Release Date: August, 20 2026 (North America)
Developers: Otomate, Kogado Studio
Publishers: Aksys Games
Platforms:  Nintendo Switch
ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

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SYNOPSIS

In this dark reimagining of the classic tale, high school student Yuhiru finds herself lost in Oz.

Unjustly sentenced to death she must now travel with four convicts and their supervisor.

At the mercy of her fellow travelers, Yuhiru will face many hard decisions along the way, but there’s one thing she must bear in mind: No one is lost forever, no matter how far they’ve strayed.

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ART AND MUSIC

Creative Director & Game Design: Hiroko Hosoya

Scenario: Juro Negishi (Main), Kei Natsuno (Support), Maasa Nakagoshi (Support)

Artist: Tayu Kazari (Character Design & Artwork)

BG Artist: Kogado Studio

BGM: Mari (Composition, Arrangement)

OP Theme: Hisano (Vocals), Mari (Composition, Arrangement)

ED Theme: Hisano (Vocals), Mari (Composition, Arrangement)

The art and soundtrack for the game were crazy good! First, I wanted to talk about the artwork for OVER REQUIEMZ. I am inloooove with the character designs, and how distinctly expressive the sprites are, not only in their facial expressions, but also in the outfits and costumes. The designs feel intentional, with the overall styling very much reflecting each character’s original inspirations. I mean, this is a reimagined dark fantasy work inspired by The Wizard of Oz, and I feel like the artist really understood the assignment and absolutely nailed the designs to match the OG characters they were inspired by!

Kazari Tayu, OVER REQUIEMZ’s main artist, is actually a fav. illustrator of mine that I’ve followed for years (hence, my obvious fangirling lol).😅 They always seem to have a penchant for vintage and classical aesthetics, and you can really see how that influence seeps into their work!

A few Otomate projects they’ve worked on in the past include the older PSP title Chronostacia, but they’re probably best known for their character designs & illustrations for the popular 2D idol survival show in Japan, VS AMBIVALENZ. (Basically, that’s where I first knew them from!)😆

The game’s OST was spectacular as well. It really captures the unnerving atmosphere that permeates this entire title. I also love both OVER REQUIEMZ’s OP and ED themes! You can btw, order the game bundled with its soundtrack via Aksys’s Official Store!

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Voice Acting

Makoto Furukawa as “Claude Grain” – Yoritomo (Birushana),  Josephy (Temirana), Hokuto (Him, the Smile and Bloom), Allan Melville (Cupid Parasite), Crius Castlerock (Even if Tempest), Lugus (Psychedelica of the Ashen Hawk), Shaw (MLQC), Adage (Steam Prison), Ookurikara (Touken Ranbu), Kyle Ash (IkeRev), Kazuma Kamikubo (Lover Pretend), Dazai (Charade Maniacs)

Kaito Ishikawa as “Molly Woodland” – Pash (Battlefield Waltz), Sharaku (Tengoku Struggle),  Lucien (Even if Tempest), Il Fado de Rie (Cafe Enchante), Marius (Tears of Themis), Dante (Piofiore), Adam (BUSTAFELLOWS), Dimitri (FE3H), Kasen Kanesada (Touken Ranbu), Laurier (Nekopara Catboy Paradise), Takao (Dairoku)

Ryota Suzuki as “Noil Bestia” – Zhang Hiyok (Neon Clash),  Lucas (Mistonia’s Hope), Ash (Despera Drops), Koyo (9RIP), Ginnosuke (Him, the Smile and bloom), Yona (Tengoku Struggle), Kiito Minorikawa (Jack Jeanne), Trey Clover (TWST), Ink (Gunka Haita Neko), Caster (FGO), Mizuro Tamaki (Tokyo Ghoul)

Yohei Azakami as “Kaize Ozma” – Tsuwabuki (Illusion of Itehari), Koharu (9RIP), Ion (Radiant Tale), Rinne Amagi (Ensemble Stars!), Sakyou (Tokyo Onmyouji), Kagesumi (Ayakashi Gohan), Ryo Tominaga (Digimon Survive), Kou Haoren (Money Parasite), Shizukagata Naginata (Touken Ranbu)

