Entering the game, he found it played from a 45-degree top-down perspective. The character's face was clearly visible—it was indeed a very young girl, but Hidetaka Miyazaki felt the term "young woman" wasn't quite accurate.
She's only nine. She should be called a little girl!
"Still, Deep Sea Girl sounds a bit more reliable. Deep Sea Little Girl sounds like the kind of—"
Miyazaki shook his head secretly and continued playing.
Speaking of which, it was truly unexpected. Despite being such a top-down game, the level of detail was actually quite good.
The graphics couldn't compare to games produced by Atlus themselves, lacking that level of refinement. However, when occasionally investigating items, the dialogue given by the nine-year-old girl, Xiao Lian, would bring a faint smile to one's face.
Just like Matsuoka Satoshi before him, Miyazaki had a brief experience with the game before entering the Aquarium, getting separated from his parents, and realizing the game had officially begun.
"Whoa—the field of vision is really small. This must be intentional, right?"
Miyazaki's expression turned serious.
The lights in the Aquarium were dim, but Xiao Lian had a flashlight in her pocket.
Hidetaka Miyazaki wasn't surprised. In fact, the first-aid kit the elementary schooler was carrying did indeed contain a flashlight—and a hand-cranked one at that.
The scene was somewhat dim, but unexpectedly, as the flashlight's beam swept across, the shadows shifted and warped in a remarkably realistic way. When the light flickered, it created a dynamic interplay of light and shadow.
So this is the new technology Atlas is using? Even an indie game with such unrefined graphics looks so lifelike with this tech.
Though calling a 2D game "lifelike" was a bit of an exaggeration, Miyazaki couldn't think of a better word at the moment.
The flashlight's beam wasn't very bright, illuminating only a small area around Xiao Lian.
With this limited field of vision, Miyazaki began exploring the aquarium's first-floor lobby.
To his left was a door with a sign beside it. Investigating it revealed that the room inside exhibited marine animal skeletons.
Miyazaki examined the door.
"It's locked. I can see the bolt through the keyhole; it seems it can't be opened from this side."
Miyazaki: ??
That line of text seemed to possess some strange magic, causing him to read it three or four times in a row.
What do you mean "can't be opened from this side"?!
Hidetaka Miyazaki held back his frustration and turned to explore in another direction.
The second door on the left led to the first-floor security office.
Miyazaki investigated it.
"—Cannot be opened from this side."
Miyazaki took a deep breath.
Soba Studio, huh?!
He flipped over the game cartridge's packaging.
Explain to me, what the hell does "cannot be opened from this side" even mean?!
Miyazaki thoroughly explored the first-floor lobby, only to realize—
There was nowhere left to go! Every single door was either locked, requiring a key, or "could not be opened from this side."
Every exit, including the path he had just come from, was completely impassable!
"Am I stuck?!"
Miyazaki found it hard to believe.
This shouldn't be happening! Even if this wasn't an Atlus Headquarters game, Atlus's level of design shouldn't be this bad.
He examined his surroundings more closely and finally spotted a small hole next to the security office.
"Don't tell me I'm supposed to crawl through that hole. I can't fit through that!"
Miyazaki tried to investigate it anyway.
Swoosh!
The little girl slipped right through.
Miyazaki: ?
He was on the verge of cursing.
Fine!
She was a nine-year-old girl! It made sense that she could squeeze through a hole.
As for why there was a hole here in the first place, Miyazaki didn't even want to complain.
Hidetaka Miyazaki investigated the security room, obtained a set of keys, and found a clue.
"The marine animal skeletons move? Why would they move? Are they battery-powered?"
Hidetaka Miyazaki complained to himself. Just as he was about to crawl through the hole, he suddenly remembered the security room door.
He investigated, and a crisp, pleasant sound of a bolt being slid open came from the speakers.
In that instant, Hidetaka Miyazaki looked up.
The sound of the bolt sliding was so smooth, it felt like it was dancing right on his prostate.
So smooth!
Now that the security room door could be freely passed through, Hidetaka Miyazaki walked back and forth a few times, feeling a weight lifted off his shoulders.
With this experience, Hidetaka Miyazaki roughly understood the game's logic: investigate everywhere, search for items. He quickly circled around and entered the Skeleton Hall.
The massive, hand-drawn marine animal skeletons on the screen actually looked lifelike. They gave Hidetaka Miyazaki a sudden jolt of fear, especially when the narrow beam of light shone on the sunfish's face. He almost dropped his controller in a startle.
They're usually so cute! But in this dim light, they looked completely different.
"Hmm, based on the clues, I need to find two Checkers Pieces. There was a hint earlier that a kid took them and threw them into the skeletons. That means I have to find the pieces among these skeleton exhibits."
Hidetaka Miyazaki kept looking around, then suddenly spun around.
A skeleton statue of a sunfish stood towering behind him, right at the edge of the barely visible light. In the dim glow, it flickered in and out of sight, looking even more unsettling.
