I know it seems a bit much to criticize a game purely based on image previews and not much more. But the more I see of Locked Up's development, the more frustrated I get with this whole thing.
Like yes, for all I know, it might go in a completely different direction than what I suspect. But I mean. It's hard not to look at a screenshot like this and sort of feel discouraged. Thinking "Oh boy Kanao is trying to do Yorumoru again"
Nooow of course, of course. Kanao has always reused ideas and concepts from previous games. That's essentially what Towelket has always been built off from and its worked in its favor plenty of times. Plus Yorumoru isn't nearly as recent as it feels nowadays, coming out in 2018.
But its still just. We already got two whole sequels to that game and the last one was really really bad and clearly a sign of Kanao milking the initial concept to death. Like Yorumoru is already a pretty large and hefty game, largest in the series by pure story volume and its execution of its ideas was practically near perfection. And hey if you were still craving a little more out of its ideas and characters, you had Yoru2 which was perfectly passable as a further exploration of these concepts. And that in itself was already on the longer side.
And so, after the release of Dekapari which was really good. It felt like it built off from where the Yorumoru series left off on the best way possible, i was genuinely excited to see what direction these games would take afterwards.
But I've gotta be honest, its been incredibly disappointing. Following Dekapari, we got Kemono which was a really shitty, self derivative game which doesn't have a single original thing going for it. Like its probably the least any Towelket game has ever had to offer. That in itself shouldn't be too bad but whats important to note here is how heavily is derives from games like Yoru2 and Demonic Calamity specifically. And how it very frustratingly misses the initial appeal both of those games and uses their settings rather mindlessly.
Again, nothing wrong with reusing concepts. But in this case these ideas were reused not to this game's benefit at all. In fact it just felt incredibly distracting because the whole time I was just thinking about how I could be playing the games it wouldn't stop referencing instead.
Afterwards we got Space Doggy Log which was actually good. No complaints there. This is an example of a game that actually utilizes concepts from previous games well. Or at least, decently enough. Personally I feel the whole Pon society thing could have been a bit stronger especially given that Kemono had at least two returning Pon characters which Space Doggy log neglected to use for some reason ??? Even though they would have likely added a lot more here than they did there. But it's most a minor thing and a different complaint entirely here.
Camp was probably the final nail in the coffin for me when it came to this stuff however. Because once again, we get a game which heavily lifts concepts from the Yorumoru series. This time clearly attempting to do a sort of wacky retake on Angels. But after the full game's release it soon became very apparent that said retake became one of the worst aspects of the story.
And it was really strange. Because Camp truly did have a lot more going for it than arguably any of these games Post-Dekapari. It had a unique premise and was clearly going for a wildly different tone. The characters had fresh new takes on them. The setting was unique. But of course, ever since the demo we had this mysterious Angel-like creature which the game seemingly makes a point to distinguish from Angels. At least before the full thing was released and a whole lot of those very strong ideas were either completely discarded or retconned. Including making this "Not-Angel" into basically the exact same concept and idea except like 500 times worse and confusing. Completely missing anything that made the initial idea coherent in the Yorumoru series.
When this game decides it just wants to rehash the same ideas rather than sticking to its own very unique premise, the entire narrative is just instantly brought down into this goop of disappointment and unfulfilled thoughts. All in service of recycling ideas which is was very much, perfectly fine without relying on. And that's not even getting into all the Demonic Calamity-core chair bullshit lmao.
Then we get some shitty remakes back to back, yadda yadda.
And here we are with the latest development. Which I've already refrained from having strong expectations for after Camp proved to be such a massive disappointment.
And it's already been like, incredibly discouraging following this game's development. Because visually I enjoy it quite a bit. And there are some ideas here and there which really stick out to me. Seems to be grabbing some bits and pieces from Camp (the good part of it) which I very much welcome given how I feel that game completely squandered all that it had going for it.
But then I see Chrysalis Maiden. Which is okay. Not necessarily Yorumoru-adjacent and has already been reused as a concept before in a way that felt satisfying and relevant. No biggy. Then this (terrible) dog. Which has already gotten me worried that we're due for another Mad Dog type character who really fucking sucked in Camp lmao. And then we see literally the exact same version of Chihedo and Nekomanma from Yorumoru and its just. Lmao. Okay so we're doing Angels again. Couldn't even be a different combination of characters or a different design. it's practically the same sprite. And the screenshot above just further hones this in. Like it won't just be a thing specific to this character. We're just straight up rehashing the exact same Angels from Yoru1. Great.
Like. It really, really gets to a point. Again, nothing wrong with reusing certain concepts. But holy hell this is like, nearly the third time in a row Kanao has attempted to lift ideas from the Yorumoru series only for it to be executed significantly worse. it's gotten very apparent that Kanao has absolutely no unique or interesting ways to twist these concepts around at this point. Like who knows maybe this game will prove me wrong. But its hard not to recognize very blatant patterns.
