The topic of video game ports has always been a slightly divisive one. Personally, I’ve always been in favor of them. I think that, ultimately, ports are a chance to bring games to a wider audience. Whether it be making a previous exclusive accessible to a wider variety of console/PC owners or bringing back an older game that may have previously been hard to get a hold of (or, you know, to actually be able to play), I think that the practice of porting games is a good one. Having said all of that, however, I think that there needs to be a viable reason to port a game. And, while I’ve carried a personal fondness for The Caligula Effect: Overdose (and its sequel), I’m at a complete loss as to why it was ported from the PlayStation 4 to the PlayStation 5 in the way that it was.
Encore…?
Corporate wants you to find the difference between these two games.
Normally, I jump straight into analyzing a game’s story after my introduction, but I’m going to take a minute, here to continue my previous train of thought. I’ve heard of games making the transition from PS4 to PS5 before. Heck, I’ve even reviewed a PS5 game that I had previously reviewed on the PS4. But ports like that generally offer something extra, you know? Whether it be improved controls, faster loading times, or even the inclusion of previously released DLC, these ports have always been spun as some kind of “enhanced version.” That makes sense to me. The “new” Caligula Effect: Overdose, however, appears to be a 1:1 port of its predecessor that offers nothing new to the player. That, dear reader, does not make any sense to me at all. It also kind of puts me at a loss regarding what I should talk about, considering that my opinion of the game hasn’t changed whatsoever. But, hey, that’s for me to worry about, not you!
Melodic Misery Merriment
Just because you’re the hero in your own story doesn’t mean you are in everyone else’s.
The Caligula Effect: Overdose takes place in a world known as Mobius—a wondrous utopia filled with where everyone is both happy and young forever. That’s all thanks to its creator, µ (pronounced “mew”), a virtuadoll (this game’s version of a vocaloid,) and her captivating music. It’s also where you, the player, live! Unfortunately, it’s all a complete sham. While Mobius does exist, it’s actually little more than a digital prison—and µ’s melodies are doing little more than brainwashing everyone into thinking that they’re eternally happy and healthy. … Well, almost everyone. Within Mobius exists a small group of lucid-minded individuals known as the “Go-Home Club” who, not surprisingly, want to leave. And, while they haven’t had much luck so far, things are about to drastically change thanks to their brand-new member (that’s you, by the way).
At its core, The Caligula Effect: Overdose‘s story is really only about one thing: human psychology. Despite what it ended up turning into, µ actually created Mobius with the best of intentions. Mobius, the virtual paradise that it is, was created to act as a psychological respite—a place where those burdened by the myriad stressors of the real world could come to, quite literally, forget it all. Because of this, Mobius ended up entirely populated by people who were in acute psychological distress—with many bordering on instability.Because of this,Overdose ends up being a game where figuring outwhy everyone was brought into Mobius is just as important as escaping it, and it presents this fragile duality incredibly skillfully.
There’s also something to be said about the game’s music. Now, in the interest of being honest, I’ll come out and say that The Caligula Effect: Overdose features one of myfavorite soundtracks of all time. I think it’s phenomenally composed and encapsulates each part of the game in a unique and fitting manner. It also serves as an important part of the game’s narrative. Each of the game’s dungeons features a unique song composed by one of Mobius’ Ostentato Musicians—a powerful collection of self-aware Mobius residents (and primary antagonists of the game) who work to keep everyone under µ’s spell. But these songsalso help to explain to the player the motives behind each Musician if you pay attention to the lyrics (which are all in Japanese, by the way, so you might need to look them up instead). While not technically necessary to understand the game’s entire plot, the decision to use the game’s soundtrack as a sort of “background lore” is something that I personally can’t get enough of, and I really wish that more games did things like this.
All the World’s a Dungeon
I mean… yeah? Kind of?
