Haunted house Stealth horror Psychological horror

Corpse Party: Blood Drive

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Go back into Heavenly Host for the book that might bring the dead back.

Platforms: PC, Switch
Stores: Steam, GOG
Price: Paid
Rated: Mostly Positive on Steam (75% of 397 reviews)
Players: 1
Controls: Keyboard and mouse or controller (partial controller support on Steam).
Made by: MAGES. (5pb.); published by XSEED Games
Released: 2019

Get it on Steam GOG Nintendo eShop (Switch)

What frightens Two months after Book of Shadows, class president Ayumi Shinozaki returns to the ruins of Heavenly Host Elementary, the otherworldly school where her friends died, to find the lost Book of Shadows. With a flashlight she crosses dark 3D halls smeared with gore, runs from red-eyed shadows, hides in cabinets and disarms traps, while graphic art, text and binaural Japanese voices describe the deaths.
Content: gore, violence against children, torture, sexualised images, strong language, mention of sexual violence.

Corpse Party: Blood Drive is the conclusion of the Heavenly Host story arc, a Japanese horror adventure by MAGES. published by XSEED Games. Ayumi Shinozaki returns to the ruined, cursed elementary school to find the Book of Shadows, exploring its gore-smeared halls by flashlight, hiding from pursuers and avoiding traps.

About Corpse Party: Blood Drive

Corpse Party: Blood Drive arrived on Steam in October 2019, published by XSEED Games and developed by MAGES. (5pb.). It is also sold on GOG and the Nintendo Switch eShop. The store calls it the definitive conclusion to the Heavenly Host story arc, with 11 story chapters and 8 extra chapters, and it picks up two months after Corpse Party: Book of Shadows, so play the earlier games first.

Some members of Kisaragi Academy's class 2-9 came back from Heavenly Host, a hellish elementary school from another world, and many did not. Class president Ayumi Shinozaki once tried to use the Book of Shadows to bring her friends back and only made things worse. When a spirit photograph suggests the lost book now lies in the tattered remains of Heavenly Host, she becomes set on going back.

For the first time in the series the school is in full 3D, seen from above with dynamic lighting, and you carry a flashlight through it. Between voiced scenes with anime portraits you explore rooms, run from pursuers, hide in cabinets and disarm traps; the screenshots show red-eyed shadows in corridors coated with gore. The Darkening system and binaural 3D audio return from Book of Shadows.

The store warns of extreme violence shown in full-screen art, text and Japanese voice acting, including the mutilation, torture and murder of children, along with fanservice images and strong language. It suits players who have followed Corpse Party this far and want its ending.

How to play Corpse Party: Blood Drive

Play Corpse Party and Corpse Party: Book of Shadows first; this picks up after them.
Buy it on Steam, GOG or the Nintendo Switch eShop and start the first story chapter.
Explore Heavenly Host from above with your flashlight, checking rooms and reading what you find.
When something pursues you, run or hide in a cabinet until it passes.
Look out for traps and disarm them before they kill you.

Screenshots

Corpse Party: Blood Drive screenshot: a student with a flashlight runs across a broken, bloody floor from a red-eyed shadow

Corpse Party: Blood Drive screenshot: Ayumi clutches her head and cries in a dark tatami room where a body lies on the floor

Corpse Party: Blood Drive screenshot: Ayumi and Yoshiki talk beside a collapsed floor in a dim room of Heavenly Host

Tips

Play with headphones; many scenes use binaural 3D audio.
Keep the flashlight on dark corners; items and dangers hide in the gloom.
Watch the Darkening; a character who grows too frightened is heading for a bad end.
Try the eight Extra Chapters after the main story for more of the cast.