Urban Myth Dissolution Center

Steam Reviews

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• Not recommended Posted July 7, 2025 on Steam Honestly, the only redeeming quality of this game is its art style. My disappointment runs deep enough that I felt compelled to write this review. I should note that I played the game in Japanese, so poor localisation isn't a factor in my criticism of the story's execution. When it comes to detective games, I'm typically looking for one of two things (or ideally both): 1) interesting and creative puzzle mechanics 2) a game with mediocre puzzles but an excellent story, something that's satisfying with minimal plot holes. Unfortunately, this game delivers neither. This is the type of story that relies heavily on a supposedly massive plot twist while completely disregarding everything (internal logic, plot details, and foreshadowing... etc.) that should build up to it. The worst part is that these sacrifices amount to nothing, as everything unfolds as predictably as a sitcom. The "Urban Myth" element feels completely disconnected from the actual story. I genuinely don't understand the point of identifying one for each case. The game essentially serves as a commentary on social media, but the perspective is nothing new and rather one-dimensional. When you take such an extreme stance, there's no real depth because it leaves no room for nuanced discussion. The irony is that despite the author's heavy criticism of social media, the gameplay constantly requires you to take social media rumours at face value to progress the story (these rumours often turn out to be true). I'm not sure if this was an attempt to balance the criticism, but it feels like it undermines the game's central message. As for gameplay, it's repetitive in the worst way. You're forced to click on the same items multiple times for no apparent reason other than padding. The game offers no deduction, just some multiple-choice comprehension quizzes. There are chapters where I barely read any text, yet I can answer every single question correctly. That's how clichéd and predictable it is. So no, I would not recommend this game. But I don't regret buying it solely because the art is genuinely excellent. I look forward to the developer's next project if they improve on the storytelling.
• Not recommended Posted August 31, 2025 on Steam It's not a bad story game, but it's definitely not what I expected from watching the promotional trailers. Recommended for who: - Interested in the story and world settings and want to know why people gone crazy after the game ending, you will just have to find it out yourself - Want a stress free casual relax story game - Frequents SNS, [spoiler]they are more scarier than the myths in a way[/spoiler] Not recommended for who: - Looking for an engaging detective game, there is no game over and you are doing the same repetitive thing throughout the game to progress the story（Similar to the investigation part of the ace attorney's game） - Looking for game that actively engages with the urban and unknowns,you don't actually engage with that many as the trailer lets you think. 悪くないゲームですが、PVを見て自分が期待したものとは違うなと感じました。 おすすめ対象： - 世界観とストーリーに興味あり、これをクリアした人が発狂する理由を知りたい方 - ストレスなし、サクサク進むカジュアルのストーリーゲームをエンジョイしたい方 - 日々よくSNSを嗜む方、[spoiler]ある意味都市伝説より怖い[/spoiler] おすすめしない対象： -　遊び要素たくさんの探偵ゲームを期待した方。ゲームオーバーがなくストーリーを進むために同じことを繰り返します。（逆転裁判の調査パートと近い） - 都市伝説のものと多く接して、やつらと対峙するゲームを期待した方。PVに見せたほど接していません。
• Not recommended Posted January 21, 2026 on Steam So, this is a kind of difficult review to write as this is one of the most "Thumbs Middle" games I've ever played. I'm very conflicted about it and was very conflicted about it while playing it, but I think the ending really edged it into the negative for me. To the point where I could not fathom the positivity I had seen for the game, but I do have a theory about that unfortunately I can't post due to length restrictions. Before getting into the weeds of the review, I think a few clarifications are in order. For one, this is not a visual novel, rather it is a pure adventure game. The game is linear with no decision points or routes like a visual novel would have nor is it interacted with primarily through text on visuals. That this game was made in Japan has no bearing on whether or not it is a visual novel so for those expecting that, this isn't what the game is. With that said, there is very clear influence from the Koei-Tecmo visual novels like 999 and Danganronpa in terms of the way the story is told and how the game is interacted with. See, unlike most adventure games, there aren't really "puzzles," per se. Instead, after certain segments you are prompted to answer a quiz type segment which lines up clues, these aren't really deductive and more just make sure you were paying attention to the plot. Between them, you move on a small map interacting with points which gives you clues and options. This definitely takes inspiration from the Zero Escape series but is more adventure game than them based on the way interaction is