Review: 9 R.I.P.

Game: 9 R.I.P.

Developer: Otomate

Publisher: Idea Factory

Platform: Nintendo Switch

Year: 2024

I had been on a hiatus from playing otome games for a while; this meant I was a little late to the party with 9 R.I.P., a game I had seen rave reviews and discussion about. When I finally decided that it was time for me to go back to otome, of course it was 9 R.I.P. that I picked up first; I thought there wouldn’t be a better game to break me out of my slump!

9 R.I.P. is sold as a horror otome game and follows Misa Isshiki, a high schooler who is stuck in a rut. She’s got pressure on her from her mother to become a doctor and study medicine, but she knows she doesn’t want that for herself; she’s not sure what exactly it is that she wants to do with her life. Her bad luck and inner turmoil attracts the attention of gods, spirits and demons alike, and the game follows her overcoming her burdens with the help of all kinds of supernatural and spooky beings.

As always, light spoilers ahead!

Things I liked:

As with all of Otomate’s titles, 9 R.I.P. features gorgeous artwork and character designs. Yuuya, who has previously worked on Cupid Parasite and Cafe Enchante, knocked it out of the park with a huge number of stunning CGs, sprites and backgrounds for this game. The characters each have music that plays primarily when they are on screen, which I always like in my otome games! It really helps you get a feel for each character’s vibes when you’re introduced to them.

The love interest characters consist of an eclectic cast of ghosts, spirits and even a god and a demon. There’s multiple common routes that each have a very different feel. From exploring school ghost stories, to becoming a ghost yourself, to exploring Hell, to trying to navigate the world with a pair of Japanese spirits by your side. I loved the different feel of each common route; it sometimes felt like I was playing an entirely different game each time! The cast have very different personalities which have been matched perfectly to the common route they were put in. For example, the spirit world common route sees MC become able to see a group of spirits who are tasked with helping her/haunting her. Hilarity ensues with each of the character’s large personalities clashing together, and she learns to love the group rather than just tolerate them; I really enjoyed this as it felt like I was part of a shoujo anime!

*The Spirit World common route was my favourite, and I really loved Yukimaro in particular! Source: Otomate*

I really loved Seiya and Yukimaro in particular. Seiya especially scratched an itch in my brain; slightly pathetic, gorgeous voice acting and a white haired LI (they’re always my favourite!) I loved Yukimaro’s design and was pleasantly surprised with how much I ended up loving him as his whole thing is being kinda annoying (but in an endearing way!) Yukimaro also continued to show me the flexibility and range of KENN’s voice; I swear every time I see him in a game, his voice sounds totally different. He nailed it!

Things I didn’t like:

I’m such a wimp when it comes to horror, but I’m usually okay if there’s no jumpscares involved. I wanted to push myself with 9 R.I.P. and try something out of my comfort zone; I wanted to prove to myself that I can deal with horror! However, aside from a couple creepy moments and one slightly scary sprite, I found 9 R.I.P. pretty tame. Coming from me, that means if you’re looking for actual horror, you won’t find it here. One route was scary in a way I wasn’t expecting, as it discussed stalking and para-social relationships with streamers in great detail, but other than that I wasn’t spooked at all.

Koyo’s route was unexpected as it actually scared me the most; the discussion of para-social relationships and stalking felt scarily real. Source: Otomate

I did also find the pacing in some routes to be rather strange, with one route having seemingly very low stakes and ending without any real resolution to the conflict presented. Most routes had great pacing, with the plots not feeling like they were dragged out too much or being rushed at the last minute, but I found Sena’s route in particular to be quite strangely paced. Combining that with the plot in his route, which has him separated from MC for a prolonged period of time, it almost felt like the developers didn’t like him that much. He was really given the short end of the stick!

If you’re looking for an otome title with a character for everyone, I couldn’t recommend 9 R.I.P. enough. It really feels like they added a love interest for every kind of player! However, if you’re wanting a really scary horror title, this game may be too mild for you.

Rating: 9/10