has a different visual style in order to make their homages work is a feat that cannot be praised enough.
While it can be a bit jarring to switch between 2D portraits and 3D models in some routes, I personally find this to be one of the most visually impressive games of 2025. The amount of experimentation with how the Visual Novel genre can be presented on display here never stopped aweing me throughout my entire playthrough.
While I have been singing this game’s praises throughout this entire review, there is one negative aspect of the game which I must mention, as it can affect people’s enjoyment of the title: the localization. Or to be more specific, the amount of typos or glitches within the text.
Throughout my entire playthrough, I was constantly noticing moments where either the text contained typos or wasn’t displaying properly. It wasn’t uncommon for text to not be in the boxes entirely or get cut off by the edge of the screen. While I was able to look past these moments, the fact that they happened frequently (especially in the Romantic Adventure route) can easily turn some people off of the game. I can only hope that a patch can fix these issues.
Overall, I would describe Shuten Order as a very flawed experience, but one that is worth playing through. Not everything in the game works; some routes can be half-baked, and there are technical issues throughout. Yet I constantly found myself drawn to and intrigued by the game. Even with all of these flaws, I was always having a great time.
Not every game needs to be this finely polished and perfect experience; sometimes beauty is found within a piece of art’s flaws. This is how I would describe Shuten Order. It is far from a perfect product, but the experience of seeing how this strange concept comes together is what makes it a great game.
Shuten Order
Bottom Line
Shuten Order is a deeply flawed experience which is more than the sum of its parts. No individual section of this perfect, but the experience of watching it come together makes it one of the best games of the year.
