The Letter - Horror Visual Novel

About The Letter - Horror Visual Novel

The Letter is a horror and drama visual novel by Yangyang Mobile, a small studio, first released on Steam in July 2017, with console versions from Eastasiasoft following on Xbox in December 2021 and PlayStation 4 in March 2022. It was inspired by Asian horror films such as Ju-On: The Grudge and The Ring, and the store page is open about its length: over 700,000 words, so expect a lot of reading.

On the outskirts of the fictional Luxbourne City stands a 17th-century English mansion said to be haunted by vengeful spirits. On the day of its open house a letter is found and read inside, and from then on seven people are caught in a curse that has plagued the house for centuries. They include an interior designer hired to redo the mansion, a detective inspector, a wealthy couple, a would-be filmmaker and a superstitious young woman.

The story is told out of order across seven chapters, each from a different character's point of view. You read, make choices and sometimes face an optional quick-time event. Choices decide whether relationships are mended or broken and whether someone is saved or left to die, and the endings you get in one chapter shape the chapters that follow. A branching tree tracks the routes you have seen, and a journal puts events in order and records clues about the mansion.

The fear comes from the slow approach of the curse: nightmares, bloody messages, and a ghost that turns up where it should not. When deaths come they are shown in detail, and the store page warns of gore, violence, sexual themes and offensive language. Between the scares the game spends a lot of time on romance, friendship and arguments among the cast, which some readers will enjoy and others will skim.

It suits readers who like long, character-driven horror visual novels with a supernatural curse at the centre, in the line of Spirit Hunter or PARANORMASIGHT, and who do not mind drama sharing the stage with the ghost. Full English voice acting is included and can be switched off, and the text can also be read in Simplified or Traditional Chinese. Expect to spend around 20 hours on one run through the story, and much longer to see every route.

How to play The Letter - Horror Visual Novel

1. Buy the game on Steam or itch.io (Windows, Mac or Linux), or on Switch, PlayStation 4 or Xbox; on iPhone, iPad and Android the first chapter is free to try.
2. Start a new game and read through the opening chapter at your own pace; click or tap to advance the text.
3. When a choice appears, pick what the current character says or does; it can change who lives and how relationships turn out.
4. Watch for quick-time events in tense moments and press the shown input in time, or switch them off in the options.
5. Use the branching tree to return to a choice and try another route, and read the journal to keep track of events and clues about the mansion.

Tips

• Save before major choices so you can try a different answer without replaying the chapter.
• The story is told out of order; the journal puts events in chronological order if you lose track.
• Endings in early chapters affect later ones, so it can pay to aim for the outcome you want before moving on.
• If the quick-time events stress you more than you like, they are optional.
• Check the Relationship screen now and then: how the characters feel about each other changes with your choices and shapes later scenes.

Questions