Corpse Party (2021) Review

From the PSP to the Nintendo 3DS, Corpse Party finally makes an arrival on consoles. It’s what you can call a cult classic. Corpse Party on consoles acts as the enhanced version of the 3DS port. As somebody who has never touched a Corpse Party title, my interest was peaked. For a title to reach over 3 different systems it must be worth checking out. Now that it’s 7 years later where does this horror classic stand? While frustrating at times, Corpse Party with its horror elements and story will keep players engaged as they navigate the horrors and tragedies ahead of them.

Starting in Kisaragi Academy a group of high school friends all perform a ritual, the Sachiko Ever After charm, so they could all remain friends forever, Something goes wrong with it, and the school begins to crumble and fall apart beneath them away to Heavenly Host Elementary School. From here on out you are in charge of helping the students escape their hellish nightmare filled with ghosts, killers, and anything that is out to kill them.

Don’t be fooled, even though it’s in a 2D 16-bit RPG fashion, Corpse Party will give you goosebumps and a ton of tense anxiety-inducing moments that will get your blood pumping. We can thank the puzzle segments and mini-boss battles for that one. For spoiler reasons, I won’t say much but those moments had me on the edge of my seat. What makes Corpse Party so special is the atmosphere it creates. Heavenly Hosts is littered with descriptive decor and the scenery is so decrepit you feel as if danger lurks around every corner. You must play this game with headphones to get the true horror experience. What surprised me was the difference between playing with and without them. Eerie sounds will play, you can hear the building itself creaking and settling, voices of ghosts and spirits laughing maniacally and crying hysterically. While it’s optional I’d highly recommend wearing some nice headphones to get immersed.

While some moments of the game are fun there are moments where things can become frustrating. I’m talking about running into dead ends. You can find yourself dying constantly receiving one of the many bad endings this game has in store. Within the first time, it’s rather stunning to see in detail how your character dies but seeing it happen more than twice gets annoying real fast as you reload your save and have to do everything over again. To receive a game over doesn’t necessarily even have to be based on skill. If you do something in the wrong order, read something or walk into a certain area it could result in a game over. It’s like you are getting punished just for playing the game. There is a lot of backtracking within Corpse Party. I can promise, you will be reloading your save often, essentially wasting your time.

Conclusion

Only those who are dedicated to the experience will enjoy Corpse Party. You will come across death pretty often while exploring Heavenly Host Elementary School and it will get frustrating, but to be enveloped in this graphic horror narrative is a party you want to get invited to.

This game was tested and reviewed on Xbox One. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.