Process of Elimination [Game Review]

Many of us once dreamed of being detectives, solving a case, and bringing down the villain. The sad reality though is being a detective can be quite tough and here at Honey’s Anime, we’ve come to realize our best chance at being detectives is playing mystery games! As fans of titles like Danganronpa and 999, games about killers with crazy intentions that put their victims through the wringer make us giddy and allow us to don our small detective caps.

Process of Elimination from developer NIS looks at first glance like the ideal detective game filled with death, drama, and wannabe detectives but is Process of Elimination the title we deserve or one we should eliminate altogether? Here is our review of Process of Elimination for the PS4!

Process of Elimination doesn’t waste time throwing you into a dark game. The so-called Quartering Duke starts off by asking the player—the audience—who to eliminate and then just goes from there showing their evil ways. An elite team of detectives dubbed the Detective Alliance has banded together to find this Duke and take him down but there’s more to this team than meets the eye. Wato Hojo, a young wannabe detective, ends up being scouted by the Detective Alliance and is taken to an island with 14 others but they soon learn an even darker reality…one of them is the Quartering Duke! Now, it is a race against time to find the killer and equally survive on an island full of oddballs.

Process of Elimination kind of sounds like almost every game like it. Take a strange assortment of individuals with unique personalities, make one of them the killer and you have the premise of titles like the popular Danganronpa we talked about earlier. What we do like about Process of Elimination is that rather than having detectives who really aren’t detectives, these individuals all have been involved in high-profile cases and all have smarts despite their quirky personas. It creates a true mystery set up where all of these men and women could be lying because their skills are deduction and investigation, the prime powers of a mastermind! We were quickly hooked with Process of Elimination’s story and we will avoid spoilers but the tale does get quite shocking and has some really dark moments we don’t often see in games like this.

Process of Elimination is like most mystery games, it is split into two parts. The main game is like a visual novel, you’ll take the role of Wato—or better known as the Incompetent Detective—trying to help the others deduce who the Duke is and equally learn how a past incident carries into what’s befalling him currently. The other half of Process of Elimination is almost akin to a strategy game. Using the D-Pad—it’s basically an in-game IPAD—Incompetent can order others around to investigate crime scenes and discover evidence.

Obviously, you can’t just move everyone where you want as each detective has different traits, abilities, and movements but as you progress you’ll learn how to move them around like a chess master. This part of Process of Elimination is really unique and we loved the idea of controlling the team to see their abilities play out. Don’t fret if you don’t fully get it right away as it can be a bit overwhelming and you’ll no doubt hit game overs left and right. Process of Elimination takes a bit of patience but learning how everything works and watching your actions play out to discover clues and or scenes is a nice feeling.

From the impressive levels of detail in character designs to the overall aesthetic, Process of Elimination is a solid-looking title. The anime-themed characters with extreme setting details make for eye candy while playing. Almost like a visual novel, there are a lot of reused scenes and models but that’s understandable and is a minor issue. We equally loved the music which ramps up during moments of interest or choice. Process of Elimination has a solid art and music design that keeps us immersed and always using headphones while playing!

Early on we kind of knew what issues existed with Process of Elimination just from playing so many games like it. The first issue is that be prepared for a lot—and we mean a lot—of dialogue. Your first decision might be almost instantaneous but later choices are far from one another as there is a lot of dialogue in with Process of Elimination and while that isn’t an issue with us who love VNs more than most, it’s always important to inform you nevertheless.

The strategy element too feels a bit under-explained initially—which we commented before on the learning curve—and that might put some players off but with Process of Elimination tries to be different and for that, we give it a thumbs up! Lastly, don’t feel bad if you have moments of deja-vu while playing. Process of Elimination kind of takes ideas from other games like it more often than it should which will no doubt be noticed.