Higurashi When They Cry Hou - Ch.1 Onikakushi

About Higurashi When They Cry Hou - Ch.1 Onikakushi

Higurashi When They Cry is a sound novel series by the Japanese circle 07th Expansion, founded by its writer Ryukishi07, and the story was later made into a well known anime. It first came out in Japan in 2002, and MangaGamer first translated it in 2009. Onikakushi is its first chapter. This Hou edition was published on Steam by MangaGamer and Sunflower Ocean in May 2015 for Windows, Mac and Linux, and the chapter is now free on Steam and GOG. The later chapters are sold separately.

It is June of 1983, the 58th year of Showa, in Hinamizawa, a country village of fewer than two thousand people. By day there are crickets and by night cicadas. You read through the eyes of Keiichi, a boy who spends his days at school and playing games with a group of girls in his class. But the village has a history: each year since 1979, on a certain day in June, someone has died and someone else has gone missing, and the deaths are linked to the trouble around a dam construction project and a murder that was hushed up.

There is no fighting and no puzzles. As its makers put it, the music, backgrounds and characters set the stage for a novel that you read, seeing the story from the narrator's side. Much of the opening is light slice of life comedy, and players warn that it is slow. The horror arrives through what is not said: rumours, a festival, friends whose manner changes, and the question of whether the yearly deaths are a plot, chance, or a curse.

This edition has a revised script and redrawn character sprites, and you can switch back to the original art at any time. Hardcore Gamer notes the scenes where the music drops out and only the cicadas, the higurashi of the title, are left. HowLongToBeat puts the chapter at about 10 hours, and Hardcore Gamer says six to ten.

It suits readers who like a slow burn mystery and psychological dread in text rather than jump scares, and who do not mind many hours of reading. Its writer's later horror includes Umineko When They Cry and the story of SILENT HILL f.

How to play Higurashi When They Cry Hou - Ch.1 Onikakushi

1. Add the game to your Steam library for free and start it on Windows, Mac or Linux.
2. Click or press a key to move the text forward; the log button lets you reread lines you passed.
3. Use auto mode to let the text play by itself, or skip to pass text you have read before.
4. Read the chapter through to its end; there are no choices to make, so the story is the same for everyone.
5. If you want to go on, buy the next chapter, Watanagashi, on Steam.

Tips

• Give it time: players agree the first part is slow, everyday comedy, and that it is there for a reason.
• Read with headphones and in the evening; the sound of cicadas and the music do much of the work.
• Pay attention to small details in what people say; this is a mystery, and the clues are in the text.
• Avoid the anime and wiki pages until you finish, as they spoil the later chapters.

Questions