Shun Horei as “Dorothy” – Liam Knott (Sins of Kaleido), Himuka (Olympia Soiree), Nagi (EPHEMERAL Fantasy on Dark), Okubo Toshimichi (Destined to Love: Ikemen Samurai Romance), Gerard (Angelique Retour), Chidori (Illusion of Itehari), Ishida Masamune (Touken Ranbu)

Natsumi Fujiwara as “Glinda” – Oberon (Mistonia’s Hope), Shiki Toono (Tsukihime), Ota Matsushita (AI Somnium File), Asuma Soga (ANONYMOUS;CODE), Joshua Bright (Trails in the Sky), Ken Tadera (Daemons of the Shadow Realm), Kansai (World’s End Club)

Shinosuke Tokudome as “Nenohs” – Bertie (Honey Vibes), Lucas (Chaos Zero Nightmare), Takuya Yagami (Classroom of the Elite), Joanne Harcourt (Black Butler), Shio Ihei (Tokyo Ghoul)

Toshiki Iwasawa as “Osser” – Oliver (Piofiore), Rokusuke Koenji (Classroom of the Elite), Naiki HIbino (BYAKKO), Creek (Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave)

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CHARACTERS AND ROUTES

There are no locked routes in OVER REQUIEMZ, which is kind of curious as I do feel there are some routes that should’ve been locked, but hey, that’s just my opinion. Each route in this game also gives you a fork in the road around Quest 5 of each character, and from there, it branches out into two different paths: the “Fact” Route, and the “Dark” Route.

It’s essentially up to your playing style whether you want to tackle the “Fact Route” first, which is where the characters achieve their “Happy Endings”, or do the “Dark Routes” first if you want to take on the heavier, darker, and more harrowing endings on your first try. In my playthrough, I did the Fact Route first, then played the Dark Route afterward for each LI, and I personally liked doing it this way because, in my headcanon, the Happy Ending is always the character’s one true ending. Ha! Plus, I wanted to experience all the happy things first before diving into the crazy stuff. (laughs)😝

As for route orders, I don’t think each route necessarily spoils the others. However, I do believe there is an overarching plot to this game, mainly surrounding how the protagonist, Yuhiru, came to Oz. So, if you want to experience the game with this story flow in mind, my soft recommended play order, from least reveals to most, would be: Claude → Molly → Noil → Kaize → Dorothy. I personally think Kaize and Dorothy’s routes have a lot of lore spoilers, especially Dorothy’s, so I’d strongly recommend saving them for last, with Dorothy as the finale.

Walkthroughs

• Claude Grain
• Molly Woodland
• Noil Bestia
• Kaize Ozma
• Dorothy

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Note: The CGs shown below are promotional images for the game, OVER REQUIEMZ. All spoiler-related content in this review will be hidden behind a spoiler drop-down that you can choose to view at your own discretion.

⬇️ Click to view Content Warnings

Macabre horror, violence, blood, murder, death, stabbing, dismemberment, cannibalism, gore, body horror, dubcon, manipulation, physical torture, mental torture, gaslighting, human trafficking, kidnapping, psychological trauma/distress, confinement.

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CLAUDE GRAIN

• doting ikemen sensei
• 🌾🌾🌾

Claude Grain is an ecology researcher who was expelled from the Royal Academy. He is knowledgeable, caring, and accustomed to hardship. He tends to keep his feelings to himself, rarely showing others what he’s truly thinking.

Claude is the Scarecrow-inspired character from The Wizard of Oz. I mean, his straw-colored hair and his ragged, frilly outfit pretty much resemble a scarecrow, no? They’ve also incorporated several traits that call back to the OG Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz. For example, the Scarecrow in the original tale believes himself to be without a “brain,” yet he frequently acts as the group’s problem-solver and strategist throughout their adventure in Oz. Claude, meanwhile, is an outright genius and a highly competent researcher who is widely respected at the Royal Academy for his achievements and expertise. In his route, as well as the others, he also plays the role of the brains of the group during their expedition to the ruins.

