Nightmare Of The Snow (Game)

Nightmare Of The Snow (雪の悪夢 Yuki No Akumu) is an RPG Maker VX Ace horror adventure game released in late 2013 by Hayate Tsurugi. This was inspired by Fatal Frame.

Gameplay
This features Fatal Frame elements such as dark Shinto rituals and mysterious people. If a player gets lost or doesn't know what to do, they can explore since its a free exploration game. The player cannot fight like an RPG standard battle. However, they can fight ghosts in a different way, like in Chapter 3. In Chapter 3, they can walk in diagonal direction, featuring a new gameplay. Their save points are mirrors. But only "pure" mirrors. And later, a white cat. They cannot save with the ghost next to them, or they will die. This also features Japanese culture.

Plot
This is the offical the plot from the RPG Maker Net:

"On a very snowy and dark morning, Yuuki Shinozaki, a shy middle schooler, was preparing for her trip to a farewell party of her school...but an unfortunate tragedy happened. When Yuuki was helping her friend, Taiga, to look for his lost handphone, she was taken mysteriously to a lost, dark dimension where a big, mysterious mansion existed. Yuuki didn't know...that this is all just the beginning of her NIGHTMAREs in THE SNOWy and freezing night...♙"

Chapters
This game has Chapters like Corpse Party. Here is the list:

Chapter 0: The Calling

Chapter 1: Farewell Night

Chapter 2: The Cursed Past

Chapter 3: Yukiko

Chapter 4: The Tale of Yukiko & Haruto

Final Chapter: Nightmare of the Snow

[SPOILER ALERT: THIS SECTION ONLY PROVIDES AN ESSENTIAL FOR THOSE WHO SEEKING AN ADVISE OR HINT FOR THE PLAYTHROUGH ONLY. IF YOU WISH TO EXPERIENCE THE REAL PLAYTHROUGH THEN DO NOT READ THIS]
"Chapter 0: The Calling"

It begins with Yuuki telling her experience and that morning of what she did. She is seen packing her things and her mother calling her. Her mother tells her she can kill time. Yuuki goes outside, and Taiga was in the entrance. Taiga asks her to look for a cat thats carrying his phone. She agrees, and spots the cat in a small space. After she retrieves the phone, she hears a voice saying "THE CURSE WILL BE COMPLETED SOON." Then, she is transported to a dark mansion. The door becomes locked, and she has no choice but to find the key. While exploring, she learns that this was the Kirihara Family's home, and it belonged to them. She finds the key, and suddenly everything blacks out. She looks behind, and sees a onryo (vengful ghosts) She runs all the way to the entrance, and finds herself back in the alley. She comes home, and takes a bath. She accidentally scratches her eyes, and after she checked them, she hears a giggle. She looks at the mirror, and sees: herself. Her reflection tells her that she is the "inner" and that she is the "outer" and she is "kept in a cage or less" and that she's her. She disappears, and Yuuki finds Taiga at the door. She returns his phone, and Taiga notices Yuuki pale. Yuuki denies it, and she says goodbye. She decided to research about the family, but finds nothing. She rechecks her luggage, and heads to the farewell party. (Optional: You can do a further research by surfing through the internet to learn more about the ghost stories in Yuuki's laptop as there will be 'extra' cut scenes in the next chapter which will be related to some of the ghost stories. You can also choose whether you wish to bring the laptop or not as it will also related to one of the ghost stories)

"Chapter 1: Farewell Night"
Yuuki enters the hotel, and she notices that there's no many people here. Taiga spots her,and tells her that maybe their other friends are having trouble with storms. Then, Kayako enters the conversation and pick on Taiga as both are trying to win Yuuki. At this part, Yuuki will be given a choice to choose to stop who (whether to stop Kayako or stop Taiga). There will be a Character Introduction Room where you will learn more about the main character's background. After you done with that part, you will playing as Yuuki again.

During exploration, Yuuki stumbles upon a statue that is said to be "Seijiro Kirihara", one of the mentioned names she read back at the mansion. She grows shocked for a moment, but quickly shakes it off as a coincidence.

After exploration, Yuuki and her friends go dining. After they go dining, they go to their respective dorms. Suddenly, a voice tells Yuuki to "come to the darkness" and waiting for her, causing her to jolt. Yuuki goes outside for fresh air, and suddenly an earthquake shakes the hotel. When she wakes up, she finds herself back at the mansion. After a bit of looking around, she realizes that the mansion took shape of the hotel's sixth floor.

