is a 2022 video game developed by IzanagiGames and G.rev for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows and Xbox Series X/S. A multi-genre game combining visual novel and shoot 'em up gameplay, the title centres on a group of convicts which profess innocence for crimes which they have been convicted of. The convicted 'prisoners,' each teamed up with a civilian 'executioner,' compete on the fictional island of Yurukill Land, for which the winning team is rewarded with the wiping of the prisoners' criminal record and the granting of the executioner's greatest wish.
The game released on May 22, 2022 in Japan and in July in international markets. Upon release, Yurukill received mixed reception, although general praise was offered for its premise and unconventional fusion of genres.
Plot Six convicts, Sengoku Shunju (arson resulting in 21 counts of murder, sentenced to 999 years), twins Futa and Raita Yamada (robbery and double homicide, sentenced to 78 years), Gentoku Omuro (murder, sentenced to 110 years), pop singer Hanaka Ichirin (murder and attempted murder, sentenced to 18 years), and Benitaro "Allan Poe Akechi" Barahabara (disturbing the peace, sentenced to two months) all mysteriously awake on board a ship transporting the group to the island of Yurukill Land. All six profess innocence for the crimes and claim erroneous convictions. Also on the ship are five mostly eccentric civilians who have not been convicted of a crime and invited to the island on their own resolve: Rina Azami (paired with Sengoku), Kagura Kagutsuchi (paired with the Yamada twins), Izane Akegarasu (paired with Gentoku), Keiichi Oka (paired with Hanaka, whom his is a super fan of), and Beniko 'Kristina Kobayashi' Barahabara (paired with her older brother Allan Poe Akechi).
On the island, modeled after an amusement park, Binko, a woman donning a fox mask, informs the group that they have been brought to Yurukill Land to participate in a competition. The winning team will have the convict's criminal record erased, with the civilian being granted a wish as a prize. The convicts are to take the role of 'prisoners' while their civilian teammates are 'executioners'. Binko informs the participants that as teams progress through the games' challenges, executioners will have the ability to determine the guilt of their prisoner counterparts, resulting in either a pardon or the execution of their teammate. This judgement can occur at any point but is also to happen at the end of each challenge.
The teams are individually transported to a unique attraction which they must solve independent of the other groups. As the teams progress, they come to find that each challenge is modelled after the crime they were convicted of, and information is contained which either supports their claim to innocence or reveals that the prisoner team member committed the offence. As each attraction progresses, each executioner also reveals that they are not random citizens, but the surviving victims of their partners convicted crimes (Rina the sole survivor of the arson, Kagura the granddaughter of a murdered couple, Izane the sole survivor of a village massacre instigated by Gentoku, and Keiichi the survivor of a stabbing). While the attractions do not concretely prove the guilt of either Sengoku or the Yamada twins, Gentoku's scenario uncovers that his real name is Kazuki Jimbo while Izane is his cousin Chihiro Jimbo; the two are the only survivors of a massacre which killed every other member of the Jimbo family, while Hanaka's attraction contains indisputable video evidence that she murdered a man and also stabbed Keiichi. Ultimately, the four executioners pardon their prisoner teammates, though under different rationales (Rina has doubts as to Sengoku's innocence, Kagura is promised devout loyalty by Futa, Izane desires Genotku's real life power, while Keiichi's obsessiveness of Hanaka allows him to forgive her). Allan Poe's team completes an attraction offscreen.
As all teams completed their attraction without an execution occurring, a murder-mystery competition is held, with the first two teams to solve the mystery's earning a spot in the Yurukill finals. Ultimately, Gentoku/Azame and Allan Poe/Kristina earn a spot in the finals, however, after Allan Poe's team goes missing, a follow up competition is held, with Sengoku and Rina instead participating in the finals.
Alongside the broader competition which is occurring, Senogku is attempting to determine the culprit behind the arson and murders which he was framed for. Spurred by a taunting message which was slipped into his cell on the boat at the start of the games, he and Rina eventually determine that the culprit is a player.
