Spirit Hunter: Death Mark was a haunting visual novel that centred on the exploits of Kazuo Yashiki, an amnesiac detective who is acquainted with the paranormal. In his first adventure he becomes a bearer of a Death Mark, a curse that will kill him by dawn unless he can find the one who marked him. Along the way, he meets other Death Mark bearers, and together they exorcise vengeful spirits and must make life and death choices if they hope to make it through the night. This visual novel was unique for unfolding more like an adventure game and incorporating light role-playing elements. The highlight was the vivid and grotesque art that transported players into a living macabre nightmare. How can its sequel improve upon an effective yet simple premise? Cubed3 exorcises the truth! 
Konoehara high school is being tormented by a malevolent entity known as a Shibito. This spectre is a diabolical puppeteer of stray spirits roaming the campus, and the story unfolds in an episodic structure. Each episode or arc centres on a different phantom, culminating towards a larger narrative climax. New and interesting characters get introduced, compounding on the intrigue, and even some familiar faces from the first Death Mark return, as well. Amusingly, Kazuo is still a skeptic of the paranormal despite all the previous games’ events he participated in.
At first, everything seems like it’s just ghost stories coming true, but then there are hints that Kazuo is more closely connected than initially implied. The cast is large since it combines most of the characters from the first Death Mark with several members of Konoehara’s student council and some of the staff, too. Despite what the title suggests, there is no Death Mark in Spirit Hunter: Death Mark II. This is a little more of a straightforward horror mystery adventure where people can die and dark pasts get revealed. The stories are definitely creepy and get under the skin. The writing is very effective at establishing mood and there is a sense of personality in the dialogue, as well. It helps that the art and music perfectly set the tone, which makes it easy to get immersed in the drama.
The most striking change in this sequel is the shift from relying on static screens for navigation to featuring fully-animated characters walking on 2D planes. It makes an exciting first impression since it seems like the experience might emulate Clock Tower or the Moonlight Syndrome games. Regretfully, this change does not live up to the promises or potential it could have. Most of the time, Spirit Hunter: Death Mark II is very linear and all possible areas are cut off from exploring, with players always being funnelled where they have to go. This makes the school lose its sense of verisimilitude and feel less like a real place.
By far the biggest let-down of the 2D exploration is that it isn’t utilised for anything other than moving from room to room very slowly. The impression these sequences give at the start of the game is that there is possibly going to be some kind of pursuer type threat, like a Scissorman or a ghastly and murderous spirit that might crawl out of a TV. The large spirits also aren’t animated that well and are somewhat off-model compared to their respective portrait art. The 2D gameplay was a good idea, but Spirit Hunter: Death Mark II utterly wastes its potential and the old splash screens prove to be more efficient and scarier.
Paying attention to the story and lore is the key to resting the souls of the restless spirits. There are many times where Kazuo makes choices and the incorrect action damages his HP or in some cases kills him. Healing is done at safe rooms where saving is also activated, which is a fair trade-off for those who want to play it fast and loose with Kazuo’s health but still want some challenge – although this means having to do some tedious walking to get back to the area to try again.
The first Death Mark had some grisly and intense art and its sequel does not disappoint. There are some utterly ghastly images of body horror, savage violence, and haunting visuals that linger long after a gaming session. There are several cheap jump scares throughout and while they are amusing at first, they have no effect on Kazuo’s HP and are purely done to stimulate the player.
