Umineko When They Cry - Answer Arcs

About Umineko When They Cry - Answer Arcs

Umineko When They Cry (When Seagulls Cry) is a sound novel series by 07th Expansion. The Answer Arcs hold its second half, episodes five through eight, and were released on Steam by MangaGamer on 17 November 2017 for Windows, Mac and Linux; it is also sold DRM-free on GOG. This version lets you swap between the renewed character sprites and the originals, keeps the original music, is uncut, and can be read in English or Japanese. It has no voice acting: everything is text, art and music.

It picks up straight after the Question Arcs, which hold episodes one to four and are sold separately; start there. Once again it is 4 October 1986 on Rokkenjima, the island where the Ushiromiya family holds its yearly conference. The old head of the family has little life left, his children want his fortune and the ten tons of gold he is said to have hidden, and a riddle on an epitaph is said to point to it. A letter comes from someone calling herself a witch, and the sense of a 19th person on an island that should hold 18 hangs over everything.

The murders that follow are brutal and leave riddles no one can explain. You do not fight or make choices: you read, and the challenge the game sets is to work out for yourself whether the culprit is human or a witch. In its makers' words, the Answer Arcs will teach you many things, but solving the mystery of the epitaph is still up to you. Hardcore Gamer's review notes that these episodes still replay the family conference and peel the mystery away bit by bit, while other witches, Bernkastel and Lambdadelta among them, step forward to challenge Battler.

It mixes family drama, comedy, debates between the characters and true horror in its killings and in the witch's taunts. It is very long: HowLongToBeat puts the main story at about 57 and a half hours. It is for readers who finished the first half and want the rest of the story, and who like long mysteries told through text, music and art.

How to play Umineko When They Cry - Answer Arcs

1. Read Umineko When They Cry - Question Arcs first; the Answer Arcs continue its story.
2. Install the Answer Arcs from Steam or GOG and start from episode five.
3. Click or press a key to move the text forward, reading the story as it unfolds.
4. Swap between the renewed and original character art, and between English and Japanese text, if you prefer.
5. Keep your own theory of the murders as you read; the game leaves solving the epitaph to you.

Tips

• Keep notes on who was where at each murder; the story wants you to try to solve it.
• Do not look up the story online while you read; the second half is easily spoiled.
• Auto mode is slow and has no speed setting, so most readers click through at their own pace with the music on.
• Read it in sessions of an episode or part of one; the main story alone runs to more than fifty hours.

Questions