In the finals, additional evidence presented by the attraction setup allows Sengoku and Rina to conclude that Izane is the true culprit behind the crimes which all the prisoners have been accused of, either through committing them directly and framing a prisoner, or instigation. Izane (an anagram of the ) is also revealed to be the true convict of Jimbo family massacre which Gentoku is participating as a prisoner for (switching places with the amnesiac Gentoku discretely at the very start) and also an employee of Yurukill Inc., a powerful covert organization which broadcasts the Yurukill games for profit on the internet. In the final showdown between Sengoku and Izane, Allan Poe's missing team returns, freeing the other prisoners and hacking into the Yurukill computers systems to allow the games' participants to defeat Izane. As the winners of the Yurukill Games, Sengoku's conviction is erased, while Rina's winning wish is to have Izane turned into the police with the evidence Yurukill Inc. has, which can allow the others to be retried and freed. However, Izane jumps off a nearby cliff edge upon her defeat, committing suicide.
In the epilogue, the prisoners are retried and all acquitted of their charges. Futa and Raita start a business with Kagura as an employee; Hanaka hires Keiichi as a manager and returns to her singing career; Gentoku, assuming his birth name Kazuki Jimbo, returns to the Jimbo family village to honour his deceased family, while Sengoku and Rina become close friends. A post-credits scene features Binko discussing the financial success of the Yurukill Games, slowly taking off her mask to tease that she is Izane.
Gameplay
Yurukill features a fusion of gameplay genres typically not seen in other video games, combining both visual novel and vertically scrolling shoot 'em up elements. The story mode primarily takes the form of a visual novel. Like other visual novels, players will progress through the plot either reading or listening to text on screen, occasionally making dialogue choices which may influence how characters will react to the player in that moment. During the attraction sequences, players are able to move a cursor over a static environmental images to interact with objects in the space, which can progress the story or allow items to be picked up and stored for later use. Puzzles will need to be solved while in the attractions, with these occurring in a similar manner of moving the cursor to interact with or place items in a particular sequence. A hint system is available which offers up to three clues to the player during a puzzle, at no penalty for use. While navigating the attraction sequences, players will need to alternate between rooms to advance the story. Although gameplay in the visual novel sequences is largely linear and takes the form of mostly static imagery, the character portraits and text boxes feature minor animations. Text is advanced with the press of a button, and can also be either fast forwarded or auto-advanced at the press of a button.
"Maji-Kill" is a gameplay section that occurs when the executioner develops an intense urge to kill their prisoner, and take the form of intense, high-stacks "cross-examination" to convince the executioner to spare them for the time being (this is visualised allegorically through a suspended guillotine blade). Throughout Maji-Kill , the executioner's "urge to kill" raises incrementally. For a successful Maji-Kill, the "urge to kill" will always raise to, then stop, at 99%. The player triggers a 100% urge to kill, causing the prisoner's execution and a game over, if they give a single disliked answer to one of the trials.
Near the end of each chapter in the story mode, after an attraction has been completed, characters will enter the 'BR' (brain reality) system (akin to a virtual reality space) for judgement, either by the executioner or another character of note, at which point the title transitions to a shoot 'em up. Players control an aerial ship from an overhead perspective over a 2D space, automatically advancing upwards in a vertical direction. Opposing ships will conversely scroll from the top of the screen towards the bottom, firing projectiles which will kill the player instantly upon contact and subtract one life. Players are able to fire projectiles of their own at enemy ships, using both light and heavier attacks (which will cause decreased movement speed). Although some opponents will perish in one hit themselves, several boast life bars which will require several hits before being defeated. Powerups are scattered through the levels which will allow increased attack power. Upon defeat, enemy ships drop energy which can be collected to boost the players energy meter. Once a select percentage of the energy bar is collected, advanced techniques become available to the player. On easy and normal difficulties, filling the gauge to at least 20% will allow the player to automatically absorb a shot without dying, at the cost of reducing the energy total to 0 upon defeat. Using energy also allows for the firing of both an advanced shot or a bomb which also removed enemy projectiles which come in contact with it. In total, there are seven levels each boasting three stages each, with a boss being fought at the end of each stage. Score is collecting during gameplay and tallied at the end of a stage during a results stage, and the game features three difficulty levels: easy, medium, and Hell. Each stage also features a hidden Binko token which will require the player to use an energy attack to allow for its collection, who will be subsequently rewarded with an extra live upon successful contact. Each of the four playable characters can be piloted in the BR sections, with unique attacks and play styles present depending on who is selected.
The shoot 'em up portions may be played outside of story mode via the main menu, although they must first be encountered in the story to become available for free play. In the 'all attack' mode, players play through the 21 total stages in chronological order of story appearance with their character of choice. Once all lives are lost, scores may be uploaded to a global leaderboard to allow for international competition. In the 'practice' mode, players may select any level of choice to begin play on, and other adjustable features such as the number of lives available during the session.
Development and release