Aksys Games isn't a stranger to visual novels or RPGs, but this is likely the first time they have taken on a hybridization of the two genres. The game has a great localization and interesting concept. However, there are a number of odd design decisions that keep it from greatness.

The game plays out much like a visual novel. The protagonist transfers to a new school and gets a tour from the class president. However dangerous ghosts lurk about in this game's world, and they get caught up in it. Since the protagonist can see these ghosts, a ghost hunting group aids them and proposes a job offer as a ghost hunter. From there, the following chapters are about solving various cases as a part of the company. Ghosts in this game aren't dealt with proton packs or ghost traps like Ghostbusters though. It's more low key and rooted in Japanese superstitions and myths, with a touch of technology.

The RPG aspect of the game comes from the strategy battle portion. Your protagonist and up to three others are positioned at different parts of the map. Ghost enemies and allies alike are represented as simple figures on a basic map, and it's only when you encounter a ghost that it switches to a battle scene where you can actually see the artwork depicting the ghosts. Characters can use skills or items, or attack enemies. The trick to getting through most battles is to predict the ghosts path for your attacks to connect. Failure while near objects can lead to destroying property, and depending on how much damage you do, you might end up losing out on a job. Of course completing a job quickly can give bonuses. But the basic presentation of the map screen makes it hard to tell where destructible property actually is. And this is only just one of the game's issues.

The quirk of the game to having to predict the ghosts traveling paths and area of effects of their attacks makes for some luck-based gameplay at times. You can use traps to lure ghost to specific areas, or keep them out of others. But many of the traps functions aren't explained very well, even with Aksys's great localization. The lack of explanations continues with the passive stats that you can level up via training. Only a handful are understood, like Bulk Buy. The rest have no way of telling what they even do.

Thankfully, the visual aspect of the game's visual novel part are great. The art, sound, and animation are are well done. Although the game doesn't have much in the way of voice acting, save for some canned responses, all of which are in Japanese only. There really isn't a big overall story, making the chapters play out like episodes to a TV show. More to that point is that each chapter has an opening and closing credit sequence, although it's the exact same one every time. The visual novel portions also eschew a traditional dialog tree for a 'six senses system' using the five senses, and a hidden sixth sense. These choices will lead to different endings as well, so the game has quite a bit of replayability to it. The game also has a weird control scheme where you advance most text with the R button. It was clearly made for the Vita first, and the PS3 second.

Sadly, there is no cross-save functionality. It's an enjoyable title, but the issues I mentioned might be a bit hard to deal with for some. For those that can deal with those issues, you can look forward to a fun story. Just be aware that it will feel heavily luck-based and you will need to grind at points.                          

The Bottom Line: A fun visual that's somewhat weakened by odd design decisions and weak item descriptions.

Acquisition method: digital codes provided by Aksys Games.