Focusing on the concepts of light, dark, and death Hotaru no Nikki (stylized as htoL#Niq) is a brand new, incredibly creative, IP from Nippon ichi Software and Masayuki Furuya. Although graphically the title looks lighthearted, be wary it received a 17+ rating in Japan due to "gruesome death scenes".
The story begins on December 31st 9999 and focuses on the characters Mion, a young girl with amnesia who wakes in a desolate world and Hotaru the player-controlled firefly who chooses to lead her through the ruins, to the outside world.
In the 'World of Light' Mion's movements are dependent on how you maneuver Hotaru, with your main goal being to lead her to safety. You can move Mion or get her to perform specific tasks. In the 'World of Shadow' you control a firefly that can remove objects within the game but you must avoid both traps and monsters lurking in the shadows. Although you have no physical attack, your manipulation of the environment will be an incredibly powerful tool when it comes to taking out enemies.
htoL#NiQ: The Firefly Diary (which I am never typing ever again) is coming to PC in less than two weeks. I've been playing it a bit to see how the former PlayStation Vita exclusive translates to a mouse and keyboard setup.
In The Firefly Diary (much easier to type -- deal with it, suckas), you guide a young girl named Mion through a maze of deathtraps and horrifying shadow monsters while trying to discover how she arrived in this hellish industrial land. You do this by controlling a pair of fireflies, Lumen and Umbra. The mouse, which is basically all you need to use to navigate the experience, drags the firefly of your choice around the levels. You have no direct control over Mion, but she follows Lumen wherever the luminous bug goes.
Lumen emits light wherever it flies, which changes the positions of the shadows surrounding Mion. Right-click lets you control Umbra, a firefly that lives in the shadows. The pair are used in light-based puzzles that become difficult rather quickly. However, the PC port does make things somewhat easier, as Lumen and Umbra were formerly controlled with the Vita's front and rear touchpads, neither of which are exactly precise. Thankfully, using a mouse alleviates that concern.
That's not to say that The Firefly Diary has had its sharp teeth extracted: this is still a challenging game. Even though moving around is easier in this port, hidden enemies and poorly-telegraphed instant deaths can make you want to reach into your mouth and rip out a molar. To earn all of the flashbacks that explain the story (the retro-lookin' screenshot seen above is one of them), you'll have to play through the levels perfectly. Good luck!
When pressed to find faults with the port itself, the only issue I can recall is the cursor used to manipulate the fireflies is just the regular Windows arrow. This isn't a deal breaker at all, but it does look jarring in such a beautiful hand-drawn game. Otherwise, everything functions fine, and you can even play with a controller should you prefer to use sticks instead of a mouse.
Someone explain to me what the title means and how you are supposed to read it
TWIN PEAKS is "something of a miracle."
"...like nothing else on television."
"a phenomenon."
"A tangled tale of sex, violence, power, junk food..."
"Like Nothing On Earth"
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