The Chrono Jotter is a deceptively strange take on the familiar high school killing game. The trope of young people hunting each other is usually tied to the thriller or horror genre, but this title uses the violent formula for an introspective fantasy on how the relationships in our lives create the meaning to live on.
Developed by Orca Layout and published by 2P Games and Orca Layout, The Chrono Jotter was released last year; however, it ended up releasing with an unreadably bad English machine translation. The producer has explained that the two person team had been overwhelmed by the task of localization. The game has since been updated with a proper English version, and I think such a fundamental revision merits another review.
The story begins with our protagonist, Ran Ibuki, waking up inside a derelict schoolhouse. Lost and disoriented by amnesia, she can still remember the mission that brought her here: Ran is searching for her girlfriend and the love of her life, Ann Sakura, who has been missing for four years.
In the morning, Ran discovers herself to be somewhere in the countryside, isolated from the outside world. Out of necessity, she begins living in a nearby dorm with seven other girls. In the mornings they carry about school as if life is normal; in the evenings, however, they kill each other. But not to worry—the dead always resurrect unscathed after the killer is found and the victims (usually) take no offense. There’s no antagonist forcing participation, no robot bear handing down punishments: it’s truly just a game.
How did everyone get to this place? Why can’t they leave? Why don’t they, you know, stay dead? Ran gets no solid answers because her classmates fail to register that anything is amiss in the first place. Chrono Jotter’s mystery is not in the murder cases—it’s the school’s bizarre nature itself.
The killing game is a framework for our hero to probe into the lives of the cast. The eight women of this tale have interlinked stories of romance and tragedy, and Ran can only discover who she is through the lives of others.
To investigate this strange world, Ran has an equally strange tool: a supernatural notebook that drinks her blood and enables her to relive past experiences. This limited ability to look back through time provides the main gameplay mechanic. At set points the player can rewind scenes to see slightly varied perspectives and clues they missed.
If you’re looking for a gameplay-heavy title, this is not it, as the only story-impacting choice comes during the last moments. A stat system seems to promise some variation with alternate builds, but in practice it’s sporadic skill checks that often can be overridden. Anything you may have missed during an investigation is seen later via the notebook.
There’s an issue here where offering choices without consequences loses some immersion that said choices are supposed to provide. To be clear, I like the stat mechanic and I like the freedom to select the next scene from a map. That being said, I feel the system was underused.
When it comes the time to solve the case, there is no real fail state and the culprit is apparent beforehand. So while chapters end with an enjoyable interlude where you select relevant clues, it’s not an Ace Attorney clone where you have to puzzle things out. I never fault VNs for linearity (hot take, I prefer it), but I know it can be a sticking point for others. Players should set their expectations accordingly.
Death games are a well-worn trope, but this is the first I’ve read that attempts to make it so cozy. Replacing life-or-death stakes with intimate yuri character drama is quite a substitution to the usual recipe. Turning death into an impermanent inconvenience saps a lot of suspense out of the scenario. As a result, Chrono Jotter shifts genre from thriller to magical realism. There’s still bloody murder, but it delivers a series of character studies as the writing builds from oddly dreamlike to outright fantasy. At its most creative moments, it’s something like Murakami crossed with Lovecraft lore.
Judged by VN standards, the game is concise—I clocked less than twelve hours total on my playthrough. The pacing of the plot is methodical, and while some parts in the first half are slower, I don’t think there is any excess or dragging. In my opinion, there wasn’t enough time to fully exhaust the intrigue of the setting.
Given the setup, this is the type of story that relies on its cast to carry the show, and it’s the main character—Ran—who does much of the lifting. She embodies the eccentric detective and her obsessive quest to reconnect with Ann is what drives the plot. The classmates don’t exactly know what to make of her at first; neither can the reader until the story gets further in.
Ran is also schizophrenic. This burden is presented without being lurid or mawkish. It’s not quirky, or reduced to a plot device for cliche twists. Ran is also not written so simply that this condition singularly defines her. But when we finally flashback to Ran’s past, it’s demonstrated how formative the disorder has been to her character.
This is a VN that focuses on some painful topics, particularly suicide. I’ve read many works that attempt similar themes and I think this one handles the subject matter better than most; the writing never overreaches for pathos. The characters struggle with—and are sometimes controlled by—feelings of emptiness.
The VN’s production brings the assets needed to set the right atmosphere and balance the story’s tone. There’s a subdued realism to much of the visual presentation, which creates great contrast for the appearance of any supernatural elements. Sprites are clean and expressive; CGs appear where it matters and with consistent quality. Ran also occasionally draws in her notebook, treating the player to a few charming doodles and animations. All the design choices, from the neutral-heavy color palette to the user interface, feel unified under very intentional art direction.
The dozen tracks of music are fitting, particularly the melancholic piano pieces and the spooky night time song. The soundtrack is, in general, pretty good; however, the sound design and ambient noises can feel sparse at times.
The Chrono Jotter constantly hints at a wider universe beyond the confines of the tale it’s telling. Whether or not Orca Layout’s next VN expands further on this bigger world, I’ll still be excited to see what they come up with next!
The studio’s upcoming VN, Raining City: Millions Recollection, has a demo currently available on Steam. What I played was drastically different in tone and looks extremely promising. It’s dark and cool in a way that reminds me of The Silver Case or the creepier parts of Killer7, but the art and surreal writing share Chrono Jotter’s distinct style.
For anyone who enjoys visual novels that take risks with established conventions, or those who like indie games that address difficult topics with sincerity, The Chrono Jotter is worth investigating. Even if translation woes hurt the English release at the outset, I wouldn’t be surprised if it eventually gets a cult following. Possibly because of all its idiosyncrasies, this is the type of story that may remain in your memory long after you finish it.
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