Publisher Kodansha Game Creator’s Lab and Japanese indie studio TOKOYO FUDOSAN have made available a demo for the upcoming amusement park escape horror visual novel, 1999 Tokoyo Building. The complete game is scheduled to launch on November 10 via Steam.
Taking place in the late 20th century, 1999 Tokoyo Building follows Akira Hiruyuki, an amnesiac boy who finds himself compelled to work at the eponymous Tokoyo Building after being caught stealing by its owner (Akira happens to possess exceptional lockpicking abilities). Tokoyo Building is a dilapidated indoor amusement park encircled by a massive water tank. Though the venue has fallen into disrepair and is rumored to cause people to vanish, it remains operational thanks to its live-in staff.
As it turns out, all of Akira’s fellow employees at Tokoyo Building are perilous individuals. From a performer resembling Count Dracula to Tokoyoman (the park’s resident tokusatsu mascot), each person harbors their own dark secrets they prefer to keep concealed. To evade an untimely demise (and to gain leverage over his colleagues), Akira employs his lockpicking skills to infiltrate his coworkers’ rooms and uncover their secrets. He leverages this information to cultivate relationships with the staff members, with his ultimate objective being to escape Tokoyo Building.
Gameplay alternates between point-and-click exploration segments and visual novel-style narrative sections. During exploration, you utilize your lockpicking abilities to sneak into your coworkers’ private rooms. Once inside, you search the low-poly-style, 360-degree environments for clues that reveal various secrets, which may prove helpful in conversations.
In the visual novel sections, you converse with your coworkers and make pertinent choices. The characters’ responses vary based on your replies, and you can fail conversations by displeasing them even slightly. Knowing too little about them leaves you without leverage, while knowing too much could expose you. It appears that the key is knowing what and how much to reveal to your coworkers so you can learn more about them. Should you establish a strong enough bond with them, your coworkers will gradually confide in you about their anxieties and hardships.
1999 Tokoyo Building’s anime-inspired characters are animated using Live2D. The game’s soundtrack, composed by “and Roger” musician Yasuhiro Nakashima, dynamically shifts according to Akira’s fluctuating emotions. The developers caution players for depictions of violence, frightening scenes, and suicide.
The recently released demo features the entire first chapter, which takes approximately two hours to complete. It remains unconfirmed whether progress from the demo will carry over to the full game.
1999 Tokoyo Building is scheduled to launch on November 10 for Windows (Steam).