Michael Levy is a student enrolled in a theological seminary, a school that trains clergymen of the future. A son of a popular priest, a hard-working model student and a prefect, everyone expects a bright future ahead of him. But everything is destroyed one Christmas night when he returns to his father's clery house with his twin brother: The house is engulfed in flames, with the bodies of his parents and sister, now dead, inside it. Devastated, Michael begins to question his faith in god and swears to unveil the truth behind the murders.

Such is the beginning of this game, which is unusual in the diversity of themes it explores. Prominent themes throughout the game include coping with trauma, rediscovering faith after a terrible loss, and dealing with homosexual feelings in a conservative Christian society, with secondary themes of friendship, growth and acceptance of diverse views. While the game clearly has multiple messages to tell, it is never pretentious; and despite the clear progressive Christian undertones, I believe it can be enjoyed by most horror fans, except the most conservative ones (whom, I suspect, are usually not big fans of horror).

These themes are delivered multimodally, along with regular doses of nightmare fuel, through a mixture of exquisite artwork, excellent voice acting, and believable character drama. The game is not exclusively horror-oriented; the horror mainly comes from the murders at the beginning, the events that transpire before each of the many possible endings, and in the daily nightmares that the player experiences. The horror at the beginning and in the nightmares are largely psychological, and mostly come from the trauma of the murders. Supernatural elements generally only assume an important role before the endings, and are mostly still tied to the characters' psychological struggles. If you are a fan of horror that directly plays into our mental weaknesses, then this is the right game for you.

In the coming sections, I'll review each aspect of the game for those who are interested in the individual aspects; feel free to skip to the conclusion if it's too long. Mild spoilers will be marked by the spoiler tag; I will put up a version of the review on r/visualnovels with bigger spoilers (since detailed analysis is more common there).

Sound, music and UI

The sound and music are mostly fine. They are not the best, and the number of tracks is not numerous for a game of this length, but they work at creating the atmospheres that they are trying to create. The theme song, Noli me tangere, is rather well done, and the occasional sound effects that accompany the scares are often effective, if slightly repetitive. Emotions and personalities are reflected very well by the voice acting, and I think you will enjoy it even if you (like me) don't speak Japanese. There's also a feature for saving lines you particularly enjoy so that you can hear it again.

The UI is the basic UI that you would expect of a modern visual novel. The publisher does not go out of their way to add fancy features like in some modern games, but it is very much serviceable, and never clunky or bugged (unlike a certain, much better known sci-fi horror game).

Art

Shingakkou has some of the best art I've seen. Now, don't get me wrong, its art style is not exactly unique - I'd prefer Kara no Shoujo's sprites to this game's any day - but it definitely more than gets the job done. Because of the setting, there is not much variation in the sprites when it comes to clothing, but I like the subtle facial expressions, especially of the secondary characters like Ahab and Father Lazarus. The artist does not have to resort to comic-book exaggeration to convey feelings, and that's part of what makes this game's art a notch above other visual novels'. You can tell the main character from his twin brother by facial expressions alone.

The backgrounds are absolutely stunning. The level of detail is comparable to good high fantasy games like Aiyoku no Eustia; you can almost envision the scenes coming out of fantasy-horror movies. My favourites are the two chapels (the one in the school and the abandoned one in the cemetery).

By far my favourite element of the artwork, though, must be the CGs. (For those who are unfamiliar to the term, they are drawings of important events that replace the usual sprite-over-background art.) There is a large number of CGs, ranging from scenes from daily interactions between the main characters (some, though not all, of which foreshadow horror-related events to come) to flashbacks, from scenes that are major turning points in the characters' relationships to vivid and imaginative depictions of demons and the Christian hell. The last class of artwork is my favourite; they appear at critical moments, with the right sounds, to create feelings of tension, if not exactly horror. Some of the best ones are those from unhappy endings.

Note that despite the gore filter, there is no actual gore in the game (at least not from the perspective of a horror fan). I did not turn it on, but most likely it is intended for disturbing scenes like a rotten corpse lying on top of a coffin or the player character being raped by demons. If you have no problems reading Clive Barker, you should have no problem with those, so I do not recommend turning it on. The sex scenes are mostly presented in a tasteful manner, although the player must be warned that one of the routes (where sin is the major theme) contains scenes that some may find objectionable.