She collects three planks for her to cross a gap. Soon, she enters a labyrinth (There are stone inscriptions on the floor in each direction. The stone inscription chants the code for crossing the labyrinth, corresponding to the name of the directions on the inscriptions)

After she crosses the labyrinth, she picks up an axe and realizes it's heavy, wishing Taiga was here. When she exits the storage, she finds herself back in the lobby before the labyrinth room. She enters a big bedroom, and spots a hole in which she cuts it open with the axe. Inside the hole, she finds the key to the exit of the mansion's floor. She also finds out that this was Shouichi's hidden room, and his assistant hid here when the headmaster went insane. Yuuki goes out, finding spirits chasing her.

She eventually unlocks the door, and upon entrance, she finds the same onryo who persuaded her when she first entered the mansion and warning her this place is dangerous. The onyro begins to mumble about his past. He mentioned that he was striving to make his family the most strongest in Japan, but eventually learned humans can't live forever. He found a scroll in the ruins beneath the southern part of the country. It s revealed that he is the first headmaster of the family and is none other than Seijiro Kirihara, and he was the headmaster for centuries.

He also explains that the scroll he found included instructions of an Ice Reincarnation Ritual, and that is must be performed during winter, and the result of the ritual is that his spirit is sent to his future self's body and retain it's memories, but something went wrong, causing the whole other dimension to form and the Kirihara family's spirits are remained here.

Yuuki asks why she is dragged into this, and Seijiro tells her that it is possible she is a reincarnation of one of the family members. He also says he senses two other people in this dimension, and Yuuki realizes that the two people he meant is Taiga and Kayako.

Seijiro tells her that she and her friends must put an end to this curse once and for all, but Yuuki exclaims, saying they don't know how. He tells her to enter the Ice Cavern and retrieve the scroll, which contains the instructions of the ritual, and now the spirits must rely on her and her friends.

Afterwards, Yuuki enters a school, and she realizes that it was her old music school from childhood, and that it was burned down. She retrieves a paper sheet containing "Rainy Rose" in which she needs to play to unlock the door. Then again, she must collect three planks for a gap while avoiding the spirits.

After she crosses the bridge, she enters the next room and upon entering, the door behind her locks by itself. She soon realizes she's trapped inside and has nowhere to go. She approaches an ice mirror, and suddenly, her reflection from Chapter 0 appears.

Her reflection asks her why she looks shocked, and she promises she won't hurt her.

Next, the player will be switched to Kayako, who wakes up and sees Yuuki isn't in her bed. As she's about to go out to the hallway, an earthquake shakes the hotel, and hears Yuuki scream. Then the earthquake stops, and when she's about to open the door, she feels the door knob really cold. she goes out, and is shocked and angry to see that she ended up in the Kirihara Garden, and that she must find shelter before she died of hypothermia. She finds shelter eventually, and finds herself in the shrine. As she passes by, she sees a corpse, and asks what's going on. After a bit of exploration, she learns more about the Kirihara family. She eventually notices gaps and holes everywhere and sees Yuuki, who's on the otherside of the gaps. She calls out to her, but is ignored. Next, she finds a ladder which leads to a hole in the wall and enters it. Upon entrance, the hole closes, and she realizes that the the room lacks air to breath and if she doesn't hurry, she'll die of asphyxiation. She finds a key underneath a pile of dirt and unlocks the door to her right, which she discoveres a heap of corpses and the room she's in is an archive. She reads two notes from a paranormal investigator Shirokage Rei, who disappeared years ago. He recorded that the people who disappeared have been spirited away to where Kayako is now.

She finds an alternate path to the shrine hallway through a large bedroom, in which she finds a key to a bedroom. She goes back to the room and unlocks the bedroom. Suddenly, a voice tells her to hide, and a hesitant Kayako hides underneath the table, but notices there isn't anyone. She collects a scalpel from a corpse, which was implied he committed suicide. When she tries to open the door, it is locked, and Kayako hears a ghostly voice. She shouts at it to show herself and she finds herself persuaded by an onryo. She jams the door repeatedly until it breaks and runs out of the room and wonders why there's a ghost.

She jumps over the gaps and sees Yuuki again, in which she ignores her and continues walkingl until thorns and vines blocked Kayako from the door which Yuuki exited. She uses the scalpel to cut it and finds herself outside Ishikawa Gakuen, her old school, and sees Yuuki, again she's ignoring her protests.

