Secretary of Death - Review
‘… the meaning of life is death.’
‘Everything is simple. You are just making things complicated to give it more meaning.’
Secretary of Death is not so much a game focused around a particular emotion, but is more an examination of some ideas surrounding life, death and love. The story is roughly in two parts, the first (more light-hearted part) being before the other deaths while the second more philosophical part comes after that (although mainly near the end of the game) – although clearly there is a large degree of crossover between the main theme for each part. Although there are some death jokes and many romantic scenes in the second half of the story, what stood out the most for me were the discussions between Aleksandra and Hiroaki.
While it could be suggested that these jokes are unnecessary and do not fit with the main theme of this VN, for me they really show how a relationship between Hiroaki and a death can develop. They also prepare the reader for the later discussions of death, through their light-hearted but never trivial nature. From my part, I would have preferred a few less ‘love’ scenes and some more investigation of the philosophical part of the story, as that was the more unusual and intriguing aspect of the story for me. I don’t mean to detract too much from the romantic scenes – I guess you could describe them as being funny, touching and (in a good way) full of clichés.
The real substance of Secretary of Death for me is in the second half, in particular with the philosophical discussions. I think the two quotes prefacing this review explain why certain emotions are the focus of some other ATP games. The age-old question of the meaning of life is presented by Aleksandra in a somewhat cold, impersonal and almost nihilistic – but no matter what you believe, to a certain extent it’s undeniably true. Hiroaki’s response is much more ‘human’, and I guess it reminds me [completely off topic reference] of the consideration of life as being like a bridge, with the current step on it being the only important choice. The final view presented Aleksandra and Hiroaki agree on, is that from a distance nothing matters, but to each other we matter a lot. The view arising from this (which can apply to other ATP games), is the need to matter to someone else, expressed through romantic love. (At least, this is my interpretation of Secretary of Death.)
Perhaps this view could be applied to most Visual Novel’s – by considering the nature of endings. Usually, the endings referred to as ‘best’, ‘good’ or ‘true’ often revolve around forming a successful relationship, while ‘bad’ endings generally have the protagonist remaining unattached. As such, arguably meaning can be said to arrive from ‘winning’ a game. Just a passing thought…
In some ways Secretary of Death is very much like a minimalist game, with the absence of music, the blurred backgrounds (processed photographs) and the somewhat rudimentary character art. I can’t quite remember my exact feeling when I first played this but it’s one VN’s I’ve replayed quite a few times since then - behind Gakuen Redux, this is my favourite of the ATP games. For me, I guess to a certain extent this game answered (or at least gave me a lot to ponder over) questions that I’ve been thinking about for a long time, and I think this has a lot to do with my high appraisal of Secretary of Death. So apologies if this review is somewhat biased :P.
Secretary of Death makes very effective use of the 'double vision' script, which was first used in Gakuen Redux. I think this is also the first game to use the customised slider icons in the options menu.
To paraphrase a comment mikey sent me about this game; Secretary of Death explains a lot about the other ATP games, because there is a kind of common nature present in most, if not all of them. Some of the ideas dealt with, such as loneliness, and the ‘dream-girl’ idea stem directly from the ideas expressed in this game (which I will discuss in future reviews).
While Secretary of Death (as mikey has mentioned), is not a game for everyone, if you are interested in the other ATP games or examining ideas about love and death, this VN is definitely worth playing. While there is an ‘amateurish’ feel to this game, it shouldn’t detract from the overall experience.
Review by Ignosco
‘Everything is simple. You are just making things complicated to give it more meaning.’
Secretary of Death is not so much a game focused around a particular emotion, but is more an examination of some ideas surrounding life, death and love. The story is roughly in two parts, the first (more light-hearted part) being before the other deaths while the second more philosophical part comes after that (although mainly near the end of the game) – although clearly there is a large degree of crossover between the main theme for each part. Although there are some death jokes and many romantic scenes in the second half of the story, what stood out the most for me were the discussions between Aleksandra and Hiroaki.
While it could be suggested that these jokes are unnecessary and do not fit with the main theme of this VN, for me they really show how a relationship between Hiroaki and a death can develop. They also prepare the reader for the later discussions of death, through their light-hearted but never trivial nature. From my part, I would have preferred a few less ‘love’ scenes and some more investigation of the philosophical part of the story, as that was the more unusual and intriguing aspect of the story for me. I don’t mean to detract too much from the romantic scenes – I guess you could describe them as being funny, touching and (in a good way) full of clichés.
The real substance of Secretary of Death for me is in the second half, in particular with the philosophical discussions. I think the two quotes prefacing this review explain why certain emotions are the focus of some other ATP games. The age-old question of the meaning of life is presented by Aleksandra in a somewhat cold, impersonal and almost nihilistic – but no matter what you believe, to a certain extent it’s undeniably true. Hiroaki’s response is much more ‘human’, and I guess it reminds me [completely off topic reference] of the consideration of life as being like a bridge, with the current step on it being the only important choice. The final view presented Aleksandra and Hiroaki agree on, is that from a distance nothing matters, but to each other we matter a lot. The view arising from this (which can apply to other ATP games), is the need to matter to someone else, expressed through romantic love. (At least, this is my interpretation of Secretary of Death.)
Perhaps this view could be applied to most Visual Novel’s – by considering the nature of endings. Usually, the endings referred to as ‘best’, ‘good’ or ‘true’ often revolve around forming a successful relationship, while ‘bad’ endings generally have the protagonist remaining unattached. As such, arguably meaning can be said to arrive from ‘winning’ a game. Just a passing thought…
In some ways Secretary of Death is very much like a minimalist game, with the absence of music, the blurred backgrounds (processed photographs) and the somewhat rudimentary character art. I can’t quite remember my exact feeling when I first played this but it’s one VN’s I’ve replayed quite a few times since then - behind Gakuen Redux, this is my favourite of the ATP games. For me, I guess to a certain extent this game answered (or at least gave me a lot to ponder over) questions that I’ve been thinking about for a long time, and I think this has a lot to do with my high appraisal of Secretary of Death. So apologies if this review is somewhat biased :P.
Secretary of Death makes very effective use of the 'double vision' script, which was first used in Gakuen Redux. I think this is also the first game to use the customised slider icons in the options menu.
To paraphrase a comment mikey sent me about this game; Secretary of Death explains a lot about the other ATP games, because there is a kind of common nature present in most, if not all of them. Some of the ideas dealt with, such as loneliness, and the ‘dream-girl’ idea stem directly from the ideas expressed in this game (which I will discuss in future reviews).
While Secretary of Death (as mikey has mentioned), is not a game for everyone, if you are interested in the other ATP games or examining ideas about love and death, this VN is definitely worth playing. While there is an ‘amateurish’ feel to this game, it shouldn’t detract from the overall experience.
Review by Ignosco
Labels: 2006, BxG, Review, Secretary of Death, VN
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1:32 AM
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