Review | The Real Face of a VTuber - A Digital Whodunnit On Stream
What do you get if you place a VTuber at the centre of a murder mystery?
The Real Face of a VTuber is a visual novel that puts your deduction skills to work. The newest release from developer Lilien Games and publisher Whisper Games has you play as prosecutor Justin Smith. Alongside his assistant Emily, Justin is tasked with charging one of the employees at an entertainment company, also called Lilien, for the murder of its CEO.
But murder isn’t the only mystery here. There’s also the question of who plays the company’s flagship VTuber, Kuripa. It’s completely plausible that Kuripa could be any one of Lilien’s employees, so that’s yet another layer of intrigue.
If you’ve ever played Ace Attorney, you’ll know the drill. You have to question all the employees and follow up on the leads they drop in your conversations. With the evidence gathered you have to pin down the culprit and see if there’s any holes in their story. As well as questioning, you get to speak with characters in a courtroom setting either as a witness or a prime suspect. This is where you can use all your evidence and call them out on things that don’t add up. Additionally, Justin and Emily are paired with a detective named Zelda Hoss. You can assign her leads to investigate, getting more details on points the employees mention in questioning.
While you don’t play as a defence attorney, The Real Face of a VTuber is aware of its similarities to the Ace Attorney series. You’ll find references dotted about, particularly in dialogue. It’s charming how the game wears the inspiration on its sleeve but isn’t afraid to be its own thing.
It’s clear Lilien is a very unconventional company. It’s staffed with a variety of eccentric personality types, ranging from a scaredy cat graphic designer to a romantic talent manager to a digital modeler with a dark edge. Kuripa herself plays a critical role in the story. Described as cheery and energetic, she’s just the type of a virtual star you’d understand people being obsessed with. Her red and green heterochromic eyes along with her grey and neon green colour scheme makes it clear she’s the main event. She’s got the most animation of any character in this game, as well as unique colours and sounds for her subtitles, giving her distinct polish. While I did spot a couple of formatting issues with her subtitles, like incomplete words and words being split between two lines, they were still readable.
As Justin, you also get the chance to speak with Kuripa, but it is different from questioning the other employees. You send messages in her stream chat so she leads the conversation. If you pay attention you may be able to find similarities between Kuripa’s mannerisms and some of the employees.
Each character has their own personal relationship with Kuripa. Some see her as their own child, some as their ticket to riches or an escape from the hardships of life. It’s interesting to see that Kuripa’s ability to draw people in doesn’t just affect her fans. But under all the niceties, someone in this workplace is wielding Kuripa as a tool to get away with murder.
Kuripa serves well as a cautionary tale about blurring the lines between reality and fiction. She is an exploration into the type of escapism VTubers can offer both to fans and the person playing her. On streams, her animated VTuber form is a humanoid virus, so you could view her as toxic and parasitic, or maybe she offers a symbiotic relationship as both fan and VTuber rely on each other.
Overall, this game’s art style is simplistic. You can tell the same basic structure was used for each girl’s face. But their distinct colour schemes and personalities mean it's no issue. I like that each character’s main colour is an outward reflection of their personality. They pop against the muted backgrounds, so that makes you appreciate the details in their designs more.
The Real Face of a VTuber’s music is quite pleasing. It’s got tunes that make you want to whip out a magnifying glass while you search for info. When you get to a trial scene it's appropriately dramatic. It’s just the kind of soundtrack you need as the potential culprit tries to plead their innocence. When you’re on the office floor in between suspects, there’s a nice little jingle that plays as you look to Emily for your next move, an uncomplicated little ditty that gets the job done.
The writing in this game offers intriguing peeks into the relationships between characters and the impressions they have of one another. The juxtaposition of a grim murder and how silly the characters act does offer a lot of lighthearted moments. Justin has a lot of quippy back and forth moments with Emily and the employees of Lilien. The conversations also occasionally become a game mechanic as you have to choose the right dialogue options to gather the most relevant evidence.
As this game reflects the culture of VTubers it only makes sense that it looks at the behaviour of fans, too. Whoever’s controlling Kuripa knows that she can wield her fans as a distraction. They get too involved because their favorite VTuber is implicated and they want to defend her. In fact, they see it as entertainment to dox employees to try and solve the crime for themselves. These details help Kuripa feel even more real (even in her virtual incarnation). Although this is an extreme example, we’ve all heard stories or witnessed people online downplaying troubling actions just because their favorite person is involved.
I’ve enjoyed my time with this game. It puts a modern, relevant twist on a formula most lovers of visual novels are familiar with. In my opinion it tells a good story in a way that’s equal parts engaging and fun. You don’t need to be Sherlock to make progress but I love a good game that gets the brain going. The Real Life of a VTuber offered an experience where I could find joy in connecting the dots while playing at my own pace.
The Real Face of a VTuber was played on PC with a code provided by the publisher.
