Where to find it: You can buy it on Steam, PS4, and Switch (well, the second game comes out in 2022 on Switch), with physical copies available in the bargain bin of the gaming store of your choice. Here's a LP for Death end re;Quest, Death end re;Quest 1.5 and Death end re;Quest 2 It is strongly recommended to read Death end re;Quest 1.5 after Death end re;Quest 2, as it spoils one of the great mysteries of the game.
What is it, in summary? Shina is not having a good day: she's trapped inside a virtual reality game she was the director for with no memory of how she came to be there, and the game is so buggy that she is very likely to die before managing to escape. Fortunately for her the lead programmer, Arata, is more than willing to throw himself into saving her. Shina will finish the main quest and thus trigger the ending sequence for the game (so she can leave) while Arata will debug the game on the fly so that she can progress. Whatever could go wrong?
Shina's storyline is a more standard JRPG setup - she and a group of suspiciously sophisticated AI characters go on a quest to find a mythical land, which coincidentally is the trigger to finish the main quest of the game. The characters are all infected with Buggies which are clearly having some effect on the characters (though what is a big spoiler) but who are also weirdly adorable as well as the source of their powers. Arata's storyline is a thriller VN, focusing on the mystery about why Shina is in the game as Arata stumbles into a worldwide conspiracy. Also a lot of death. A lot of death. The first death is the most gruesome; the rest are nowhere near as detailed in their descriptions.
The interquel should really be read after Death end re;Quest 2 to explain what Arata was doing through the game.
Death end re;Quest 2 takes place in a small European town where our orphaned teenage lead essentially learns that this quiet little town is really a hotbed of paranormal activity and a ton of death. Like, a lot of death. This one doesn't focus on the "rewriting reality" side as the first game did (until you get to the NG+ scenes) but instead the weird paranormal stuff that was happening in Sagami City while the Enimga cast were trying to rescue Shina.
What do you love about it? I am a sucker for flawed heroes that are just not equipped for what they must do, and the cast delivers this in spades. Arata is able to travel back in time but a) is the only one who remembers what has happened; b) has to die a lot to get an ending where everyone lives; and c) every time he rewinds time reality changes. It is at times genuinely funny and also genuinely disturbing.
What sort of things are you likely to request for it? Something set in the 65,000 timeloops that we don't see!
Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests? Not really!
Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence) There are numerous bad ends which end badly for the cast described in varying levels of detail, two genocides of fantasy species take place inside the game that Shina is playing, and special attacks involve the cast being half-naked while slaughtering everything in their path in a fit of fury.
The second game contains explicit reference to child abuse, strongly implied sexual abuse, a ton of murder, and a fair amount of described gore that is not shown on screen.
Death end re;Quest
Media: Video game(s)
Approx length: 20-25 hours for each game.
Where to find it: You can buy it on Steam, PS4, and Switch (well, the second game comes out in 2022 on Switch), with physical copies available in the bargain bin of the gaming store of your choice. Here's a LP for Death end re;Quest, Death end re;Quest 1.5 and Death end re;Quest 2 It is strongly recommended to read Death end re;Quest 1.5 after Death end re;Quest 2, as it spoils one of the great mysteries of the game.
What is it, in summary? Shina is not having a good day: she's trapped inside a virtual reality game she was the director for with no memory of how she came to be there, and the game is so buggy that she is very likely to die before managing to escape. Fortunately for her the lead programmer, Arata, is more than willing to throw himself into saving her. Shina will finish the main quest and thus trigger the ending sequence for the game (so she can leave) while Arata will debug the game on the fly so that she can progress. Whatever could go wrong?
Shina's storyline is a more standard JRPG setup - she and a group of suspiciously sophisticated AI characters go on a quest to find a mythical land, which coincidentally is the trigger to finish the main quest of the game. The characters are all infected with Buggies which are clearly having some effect on the characters (though what is a big spoiler) but who are also weirdly adorable as well as the source of their powers. Arata's storyline is a thriller VN, focusing on the mystery about why Shina is in the game as Arata stumbles into a worldwide conspiracy. Also a lot of death. A lot of death. The first death is the most gruesome; the rest are nowhere near as detailed in their descriptions.
The interquel should really be read after Death end re;Quest 2 to explain what Arata was doing through the game.
Death end re;Quest 2 takes place in a small European town where our orphaned teenage lead essentially learns that this quiet little town is really a hotbed of paranormal activity and a ton of death. Like, a lot of death. This one doesn't focus on the "rewriting reality" side as the first game did (until you get to the NG+ scenes) but instead the weird paranormal stuff that was happening in Sagami City while the Enimga cast were trying to rescue Shina.
What do you love about it? I am a sucker for flawed heroes that are just not equipped for what they must do, and the cast delivers this in spades. Arata is able to travel back in time but a) is the only one who remembers what has happened; b) has to die a lot to get an ending where everyone lives; and c) every time he rewinds time reality changes. It is at times genuinely funny and also genuinely disturbing.
What sort of things are you likely to request for it? Something set in the 65,000 timeloops that we don't see!
Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests? Not really!
Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence) There are numerous bad ends which end badly for the cast described in varying levels of detail, two genocides of fantasy species take place inside the game that Shina is playing, and special attacks involve the cast being half-naked while slaughtering everything in their path in a fit of fury.
The second game contains explicit reference to child abuse, strongly implied sexual abuse, a ton of murder, and a fair amount of described gore that is not shown on screen.