I believe Claude was a fun starter route for this game. I thought his story was a great introduction to the mysteries of the ruins and the abnormalities surrounding them. I also feel like his route really eases you into the riddles of Oz. As a love interest, Claude is very much the doting type. He was really sweet to Yuhiru and very understanding of her too. 🥺 Out of all the LIs in the game, he was also probably regarded as the most handsome, given how everyone just hits on him left and right wherever he goes. (I mean, I literally don’t blame them though, lol.)

On a more serious note, I do feel like his Fact Route was pretty hackneyed compared to the others. It’s actually his Dark Route that I ended up enjoying a lot more!🤭

MOLLY WOODLAND

• “all 👁️👁️ on me!“
• sus

Molly is a young undertaker who never loses his smile, even in the presence of corpses. Beautiful and delicate, he resembles a prince straight out of a fairy tale. For some reason, he is also remarkably skilled at escaping restraints and picking locks.

Alright, so this one’s kind of obvious. With Molly’s last name, plus his silver hair and cloak, he’s the character inspired by the Tin Woodman of Oz, a.k.a. the Tin Man! His route’s storyline was also quite on-brand with the Tin Man from Baum’s books! (I’ll go into more detail in the spoiler section. ~I love all these loose references to the OG Wizard of Oz btw!)

Molly has a bit of a tongue-in-cheek personality. He’s also somewhat enigmatic, in that he’ll sometimes appear and disappear on his own in other routes. Despite his playfully sly nature, though, one characteristic that he takes very seriously is keeping his word. When he says he’ll do you a favor, he doesn’t go back on it and will always see it through, which is a pretty remarkable trait that even Yuhiru takes note of.

I actually really liked Molly’s route. It was very different from what I expected, based on the character we see in the common route. Though I guess this is probably another route where I’d definitely caution reading up on the content warnings above because, man, the events can get really heavy and unsettling in both Molly’s Fact Route and Dark Route. With his Dark Route taking the ghastly stuff up a notch. It also had quite a few twists that I didn’t see coming, so kudos to that as well! On an unrelated note, Molly’s dad is hawt AF! 🥵

NOIL BESTIA

• big man with a big……. tenta— …heart! ❤️
• cooking hubby 🥺

Noil is a knight of the Royal Guard who has made quite a name for himself as a troublemaker. Rough and unconventional, he is nonetheless steadfast in carrying out his duties. A true warrior who places great importance on his pride and honor.

Gosh, I love Noil! He can be rather hot-tempered sometimes, but he’s also quite cool and highly dependable. He definitely has that large wild cat energy, which is pretty fitting given that his character was inspired by the Lion from The Wizard of Oz. His name NOIL is also LION in reverse! 😆

I find it really hilarious, not to mention absolutely the cutest, how he’s very much hot-headed with everyone else at first but becomes extremely docile when it comes to Kaize.😂😂😂 Anyway, Noil’s route was my second fav. in the game! His story, for the better part, was really paced so well, and just honest-to-god, generally pretty good imo! While Claude and Molly’s routes felt a little detached from the whole group, as they veered off into their own storylines after first venturing into the ruins, Noil’s route was very different, wherein his story keeps everyone in the thick of things. The whole gang was very much present throughout this route, and we got to experience a lot of teamwork and amity within the group as they fight their foes together.

This is also one of the routes where Yuhiru’s agency was in full swing. She was constantly taking matters into her own hands, desperately trying to find ways to be useful, and standing her ground whenever she needed to. She was definitely in her best here, me thinks!

To top it all off, Noil’s Happy Ending was probably the fluffiest in the game. And I mean, a whole lot of giddy, kicking-my-feet fluff! Trust!! His Dark Route, on the other hand…was the ultimate guilty pleasure!🐙🤭

KAIZE OZMA

• 98% chunibyo 😭
• soft 🥺🤲

Kaize is the second prince of Oz, feared for his “Bedeviled” appearance with his black hair and black eyes, which are rare features among the people of Oz. His cold smile sometimes leads to misunderstandings, but beneath his aloof and taciturn exterior is a shy and considerate person who genuinely cares about others.