Setting, plot and choices

Most people have never been in a conservative Christian boarding school from the 50's where most students are training to be priests, and perhaps this setting is unusual compared to a more contemporary setting or more conventional fantasy setting, but it was definitely the right choice. Much of the character drama would not make much sense without this background. For example, the general stifling atmosphere of the school is quite important for the characterisation of one of the main characters. Also, much of the main character's internal conflict is tied to his homosexuality, and some of the horror would not work if homosexuality were not considered a sin by the society the game is set in. Nor does the author pander to the yaoi audience's wish for completely happy endings: In the society where the game is set, there is simply no perfect ending, although the good endings are mostly open with regards to whether the characters can eventually live as couples.

The game is in the conventional visual novel format: The player's choices affect the plot of the game, and the job of the player is to choose choices to steer the story in the direction that they want. I recommend unlocking all endings in this game; even the unhappy endings are done very well, and by skipping them, you miss out on a whole lot. There are five routes (main branches) that the player can follow, each tied to a main character towards which Michael develops feelings (namely Cecil, Gabby, Leonid, Neil and August). Only three routes are available at the beginning; one route is unlocked after completing the first three, and the final route is unlocked after the fourth.

An important point must be made about the plot: This is a horror/drama game, not a mystery. Unlike a multiple-route mystery, the mystery does not get gradually solved as the player goes through more and more routes with the biggest reveal in the true ending. Instead, almost all of the truth is evident by the end of the first route you play, and the later routes only add small bits and pieces that would be nice to know, but are not essential to understanding the truth. Moreover, all routes follow an identical structure, with numerous events in common; repeated text between routes can be skipped.

The choice system is simple; you can mostly guess the consequences of the choices (unlike in Kara no Shoujo). One small note for those who want to unlock all CGs: there is one choice in each route determining the dominant/subordinate status of the characters. This is especially important in one route, where the climax of the route is slightly different depending on this role.

Characters and routes

The main character is one of my favourite visual novel protagonists. The game concentrates first and foremost on him, his psyche, and his growth and development after the traumatic loss of his family, whereas other characters have largely gone through full character development in their respective backstories. This is not to say he has no personality at the beginning: on the contrary, he is determined, stubborn even, in his quest for the truth about his family's brutal murder, uncompromising in his abandonment of the faith (despite hiding it from most), and, most of all, furious towards whoever took his parents and sister away from him. The focus of the game is how he moved on from this state.

My favourite character route is Cecil's. I am probably biased because this was my first route and therefore the only one where I did not know the truth from the beginning. However, the drama in Cecil's route made quite a bit more impression in me than others, because of the suffering that Cecil went through for Michael. Cecil is such a courageous human being who's gone through so many hardships (both within the game and in backstories) that you can't help wanting to give him a hug. His unfortunate last name Coward does not suit him at all.

The second route I completed was Neil's. Neil's is a humorous and protective big brother, and his route has some of the best characterisation in the game, as well as being the most comedic - I had a few chuckles here and there, though the game never becomes a horror-comedy even in this route. Despite what you may expect, this is the route where religion is stressed the most!

Leonid's route was still good, but I did not like it as much as Cecil's or Neil's. This route is also interesting in that tension between the two characters is the most apparent, to the extent that the two main characters ignore each other for a substantial portion of the route. First appearances suggest that this is because of the inherent conflict between Michael's actions and Leonid's role in the school, but as we venture deeper, we find a much more deeply rooted reason, which is also the main theme of the route.

Although presented as one of the nicest characters at the beginnings of other routes, it is difficult to like August: He is cruel and manipulative, and has no qualms with violating his students to quench his sexual desires. This route is the one where the main character all but gives in completely to sin (in fact, in some endings, you can scratch the 'all but' - he bows towards evil and throws out all self-respect). Yet, equally, it is difficult not to like this route: Its main theme is foregiveness, especially as embodied in a biblical teaching (do not judge, or you too will be judged), and finding kindness in the most evil of human beings. Its climax can be said to be the climax of the entire game.

The main point of Gabby's route is to present an important plot twist as well as the perfect resolution to the game. My favourite part of the route was actually the friendship and solidarity forged between roomates. Part of the reason why the route probably did not appeal to me as much as it is intended to was that the plot twist was obvious to me by the time I reached this route - which is not a bad thing at all, but a testament to the author's excellent foreshadowing! The one complaint I do have about this route is that the resolution was far too easy. Granted, Michael had to fight very hard to accept the truth in the twist before the resolution, but I really can't imagine the main antagonist giving up that easily. This is my only complaint about the route, and my only major complaint about the entire game.

Conclusion

Shingakkou, while not a flawless game, is one of the games I've come to love the most. It does not overdo its horror elements or resort to preaching its messages; instead, the horror, drama and morals are interwoven seamlessly and brought out effective through music, art, dialogue and the intriguing plot. It is highly recommended.