It makes me wonder why Kanao even insists on rehashing these ideas again and again when they clearly have no intention of actually building upon them. Its frustrating. Because there's not even a justifiable reason to keep revisiting what was essentially already perfected long ago. Even worse to do nothing more, in fact significantly less with it.
Is it just Kanao's attempt at recapturing what made those games so great? Because surely they would have to realize it wasn't necessarily these specific concepts which made that game work. But rather the writing behind them. This is like the essential point that Kanao, for whatever reason. Keeps missing and I can't for the life of me understand why they abandoned certain aspects of their writing which they had practically perfected back then.
People don't like Yorumoru because it has Angels. They like it because of its incredibly strong and unique story. The fact that it has some of the best written characters within the entire series. The fact that it takes previously overlooked or underutilized concepts and ideas and completely recontextualizes them into its own thing, perfectly interweaving these various ideas which Kanao has had over the years into its own narrative. It's inspired, not just by itself (the series) but by various movies, games, literature, different philosophies. It doesn't just use this inspiration to masturbate over how pretend Deep™ it is.
Yoru2 thrives off its incredibly lovable cast and character interactions. Which is what makes the school setting so appealing in that game. It takes the concept of Angels from the first game and places them in a different setting. Exploring them in ways the first game simply couldn't due to being limited by its own narrative. Now its not the best game since sliced bread but it works perfectly fine and well as a companion piece to the first game. People didn't enjoy that game just because it took place in A school.
And its very strange because you think this stuff would be rather apparent to Kanao. After all, they created Dekapari right after. Which DOES lift certain ideas from Yorumoru but in a much more tasteful way. Clearly inspired by a certain idea from that game and making it into its own thing. Not to mention, everything else is still very much on point. There's a clear understanding of how to make very well written, strong characters. Even in a shorter game with smaller roles.
So I don't understand why a game like Kemono turned out the way it did. Where it disregards things such as character writing altogether. Like these are straight up some of the worst characters in the series because they're so bland and nothing. Yet the game is clearly attempting to reheat Yoru2's nachos seemingly without understanding that the whole appeal of its setting was the actual characters and not random duck NPC 472979274810.
Camp is similarly, if not more frustrating as its introductions and various moments afterwards clearly understand what made these games good. Yet all that completely collapses in on itself the second it decides it suddenly wants to be more derivative rather than sticking to its own much more interesting ideas.
I know I keep going on and on about concepts and ideas concepts and ideas. But surely you can see where my concern lies in this newest game now. Because its been very apparent up to this point that the shameless recycling of the same setting over and over again very clearly points to a game which will use it as nothing more than a crutch for its own poor writing. It just sort of spews a lack of confidence. Kanao attempting to remake the same game over and over again even though its pretty apparent that the fanbase itself has completely moved on from that. Yes, Yorumoru was rather big when it came out but the hype came and went like years ago. Not to say people don't still appreciate it. But I know for a fact that most of them are just waiting for something else at this point. Yet for whatever reason this isn't registering to Kanao.
This is definitely far from being a TK2 situation. Where TK2 would overshadow everything they made afterwards. Because quite literally all Kanao has to show for since the Yorumoru series is Dekapari and Space Doggy Log. Which are great games, don't get me wrong. But they most definitely weren't overshadowed by Yorumoru. I mean they're just so many years removed from it in the first place. Dekapari I do feel was a game that was overlooked but that had less to do with itself or anything going on with the Towelket series and moreso it seemingly being released at the wrong time. Where many fandom veterans who have been around for over ten years at that point were just ready to move onto other things. Which, yeah it happens.
Which is partially why I suspect that Kemono was Kanao's attempt at a "soft reboot" of the series. With it donning the "Towelket" moniker and featuring many callbacks to much older games. Particularly TK3. Yet said callbacks are just incredibly shallow and the game itself has little to nothing to show for itself for the reason I've already detailed before. I don't understand why Kanao would attempt to use this game to reintroduce people to the series via huffing its own farts the entire runtime.
Now Camp was a game people clearly were looking forward to as its demo alone was so strong. I personally believe that this could have been the game which drew back in a lot of people while working as a perfectly find standalone game which could be easy to get even non-fans into, similar to Yorumoru. But then. All that stuff happened.
Idk man idk. It's just irritating. This new game doesn't even have a demo out yet and it just already feels like its throwing in the towel, promising nothing but disappointment. And it hurts especially after Kanao completely disregarded what Camp could have been just so they could prioritize one of their shitty remakes. So now we just have to deal another one of their uninspired fits. Clearly learning nothing from the best of what they had to offer. Instead following the trend of their half-hearted attempts to replicate their old success.
It's depressing. Because Dekapari really wasn't too long ago and its not like they just forgot how to make things like that following the release of Kemono. Especially with how strong Camp started off, it's pretty apparent to me at least that these decisions are very intentional. Or at the very least, Kanao KNOWS how to make something that works but something is clearly holding them back. Whether its a misunderstanding of what people actually want to see (which just, surely they should know now???) or a result of their motivation. Who knows.
If this game turns out bad I am going to KILL MYSELF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
