Review: D
Laura... Laura... LAURRAAAAAA!
We're going deep into FMV game territory this time. It's a genre I have an unusual fondness of. The very idea of games being made as interactive movies either with live action or “cutting edge” CGI has always appealed to me. In the 90s it was a way to show what the future of games could be. It didn't pan out that way of course and many FMV games are ridiculed these days. But some really made an extra effort to allow players to interact in a movie type setting.
“D” is one of those games. Developed by Warp and directed by the late Kenji Eno. Eno, known as a bit of a marketing rebel, thought that he could never get this game released with its themes of gore, horror, and cannibalism. The story goes that he showed off a heavily censored version of the game and when accepted for release he waited until the very last moment and personally delivered the master copy. Without the publisher’s knowledge, he had switched the version he had shown to the publisher with the version he wanted to release, gore intact.
Good thing too, D sold over 1 million copies in Japan and was highly rated in the territory. In the west, the reception was milder but it did become referred to as one of the best games on 3DO. Reviewers were generally unkind to FMV games but D was praised for the innovation in graphics and the games striking visuals were memorable.
It's possible the game could have been more popular in the west however Sony did not manufacture enough copies which angered Eno so much he did not release another game on PlayStation. Which is unfortunate as his next game “Enemy Zero” is considered a classic.
Once the publisher/developer screen is done it's straight away throwing a very atmospheric attract movie at you. The 3D pre-rendered FMV looked very good for the time and the music fit the theme perfectly.
The FMV also sets the story so it is worth watching. In summary, Richter Harris, a well respected and quiet doctor has suddenly transformed into a mass murder and has killed multiple people in the hospital, taking more hostages and the police cannot reach him. His daughter, Laura, is tasked with going into the hospital to find out what has really happened to her father.
D takes place almost entirely in first person unless a scene calls for Laura to be shown. Laura moves on predetermined pathways that allow you to investigate different items and locations as the adventure unfolds.
There are no options, just press start and a cutscene plays of Laura entering the hospital. She encounters some corpses in the reception area and then things take a supernatural turn and Laura winds up teleported to what seems like an old castle. From there, the player is given control and the mystery begins.
The whole game uses FMV that is very similar to the intro movies which helps keep up the sense that you’re playing a sort of interactive movie. It feels very immersive as you see everything from Laura’s point-of-view. What is extra impressive with the FMV is you don’t see the “judder” when going from a moving FMV to a still while you choose what you will have Laura do next. It’s really something for 1995! As I pointed out, D is an immersive experience. You, the player, are thrown into this mystery knowing absolutely nothing about what is going on because Laura is in the same predicament. This helps make the game feel like you’re figuring things out at the same time Laura is. There are plenty of surprises too! Right from the start there are ghoulish apparitions coming out of mirrors and a near death experience from a spike wall trap when Laura walks into a room.
It becomes obvious some minutes into the adventure that D moves at a very slow pace. You cannot skip cutscenes or movement. Every move is deliberate. This method of pacing is also true of puzzles. In one instance there is a door with a number on it, obviously a clue as to how to open it. This forces Laura to turn around and find the solution elsewhere. When she finally comes across a box with rotating numbers that using precise timing can be stopped, it should be a case of matching the numbers, yes? Well yes… and no. While the first number ius fine, the second number, when stopped, continues to rotate forward depending on the first number! Essentially creating two puzzles in one and therefore taking more time. Why is time important and why is D paced this way? Simple. You have two real world hours to complete the game.
Laura’s possessions at the start of the game are a watch and a compact. The watch begins at 3am, the game ends at 5am meaning you have to guide Laura efficiently with as few wasted movements as possible. Oh, and you can’t pause the game.
The compact gives Laura a vision for a few seconds. These are clues to where Laura should be looking in order to move forward. This can only be used three times per game before it breaks so should only be used when completely stuck.
During the investigation, Laura can come across scarab beetles which trigger trippy, cryptic cutscenes to help fill in gaps with the story. These are important as finding four of them is the only way to see the game's true ending. Depending on actions the beetles may not be in the same place every game though if played correctly you can make them appear in the same place every time.
All that being said. I think D might be a masterpiece. It’s down to you whether you think it’s just another FMV adventure game or it’s a wildly ambitious attempt at the genre that does things nobody was doing then. It's in the top tier of a genre that is often mocked unfairly. The bad FMV games are really bad and in the YouTube era when folks talk about the bad games, the gems rarely get a mention. D is one of those gems. It oozes atmosphere, it's mysterious, it doesn't have a lot of replay value but that's not the point. It's an interactive movie puzzle game. The length is designed in that way to make it feel like a movie.
It's absolutely worth checking out even for those that are curious to see how FMV games were done well in the 90s. I highly recommend playing the PlayStation version if you can. It has higher resolution FMVs than the 3DO and Saturn versions. (I have not played the DOS version)
Kenji Eno went on to make two other games. Enemy Zero for Sega Saturn, and D2 for Sega Dreamcast. All feature D's main protagonist Laura but none of the games are related. The idea was to create a digital actress who would appear in multiple games. A very novel idea I think and with today's technology, use of motion capture and face scanning is common. It's nice to think people were trying to push digital actors 20 years prior.
Eno-san sadly passed away in 2013. We can only imagine what his creativity could have brought us in 2024. ありがとう ございます
I’ve recorded complete playthroughs that showcase the four endings of the game on my YouTube channel. Here’s the link to the longplay showing the best ending. You’ll find the other videos plus other longplays/streams I’ve done. I’d love to hit that 500 subscriber mark sometime soon.