When a game sets out to combine anime aesthetics with psychological horror, the results can often lean too far into either fan service or fright. High School Dirty Secrets, developed by Mitsuki Game Studio and published by JanduSoft, manages to walk that fine line with a surprising amount of poise. Set within the eerie confines of a Japanese school at night, it places players in the shoes of Kasuga, a student who wakes up to find herself trapped in familiar yet unsettling surroundings. What begins as a simple search for an exit slowly unravels into a supernatural mystery about memory, guilt, and the dangers lurking behind the school’s polished exterior.
The game’s biggest strength lies in its atmosphere. From the first moments wandering its dimly lit corridors, High School Dirty Secrets establishes a creeping sense of dread that builds through lighting and sound rather than cheap jump scares. Each creak of the wooden floors or echo of Kasuga’s footsteps contributes to the tension, while distorted whispers and sudden noises keep the player perpetually uneasy. This audio design, paired with stylized 3D anime visuals, creates an experience that’s both unnerving and oddly beautiful. There’s a touch of surrealism here as well – an uneasy mixture of beauty and horror that gives the game its own identity among indie horror releases.
Exploration forms the core of the experience, as players piece together fragments of Kasuga’s past and the sinister history of her school. The smartphone mechanic, which doubles as both a flashlight and a tool for collecting clues, plays a central role. Text messages, ghostly photos, and odd signals all add layers to the mystery. The game’s puzzles are moderately challenging, occasionally verging on frustrating, but most remain logical once their clues are deciphered. A few moments – such as symbol decoding or sequence-based locks – demand extra patience, yet there’s a rewarding sense of accomplishment when the pieces click into place. The design encourages observation and backtracking, keeping the pacing tight despite its short runtime.
That brevity, though, is both a strength and a weakness. At around three to four hours for a complete playthrough, High School Dirty Secrets delivers a compact experience that avoids overstaying its welcome, but it doesn’t leave much room for deeper narrative exploration. The two endings offer some replay incentive, though the second path only adds a brief detour rather than a fully different storyline. While the story’s central twist lands effectively, its emotional impact feels somewhat underdeveloped – particularly given the strong build-up in the early chapters. The narrative hints at tragedy and guilt but stops short of delving into the psychological complexity it seems to promise.
The shifting camera perspective between third and first person adds an interesting dynamic, but it’s not always seamless. The need to switch to first person for puzzle interaction and item discovery can feel cumbersome, while third person is mostly there to provide spatial awareness – or to showcase character animations that don’t add much to gameplay. Still, the dual perspective does enhance immersion during chase sequences, where the limited vision of first person amplifies tension as unseen threats draw near. It’s a clever, if imperfect, mechanic that reflects the developer’s ambition to go beyond the typical fixed-view horror structure.
Technical performance on PlayStation 5 is generally smooth, with solid optimization and consistent frame rates. The visuals, while not cutting-edge, are polished enough to sell the setting’s oppressive mood. The use of lighting – especially around the smartphone’s flashlight – highlights the sense of isolation, while the character models, though exaggerated in design, contribute to the game’s anime-inspired identity. Some visual bugs and awkward object detection issues persist, particularly in interactive sequences, but they rarely break the experience. The game’s stability makes it a reliable horror pick for players who don’t want to fight the engine as much as the ghosts inhabiting its halls.
As a horror title, High School Dirty Secrets doesn’t reinvent the genre, but it delivers a focused, unnerving experience that thrives on atmosphere and tension. The puzzles keep engagement high without turning opaque, and the sound design ensures that even quieter stretches feel charged with anticipation. While a few bugs, limited replay value, and underdeveloped storytelling hold it back from greatness, it still stands as a confident effort from Mitsuki Game Studio. For fans of Japanese horror settings and short, contained scares, it’s an enjoyable nightmarish detour – one that leaves enough unease lingering after the credits roll.
Score: 7.1/10
Press Play Media 