Style: Video game music
Primary Emotions/Themes: Channeling of psychological horror into audio form
Thoughts: Death Mark is a visual novel based around psychological horror and what happens to people in desperate situations. Characters will get inflicted with a mark that predicts their exact moment of death, and only by engaging in life threatening challenges in the supernatural realm are they able to rid themselves of the mark.
Through your actions and investigations you can either end up saving the people you work with or watch them suffer horrific fates. The art for the game is horrific in many ways and absolutely gruesome in some circumstances. It's especially horrifying when a person you have been trying to save the entire time blows up in a fine red mist right in front of you because you failed to make the correct decisions. It's very effective about making you care about those afflicted with the mark.
Equally effective is the music. While the soundtrack is short, it contains atmospheric pieces for each phase of the game. A reflective piano piece for the mansion - the main hub of the game. A horrific noise driven piece for when the ghosts are in direct conflict with the player characters. Suspenseful music that drives home an direct sense of urgency for when the investigation is starting to really get involved. Silence for when the evidence is in the process of being gathered.
Death Mark is a great visual novel that took me about twenty hours to complete. The game is challenging and highly traumatizing for many reasons. Even with the best ending there is loss and horror woven throughout. It's a game that emphasizes embracing the little time we have left, and the music echoes that perfectly.
Written July 22nd 2024
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