REVIEW: ‘Shuten Order’ Is Fantastically Chaotic In Almost Every Way

Shuten Order is publisher Spike Chunsoft and developer Too Kyo Games’ latest and most unique title that it has ever made. While the publisher is known for its staple death and detective games, Shuten Order is the culmination of the best aspects of all the publisher’s games and includes not one but five unique genres. Despite the chaotic nature of both the narrative and gameplay structure, it shockingly executes all these elements superbly.

Shuten Order takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where the only human society still fully operational is a religious cult-like nation led by a strange organization that reveres the end times known as the Shuten Order. As the countdown to the end of the world begins with only 168 days left, the mysterious amnesiac protagonist wakes up with no knowledge of their past. They are awoken by two self-proclaimed angels who tell them that the leader of the Shuten Order has been murdered, and the suspects are the five ministers of the order.

They also reveal that the protagonist, whom they name Rei Shimobe, is the revived leader. Rei is then given the mysterious powers of God and is tasked with “God’s Trial.” They have to find their own murderer and bring them to justice to succeed and fully revive themselves. Rei is given just four days to accomplish this, and failure to find the true culprit will lead to their ultimate demise.

Shuten Order’s deep secrets and mysteries are driven by a multi-genre adventure visual novel.

Shuten Order‘s first few hours prove how unique the narrative and concept are. Players are introduced to an almost overwhelming number of elements and moving parts they’ll have to understand quickly. The game has a post-apocalyptic setting based on a cult-like group that celebrates the end times. However, it is still an organized society with a hierarchical government and rules.

This doesn’t change the fact that no one is truly in their right mind. The citizens are all too happy about their deaths, but not so happy when they are in danger of being killed. This juxtaposition makes Shuten Order’s narrative distinct from other similar games.

As players delve deeper into the story’s mysteries and secrets, they will discover more about the characters and uncover even more interesting facts about the game’s unique setting. Many of these secrets will also be revealed through player deductions, which keeps the narrative engaging throughout.

Shuten Order is a multi-genre adventure visual novel game that has players navigate through one of five separate story routes at the start of the game. These routes are essentially separate story paths focused on each Minister. Each story has its own different gameplay style, from death games to dating sims. They also have their own sets of characters, story events, and endings, but completing all of them provides a full picture of the overarching narrative.

Shuten Order has a small main cast but huge, fun set of supporting characters.

Some routes answer questions that other routes don’t, which makes the narrative even more interesting, as it makes learning about the overarching narrative, character histories, and backgrounds rewarding. Moreover, these discoveries are usually relevant to the specific route you’re playing, which makes it clear how much thought was put into the narrative.

Shuten Order has a small main cast and a larger number of supporting characters. Despite this, the core cast members are all interesting and endearing. Each route features a decent number of side characters that are all also relevant to the route and overarching narrative. No one’s presence is useless. They are all interesting, funny, and have an impressive amount of depth.

Overall, Shuten Order‘s narrative is engaging from start to finish due to its rich narrative depth, its entertaining characters, and its unique setting and world. The game notably has multiple endings, and while each route has its own ending, finding the culprit is dependent on your actions throughout each route.

The chaotic gameplay structure sets players up for dramatically different types of experiences in each route.

Outside its unique narrative, Shuten Order‘s chaotic gameplay structure is where it truly thrives. Before gameplay even starts, players will get acquainted with Rei’s God-given powers, such as the Power of Control, Destruction, and Revival. While these are mostly narrative-based and not used actively in combat, they are used tangentially in gameplay moments within each route.

Gameplay is different in all of Shuten Order’s five routes. The first is the standard detective adventure game where players help solve a murder case alongside one of the suspects, the Minister of Justice, Kishiru Inugami. Like the publisher’s previous games, such as Danganronpa and Rain Code, players collect clues, talk to people of interest, and gather data to solve the case while trying to determine if the Minister is the true culprit. In terms of gameplay, this route is not very innovative or different. Still, the story and many cases are a major highlight of the game.

The next route puts players in a death game where they have to ensure their survival and that of the Minister of Health, Yugen Ushitora, to determine if they are the culprit. This is by far the most interesting route. It is also the most engaging due to its distinct narrative, interesting side characters, and the high stakes involved with each character’s potential death.