This damn statue definitely wasn't here a second ago!
Hidetaka Miyazaki was absolutely certain of it.
"The statues in the Aquarium are actually moving!"
He took a deep breath, trying to reassure himself—Hey, it hasn't even rushed over to hit me yet!
Mustering his courage, he continued his search and found one Checkers Piece, but the other remained elusive.
As more time passed, Hidetaka Miyazaki noticed that the statues were gathering in the shadows, where the light couldn't reach. Not only that, but they were also moving faster and faster. At first, they had only shifted once in a long while, but now they were inching closer and closer, their movements visible to the naked eye.
"No, no, stay back! Get away from me!"
Hidetaka Miyazaki shrieked in terror. Before he could even find a single checker piece, he was ganged up on and brutally killed by the statues.
After the game restarted, Miyazaki played again. This time, armed with experience, he quickly found the first checker piece.
The statues gave chase relentlessly, and Miyazaki fled for his life.
At such a young age, he's already running his own train!
The Tokyo Train King, Hidetaka Miyazaki, finally found the second checker piece. The moment he unlocked the door and escaped Skeleton Hall, he let out a sigh of relief.
Thrilling!
Looking back at the Aquarium's first-floor lobby, Miyazaki felt a profound sense of admiration.
It reminded him of playing Final Fantasy years ago, yet it was somehow different. In Final Fantasy, side paths eventually led back to the main road. But this game's scenes weren't actually large; instead, it used various locks and obstructions to force players to explore the same area repeatedly, eventually looping back to the lobby containing the Save Point.
Miyazaki's mind seemed to upgrade in that instant. This is the game design I've been looking for!
Filled with excitement, Hidetaka Miyazaki continued to play.
The protagonist explores the Aquarium, encountering a companion named Xiao Ning and Toru, the seemingly random passerby with blond hair he had met outside the museum.
Surprisingly, though Toru looked like an unreliable Little Blondie, he showed courage when it mattered most.
As the exploration of the Aquarium continued, the game's plot became increasingly clear.
The environmental storytelling—from the room's furnishings and monster placement to the hints in scattered notes—all made Hidetaka Miyazaki realize that everything before him was an illusion, not reality.
Xiao Lian's journey was less of an adventure and more of a personified life experience.
Her father, her mother, the blended family, and her resistance and struggle against it—all the while, as a nine-year-old girl, she could do nothing but endure the pressure brought by her blended family.
Whether to stay in this monster-infested Aquarium or return to her blended family seemed to be a choice that wasn't too difficult to make.
As Hidetaka Miyazaki played, he also began to realize another thing.
The two characters had not been designed without reason.
One represented the detached hearts within the Aquarium, while the other symbolized the real world.
The gentle and dependable older sister walked with ease among the Aquarium's monsters.
The seemingly flawed bystander, on the other hand, symbolized real-world imperfections.
In the end, Hidetaka Miyazaki chose reality.
He placed the game's various items where they belonged: his father's fishing rod, his mother's apron, his younger brother's toy car—
As the Aquarium collapsed, Toru grabbed Xiao Lian and fled, bursting out of the building. The two collapsed outside, exhausted. The scene shifted, and everything seemed to return to the very beginning: they were still outside the Aquarium, and his parents were still buying tickets.
Hidetaka Miyazaki bit his lip, staring at the text on the screen.
This time, however, his parents did not argue with the ticket agent over child and adult fares. The family of four entered the Aquarium happily to explore.
"Wait, what about Toru?!" Hidetaka Miyazaki exclaimed in disbelief.
"Where's Little Blondie?!"
But in this ending, no matter how hard he looked, he couldn't find Little Blondie. It was as if the character had never existed in the game at all.
The story concluded, and the credits for Soba Studio began to roll. The game had truly reached its end.
Hidetaka Miyazaki set down the controller and let out a long sigh.
He finally understood the game's true meaning.
The father had once loved fishing, but was forced to give up his passion for his work. The mother in their blended family, though she seemed cold and distant, was actually silently caring for Xiao Lian. And the younger brother, though he was from the blended family, truly admired his sister's talents.
By choosing to place the items in their proper places, he had actually facilitated a reconciliation within the characters' hearts. The nine-year-old girl had accepted her blended family, letting go of her inner resistance.
Hidetaka Miyazaki guessed that playing a different route would likely lead to a different outcome.
Yes!
The thought set his blood boiling with excitement.
He had to keep playing. He had to see what happened to Little Blondie! He refused to believe that their long, mutually supportive exploration of the Aquarium was just a fleeting dream!
Even if he had to scour the entire game, overturning every single brick in the Aquarium, he would find Little Blondie!
If he didn't get his Blondie Bro back, he'd rather not live!
Miyazaki took notes as he played.
He wasn't just hunting for hidden content; he was also studying the game's map design.
Doors that can't be opened from the other side are just too cool! he thought. I have to use this design in my own games—I'll fill them with doors that can't be opened from this side!
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