As Kayako enters the school, she looks around and realizes that this is the Isikawa Gakuen. She receives a text message that says "Meet me at the 2nd floor in the principal's room - Anonymous"

As she looks around, she eventually jams the faculty's door and finds a rusted key. As she exits, a male onryo appears in front of her. He says that he's not an onryo, and he explains that he's Shirokage, and Kayako recognizes him as the one who wrote the notes back at the mansion. He also explains that she is currently in a lost dimension, and that souls cannot pass to the otherside, before departing. Kayako explores for a while until she stumbles upon a laboratory and learns that in order to remove the rust from the key, she must find a phosphorous acid. After removing the rust, the key itself is revealed to be the Principal's Door Key. She unlocks it and sees a shadow looking at the window. She approaches it, only to realize that it's a ghost who kills. She makes a run for the basement door after grabbing the basement key and locks it to prevent the shiboto from coming in. She opens a locker and sees a decapitated head inside. She then realizes that this must be where the person is hiding his victims and that he can be the only one to access the basement: The principal himself. Shirokage appears again and tells her that the door she's about to open is the Tunnel of the Lost Souls, where they are kept in and they kill whoever comes inside. He gives her a spirit stone to protect herself. Kayako then asks why is there such a place, and he explains that the places are made up from memories to shake the victim's sanity. He eventually leaves, and Kayako makes her way through the tunnel. However, as she enters, she could feel the pressure of the souls and worse: the stone starts to break. She eventually escapes in time to see the stone breaking. She finds herself in a room full of statues

"Chapter 2: The Curse Past"
-to be added-

"Chapter 3: Yukiko"
- to be added-

"Chapter 4: The Tale of Yukiko & Haruto"
- to be added-

"Final Chapter: Nightmare of the Snow"
The chapter begins with Yuuki in a dream, following Miku through the void. They end up in Shouchi's room, the room where Yuuki has been to in the Chapter 0. They spot Shouchi, talking to someone in the mirror. They take a closer look, and it is revealed that the real Shouichi was trapped inside the mirror, with his dark side taking over his body in the real world. The real Shouichi discovers that the ritual is only a day away,and he needs to reincarnate before the bombing of Hiroshima, with the result of the other Shouichi crashing the mirror.

Yuuki wakes up, and Kayako (If alive) appears. She says that Taiga has some "business" to do (If Taiga is alive and Kayako dead, Yuuki is alone. If Taiga is dead and Kayako alive, she won't say anything. If both did, this will change the trigger of the events.). The two continue their way (If Kayako is dead, only Yuuki) throughout the ice cavern.

If you still have Saeko's bedroom key, you unlock a door in the cavern and Yuuki speaks with the ice god. This is prevented if you don't have. Saeko's bedroom key.

Meanwhile, Taiga is seen confronting the spirit of Shouchi, and a battle begins. If you let Taiga die, then Kayako and Yuuki are alone. If Taiga is alive, he acquires the core of the Kooritsurugi.

After, Yuuki and Kayako make it to the deepest corners of the cavern, and make it to the ice cave. Yukiko appears, and pursues both of them by freezing them. Before she could kill Yuuki, Taiga appears (If alive) and slashes Yukiko. The three of them reunite, and begins battling Yukiko.

Endings
The endings can be obtained depending on the player's choices or actions:

-True Ending: For Our Dear Friend,Yuuki -
Requirements:

-Psycho point lower than 4 points

-Kayako and Taiga live

-Obtain Saeko's bedroom key and unlock the room.

-Defeat Yukiko

Yukiko returns to normal, and Haruto also appears. The two of them reunite. Kayako asks Yukiko who's her reincarnation. They hear a whisper, saying "Yukiko Onee-San!" A spirit comes out of Kayako's body, revealing to be Yukiko's sister. Suddenly, Yuuki announces that she has decided to sacrifice herself to save the spirits. Kayako and the others beg her to not leave them, but she denies it, and sacrifices herself, now the trapped one.

Kayako wakes up back in the hotel without Yuuki. She receives a text from Taiga to go to the rooftop. When she arrives, they see the stars in the sky, which are the souls from the dimension. Suddenly, Shirokage appears, and congratulates Kayako and Taiga for successfully ending the nightmare. Kayako desperately asks Shirokage if Yuuki can be saved, he says it may be possible. In response, Shirokage asks Kayako to start her own paranormal investigation office, which she accepts. And asks Taiga to pass the sword from generation to generation, as his father is a descendant of the Kirihara Family.

After the credits, it shows Kayako 6 years later, and receives a cal from Ryuu Tendou, a detective. He claims to learn about the mysterious god and the cult. Kayako hangs up, and thinks they have the answer to saving her friend from. 6 years ago. the end ahahhah