• Price: $7.99 USD
• Developer: Quill Studios
• Publisher: Ratalaika Games
• Release Date: August 4, 2023

A review code was kindly provided by PR Hound on behalf of Quill Studios and Ratalaika Games. We thank them for being able to cover something they’ve worked so hard on.

Content warning: Rated T – Manipulation, Social Isolation, Obsession

Ratalaika Games publishes a lot of neat visual novels, so I was intrigued by Death Becomes You, a murder mystery set in a magical university. You play as a young woman named Sidney, who recently had an argument with her student mentor Lyra after asking her about some nasty rumors. Lyra has Sidney reassigned to another mentor, but Sidney begs her to meet with her to talk things out.

Lyra agrees to meet with Sidney, but right as she gets to the meeting spot she discovers Lyra’s dead body. Four students come across Sidney apologizing to Lyra, and naturally accuse her of being the culprit. For some reason though, they give her the benefit of the doubt and decide not to report her to the administration or the police. (My immediate reaction: What about preserving the evidence?!? 🤣)

Sidney finds the four women suspicious; she didn’t kill Lyra, so in her mind it had to have been one of them. I figured they could be considered suspects, but in her private thoughts Sidney is pretty hostile towards them even if they’re trying to be nice. After all, “Lyra always said to be suspicious of a smile.”

Murder is obviously bad, but it seems like several people at the university could have a motive for killing Lyra. She emotionally manipulated a lot of people – including Sidney; Sidney has no other friends besides the now-dead Lyra because “[she] never realized how manipulative people could be until Lyra taught [her] all about it.” She was isolated from other students, and seems to think her friendship with Lyra was exclusive and special.

There were so many red flags for me when I read Sidney’s thoughts and her frequent defense (excusing) of anything Lyra did or didn’t do. Seeing what the other women had to say about her didn’t help matters. But did any of them murder Lyra, or was there someone else who could have done it? 🤔 🔎

Trying to figure out who killed Lyra is difficult without the proper authorities involved. The other women have different personalities and relationships with Lyra. Some of them have dated – or are currently dating – one of the other women, including Lyra.

In the group of four, Alice seems more friendly and relaxed, and Apolline tries to be kind to Sidney. Having a nice personality doesn’t exclude you from the pool of murder suspects, though. Daniella and Sophie are the less pleasant characters, but that doesn’t mean they did it either.

Sidney thinks that she can expose the culprit by investigating each of them, so she goes and talks to them, hoping to catch them off guard. Unfortunately for her, none of them break out into maniacal laughter, confessing that they committed the crime. However, depending on your choices you may find yourself reaching one of the bad endings.

There are 13 endings in the game, and most of them are bad endings. I thought that the overall story didn’t have as much substance as I would have liked, as it didn’t seem like a lot was happening. It felt short for me despite the ~77,000 word count, and many of the endings were anticlimactic and abrupt in my opinion.

I also just did not like any of the characters. Daniella and Apolline kind of had some qualities I could appreciate, but overall everyone had dysfunctional and unhealthy relationships with each other. I was also disappointed that there wasn’t as much focus on the magic. There’s some mention of it here and there (I especially liked the idea of the Campus Hivemind used for messaging), but it takes a backseat to the relationship drama.

I think they did a good job with the soundtrack, with ominous music setting the tone well. The background art is pretty, and I also liked the CGs. You can unlock the CG gallery in the Extras section (although it appears to have a bug). There are background and fan art galleries, a fun bonus scene, an endings section, and developer notes too. I always appreciate a good Extras section!

I usually enjoy a good murder mystery, but despite liking certain elements, the story and characters in Death Becomes You were not for me. Some things aren’t for everyone, and others may respond better to this. That being said, there are some positive things to say about the game. Your enjoyment of the story merely depends on whether or not you’ll be okay with the themes, the diminished role of magic, and lack of a real “hero.”