The Real Face of a VTuber
Developer: Lilien Games
Publisher: Whisper Games
Platform: PC
Release Date: Available Now
Price: $11.99 USD – Available Here
Overview
There was once a time that VTubing seemed like a thing that was only a small fad growing in Japan thanks to a few who pioneered the field and started making a splash overseas such as Kizuna Ai. Since then we’ve seen companies like Hololive explode in popularity around the world and VTubers in every language, shape, and content style have sprung up, be they part of a large corporation or an indie trying to run everything on their own. Anime style, 3D modeled, simple png designs, and more, Vtubers are everywhere. Yet at the heart of it all, except for one notable case that still has someone at least holding their reigns, there is still a face behind that animated Vtuber model.
Now what if the face behind that Vtuber model happened to be involved in a brutal murder case that happened right within the company’s own office? That is the question that indie developer Lilien Games poses with their unique blend of murder mystery and visual novel called The Real Face of a Vtuber. With plenty of references to Vtubing moments, some obvious inspirations here and there, and even a sprinkling of actual Taiwanese Vtubers, is this visual novel worth your time?
Story
What started as a standard day for Justin Truth, a seasoned prosecutor with a sweet tooth, getting angry at his assistant Emily Close for eating his pudding soon turns into a blood covered crime scene as he is informed that the CEO of the Vtuber company called Lilien Entertainment has been found murdered inside the company’s headquarters. Upon arriving on the scene, Justin finds that the CEO, Mr. Chicken, is none other than a literal chicken and is simply called Mr. C to avoid confusion from then on. To make matters worse, while there is blood and evidence scattered around, the office was locked until the body was discovered. This means that there are only six suspects that could possibly have slain their boss, the six employees of Lilien Games themselves.
To make matters worse, each of these women, through one reason or another, is clearly suspect in slaying Mr. C after the initial investigation, only leading into more questions when it suddenly becomes clear that multiple people begin to claim that they happen to be the company’s incredibly popular Vtuber, Kuripa’s, real face as a way to claim their innocence. With the help of Close and officer Zelda Hoss to look into various leads, it will be up to Justin to come up with the truth behind this murder and what secrets these six girls have been hiding, as the closest secret a Vtuber has is their real identity, but now that blood has been spilled, will that secret finally come to light?
Although it may have plenty of colorful visuals and the victim happens to be a chicken (reference to Phase Connect’s Sakana perhaps?) The Real Face of a VTuber does tell a serious story that delves into the mindset of some of the employees as well as deep into the world of Vtubing as a whole while also explaining many aspects of VTubers that newcomers may be unfamiliar with. This includes things like Vocoders to adjust voice pitch or hide their real identity, rigging, the terms of Mother and Father in regards to a VTuber, and much more. In fact, longtime fans of VTubers in general will obviously get the biggest kick out of this story though newcomers who never have watched one before may also find themselves intrigued once they get a small taste here.
The characters themselves are something of a mixed bag unfortunately since, of the six primary suspects, one is only given the bare minimum in the form of development while another is meant to be something of an enigma. While trying to avoid spoilers, this character switches from referencing famous events from VTubing history including Gawr Gura’s debut stream to acting entirely out of place and mysterious, leaving her the biggest question mark players will walk away from once the game’s true credits roll, even with the bonus episodes. As for the other four, the character development is handled rather nicely and as players uncover more about their pasts, what motives they may have to want to kill Mr. C, and their alibis there is some great writing for these four characters.
It is interesting to note that The Real Face of a VTuber has three different endings depending on the clues that players gather and who they choose to accuse at certain points of committing the murder. Ironically, while my first guess for who happened to be the “Real Face” turned out to be correct, it led to one of two “bad endings.” Once the player completes the title they will be given various hints as to where they can locate extra evidence they may have missed and uncover new clues to unlock the third ending, the truth route. There is even some interesting bonus content that is unveiled once players complete this route though we will leave that up for players to find for themselves.
