MARS RED: Edge of the Nightmare - Game Review

 Release: May 20, 2021

Platform: iOS / Android

Website:

Early twentieth century, Japan - the flowering era of Taisho influenced by Romanticism. As the nation prospered in modernization, some species were outcasted and stood at the crossroads of their lives.

They were - vampires. 

Although they possessed superhuman physical abilities, they would burn under the sun and only lived off of blood. They suffered from having keen senses, and most of them could not adjust to their eternal life. 

Thus - they were vulnerable species. This is a story about a young man named Yatsufusa, who became a vampire against his will and seeks the meaning of life as he encounters different people and species surrounding him.

(Summary from the Official Site) 

MARS RED is a mystery/adventure F2P visual novel mobile game produced by the MARS RED Production Committee, D-techno, and Favary Inc., inspired by a play and anime of the same name by Bun-o Fujisawa. 

The game currently is 280k words long and is full of content written exclusively for this game. It had to be delayed a bit but that's okay because it's finally here! 

I am not familiar with the original play or anime, so my only knowledge of MARS RED will be coming from this game. Yet even though I knew nothing about it other than vague details about it (like vampires hunting other vampires- what?), I'm glad I decided to play this game. 😚

Tune in below for a spoiler free review of MARS RED the game!

Characterization & Plot

Our story follows the introspective Yatsufusa Yuki (CV: Yuichi Nakamura), a newly turned vampire who detests his new existence and wishes he had the strength to end it.

As he adjusts to his new life and discovers strength and purpose in his newfound abilities, he becomes an important ally to Code Zero - an organization which employs both humans and vampires to hunt down other vampires that have gone rogue and are wreaking havoc among civilization.

Other charming characters include: 

• The gentle, pacifist vampire Shutaro Kurusu (CV: Tasuku Hatanaka)
• Code Zero's stern human captain Yoshinobu Maeda (CV: Junichi Suwabe)
• The easy to speak with vampire Tokuichi Yamagami (CV: Koichi Yamadera)
• An eccentric vampire scientist known as Takeuchi (CV: Akira Ishida) who loves to invent new gadgets
• Suwa (CV: Kenichi Suzumura), a stubborn vampire who constantly covers his face and can't remember his past
• A young-looking, but extremely powerful foreign vampire named Defrott (CV: Miyuki Sawashiro)
• The human owner of Tenman-ya Shop, named Shinnosuke Tenmanya (CV: Sachi Kokuryu), who provides special employment to vampires

If you would like to get a feel for the characters and hear snippets of their voice, I would definitely check out the website~

Sound & Art

I really enjoy how sleek the character art is for this game, and I think it fits it perfectly for this visual novel style. Each character is unique and you'll never have difficulty differentiating them. Currently my favorite sprite is Takeuchi's happy face. 😊

Sometimes though it seems like art would get a little fuzzy, like during the animation for the gacha pull. While the other sprites are fine, sometimes Yatsufusa's sprite in the corner looks a little fuzzy as well? Perhaps because it's more zoomed in than the others.

I wish that some of the miscellaneous characters would actually have art rather than just be faceless sprites. I understand that a common trend in VNs is for minor NPCs to be faceless but... it's very jarring for flashbacks of one of the main characters to also be faceless lmao.

(Faceless NPC)

If you're a fan of Japanese seiyuu, then you'll notice that MARS RED has a cast full of talented voice actors! While this game is only partially voiced, the sections that did have voicing were great. As expected of such an A+ cast haha.

As a minor note, I also think it's really neat how Suwa's voice sounds like it's filtering through the mask that he wears. 👍

I am also a fan of the BGM! I really enjoyed how a lot of tracks had orchestral arrangements, and they fit the mood from casual to dramatic to unsettling. 

But orchestra isn't the only type of instrumentation, as heard during the electric guitar track in action scenes that seriously hypes you up! Or for your more somber moments, there's a melancholic acoustic guitar. 

Basically, I'm really a fan of the music and I definitely think it's one of the highlights of this game besides the story. There's definitely a wide range of music and I'm loving it.

Gameplay

The home page of MARS RED has a UI that is clean, simple, and easy to use. All the important points you need to access are available here, with additional options located under Menu. If you have a favorite character, you can switch the homepage to display them instead~

The game's legal info may start in Japanese, but fear not: You'll be able to select English before anything important happens.

Items & Currency

Amber is a vital resource needed while you can play, and it can be obtained for free during log-in bonuses, gameplay, or by purchasing. Amber lets you do things like play the gacha or advance in the story when you're out of tickets or low on story points.

When you reach certain parts of a chapter, you'll be unable to progress unless you have enough story points. These can be earned when you Explore, and the location and length of time will determine how many you receive. You'll also receive Explore Points for a character, which unlock extra character blurbs called "murmurs" when you level them up.

(Image from the official website)

To those unfamiliar with the ticket system, the game provides 5 free story tickets to advance with the story. However like in most mobile games these tickets do not carry over to the next day, so you have to use them before the daily reset at midnight. 

If you run out of free tickets, you can use either your own tickets that you have or spend 60 amber to continue.

To those who don't want to buy items, you can also obtain them for free during log-in bonuses or while advancing through the game!

Coins are another currency that this game uses, and one way to obtain them is by exploring. These coins are then spent on special stories between characters, priced at 300 coins each. Another way is by playing the gacha. Any extra rewards you receive will give you 30 coins for a regular story or 100 coins for a rare one. 

In general every time you're rewarded an item or some currency, you're always given the option to watch an ad in order to get even more!

