Parascientific Escape is an enjoyable visual novel game, albeit a bit short. The plot is very reminiscent of the original Zero Escape game; four girls become trapped on a cruise ship that has recently been bombed, and they must escape before the boat sinks. The plot is, of course, more detailed than that, but I would very well use up my whole character limit trying to explain the game's plot. It's not extremely complex like the original Zero Escape game, **** does get slightly confusing. I really enjoyed the game's plot. My only complaint is that the ending was a bit abrupt and was not as satisfying as I would have liked; hopefully the ending becomes more clear in the game's two sequels. Gameplay revolves around escape-the-room puzzles, where you look for items and solve puzzles in order to...well, escape the room. The puzzles aren't too difficult, but I did find some of the later puzzles to be more challenging. I suppose I should also mention that in this world, some people have psychic powers, and the main character has said powers. You use your powers of telekinesis to solve puzzles in a different way. It's a nice change of pace, but I felt that it got used too much later on. I enjoyed the gameplay quite a bit, although the puzzles were a bit easy. The graphics are quite nice, with anime portraits representing characters when they are speaking. I especially enjoyed the music, which consists of mainly piano pieces. There aren't many songs in the game, but the game isn't too long that they begin to get repetitive. Speaking of length, Parascientific Escape is quite short. I believe I managed to finish the game in around 4-6 hours. However, this isn't much of an issue considering it's cheap price. Overall, Parascientific Escape is a solid visual novel that kept me hooked until the end. A great presentation, story, and gameplay all make this game a hidden gem on the eShop. It may be short, but it's $5.00 price tag should convince fans of the genre to purchase this diamond in the rough. It's not necessarily a must-buy, but I highly recommend fans of the genre pick this one up if they're in need of a new visual novel.

While this game has a lot of potential, most of it is gone to waste. A core gameplay of room escaping with a story at least a bit original, although convoluted and poorly presented, Parascientific Escape is not a game worth your time. Very short (finished in about 4h30 while taking it slow and easy), the puzzles presented aren't too hard and won't ask you much efforts to go through them. Thankfully, hints are still a very helpful option for the rare ones that could require a bit more thinking. However, while never impossible, and somewhat repetitive at times, the puzzles are well thought. The story, while kind of odd, is not paced well-enough and it makes the characters' interactions feel empty sometimes. Another point that's problematic is the point and click gameplay. In every interaction you could have with puzzles or environment, menus pop up to allow you to select what you wish to do. However, it makes the whole process very tedious as some menus could've very easily been avoided to make the experience feel more interactive. The game looks pretty nice overall, with a nice soundtrack, but fails to use its potential to the fullest. You could always get it if you have a free afternoon and wish for a simple experience, but that's about it.

An enjoyable, if short, room escape game with a passable visual novel layered over it. The translation is rough with mistakes aplenty but it manages to convey the story well and the small cast of characters don't overstay their welcome and there aren't any outright irritating members. The story is basic, which is fine as they manage to pack in a few good twists and even manage a few moments of tension. The room escape puzzles are composed of standard adventure game "find item, use item" puzzles and the psychic puzzles which can best be described as block mazes with the interesting point that you cannot see anything until you use you limited clairvoyance power to reveal small sections. The adventure game puzzles are logical and are usually straightforward and the psychic puzzles are varied and interesting. The only complaint I have is that the game is a little easy and more than once one of the characters will just say exactly what to do next; "Oh that [item] needs to be used in [location]". However, I must also take into account that this game is extremely cheap for what it offers. If you are anxiously awaiting Zero Time Dilemma and want something short and sweet to carry you for a few days then I would not hesitate to recommend this to you.