Gameplay
As with most visual novel style games, The Real Face of a VTuber, generally only involves talking to various characters but thanks to the game’s core aspect being built around a murder mystery, it also involves gathering evidence and actually interviewing suspects. Standard gameplay tends to simply involve reading along as the dialogue plays but throughout the game players will be given times where they can call any of the six suspects in to ask them about a new lead to try and uncover evidence.
Similarly, players can talk to their assistant Emily Close and officer Zelda Hoss and have them also investigate various leads that play out while players are interviewing witnesses/suspects. This helps uncover some new clues that players can then tie together on their own to put together their own theories about what actually happened. In fact, enough evidence happened to point in a certain direction that my own guess turned out to reveal the right identity, just not through the right route resulting in a different ending of the three possible routes.
Alongside interviewing and talking to the characters players will be able to access the “internet” and to DM “fans” of Kuripa to learn additional information as well as unlock additional hints and clues that can be used to send players down a different route and even watch short tidbits of Kuripa’s streams where the Vtuber is shown interacting and talking with other real Vtubers from Taiwan, with nearly every single one of them having a solid enough following on their own. This adds a nice little extra touch to the gameplay element even if the streams themselves are mostly bonus content.
As mentioned before, the game does feature three different routes depending on what clues players manage to gather and what they end up thinking is the real truth. Ironically, the game is quite difficult when it comes to managing to end up on the “true” path but once players complete the game once the title unlocks a hint system to point players along the way. It is worth noting that there are no fail states in The Real Face of a Vtuber nor any actual punishment for getting things wrong. This may be disheartening to some looking for a bit of challenge, especially during the court segments that feel just like a spiky haired defender would take part in.
Only during these segments players can only object to questions asked about various statements or cross-examinations and rather than objecting to some falsehood, it is instead objecting to something that would be improper in legitimate court, such as asking a leading question or one with no bearing on the case itself. Instead if players miss an objection their assistant Emily will object for them and Justin will react as if punished, similarly if they present the wrong evidence when questioned about a certain fact or objecting at the wrong time. There are no health meters or court misconducts that can happen so players really have no worries about failing which does take away some of the stakes.
It is worth noting that throughout my time with The Real Face of a VTuber there were a handful of bugs that appeared but nothing too drastic. One time during an objection the entire game froze in that scene and the only way was to quit out and then there are multiple moments that untranslated text appears on-screen. This doesn’t happen quite that often, but enough to be noticeable especially when it comes to looking for a hint or two, especially since a character’s entire name is different in the English release compared to what it is stated as.
Audio & Visuals
The Real Face of a VTuber has a fairly simplistic style for most of its designs, especially in regards to the backgrounds which are kept minimalistic. Thankfully the actual character designs are fairly well done with a handful of expressions for each of the characters in the game, though not as many poses as some players may want. It is also worth noting that there are only around five or six CGs throughout the entire game which is a bit unfortunate. What is stellar looking though is the way the game presents the game’s Vtuber Kuripa and her streams. Unlike standard character models Kuripa is Live2D and her “streams” are filled with animation and extra effects to make them look quite impressive. Kuripa herself also looks exactly like what someone familiar with Vtubers would expect given the information and background the company has built around the character.
There is no voice work of any kind in the game, though there are a few jokes that if The Real Face of a VTuber sells a hundred thousand copies they will add voice work. This does mean that everything shown must be read and for the most part that is fine outside of a few misspellings and aforementioned untranslated lines. It is also worth noting that some of the dialogue that appears during Kuripa’s streams are displayed a bit oddly due to the English text not lining up properly in her “stream” window. The soundtrack features a fairly standard collection of background music that the team has put to great effect especially when major revelations about the case happen.
Overall
The Real Face of a VTuber offers not only an intriguing murder mystery but also a solid look into the world of VTubing itself, giving those who may only have surface knowledge a little peek behind the curtain while also providing plenty of funny references for longtime fans of VTubing in general. Behind this interesting mystery though are some faults as a few characters feel underutilized and some untranslated text and formatting issues appear more frequently than many would like, but even then Lilien Games’ foray into blending together VTubing and murder investigations is quite the successful one.
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