I love a good condensed timeline – and not always within a game. Sometimes just being able to play a game within a few weeks of it being announced is its own type of thrill, which is the situation for Paranormasight: The Mermaid's Curse, a new mystery from Square Enix.
It was only unveiled a matter of weeks ago, during a Nintendo Direct presentation, and is now available to play on Switch, Switch 2 and PC – that's the sort of turnaround I dream of. Thankfully, I'm not just praising the marketing timing to avoid talking about the game itself, either, which I'm really enjoying.
This is a quasi-sequel to the first Paranormasight, telling a largely disconnected story that has a couple of tie-ins that don't change the experience too much, and basically tells a compact, well-designed mystery story set in Japan. You view the story in the form of episodes that you uncover on a central timeline.
The majority of these are from the point of view of Yuza Minakuchi, a young man trying to learn more about the mysterious disappearances of his parents five years ago, but plenty of moments are from others' viewpoints, too. They also jump you back and forth in time, so that your understanding of the wider story comes together like a puzzle.
Set on a rural island with a population of freedivers, the plot revolves around curses and mermaids, in a version of the world where the paranormal is far less far-fetched than it might seem to us. This means that there are some neat little gameplay touches to explore, including visions and being able to see the faces of dead people at times.
There's also a little diving minigame that plays a key role in some plot developments, and it's a diverting way of doling out revelations in a way that makes you feel like you really discovered them. This is, after all, largely a visual novel that plays out in a set way, with some branching – so you're going to need to be prepared to read a lot of text whenever you play it.
What I've found, though, is that this actually makes it a pretty terrific travel option. Where some other games I've been playing recently are more action-packed and therefore a little harder to pick up and put down for 15 minutes at a time, The Mermaid's Curse is more like having a book with me.
I can easily interrupt sessions without worrying about picking up in the middle of something, and if I ever can't remember what the conversation I'm having is about, I can scroll back up through the record to recap things. At a time of year chock full of tech events, that's a blessing.
I'm still only midway through The Mermaid's Curse, and am looking forward to whether it can get into a darker tone over time (as is being hinted at). The good news is that I've got a fair few hours of plane time to contend with in the next week (on my way to and from MWC), so I'll be trying to get further in whatever bursts I can.