Players navigate large halls, solve a variety of puzzles, and make hard decisions and deductions to survive and progress. However, the puzzles are notably not hard, and while they do get much challenging as you progress, they are never too tough. The decision-making and deductions are the most entertaining parts of the game and a highlight of the route.

Each segment of Shuten Order has multiple possible endings.

The third route, which follows the Minister of Science, Teko Ion, is the most unique, as it allows players to experience the route’s story through the perspectives of multiple characters. Players will have to make decisions to avoid a deadly terrorist attack while trying to determine if the Minister of Science is the protagonist’s killer. 

This route sees Rin make their way into the Minster’s lab, only for him to be captured and almost tortured. Thanks to their godly powers, they escape but are then wrapped up in a terrorist attack on the lab. Players have to make decisions for both characters during different moments in the ongoing story and avoid a “bad end,” which ranges from failure to perform certain tasks to death.

As players progress each character’s story arc, the events begin to expand and involve other characters. As each perspective has multiple ways of ending, players will have to go by trial and error to determine the correct path. The route’s story event is interesting, but the experience is admittedly focused on story rather than gameplay, as the visual novel structure is most of what players engage with.

The fourth route sees Rei poisoned by the Minister of Education, Honoka Kokushikan, who has fallen madly in love with them. To get the antidote, players will need to romance three heroines, all of whom have quirky tendencies. They do this while trying to determine why she’s forcing Rei to romance these heroines who share her last name and whether she is their killer.

The route is structured like retro dating sim visual novels, and players will have to make the right decisions and choose the correct dialog options to gain their ultimate affection in twelve hours or risk Rei’s demise. What makes this route stand out is that each heroine is distinct and entertaining in their own way, resulting in some unexpectedly humorous conversations. However, the gameplay is overly simple, far from innovative, and lacks engagement. Like the last route, it follows a standard visual novel structure, which gets boring fast.

The final route sees Rei chase after the Minister of Security, Manji Fushicho, to determine if she is their murderer. However, they are then involved with a string of murders from a serial killer called Nephilim. One thing leads to another, and Rei now has to escape encounters with Nephilim through top-down survival horror gameplay. This route is the most nerve-racking, as players must evade Nephilim while trying to find clues on how to escape and more details about both Nephilim and the Minister.

In terms of narrative, this route is admittedly the weakest. Its story is more focused on its Minister and a deadly killer rather than the overarching narrative. However, after each stage, players are still given some details about the founder and what transpired between the Ministers.

The narrative can get convoluted and drag on sometimes, even while it remains entertaining.

Each route offers unique features and gameplay styles and is incredibly engaging in its own way. That said, Shuten Order has some noticeable drawbacks that hinder the experience. This includes the unnecessary amount of fluff and dialogue during conversations between characters.

These conversations, such as banter between characters during crucial moments, explanations of already covered topics, or overexplaining things, significantly hinder the experience and pacing. These moments take too long and are incredibly repetitive, which negatively affects the narrative. 

Additionally, due to the structure of the game, the narrative can get convoluted, especially the longer you play and the more information you receive with each route. For example, while entertaining, it’s hard to justify why a dating sim is relevant to finding a political murderer.

Since there’s no way to recap everything you’ve learned, following the narrative can be challenging at times. Moreover, there are several moments throughout the game where the UI glitches out and text is too long to fit in text bubbles, so they go out of frame and look awkward and unreadable.

Shuten order is visually striking with its comic book aesthetic.

Lastly, there is notably no ability to sprint throughout the entire game. While that is understandably a gameplay decision, as sprinting would change the dynamic of some gameplay sections, it is annoying not to move faster even in less intense moments. Aside from these complaints, the gameplay across each route works well, and performance is stable throughout on PC.

Visually, Shuten Order uses visually striking colours and a comic book aesthetic. Models and illustrations are notably static throughout, and while there is a great variety of illustrations, many are still recycled throughout the game. However, due to the production quality, style, and unique aesthetic, this doesn’t hinder the experience or even the quality of the game. Lastly, Shuten Order has a fantastic collection of songs in its soundtrack, all of which match each route fantastically.

All in all, Shuten Order is a fantastic, incredibly unique game that stands out from the crowd. The narrative and world-building are captivating, the characters are endearing and entertaining, and the gameplay is engaging due to its variety. It’s quite obvious that a great amount of effort was put into the game, and while not without flaws, the experience it provides is genuinely unforgettable.

Shuten Order will launch on September 5 for PC and Nintendo Switch.