conducted. To begin the "review", I think it's best to start with the positives. The game has an incredible visual style. The pixel art is fantastic and has a sort of DOS look to it with a limited color palette that reminds me a bit of EGA graphics during the exploration bits that adds more color elsewhere. This visual style really carries the game. Animations are limited, but when present do a great job of conveying the action and personality, building tension very well. The music, while not to my tastes, was clearly well done and they worked on making it atmospheric and working with the style of the game, however it might have been nice to have a bit more diversity in the incidental music, which relied pretty heavily on high quality sampled instruments to give it a kind of tv drama type score. While very little other than the episode ending theme stood out, it also never bothered me and added to the overall experience. Now we come to the bad. The gameplay just feels tedious. Remember how I made it very clear this wasn't a visual novel? It probably [i]should have been[/i]. The actual interactions are extremely tedious and the only novel gameplay elements are underutilized. The pop quizzes rarely involve actual deduction and there is no penalty for just mashing through them, I checked after I beat the game. And, often times, the specific formmating of those quizzes can be confusing as it may require three words that can potentially be placed in any order in English while maintaining syntax and meaning, but the game requires them in a very specific order. There are no fail states, no alternate dialogue options, and no hidden parts. Even worse, much of the gameplay involves walking back and forth to NPCs and interaction points repeatedly to get information that you, the player, may have already figured out a long time ago. For example, a puzzle may involve a code that you have all the information to guess, but because you haven't talked to every NPC in an area, you cannot even interact with the object to put in the code. The dialogue the NPCs give you in this instance isn't meaningful other than confirming "yes this is the code." That's a failure of design in a game that is attempting to be a game about deductive reasoning. As such the "adventure game elements" only increase tedium compared to a visual novel wherein the interaction is entirely through the medium of option based text. Because of the lack of any kind of alternate options, fail states, or true difficulty in deductions, there is no actual tension or friction in the game. For an adventure game that is attempting to be a thriller, that is a critical failure of design. Without the ability to build tension through gameplay, the game must rely even more heavily on the narrative and presentation, which, as we will see, doesn't quite deliver. On the story, Urban Myth Dissolution Center sells itself as a horror game, it is not. The horror elements are always discarded fairly quickly in favor of being a detective thriller. While the distinction is admittedly not always strong, I do think it is worth mentioning in this instance. See, the whole "Urban Myth" idea is underutilized, you will very quickly realize (episode 1 spoiler) [spoiler]there are no actual urban myths, instead it's a scooby doo situation.[/spoiler] This definitely deflates tension and the characters not acting on this information like the player begins to stretch credulity by the midway point. Because the core theme is so under utilized, it becomes kind of an artifact. I suspect at one point in development, it played a stronger role, as evidenced by the journal having so many entries, but it only superficially matters compared to something like Death Mark, which is another adventure game that has a similar initial premise but actually carries it forward. But again, that could be excused if the story being told was [i]good[/i], so is it? Well, eh? The plot isn't terribly unique, it reminds me a lot of the 2010's manga thrillers like Doubt and also takes some definite inspiration from (late game spoilers) [spoiler]20th Century Boys[/spoiler] which are much better at delivering their narratives and handle their twists better. Urban Myth Dissolution Center does a fairly good job conveying characterization, but those characters often feel a bit more like archetypes than fully fleshed out characters. That actually works a bit for Azami but for others it doesn't really give much breathing room for them. This actually compounds the other issues with the writing which is it kind of is obsessed with twists that either feel far too telegraphed or out of left field and nonsensical. I know I have been quite negative here, that's not really intentional it's just there is more to say about the games faults than its successes simply because where it fails is more interesting to talk about than where it succeeds. The presentation carries the game hard and if you enjoy the characters, you will likely enjoy the game. The ending will be, and is, divisive and that was probably inevitable.
