Gokuto Jihen

Underworld Capital Incident is an odd little freeware RPGMaker horror game that was released in 2014 to apparently large acclaim in Japan but little fanfare in the west. Though it has its devoted fanbase, it's small and something you'll only stumble upon if you're already deep into the RPGMaker horror subgenre. And why is that? Why is this interesting little game about demons soldiers who protect humans from ghosts not more popular? This is because the game is not very good. The world is interesting but it does not utilize it and instead tells a stereotypical ghost story with one of the biggest gameplay slogs I haveever experienced in my life. People only like it because they think men in military uniforms are hot. That's why the manga adaptation is better! Firstly, no gameplay! Thank God! You know the gameplay is a problem when the story is better fit for a different medium entirely. Secondly, the art! Also much better! While the game's pixel art is fine, it's nothing to write home about, but the art for the manga is really clean and well done, and it does a lot to better tell the characters apart visually when they all looked virtually identical in the game. Shame the only scans of it that exist are in such poor quality but when there's no official translation (because why in the world would there be) that's the best you're going to get. Apparently the artist has a GL anime coming out soon, so if you're reading this before it releases I'd keep an eye out! Lastly, the writing! Also a major improvement! Well, it's still the same stereotypical ghost story. Whatever. However, it expands on that a lot, and it even adds new characters, details, and events that really make the cast stand out a lot more. Everyone got more screentime which makes it much easier to get attached to them. They're largely kinda nothing characters in the game (except my GOAT Hirahara). Now they actually do their jobs instead of dicking around so the player can do it because it is a video game. I maintain that this us a much better medium for the story. Before they were mildly charming at best but now they're a pretty likable bunch. I recommend the omakes, because they have a good grasp on their personalities. Also, the main character gained an entire tragic backstory; it's pretty neat! It also does a really good job taking out and restructuring things that don't work outside of a game context. For example, all of the fetch quests are taken out and instead relegated to an omake joking about how the main character is really good at requests. It very clearly loves and understands both the source material as well as what makes a story work in manga format. I don't know why this was chosen to get a manga adaptation instead of like, The Crooked Man or something, but I guess it needed it!