Nanashi No Game - Story

Story

Rumors have been circulating about a nameless, cursed role-playing video game for the fictional Twin Screen (TS) handheld game system. According to the rumor, anyone who plays this game, dubbed "The Cursed Game" (呪いのゲーム, Noroi no Game?), and does not complete it within seven days will die.

The player assumes the role of a college student at Nanto University, Tokyo. The player has started playing the cursed game, sent to them by classmate Fumihito Odaka (尾高 文人, Odaka Fumihito?), who has been absent recently. Riko Nagasawa (長沢 理子, Nagasawa Riko?), Odaka's girlfriend, interrupts, and requests that the player go to Odaka's apartment. The player does so, discovering that Odaka has mysteriously died of drowning while trying to beat the cursed game. The next day, a distressed Riko dies on the Nanto Express subway, having received the cursed game six days before the protagonist.

On the player's third day, Nanto University professor Houki Ooyama (大山 法基, Ōyama Houki?) calls the player to his office. An IT expert on digital information with an interest in folklore, Ooyama confirms that a "killer curse" is a very real possibility, and sees the nameless game as an opportunity to conduct research on its mysteries. He first directs the player to investigate Jikyuu General Hospital (慈急総合病院, Jikyū Sōgō Byōin?), the abandoned location of the cursed game's domain. Partway through, Ooyama has the player look for a medical chart for Shin Yutani (湯谷 紳, Yutani Shin?), a man who died in a similar fashion to Odaka. The player soon discovers that they are being pursued by spirits devoid of eyes or mouth, and discovers Riko as one of them. Riko's "spirit" appears after the player obtains Yutani's chart and receives a disturbing game update, and chases them out of the hospital.

On the fourth day, Professor Ooyama and the player learn that Yutani was the president of a video game company called Uta-Soft, located on the fourth floor of the Nakano Broadway Center (中野ブロードウェイセンター?); Ooyama directs the player there, warning them to avoid the spirits, which he dubs "Regrets", while exploring. Along the way, Ooyama sends the player information on Uta-Soft, including the fact that the company has gone bankrupt, with most of its workers missing and presumed dead. At the abandoned office, the player collects various pieces of information, including a plan for the unnamed game and an employee roster, before escaping the Regrets.

On the fifth day, Ooyama finds that one person from Uta-Soft is still alive: Ushio Ikuta (生田 潮, Ikuta Ushio?), the creative director behind the unnamed game. The player travels to the Ikuta residence, where they find a near-catatonic Ushio in the closet. Almost immediately after, a game update takes the player into a flashback of events inside the house. Yutani, constantly stressed from work and jealous of Ushio's love for his family, brutally murdered his wife Tomoya while Ikuta was at work. Ikuta's daughter Asahi, who hated video games (as they kept Ikuta from her), came home to find an indescribably bloody scene, with Yutani splattered in blood and grinning madly. Luckily, Asahi was able to escape the house before Yutani could catch her as well. After the vision ends, Ushio utters Asahi's name, and gives the player her picture diary.

On the sixth day, Ooyama explains to the player that after Tomoka's death, Ikuta continued to work on the cancelled game, angering Asahi into running away from home. From the information in the diary, he guesses that Asahi may have gone to the capeside Misaki Hotel (ミサキホテル, Misaki Hoteru?); he directs the player there, telling them he would meet them there later. When the player finds Asahi's body there, she communicates to the player through the game, asking why they came for her despite her attempts to kill them, before vanishing. The player leaves the hotel to meet with Ooyama, but is forced to flee upon making a shocking discovery: Ooyama has been turned into a Regret. Asahi again communicates to the player, declaring that her actions were to avenge her mother, and that she will never forgive her father, video games, or even the player. Later, a delayed e-mail message from Ooyama asks the player what the drawing in Odaka's apartment stood for. Realizing that it was a representation of the Seven Capes Lighthouse (七支崎灯台, Nana Sasō saki tōdai?), located nearby, the player heads there.

On the seventh and last day, the player arrives at the lighthouse. There, they learn that Asahi is the true source of the game's curse, having committed suicide by jumping from the top of the lighthouse. The player then heads for the nearby cliff (depicted many times in the cursed game) to reach Asahi before daybreak, in 3 minutes. Along the way, they must speak to the now-harmless spirits of the curse, in reverse chronological order, through the cursed game. Ooyama's spirit explains that he became a Regret because, out of curiosity, he never started the cursed game after receiving it one day before the player. Ooyama explains that he now understands Ikuta's reason for working on the nameless game: to show that video games can be used to show someone how much they love them. After talking with Riko, Odaka, and the three missing Uta-Soft employees, the player speaks to Yutani, the curse's first victim. Acknowledging that he was the reason the curse began (by murdering Asahi's mother), Yutani tells the player to speak with Asahi and help her realize what he had about family and love.

When the player communicates to Asahi, they show her the happy memories that she and her family shared. Suddenly, Tomoka's spirit appears through the game. She tells Asahi that she is only sad about Asahi dying, as well as for closing her heart. When Tomoka mentions Ikuta directly, the player finds Ikuta standing next to them in the real world, having been led here by Tomoka's spirit. He explains his good intentions for creating the game, and apologizes to Asahi. In the game, Asahi responds, saying "Papa!" (パパ！, lit. "Daddy!"?); and the scene fades to white, before returning to the player, sitting at the cliff and very much alive. Ikuta, who notices the player, asks if they have met before; the player confirms this, before asking how the nameless game ends. Ikuta, taken aback by the player's interest, desides to complete the game's story to make amends to his family. Afterward, the game credits play, revealing the name of the nameless game: "Road to Sunrise".