Kokumeikan

STORY:
The game opens with you (as the elder Prince) speaking with your father (the King) about your recent journey abroad with your fiance Fiana, when suddenly your father topples from his throne, dead…with your sword sticking out from his back! Your brother just happens to be in the kings chambers with you at the time and calls for the guards, claiming that you killed their father.

You are promptly sentenced to death in the town square. Your dying wish is that whomever framed you be brought to justice and that your life be spared…oh, you also yell out something to the fact that you would even sell your soul to Satan if your wish could be granted…Guess what, the devil just happened to be listening to you.

After your death, you are visited by one of his messengers, a woman named Astarte. She informs you that your life has been spared (in a way) but the catch is that you must spend the rest of your “life” as the master of a mansion. As part of the deal, you must lure people into the mansion and sacrifice their souls to Satan himself…

As you lay dying, you beg the powers that be to somehow spare your life. Your wish is granted, but by Satan himself, who forces you to become the new master of his castle…the Castle of the Damned. To fulfill your contract, you must ensure that Satan is resurrected so you can use his dark powers. The castle is not unknown to the world, however. Treasure seekers, nobles, bounty hunters, and knights will enter your castle and try to defeat you. You must not let this happen.

Satan requires the souls of the castle invaders, and you will have various traps at your disposal to capture them. Traps are divided into three types: capture, destroy, and confuse. Cages, spikes, lifts, poisonous gas, and more are at your disposal, and each trap can be upgraded. Once ensnared, the victims’ souls can be used for money or magic points. Their empty bodies can even be harvested to create monsters. The action is divided into 26 chapters, each offering a certain number of heroes to vanquish.

Gameplay is structured into five distinct phases. The invasion phase has adventurers entering your castle. The strategy phase involves positioning your traps on an overhead map, or building new rooms. The 3D action phase, the heart of the game, consists of luring victims to your traps from a first-person viewpoint. The decision phase has you choosing the fate of your enemy, while the intermission phase lets you save progress, collect more souls, or advance to the next chapter. Six endings are possible based on your decisions and actions throughout the game.