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Corpse Party (2021)

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A friendship charm, a cursed school, and the ghosts of murdered children.

Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch
Stores: Steam, GOG
Price: Paid
Rated: Very Positive on Steam (90% of 1,554 reviews); OpenCritic 79 (Strong).
Length: about 10 hours
Players: 1
Controls: Keyboard or controller: move, check, open the menu.
Made by: MAGES.
Released: 2021

On PlayStation: one of the PlayStation horror games.

No. 28 of the doll horror games · No. 23 of the Japanese horror games · No. 17 of the murder mystery horror games

Get it on Steam GOG PlayStation Store (PS4)Xbox Nintendo Switch

What frightens A friendship charm ritual sends a group of high school students into Heavenly Host Elementary, a decaying school from another dimension where children were murdered. They are split up in its dark corridors among corpses and ghosts, the descriptions of each death are graphic, and binaural sound puts the footsteps right behind you.
Content: gore, intense violence, death of children, suggestive content, strong language.

Corpse Party (2021) is the updated release of the Japanese horror cult classic. High school students are pulled into Heavenly Host Elementary, a haunted school in another dimension, and must uncover the murders that happened there to survive, in a battleless pixel-art adventure where choices decide who lives.

About Corpse Party (2021)

Corpse Party began in 1996 as a PC-98 game made with RPG Maker and was later remade for Windows as Corpse Party: Blood Covered. This 2021 edition, developed by MAGES. and published in the West by XSEED Games and Marvelous, came out on 20 October 2021 on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox and Switch. It holds the five main chapters, fourteen extra chapters and two new extra chapters about Ayumi and Yoshiki that bring in two new characters, Miku Shirayume and Ryoka Iwami. All of it is voiced in Japanese, with text in English, Japanese and Korean.

On a rainy evening after a school festival, class representative Ayumi Shinozaki gets her friends to perform a friendship charm: each holds a piece of a paper doll and pulls. The floor gives way, and they wake scattered across Heavenly Host Elementary, a decaying school where children were murdered.

You explore the school from above in 16-bit pixel art, checking rooms, collecting items and talking with the people you find. There are no battles. The horror is in the text and the sound: graphic descriptions of what happened to the dead, name tags that record each victim's cause of death, binaural 3D audio recorded for headphones, and choices that send characters to sudden, often gruesome bad endings.

Critics were mostly positive: it holds an OpenCritic average of 79, and Steam players rate it Very Positive. A first run through the main story takes about 10 hours according to HowLongToBeat, and nearer 18 to see everything.

It is a heavy, gory story with likeable characters you can lose, best for players who enjoy Japanese horror adventures and visual novels and do not mind blood. The store lists intense violence, blood and gore, suggestive content and strong language, and it is rated M by the ESRB and PEGI 18.

How to play Corpse Party (2021)

Buy Corpse Party (2021) on Steam, GOG, PlayStation 4, Xbox or Switch.
Explore Heavenly Host Elementary from above, checking rooms and objects for items and clues.
Talk with the other students and read the notes left by earlier victims.
Make choices carefully; wrong ones lead to bad endings.
Play the extra chapters after each main chapter to see more of the story.

Screenshots

Corpse Party (2021) screenshot: the pale blue ghost of a child crouches in a rotting wooden corner as Yoshiki cries out

Corpse Party (2021) screenshot: Naomi in a ruined pixel-art infirmary with blood stains on the floor, seen from above

Corpse Party (2021) screenshot: many hands hold a paper doll about to be torn apart for the friendship charm

Corpse Party (2021) screenshot: the students of class 2-9 in their pixel-art classroom as Ayumi Shinozaki is introduced

Corpse Party (2021) screenshot: students and their teacher stumble as the classroom floor begins to shake

Corpse Party (2021) screenshot: Naomi meets a blue spirit flame in a broken corridor that warns her to heed the messages of earlier victims

Corpse Party (2021) screenshot: Ryoka and Miku hear footsteps in the hallway outside a dark classroom

Tips

Wear headphones; the binaural audio is a big part of the fear.
Save often in different slots, as bad endings come suddenly.
Check everything twice; key items are easy to miss in the dark rooms.
Collect the name tags of the dead you find; they tell the school's history.

Questions

What is the difference between Corpse Party and Corpse Party (2021)?

Corpse Party (2021) is the newest release of the Blood Covered remake. It adds two new extra chapters with the new characters Miku Shirayume and Ryoka Iwami, voices everything in Japanese, uses binaural 3D audio and came out on consoles as well as PC. Owners of the classic version on GOG get 25% off.

What platforms is Corpse Party (2021) on?

PC (Steam and GOG, with Mac and Linux versions), PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch.

How long is Corpse Party (2021)?

About 10 hours for the main story, about 14 and a half with side content and around 18 and a half to see everything, according to HowLongToBeat.

Is Corpse Party gory?

Yes. The store warns of intense violence, blood and gore, the deaths are described in detail, and it is rated M by the ESRB and PEGI 18.

Is there combat in Corpse Party?

No. It is a battleless adventure of exploring, finding items and making choices.