Depending on how much schoolwork you have, you could either be overwhelmed or bored out of your mind. I was the latter over quarantine, so I made the decision to download a game on my phone that a friend was talking about called Mystic Messenger. A quick Google search will tell you about the game, but it’s basically a dating simulator with a great story to go along with it. The game is South Korean and the characters are drawn in an anime-esc way, but the story is very interesting.
The game starts with a message from “Unknown,” telling you that he found this phone and wants to get it back to its original owner. After chatting with him for a bit, you end up going to an apartment for him. After getting there, you get put into this chatroom with all of the main characters: Zen, Yoosung, Jaehee Kang, Jumin Han, and Luciel (who goes by 707 to keep his identity a secret). As you talk to them, they offer you to join the organization they’re in, the RFA, or Rika’s Fundraising Association. In this first chatroom, they explain that Rika, Yoosung’s late step-cousin, would hold these parties to anonymously raise money for charity before she passed away. Now they want you to host a party once again and take Rika’s place.
Like I mentioned before, this is a dating simulator. In your first game, you can either do Zen’s route, Yoosung’s route, or Jaehee’s route. As you play, the characters talk to you and you get generated responses you can choose from. Depending on what responses you choose, you get hearts from certain characters, and the route (or the character’s story you get) is chosen by day five. A usual playthrough lasts about 11 real-time days. You can unlock Jumin’s route and 707’s route later on in the game, and eventually V’s route and Saeran’s route, but you’ll have to play the game to find out who they are and their significance to the story.
The mechanics of the game are also very interesting to me because you have scheduled chatrooms that you have to attend.
The only complaint I have is that the characters continually tell you to get good rest, but then there’s a chatroom at midnight, or at 3am. You can also text and call the characters, though the answers are once again generated, making you choose between two or three.
I first downloaded this game over quarantine to pass time, as each character has seven different endings. Yoosung was my first route, and sadly, I got a bad ending. After that, I did Zen’s route. Once again, I got a bad ending. Each character has seven endings each, and a bad one usually means that the character(s) ends up unhappy, or in extreme cases, dead. By then, I was able to unlock Jumin’s and 707’s route, but ended up deleting the app because it was taking up too much space on my phone.
I just redownloaded the game two or so weeks ago and played Jumin’s route. I got more plot for the overall story from his route and it makes me want to play more. I got a bad ending so I’m taking a few days break, but I plan to start 707’s route soon.
Overall, the game is pretty fun. As a socially anxious introvert, this game is great for me. Yes, these characters are only lines of code and drawings, but they always crack jokes and check up on you. The generated answers you have to choose from go along with their banter and it’s great entertainment. I would recommend it for anyone who’s looking for an escape or distraction, anyone who has a lot of time on their hands, or people who are looking for a good interactactive story.