The Caligula Effect: Overdose‘s story is deep, complex, and intricate. Unfortunately, the dungeons aren’tquite on par with the level of quality. The developers could have done some absolutely wild stuff, given the game’s subject matter. Ultimately, however, Overdose essentially ends up being little more than a standard 3D dungeon crawler, offeringslightly more complex (and not procedurally generated) versions of dungeons that you might find in games likePersona 4.
While the dungeons themselves aren’t terribly complex, I do have to give FuRyu credit for making the most out of what they had. You see, despite being dungeons in terms of gameplay, each of the areas that you end up going to are actually just normal places that you could go to in real life (albeit ones with purposefully wonky layouts), including such locations as your school, an aquarium, and a library. The Go-Home Club’s newfound clarity has allowed them to see each of these places for what they are (namely, the fact that they’re not logically constructed), which, in turn, has placed a target on their back. To the rest of Mobius, however, these places aren’t anything particularly special at all.
Because of all of this, you get some very weird, very cool, intentional dissonance. While your party is running around each of these locations in a fight to keep their autonomy intact, you’ll consistently bump into other people simply going about their day who are keen to stop and chat you up—something that you very much want to do, considering that each NPC is a unique individual with their own set of problems (which you can help them out with via the game’s Causality Link system). Personally, I’d like to think that this setup is some kind of commentary on human psychology—how you don’t really know what other people are going through, despite how they may act. But, even if it’s not, it’s still really cool.
Sight Beyond Sight
If you can dream it, you can do it!
Much like many of the people within Mobius,The Caligula Effect: Overdose‘s combat seems unassuming at first but becomes more intricate the more you dig into it. On the surface, the game features a turn-based battle system focused on character movement and placement (a laTrails of Cold Steel andHyperdimension Neptunia). Unlike most games of its ilk, however, none of the characters have anything resembling standard attacks. Instead, your party exclusively makes use of skills—all of which cost SP—meaning that you have to be a little careful with how you proceed. Skill exclusivity isn’t what makes the game’s combat system unique, though—that honor would go to a different mechanic.
Have you ever wondered how an action or set of actions would play out before executing it? Well, you’re in luck, becauseThe Caligula Effect: Overdose doesn’t just offer that through its “Imaginary Chain” mechanic, itrequires that you become proficient with it! Unless you’re significantly stronger than your opponent, you can’t really just go into every battle guns akimbo. That’ll typically get you killed pretty quickly. Instead,Overdose‘s combat relies on the player setting up the perfect chain of character movements and actions in order to get through skirmishes successfully. That’s where the Imaginary Chain comes in. Acting as a form of in-game precognition, the Imaginary Chain lets you see what your set of actions would look like if they were all successful (missing an attack could cause a very different turnout).
Depending on how you look at it, the Imaginary Chain can be a blessing or a curse. As someone who understands how it works and enjoys setting up complex attack chains, I really enjoy it. It does, unfortunately, slow the pacing of every battle down significantly. Because of the sheer amount of strategic complexity offered to the player, Overdose expects you to spend some time each round setting things up just so. If you’re the impatient type, that’s probably going to end up being more annoying than exciting.
Another Curtain Call
Subjectively speaking, I absolutely adore this game. Objectively, however, it’s far from perfect. All-in-all,The Caligula Effect: Overdose is a unique JRPG with a captivating story enveloped in the fragility of human psychology, but tends to fall a bit flat when it comes to actual gameplay. Its decision to move to the PS5 also still baffles me. Still, I’d recommend playing it if you’re interested. And, hey, I guess you can play it on the modern PlayStation platform of your choice, too!
Final Verdict: 3.5/5
Available on: PlayStation 5 (Reviewed), PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, PC; Publisher: NIS America; Developer: FuRyu; Players: 1; Released: May 30, 2023; ESRB: M for Mature; MSRP: $49.99
Full disclosure: This review is based on a copy of The Caligula Effect: Overdose given to Hey Poor Player by the publisher.
