“Corpse Party: Book of Shadows” (titled “????????? Book of Shadows K?pusu P?t? Bukku obu Shad?zu” in Japan) is a sequel to developer “Team GrisGris’” survival horror adventure game “Corpse Party” that was released on iOS and PC, then later on Sony’s “PlayStation Portable” and Nintendo’s “3DS” line of handheld gaming consoles. The game was developed by “MAGES Inc.” and “5pb”, and published in Japan by 5pb for Sony’s PlayStation Portable on September 1, 2011, and localized and published by “XSEED Games” for North America and Europe on January 23, 2013. A PC port for the English version of the game was later released by XSEED Games on October 29, 2018.

In terms of gameplay, Book of Shadows abandons the bird’s eye view RPG adventure style gameplay used in Corpse Party in favor of a point-and-click visual novel-styled adventure game, although the player will still need to make various decisions throughout the game that affects the actions taken by the characters and how events throughout the game will develop - including whether or not any of the characters survive any of the lethal traps placed throughout the environment they are exploring. Additionally, players will need to explore their environment using a grid-based map system to move from location to location while also using the in-game cursor to examine various objects in each area for any vital clues. Book of Shadows also implements a “darkening meter”, which slowly makes the character the player is controlling lose their sanity when they perform certain actions like looking at corpses or endanger themselves, with the consequences of allowing the character’s darkening meter to completely fill up being a Game Over or “Wrong End”.

Corpse Party: Book of Shadows has eight different story arcs that take place at various points during, before and after the events of the original Corpse Party, including some “what if” scenarios, with each story arc focusing on various characters featured during those events that aims to flesh them out more than the previous game while also introducing new plot elements that would prove important for later sequels. From showing what happened to the lives of the survivors after the events from the previous game, to points earlier on in these characters’ lives that foreshadows the terrors they will later on find themselves facing inside “Heavenly Host Elementary School”, Corpse Party: Book of Shadows wastes little time in setting the stage for future events to follow the horrific tales it explores...