Technical Information

Developer: 07th Expansion
Publisher: MangaGamer
Release Date: July 18, 2019

The story follows a boy who moves to a small town in the rural area of Japan called Hinamizawa. It’s actually more like a village than a town.
Strange deaths have been occurring for several years, and some people attribute them to a curse.

Higurashi When They Cry Hou is a sound novel divided into eight chapters. The events take place between 1979 and 1983.
This is the third arc of answers and finally, the mind behind all the mysteries is revealed!

Final Considerations – Analyzing the work as a whole

Graphics and UI

For the first time, there are new scene transition models, and in some moments, certain characters’ sprites appear focused solely on their faces to emphasize specific emotions.

The game features both original art and a remake.
The art style of the remake is very beautiful, while the original is somewhat weird and creepy, depending on the dialogue.
Unfortunately, the characters do not have many poses or expressions, with most of them changing only slightly, giving the game a very static feel.

There are no interaction scenes between characters or key moments. Your imagination will be your guide at this point, just like in a book.

The scenery consists of photos with a painting effect. It looks very rough.

From a functional standpoint, the menus and text are very clear and easy to understand.
However, the menu aesthetic is quite ugly, with an amateurish feel reminiscent of the early 2000s.

The text is displayed across the entire screen, often overlapping the scenery and characters. This reinforces the feeling that the game is more like a book than a traditional visual novel.

Soundtrack and Sound Effects

Great music that conveys the emotional moments very well.

If only the characters had voices, it would have been even better!

Gameplay

Finally, everything starts to fall into place! This chapter starts very well, with explanations that keep you wanting more and more answers.

Just like before, this chapter is narrated from the points of view of two characters: Keiichi and Rika. However, there is no difference in text color when the viewpoints begin to alternate. A new character is introduced (and you can guess who it is just by looking at the game’s thumbnail haha).
Many things from Chapter 3 start to make sense, as do some loose ends that were present in other stories.

I was very upset with the ending, which is full of hatred from Takano.
I couldn’t help but feel indifferent as everything unfolded. There was so much coldness, arrogance, and cockiness.

Minagoroshi reinforces the value of friendship, unity, and hope. I’d even say that faith is indirectly mentioned, not religious faith, but faith that tomorrow will be a better day and that bad situations will remain in the past.
Between the lines, there are various lessons and reflections. I found the context of this story to have a more philosophical (and, in some ways, more mature) tone.

Replayability and Game Retention

I know that adding up everything that has happened in the previous chapters brings a sense of fatigue. There are many facts and few answers that truly make sense. People always get curious and anxious about the ending, right? 🙂

I can only say that it was worth it. So, if you’re already tired of going in circles in Higurashi, you can rest assured that Minagoroshi finally starts closing the gaps.
The ending of Tatarigoroshi is just too bizarre, and very few clues were given about what really happened. In this chapter, everything is explained in detail.