Oh no. I love Kaize! Hands down, my favorite LI in the game! Bro is actually a big chunibyo! It’s sooo incredibly hilarious how he acts like an edgelord to conceal his nervousness/shyness. What a weirdo and an absolute dork! (affectionate). I had plenty of unhealthy cackles during the first half of his route! Whoever thought to insert this trope on Kaize, I hope you’re having a great day! 😂 In addition to this, I love how Yuhiru eventually gets so used to Kaize’s chunibyo antics that she just reacts to him naturally whenever he gets into his whole edgelord shtick!🤣

I think Kaize is inspired by Princess Ozma, the rightful ruler of Oz in Baum’s books. Princess Ozma was also described as a beautiful young girl with dark hair and dark eyes, which pretty much mirrors Kaize’s appearance. The game, however, puts a much darker spin on these features, portraying Kaize’s black hair and eyes as something wretched and ominous, with people believing his “Bedeviled” appearance brings curses to those around him.

While the previous characters had their own difficult circumstances that led them to become death row criminals, I honestly think Kaize’s case was the worst! My poor gloomy, fragile boy! 😭 I just felt bad for him all around. On the positive side though, I really enjoyed how the gang became very protective of him after learning his backstory🥺(as they should!)… This was also probably another route where I certainly didn’t see all the strange and outlandish twists coming, his Dark route, especially!

DOROTHY

• sus !!!
• very sus!!

Dorothy is one of Oz’s top officials, known as the “Witches.” He is tasked with accompanying the group of death row convicts on their journey to the ruins and keeping watch over them. He is lazy and carefree, with a rather lackadaisical attitude. For some reason, however, he is extremely overprotective of Yuhiru.

Damn. Dorothy.🥲 This route was beautiful. It’s curious, isn’t it? Why the heroine isn’t named Dorothy, but an actual love interest is. If you had a few guesses in your head like I did before starting this route, your guesses are probably WRONG! Ha.🤪 (Just kidding.) This route actually does a beautiful job of explaining that, though! So no need to be hasty!

TBH, I almost played Dorothy’s route first, but luckily, I had a couple of friends who strongly insisted that I leave him for last, and I’m really glad I listened! They really should’ve locked his route, as the key reveals here were certainly A LOT. All the loose threads and foreshadowing from the previous routes were also given light in Dorothy’s story, and I feel like these reveals would’ve lost a lot of their impact if I had hastily played his route at the beginning.

What was really impressive, too, was that despite the many truths and twists in this route, they all unfolded so naturally without ever feeling overly expositional. Everything flowed so seamlessly, almost like cinema, and I was having such a blast while my emotions were going through the wringer. Bravo to the writers! They really cooked with this one! I loved all of Dorothy’s Fact Route endings that I didn’t even wanna do his Dark Route, but alas! I gotta get my dark, unhinged Dorothy fix! ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

On a side (but important) note, anyone who loves Shun Horie should really play Dorothy’s route! He absolutely, hands down, sold this role like his rent was due! I’m in tears! 😭

YUHIRU (Main Heroine)

Yuhiru was a great protagonist for this game. She played her role really well, always making the best of the hand she was dealt; plus, she was able to adapt and vibe quickly with her chosen LI, which was quite a feat considering how wildly different they all are.

She was, for sure, a tough cookie, and I mean that with every fiber of my being. For an ordinary high school girl to endure everything she went through in this game takes some serious mettle! She definitely has that “keep a stiff upper lip” attitude and is the type who doesn’t easily yield, even when things go dire. That resilience is actually what made me grow so fond of her.

Yuhiru was also hilarious and quite silly. She started off as a bit of a simpleton, actually, to the point that even the LIs, like Noil, had to call her out for getting overly excited about food and all the strange new things she gets to discover in Oz. (laughs)😂 The game never puts this quality front and center, but I actually found Yuhiru to be a pretty shrewd heroine as well. Her wit is something you see through her actions rather than something the narrative loudly announces to you. Most of her decisions involve her using quick thinking and practical logic.

Honestly, when a heroine stops yapping and starts actually putting her brain to work when things go sideways, I’m immediately on board. It sucks because so many heroines nowadays are written with a lot of sass to appeal to the current generation’s preference for the “badass, girlboss” mouthy type. Not that there’s anything wrong with those types of MCs; I just personally prefer doer-type protags over someone who’s all bark and no bite. lol 😆

Yuhiru is definitely a doer. Across all the routes, she never really dillydallies once things take a serious turn against her. She also shows a very human side whenever she becomes desperate to achieve the things she must do. I felt that her decisions had some real bearing on the story. Whether the outcome was good or bad, her choices certainly mattered and made sense given the context of each situation.

