Description
This is a rather unusual game that I've been following for a while: "Qliphah in Providence's Shadow" (aka "Kanbaku No Kurifa"). While the game had minimal advertising leading up to its launch, I was intrigued by its short promotional trailer that was showed off a few months ago. The game was touted as a "Tactical Counter-Timeline RPG" by Arc System Works who, up until near launch, was pushed as both developer and publisher for the game. For those who aren't aware, Arc System Works have been making games since the early 90s (under their "Arc Co Ltd." label) and are best known for "Guilty Gear", "Blazblue" and acquiring a substantial portion of Technos' catalog, but they've done A LOT of other stuff since then. That said, RPGs were never their forte (their bread and butter was the "Wizard's Harmony" series, but they've dabbled in other stuff) so it's nice to see them try their hand at a modern hybrid.
The stage is Tokyo after the "World Collapse" in 2030—a city where reality is eroded and grotesque entities known as "Anomalies" roam free. Soma Hoshigami, a young courier, is attacked by an Anomaly during a delivery job. He ends up in a state of limbo—an "In-Between" where human and monster are intermingled. He is taken into custody as "Lost Property" by Rena Hizuki, an investigator from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's Public Safety Bureau, Foreign Affairs Fifth Division (commonly known as the Public Safety Anomaly Response Division). Stepping into the shoes of both Rena and Soma in a world corrupted by anomalies and facing total reality collapse, you will track down "Tiny True"—a demonic drug flooding the streets— and investigate the "Stigmas", mysterious body markings spreading among the youth that erode their flesh. Crush the sinister cult operating from the shadows, and unravel the ultimate mystery behind the transformation of the world.
When the game's finer details were finally made available, we got a clearer picture - the game was primarily developed by "UnitePlus" and released for a modest $24.99, and the game weighed in at just around 1.5GBs. Why would they hide this? Well, if you dig into UP's background, you'd learn that they're not a new team and have been releasing games since the early 2000s... they're also not a terrible development team as a whole (they've worked on several of the beloved "Boku no Natsuyasumi" titles after all as well as many anime-licensed games and the original "Caligula Effect"), but they've had some less-than-successful titles the last few years such as "River City Saga: Journey to the West", "Progress Orders" (saved by its budget) and (perhaps most damning) "Varlet". They've been struggling to hit their stride on original projects it seems and Qliphah, at a glance, seems to continue that trend. This Visual Novel / ARPG hybrid released to severe negative backlash and currently holds a 44% approval on Steam (09/29/26). There are a handful of reviews that have spared the game and, having played it myself, I am going to add my two cents.
The game takes place over five chapters where the player is tasked with reading dialogues and exploring parts of Japan by investigating a map to find clues about drugs, anomalies, and who is pulling the strings. Each chapter has a "time limit" of 10 days, so you are limited in what optional tasks you can do as failing to meet the deadline of the chapter results in Anomalies growing stronger (this isn't dire for regular mobs, but even a few extra levels will make bosses a struggle). While the game doesn't have items or conventional gear, the player can learn a bunch of different skills to outfit your characters with as well as passives to boost stats and earn "Research Points" by performing specific tasks in battle or searching specific areas. Most powerful skills are locked behind "Mystic Pass" which are specific 4-character codes that are hidden all over the place, but mostly in the in-game SNS message board that also goes in-depth on the game's lore (and is a community Easter Egg hunt).
Combat is unique and is built around counters and can be seen as a more seamless deconstruction of Caligula's "Imaginary Chain" system. The player controls both Soma and Rena and use a color-coded system to intercept attacks. When the rings touch is usually the best time to launch an attack, but the game is fairly generous on timing and has a slow-mo and pause mechanic to assist. It takes a bit to click, but it's a whole vibe when it does. The game, as a whole, just needs "more". While it has multiple endings, it feels like a small portion of a bigger narrative that is constrained by its budget, but what is here is told well, looks pretty good, and is clever. If this is the start of a bigger series, I look forward to a sequel wholeheartedly, but if this just serves as a bite-sized, self-contained story, I'll be disappointed -- Rena is too sexy to have just one adventure and the criticism is overblown.
This is a vid of the game in action.