Mizzurna Falls [English] | Full Game Walkthrough | No Commentary
133There are certain games out there that are so rare or unknown that it makes me proud to archive them on the channel and preserve them for the next generation. Mizzurna Falls is one of those games.
I was notified on this game by a friend and dug a bit in the history of it. Mizzurna Falls was a game that was developed by a Japanese studio and only ever released in Japan. The game never came out in America or Europe.
Because of that you had no way of playing the game in English and thus had to have some knowledge of Japanese in order to complete it.
Many years later a group of dedicated fans have now properly translated the project and you are able to experience the game from beginning to end in English.
The game itself is a really interesting one. In many ways the game was ahead of its time, but it was also a bit too ambitious and the result is that the game is also a buggy mess. It takes inspiration from the tv show Twin Peaks and tells the story of a murder case in a quiet town in Colorado. This all happens during Christmas and the winter atmosphere in the game is amazing. Though I would have liked a bit more Christmas decorations here and there.
The gameplay consists of an adventure game in a 3D open world where NPCs have their own schedule and patterns. You can drive to their homes and interview them about the case in order to get new clues. Its important to mention that this game came out BEFORE other games like Shenmue, Majora's Mask or Driver.
And thus its so impressive that the creators managed to make a functioning 3D open world environment where you can see the inhabitants walk and drive around and keeping to their schedule. It even has quicktime events and also fighting sections where the game plays like a 2D brawler. Many think Shenmue was the first, but this game did it earlier.
However, the result of all those mechanics was way too much for the PlayStation 1 and the developers knew this when they released the game. There were other functions and mechanics that they wanted to put into the game, but eventually could not and had to release the game in an incredibly buggy state. There are constant glitches with things and characters popping in and out and its pretty frequent for the PlayStation to even crash because of the game.
One of the mechanics that they could not implement was a notebook where you would receive hints on what to do next. Because of that its actually really difficult to get the good ending in the game since the timing on certain sections is really strict and thus its a game where you really need to use a guide in order to complete it.
Yet despite its many flaws the game still manages to achieve something incredible and the dedication and passion of the developers can be seen. Its a diamond, but a very rough diamond. But definitely one that should not be ignored and it deserves to be remembered by how unique it is and how ahead of its time the game was.
Playing MIzzurna Falls was both amazing and frustrating and I am so proud that I can finally archive and share this unique game with all of you. I hope it will peak your interest to learn more about this game and its history as its one of the most interesting ones we archived on this channel!
#mizzurnafalls #gaming #twinpeaks #ps1 #playstation1 #playstation #retrogaming