• Recommended Posted February 7, 2026 on Steam This game has a fascinating take on cancel culture and punitive justice and it revels and it rolls in its own hypocrisy. It gives you faces to the ones you don't see behind the screens. You see their lives and their families and you see their humanity. It also gives you villainy to those faces. This game does not tell you that everyone is human. This game tells you that even the most human of us are capable of being inhumane. We are all capable of harm. That old college friend, that one good author, that grown-up son you've clapped for at graduation day, that random kind stranger, that normal, [i]human[/i] person who didn't do anything has and can hurt someone; that normal, human person who has done good has and can hurt someone. The monsters you're looking for are human. UMDC's commentary on modern day social media really is on point, I feel, though it's interpretation of virality is definitely a little silly, though doesn't matter much. This game handles a lot of serious topics and makes them easy to digest without sugarcoating or pulling punches. The story itself holds your hand all throughout and then throws you off a cliff at the end. I can definitely see why some people don't like the ending, but I guess being a firm believer of the Rule Of Cool kind of made me not care about how much sense it made and focus more on its tragedy. Jasmine makes me burst into tears and I frankly don't think I'll ever recover after the developers did this to me. She was supposed to go on that swan boat ride with Azami. I still want to recommend this game, because I think it's permanently ruined me. I know the average person will hate the ending, but please just give it a try and have fun with it. This game is peak, the art is so appealing and watching all of the pieces come together from previous cases that seem so irrelevant is so so satisfying. Please play UMDC. I'm begging. If you're scared you'll hate it and don't want to spend money on it watch a playthrough.
• Recommended Posted October 13, 2025 on Steam This is a woefully underrated detective game starring Azami Fukurai, a clairvoyant girl who can see ghostly "traces" of other people, as she becomes a part of the mysterious "Urban Myth Dissolution Center", which investigates the mysteries surrounding rumors and urban legends. Along the way, she'll meet a cast of strange characters and ultimately unravel a grand conspiracy surrounding the dark-web occult hub SAMEZIMA and its mysterious plans for a "Great Reset". In terms of gameplay, Urban Myth Dissolution Center is a simple visual novel where you click around to investigate various crime scenes, similar to an Ace Attorney (especially the Edgeworth games). Nothing groundbreaking on its own -- especially since there's no real penalty for coming up with a wrong answer -- but this game sets itself apart from the pack with its visuals. The graphics are a huge part of the appeal here: there's elaborate pixel art everywhere you look, from the characters' dialogue portraits to the "Dissolution" segments at the very end. The game also has a great story that encourages you to be as skeptical as possible, with all sorts of seemingly supernatural incidents (curses, parallel dimensions, etc.) that you'll pick apart with logic and debunk by figuring out how they actually happened. It's a novel concept that reminds me a bit of the witch trials in "Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright". The way information is disseminated through the Internet is also a central theme of the story, and you'll touch on topics like shady influencers, cancel culture, and corrupt individuals who try to manipulate the flow of information for their own gain. The world building in this game is awesome. They give you a little encyclopedia of urban myths that gradually fills up as you trawl through various social media threads while solving each case. There's a mix of superstitions/conspiracy theories pretty much everybody knows (Bloody Mary, lizard people, doppelgangers) and some surprisingly obscure ones (did you know that Ryomen Sukuna of Jujutsu Kaisen fame was based on a Japanese tall tale?). You even get a goofy reindeer mascot who speaks in puns. Deer me! So much to fawn over in this game! Overall, if you're a fan of mystery visual novels like Ace Attorney, Danganronpa, and Your Turn to Die, please do yourself a favor and play this game! And try out "Tyrion Cuthbert: Attorney of the Arcane" too, while you're at it!
• Recommended Posted September 8, 2025 on Steam Just a visual novel, very linear, but I really loved the visual style and music. So many games attempt this style but rarely pull it off this well, with the contrasting color palettes. Half of the game is reading chaotic online discussions, contrasting with the quiet and eerie on-site investigations. So it works very well at being a mystery thriller, ramping up into solving each case with a logical explanation... but is still a horror story where other things in the story get even weirder and creepier. Doing BOTH genres this well at the same time is very rare, and they both feel like they got a satisfying build-up and conclusion.