Fatal Twelve

Fatal Twelve

Fatal Twelve is an indie supernatural yuri JVN by aiueoKompany. It’s about a young woman named Shishimai Rinka who dies and is resurrected in the Court of Fate with 11 other people who died at the same time. There, a goddess of Fate informs them they have been given a second chance at life, but the only way to survive is to eliminate the other players through a ritual called Divine Selection. All the players have temporarily have their deaths undone, but once they are eliminated the timeline will be altered again and their death will be restored. The winner will have their death reversed permanently, granting a second chance at life.

This one was on my list after enjoying Sound of Drop ~ Fall Into Poison. I somehow didn’t realize this was a death game, which is a favorite genre of mine. There’s a bit of a twist in that the participants don’t kill each other outright, rather they are tasked with collecting information cards so they may formally eliminate each other. As with aiueoKompany’s first game, the production values are good and the music, though limited, enhances the experience. This one’s a bit longer, clocking around 15 to 20 hours, and is voiced.

Fatal Twelve has great characters and a compelling dilemma. Instead of asking, “What will people do to survive?” Divine Selection asks, “What is your reason for living?” The participants are all technically already dead, they must ask themselves why they should fight to have their death, and their death alone, undone. It’s a welcome distinction in a genre traditionally fueled by desperation, some characters decide their deaths shouldn’t necessarily be undone and spend this extra time living their lives or resolving personal issues. Others wade into the game, trying to collect information on the other participants in the hopes they will maneuver be the last ones standing. Others decide to sacrifice themselves for the sake of other participants. Additionally, the rules and technicalities of Divine Selection allow interesting opportunities for the participants to outmaneuver each other.

Though the story does drag a bit at times, overall I enjoyed this one. The translation is good, but the beginning in particular, where destiny and fate are discussed, was a little hard to follow. The mythology and plot get a bit convoluted by the true end, but that was also the case with aiueoKompany’s previous VN. Overall, Fatal Twelve was a good read and a welcome breath of fresh air for the death game genre. I recommend it, and I heartily elect Numeral XI as A+ New Fave:

Brief aside on VNs. I picked this up on a whim during the Halloween sale and was glad I could get into another VN, but I definitely have an endurance limit on these types of games. Something like Doki Doki Literature Club ends up being just right, unconventional and short but with enough variation for multiple interesting playthroughs. I have a few more VNs in my library I’d like to muscle through, and I hate that I even have to describe it that way, but it’s accurate. I’ve been partway through the House of Fata Morgana for over a year even though it’s almost non-stop *cue popcorn-eating gif*. There’s something about the traditional mechanics of VNs–constant clicking for fast readers, static sprites, reused backgrounds, the way stories are often forced into a “day by day” format which leads to unnecessary redundancy–that makes them feel like such a slog sometimes. I don’t know if I’ll ever get to, let alone through, my copy of Steins;Gate, and I can’t imagine reading through something like Clannad.