Detective Araka

About Detective Araka

Detective Araka is a mystery-laden visual novel where you play Yuuki, a man with no memory found among survivors of a landslide in Inusai Village. Published by Saikey Studios, it drops you into a surreal scenario where the village should be buried but remains untouched, its residents acting as if nothing happened. Released in October 2025 for PC, the game blends dialogue-driven storytelling with investigation elements. You partner with exorcist Ihayase Araka to figure out why the village isn’t destroyed and why Yuuki can’t leave. It’s a slow-burn narrative puzzle wrapped in a horror-tinged mystery, leaning heavily on environmental clues and branching choices to piece together the truth.

Gameplay

You spend most sessions clicking through dialogue with villagers, exploring the eerie village, and analyzing objects for hidden details. Choices matter, selecting which character to question or how to interpret a clue can shift the story’s tone from paranoid to outright supernatural. The game emphasizes observation over action; you’ll often backtrack to the hospital or village square to gather overlooked items. Combat is nonexistent, but tension builds through timed decisions and cryptic messages that hint at Yuuki’s past. Each session feels like a slow peel of a layered mystery, with the exorcist’s expertise occasionally offering context to otherwise nonsensical events. The controls are minimal, relying on keyboard shortcuts for menu navigation and dialogue options.

What Players Think

PlayPile users rate it 8.2/10, with 67% completing the main story. Average playthroughs last 8.5 hours, though 23% spend over 12 hours chasing side clues. Community moods are split: 45% “curious,” 32% “tense,” and 23% “eerie.” Critics praise its “unhinged narrative pacing” (The Visual Novelist) and “haunting atmosphere,” but some note pacing issues in middle chapters. Achievement hunters target the 45 total trophies, with 17 tied to optional investigation paths. Over 60% of players revisit key scenes post-game to uncover missed details, reflecting the game’s high replayability.

PlayPile's Take

Detective Araka is a $19.99 slow-burn that rewards patience. It’s best for fans of atmospheric visual novels who enjoy parsing cryptic dialogue and piecing together disjointed timelines. While the $20 price tag feels steep for 8.5 hours of play, the 45 achievements and dense lore justify a second playthrough. Skip it if you prefer fast-paced action or linear stories, this is a game where the journey hinges on lingering in discomfort and trusting the fog to lift.

Storyline

You wake up in the hospital with no memories. They tell you that you were found among the survivors of a landslide that buried a small village called Inusai, with only some spare change in your pocket. Nobody knows who you are or where you came from, but you are undoubtedly connected to the village in some way. Determined to uncover what happened to you, you set off to investigate the site, hoping that something will trigger at least some fleeting memory. Everything becomes even more complicated when you discover the village is still completely intact and its residents are behaving as if nothing happened. Very soon, however, you realize you can no longer leave, and that nothing is as it seems.