The tutorial also does a great job explaining each mechanic of the game as you progress, and you can always revisit the FAQ if you find yourself lost.

Story Mode

Most of the story takes place in your typical visual novel style. There are sprites, a textbox, and simple options like pause (to take a break from the story), hide the textbox, backlog, auto, and settings. You can rehear any sounds a character makes by tapping their line in the backlog, and the default auto speed is perfect for reading. Of course, this and more can be adjusted in the settings. 

A skip feature would have been nice for players like me who like to unlock every possibility & bad end, but it's really just a minor gripe lol.

However, this game isn't purely VN. There will be instances throughout where you'll have to investigate your surroundings and deduce the answer based on the information around you, similar to games like Ace Attorney, Danganronpa, SEEC Games, etc. Some situations are more critical than others, and the wrong selection could penalize you and potentially lead you to a bad end! 💀

There were some times I felt like it was difficult to see what needed to be investigated - mostly due to not enough contrast since being a vampire means investigating at night - but overall it's an engaging gimmick that allows you to take a break from just reading.

Microtransactions 💸

While the game can be played for free with time and patience, there is the option to make purchases to speed up your progress. One item you can buy is a "lamp" for $1.99 USD, which will take away the ads needed to view the hints during the investigation sequences.

Otherwise you can purchase amber, with prices varying depending on how much you decide to buy. The cheapest is 60 ambers for $0.99, which is equivalent to one story ticket. Although it is a little pricy long-term I would say that $1 per ticket is pretty standard in mobile VNs, so it's really your preference to buy or not. Of course the higher price you pay, the more free amber you'll be given with your purchase. Currently the highest priced option is 4000 amber + 800 free for $64.99. 🥵 

Gacha Elements

Like a lot of other mobage, MARS RED utilizes a gacha feature in its design. As of writing this review, the gacha system seems to purely be an aesthetic that allows you to learn more about character interaction in a succinct yet fun way...

...Which is something I extremely appreciate! No more spinning to get that one item you need, or rolling again and again to get a specific card to obtain and level up. It's literally just for fun. 

Of course some gacha are available for only a limited time, so don't miss out on doing those pulls for special stories or CGs!    

Story Misc.

Translation & Bugs

For the most part, I found the translation to be pretty great and accurate! There weren't any huge issues that affected the immersion of the game. 

However as this is a new game, there are some errors that slipped through the cracks.

(Selections hidden for review)

There were a couple spots I noticed during the game that still had little bits of Japanese untranslated. Thankfully they were mostly irrelevant, but I hope an update in the future will correct it!

Some other small errors include ellipsis inconsistencies, some typos and slight misuse of phrases ("mind as well," "can't care less," etc.). There were also some inconsistencies in Yatsufusa's name in particular, for example writing his first name as Yuki vs Yuuki.

Normally when a character is speaking, their sprite lights up while others dim. There were a few times it lit up for the wrong character, but it's not too noticeable unless you're paying attention to it. 

Most of the above are minor enough to not really be an issue, but I think my biggest gripe would have to be the textbox programming. I think the line breaks could have been placed better to maximize the text box. This becomes an issue when a lot of text needs to be said and so it becomes... really tiny. Unfortunately I couldn't find a good screenshot where this happened that didn't reveal spoilers, but I'll update in the future if I do find one. But please have mercy on my bad eyesight aha.  👓

Future Chapters?

MARS RED currently has 6 story chapters available, each with multiple parts for them to read. It almost simultaneously feels like it's so much but also so little! 

Later story chapters can get beefy with almost 30 parts per chapter. At the same time, 6 chapters is just but a fraction of the story, which you might be able to plow through somewhat quickly if you decide to go with microtransactions.

However I'm glad to see that Chapter 7 will be added soon, and I hope that many more will continue to be added in the future!

Final Thoughts

MARS RED is a fun and interesting game that will definitely grab your attention and make you want to keep reading. It has quite a bit content available from the beginning as well! In addition to the main story, there's lots of side stories obtained through gameplay that'll keep you engrossed for a while.

I enjoyed learning about not just Yatsufusa, but bits of the other characters as well. It's a game that makes it easy to be intrigued by the characters, and I'm sure there's a favorite for anyone playing. 

I won't go too much into the story since I do think it's best to be experienced by one's self, but I do think it's interesting there's additional "layers" to being a vampire. 🧛 In this universe, vampires have rankings that can range from S to D or even be unranked. The higher the ranking the more powerful the vampire, but you can only detect someone is a vampire if they rank higher than you. It's a little odd, but it's definitely different in a good way. 

This and other new information can be a little confusing at first. But as someone who is completely new to the franchise, this game presented everything you need to know about the world in a way that was easy to comprehend!

You also don't exactly need to know anything about the original source material to play this game. From what I understand, this game is more like an alternate storyline compared to the play & anime, but it's still an entertaining experience. It's a bit of shame though since I do like Yatsufusa as a protagonist, so I would have liked to see him in other versions of MARS RED haha.

Overall, I would recommend this game to those who like supernatural elements and mystery. I would also say this is great for those who are a fan of visual novels and want something casual that they can play on the go.

Despite some of the errors and bugs present in this game, there's a lot to explore and discover. It also feels like a breath of fresh air since there are no frustrating mechanics that mobile games tend to suffer from, particularly when it involves gacha. It may take some time to complete if you decide to play completely free, but I think it's worth the effort.

If you have the time, then definitely give MARS RED a try! And don't forget to create that transfer password so you can revisit the game without losing progress if you ever take a break from it. 💖

Until next time~! (๑>ᴗ<๑)