Definitely have to give the writers credit for developing Yuhiru with such a strong sense of autonomy and humanity, while also giving her plenty of opportunities to showcase her wit without coming across as supercilious. If y’know what I mean! I think she’s earned herself a spot in my heroine shrine!

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SYSTEM AND LOCALIZATION

REWARDS

One of the cool, little in-game perks of OVER REQUIEMZ was the bonus voices in the REWARDS section. Basically, these extra voice lines unlock as you play through the various routes in the game. Look, I normally don’t bother with these EXTRAS in otome games, but I was pleasantly gooped by how good these bonus voice lines were!🙈I went through them the other day and caught myself continually blushing and giggling like a total buffoon! (cackles) The voice lines are all on the sweet and fluffy side, too! It really makes you wish for a fandisk for this title, because my god, I need all this fluff so bad!

Localization

As for the game’s localization, there were definitely some liberties taken with the translations, but I felt the original tone and humor remained intact, which honestly added to my enjoyment. I especially loved some of the flavor choices in the game, especially the silly ones. Sometimes I’d even think, “Huh? Why would Yuhiru even say that?” But then I’d remember that, as a modern high school girl from Japan, it makes sense for her thoughts to sometimes veer into these goofy, off-the-wall responses, so I never felt they were out of place.😆 Also, I could barely spot any typographical errors, which was nice, although I may have just been too invested in the game to care! Either way, solid localization all around.

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TRAILER

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OVERALL THOUGHTS

This is a fairly moderate-length title, and it took me about 40-45 hours to complete the game and unlock all the endings in both the Fact and Dark Routes for every character. Keep in mind that I played most of it with my Switch docked and on auto-play, so if you’re a faster reader than I am and don’t wait for the voice lines to play out, you should be able to complete the game in under 40 hours, tops!

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We’re off to see the…. Red Flags, the Wonderful Red Flags of Oz!

Just as there are two sides to every coin, there are two sides to every human heart. Human nature has always been defined by this constant push and pull between opposing forces: good and evil, light and darkness, virtue and corruption…. You get the idea! OVER REQUIEMZ ingeniously explores this duality through its two distinct route paths, the Fact Routes and the Dark Routes, giving us two very different interpretations of the same characters and circumstances.

That said, what I appreciate most about this game is how this idea of duality bleeds into the character writing, especially in how it portrays the darker sides of the love interests. Each LI’s descent into corruption feels more like a slow burn than a switch being flipped. The really interesting part is that the characters’ darker sides usually grow out of traits they already possessed, so the corruption feels like an escalation of something that was always there rather than an entirely different personality suddenly taking over, if that makes sense! Their stages of *change* creep into the story almost imperceptibly, and you have to really pay attention to their dialogue, their actions, and even the atmosphere of certain scenarios to catch these subtle shifts taking place.

I mean, for sure, this title still showcases plenty of overtly yandere-ey instances, but those aren’t what fascinated me most. It was watching these characters arrive at that point. I certainly appreciate that the game doesn’t make its LIs yandere or problematic just to check off a trope box. Their corruption definitely takes its time to fester, and watching the process unfold was oh so satisfying in the Dark Routes!

A Dark Yet Clever Reimagining of Baum’s Classic Tale

I thought it was also clever how the writers managed to create a story that’s analogous to the original Wizard of Oz characters in Baum’s books. I was pretty impressed! All the little loose references woven throughout the game were so fun to pick out that I’d sometimes find myself going, “Ohhh, I see what you did there!” I actually have nothing but praise for how faithfully the game commits to its Oz-inspired premise while still giving it an identity of its own.

