LD can initiate the trial at any time during the game, but she'll have to be able to provide evidence to get a clean conviction. Paradise is just a few crystal skulls away from looking like a luxury resort in Cancun. Paradise Killer is like Schrodinger's Detective Game everyone is guilty at the beginning, and as you find more evidence implicating one character the truth slowly begins to shift. As the "investigation freak", you will speak to each of the suspects across the island in whatever order you choose and with whatever previous information you might have found. The facts and the truth are not the same. You'll need to establish time frames, alibis, relationships and motives with all of the suspects, which change depending on which order you receive that information in. LD's main objective is to figure out who killed the Council and why.
You explore the stylized, vaporwave version of Universal Citywalk Orlando with the first-person camera, finding strange, meaningless collectibles, blood crystals, death shrines, drugs and side quests along the way. There are a dozen or so character across the island that serve as potential suspects. They're going to keep repeating that mantra at you until you're sick of it, but Paradise Killer delivers on that promise. The most fascinating aspect of Paradise KillerĀ is that the facts and the truth are not the same. Dialogue never strayed too far from the absurdist, otherworldly nonsense Paradise Killer promised from the beginning. A suspect is in custody, but something about the official story just doesn't add up. It is the last day of Paradise, and with the Council murdered no one is quite sure what will happen when the sun sets the next day. The Council then resets the island, destroying everything and everyone on it and birthing them anew onto the next island. No matter how beautiful, peaceful or relaxing an island is, it is inevitably invaded by demons that are destined to end it. One night, the Council is mysteriously murdered, and you are called back in from exile to solve the mystery and execute the killer to create a true paradise.
Below you are the Citizens, regular humans that are pulled from our dimension to live out their days on this island as playthings for these deities, much in the way that you might do with your Sims. Above you is the Council, a mysterious group of elder beings that dictate the laws of the universe from their ivory tower. You are part of the syndicate, a class of nobility that rules over paradise islands that are created and destroyed and invaded by demons in an endless cycle. You are a world-class detective named Lady Love Dies (LD for short) in an alternate dimension called Paradise. Shinji the Censored Astral Demon was both a delight and mentally exhausting Everything from the colors to the music to the character designs screams "Vaporwave LSD Trip." If that doesn't vibe with you, here's your exit ramp. I can only describe the aesthetic of this game as "Andy Warhol was possessed by an Eldritch abomination and ate a vaporwave album and threw it up all over 1970s Miami." That may sound like a negative, but I always appreciate committing to the bit, even if that bit wears out its welcome quite quickly. Paradise Killer is fascinating in concept and was not executed as well as it probably could have been. Paradise Killer could perhaps be described as a 1st person exploration detective game mixed with a visual novel the aesthetics and vibes are clearly influenced by the works of Suda51 ( No More Heroes) while the gameplay is most closely tied to the Danganronpa series. Paradise Killer is the debut game from new studio Kaizen Game Works and boy, did they come out swinging.
I don't know that I've ever played a game before that was so, so difficult to describe.