Apathy: Narugami Gakuen Toshi Densetsu Tantei Kyoku (2007). Play Free Online

Summary

Apathy: Narugami Gakuen Toshi Densetsu Tantei Kyoku is a niche DS visual novel that finally stepped out of arcades and onto a home console, marking the first consumer‑focused entry in the Apathy series. The game leans heavily into Japanese urban legend lore, packing 21 short scenarios—only three of which form the core mystery—so you can spend countless hours chasing rumors through the spooky halls of Narugami Academy. All the character art is starkly black‑and‑white, with CG illustrated by the series’ longtime designer 尚親, giving the whole experience an eerie, sepia‑tinted feel. Choices drive the outcome: you might summon a yokai, brush a story off as gossip, or unlock bizarrely humorous twists, which means every playthrough peels back another layer of the lore. The soundtrack, highlighted by the ending song “symmetric blue” sung by 園崎未恵, adds a melancholy vibe that really sticks with you after the cartridge is shut off.

Storyline

Saiga Ryuusuke enrolls at Narugami Academy, already being stalked by a mysterious man named Kamigasaki Sho. Sho repeatedly tries to recruit him into the school's occult club, but the current president, Minami Togashi, turns him down as soon as he arrives. Though he initially has no interest in the supernatural, Ryuusuke soon starts noticing strange urban legends haunting the campus. When his neighbor Chinatsu Kuramochi asks him, through a friend of a friend, to rescue a woman, he is pulled deeper into the bizarre phenomena and the tangled relationships that hide behind the school's façade. The game, known casually as Apathy, follows his investigation of these legends.

Edited by Maya Carter