Beyond all the fun little nods to Baum’s Oz, I also thought the story had a level of polish that made everything feel pretty cohesive, and I don’t think there was much unnecessary padding in the narrative either. Almost every detail, revelation, and piece of foreshadowing eventually proved relevant to the bigger picture! Dorothy’s route, for example, was such a page-turner!  Tbh, when an otome game manages to bring everything full circle in its final route, a tiny sliver of my spirit ascends to the heavens! Bless! 🙏

Another thing I’d also like to note is that, despite some routes having major reveals, they rarely felt like exposition dumps because the game actually lets you experience these “truths” rather than simply having a character explain them to you. To me, OVER REQUIEMZ is a great example of “show, don’t tell” storytelling. The scenarios themselves communicate so much through what the characters experience, which then allows you as the player to experience it alongside them as well!

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The routes in OVER REQUIEMZ have some great variety too, so the game never really felt repetitive to me. While they all follow the same narrative formula, each route tackles different themes, introduces different antagonists, and brings its own different twists. It kind of gives you the feeling that you’re embarking on a completely new adventure every time you start a new route!

Surprisingly (or not), I ended up liking all the routes. Even the ones I initially thought somewhat trite (Claude’s), I still enjoyed the heck out of his story! This was definitely a hako-oshi game for me, because I love all the LIs dearly!😭 It was honestly hard to pick a fav, though in the long run, if we’re going by “who I brainrotted over the most,” it would definitely be Kaize! I’m normally not one to fall for poster boys, but ah, well….I guess there’s a first for everything! 😅 (cackles)

❤️ LI Ranking: Kaize > Noil > Dorothy = Claude = Molly

🟩 FACT Route Ranking: Dorothy > Noil > Molly > Kaize > Claude

🚩 DARK Route Ranking: Kaize > Noil > Claude > Dorothy = Molly

For the romance, however, despite the game being very much plot-focused, I do think there was still plenty of it present, although arguably, the relationships can sometimes start off on a very platonic or friendship-based footing, and can sometimes take until the final chapters for our characters to actually confess their feelings for each other.

This is all pretty subjective, but I found the companionship that takes shape between the heroine and her LI over the course of their journey to be quite satisfying already, and I interpreted that growing closeness as their own way of expressing intimacy in their relationship,  so I didn’t really mind the lack of *explicit* romance in the game.  For the Fact Routes, I believe Noil’s was the most romantic!

The Dark Routes, on the other hand, take things in a different direction and feature some of the most deliciously dark, unhinged, and toxic romances in the game. This is where all that unnerving tension, possessiveness, obsession, and emotional dependency can really come to a head. Those who enjoy indulging in dark, twisted romance will surely be feasting!🤭

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Do I recommend this game? YES!!!
To be honest, I was initially skeptical about this title. When it was released in Japan last year, the buzz surrounding this game was practically everywhere! I guess when something gets heavily hyped, my automatic reaction is to become a little cynical about it. But I’m feeling like Boo Boo the Fool right now because I’m just shocked by how much I enjoyed this title. As embarrassed as I am to admit my cynicism, the hype was definitely real for OVER REQUIEMZ. No, seriously… I am stupidly dumbfounded by how much fun I had playing this game, and well… obviously… I had a mighty blast writing this review too! (My initial draft was 15 pages long, and I had to cut so much because I didn’t realize I was writing up a storm. lmao). 😂

OVER REQUIEMZ, under any circumstance, is a masterclass in balancing the darker aspects of its storytelling with your standard otome game fare. While I do believe this is definitely a title for those who enjoy dark, gritty fiction, I think the Fact Routes still deliver a very rewarding experience on their own. I had a lot of fun with the route splits and enjoyed both the Fact and Dark Routes equally, but if you’re someone who isn’t fond of dark content in otome games, I’d say the Fact Routes can still leave you with a positive experience.

All things considered, this otome title is certainly well put together. I believe it stays very true to what it initially promised and what the developers marketed it as, particularly in its themes, tropes, and meticulous worldbuilding within a dark fantasy setting. The game delivers on all of those fronts and more! And well…I think it’s just really satisfying to see a title follow through so effectively on what it set out to accomplish.

I honestly have a lot more to say, but I think my word count has overstayed its welcome for this review (cackles). 🤣🤣🤣 So, let me just end this with a resounding YES! OVER REQUIEMZ is definitely one for the books, and YES, I think you absolutely need to lock in with this title!

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