Cartagra ~Affliction of the Soul~ Review:

Working from time to time as a detective and living in a brothel, the protagonist of Cartagra, Shugo Takashiro, takes on a rather mysterious case that revolves around a missing person that partly involves his past, which within the game ends up leading to a pretty interesting and compelling story with a mystery that is rather captivating. Cartagra is, at least in my view, a quite fascinating adventure game released as the first game developed by Innocent Grey, with quite a few interesting aspects to it. Not only is the whole atmosphere of the game really great and takes one most definitely into the story of the game, but also the setting is rather unique and, at least in my view, quite fascinating and really managed to captivate me throughout mostly the entirety of the game. I can already, for the most part, just say that I definitely overall really enjoyed this game, and I'm most definitely glad to have experienced it, through my playthrough of Cartagra I think that there are, despite some weaker parts the game might have, some rather great aspects about the game that I personally really enjoyed over the more or less 20 hours it takes to completely play through and experience this work.

When talking about the game, I most definitely found the overall story throughout the game to be really engaging and quite interesting. The whole mystery throughout the game was quite captivating, and seeing how all of the events turned out was overall very interesting. At least for me, there were throughout the game quite some surprising and pretty great moments that kept me really engaged over my playtime with the game. Especially the whole ending was, in my opinion, really great and had some really great moments. The different endings were also quite interesting, and it was overall just a pretty great experience going through the entire game and eventually seeing the true end. Apart from that, one other and smaller aspect I quite like about the game are the designs of the menu and the textbox. I think those are overall really nice and quite charming, and the UI is overall just pretty nice, additionally the small loading symbol on the right side of the textbox is quite charming. It's nothing too important, but most definitely a smaller aspect I quite liked about the game. One aspect I otherwise absolutely loved about the game and the setting is the setting, which takes place in the 1950s in Japan. I really like this whole setting, and I think that the game portrayed it overall pretty wonderfully, as I personally was rather immersed in the game and the setting during my playtime. As I also haven't played or seen that many games, especially within the genre, with such a setting, it was an overall really great experience and breath of fresh air in that regard to play this game, and I all in all was just pretty captivated by the setting.

As for the characters themselves I found them for the most part to be quite interesting and engaging. First of all there of course would be the protagonist of the game, Shugo Takashiro, and I think that he, along with his personality and past, is a pretty intriguing character, of which I found his interactions with the other character over the course of the game to be quite interesting. The same goes for most of the other main characters which I found to be quite intriguing as well. Kazuna, Hatsune, Rin, and Ujaku were all characters that I really liked and found to be pretty interesting. Throughout the game I really enjoyed the interactions with them, and it was interesting to see in which direction the story went with them. Apart from the characters and their personalities themselves, I personally really liked the character designs of the respective characters. Those, along with the clothes, really beautifully capture the setting of the game that takes place in Japan in the 1950s. I really liked all of the character designs, and they were most definitely another reason that quite immersed me into the game, the setting, time, and story of Cartagra. Worth mentioning would be additionally the voice acting, which I also found to be quite good, all things considered, and I personally especially like the voice of Kazuna. The voice actors bring across the personalities and feelings of the characters fairly well, and I don't think there's too much I could complain about in that regard. So with all of these elements, the characters were definitely one aspect I quite enjoyed about this game, and they too most definitely kept me invested in playing the game.

Aside from that, one striking aspect about Cartagra is, at least in my view, most definitely the art which throughout the game is beautiful. From first starting the game that was one aspect that throughout the entirety of the game honestly quite left an impression on me, as I personally really love the whole artstyle and art of the game. First and foremost there are the character portraits which are totally expressive and picture the characters really nicely. Specifically the facial expressions of the characters are really nice and absolutely bring those characters to life. In addition to the pretty backgrounds the game looks throughout these scenes with the character portraits, at least in my view, really appealing with its rather unique and beautiful artstyle. And most importantly there are the CGs which are really beautiful and truly bring the scenes and important moments of the game to life. The colors along with the expressive characters have so much charm to them and perfectly fit with the setting of the game which is placed in the 1950s. These CGs beautifully convey the whole atmosphere of the game, the world, and the time in which the game takes place. As there is a pretty good amount of CGs throughout the game, it was for me always most of the time an absolute joy for my eyes to see another new CG over the course of the game. Of course the game also has some pretty dark scenes, and for those moments the CGs and graphics of the game really deliver the sheer horror and brutality of those scenes. Whether it is a romantic, emotional, or shocking and brutal moment, the CGs throughout the game bring these story moments wonderfully to life with a quite beautiful artstyle that really appealed to me.

Having said that about the artstyle and general art throughout the game, which is once again in my view really beautiful, another aspect that I found to be quite good throughout the game was certainly the music. While it most definitely isn't the strongest aspect of the game, the soundtrack of Cartagra has some really great tracks. Through my perspective the soundtrack overall beautifully manages to convey the somehow somber and melancholy atmosphere of the game. There are a small variety of different tracks, each of which captures the mood and atmosphere of when they play throughout the game really well. With more relaxed or atmospheric scenes the music absolutely enhances the atmosphere and made at least me quite immersed in the scenes and moments of the game. The same goes for more emotional and tragic scenes, for which the soundtrack offers these melancholy tracks that really carry the mood of the scenes, or the more erotic scenes throughout the game which similarly bring across the mood of these moments really well. Personally the game with its soundtrack really managed to immerse me in the whole setting of the game and was, as a whole, just pretty pleasant to hear throughout the game. Through that I quite enjoyed the soundtrack of the game over the course of my playthrough and in general, and I think that it overall wonderfully suits the atmosphere and general feeling of the game.

Cartagra is a game that overall really managed to captivate me, and I without a doubt took a lot of enjoyment out of the game throughout my playthrough with it. Whether it is the rather intriguing story, its all in all wonderful and likeable characters, or the more unique and interesting setting of the 1950s in Japan, it really was an experience that I certainly liked a lot all things considered. Particularly the whole artstyle with its gorgeous CGs and compelling colors really caught my eye with how beautiful it overall looks, along with the whole atmosphere of the game which is great and gives the game, at least in my view, a rather unique touch and feeling that is overall only enhanced through the music that conveys the entire story and setting in an overall quite beautiful way. Throughout the game there was this sense of mystery that was, at least to me, just really captivating, along with the whole ending of the game which was really fantastic with it delivering an overall great experience. Due to these aspects, and in general the whole feeling of the game that I really like, Cartagra was overall an experience that I wholeheartedly truly enjoyed and kept me for the most part firmly immersed throughout my playthrough. During my time with the game, Cartagra absolutely kept me thoroughly engaged and invested, and through that and in my view is this game and the experience it delivers fairly beautiful.