Sickness

Sickness is a unique visual novel that focuses heavily on several mental issues, social-economic issues, and the issue of morality to an extent that I was pleasantly surprised by. This visual novel has a lot of blood, death, and while it has no H-scenes (which does sadden me) it does indicate sexual activities. This is my one and only warning to those reading this blog, if you can not handle deep psychological, moral, or material dealing with murder then I would NOT continue reading on. You have been warned.

Sickness takes place in what I can only describe as a US Township and City. The main character is a young man around 17 in age named Suoh. After his parent's deaths, he and his sister Sara are unable to tap into any of their family's funds due to a freeze on assets due to the circumstances of their deaths. This leads them into being forced from their family home and pushed out onto the streets. Suoh was also in the accident that took his parent's lives and was in a hospital for quite some time before being released. After his release, he drops out of school and starts working to provide a roof and food for himself and his sister.

The city they live in is one that is as capitalist as they get with the wealthy ensuring they maintain control over everything from working rights to law enforcement. In the city, they live money is all that matters, and those that have it live in bliss while those that don't barely make it day by day. Because of this disparity in income crime is a big business as well. It is in this situation that Suoh who is working is placed in an odd position. His boss who's been working him hard day in and day out has decided to let him go and keep his last paycheck away from him. When Suoh finds this out he confronts him and it is here that 'the sickness' makes itself known. In a sudden situation where he could lose the rental home he just got for him and his sister over a greedy boss he snaps and in the end kills his boss.

A co-worker had told him if he was ever in trouble to call him and he would help take care of it. And so he calls Markus who comes with another man to the scene. Within minutes the crime scene is cleaned and the body is shipped off without anyone seeing what had happened. It is here that Suoh is now considered indebted to Markus who doesn't wait long to use the fact that Suoh is now out of work to get him to come with him to an underground area where he is introduced to the boss of the group that Markus is part of. 

Suoh is tasked with following Markus and helping him in his 'collections' that he performs daily. For this service, Suoh will be paid per week. After just a couple of days of work, Suoh comes home from his collections work and finds Sara waiting for him demanding where he was able to get $2k in cash delivered in an unmarked envelope. He can't tell his sister that he's working for a mob-like group so he makes up a lie about him working harder at work so he got a raise and changed positions at his job. She of course buys this lie and they continue on. 

Suoh is a logical and rational person when it comes to his views of the world and his need to make a home for his twin sister. After his parent's death and his release from the hospital after having head trauma he quit school, though he even mentions that he was failing in school and was classified as a delinquent so he was about to be expelled anyway.

During a routine collection job, one of the business owners brings out a shotgun and manages to kill Markus, but before he can kill Suoh, Suoh is able to take care of the business owner. Instead of waiting to see what would happen next, he knew that Markus was dead and so he went alone out to finish their collection jobs. This act caught the attention of his boss and the boss soon asked him to go from collections to a more specialized job. Suoh isn't sure he wants to do this but he is given some time to consider this proposal and is during this time that Suoh becomes aware of how far the Sickness runs.

Sara has been coming home late in a bad mood and when he tries to ask her what is wrong she pushes him away and doesn't say anything. Eventually, this pushes Suoh to do something he normally wouldn't but the voice inside his head tells him that he needs to get it together and do what needs to be done. With that, he chooses a weapon he has some knowledge of using, his hunting knife, and putting on a hoodie he makes his way out following his sister in the shadows not being seen. After sometime following her, he finds her being taunted and verbal sexual comments being made to her by two young men. 

The young men follow her to school but do not enter the gates and they slowly make their way back from the school as Suoh continues to follow them. He then overhears their conversation where they are planning at some point to grab her and have their way with her. While this makes him angry his inner thoughts are cut short when a girl in the same grade as Sara is suddenly attacked and taken by the two men into an abandoned building. Suoh follows them and after seeing her bound and the men getting a camera sat up to tape them raping her the Sickness kicks in again. 

"Kill them, eviscerate them, make them pay." The voice was loud and clear on what he needed to do and with that, he did as he was instructed by the voice in his head. He stabs the first young man in the back severing his spine and sending the hunting knife blade through the chest. Without a moment of hesitation and to keep the element of surprise he quickly removes the knife and then manages to get the other young and bring his knife across his throat. With that done he then looks to the victim, the young girl. He cuts the ropes off her and simply tells her not to tell anyone about him or he will have to come and remove her as well.

Days will pass but eventually, she does make a statement saying that the man that killed the two young men was a hero and not a monster. Though that was mostly a matter of opinion. Soon the news stated she had spoken to the cops as well. He learned her name from the news and that's when the voice kicked in again telling him that she knew too much and despite how he felt she could get him caught and everything he was working for, his life, his sister, everything would be gone if she spoke out against him. He didn't like where it was going but rationally thinking if he didn't want to get caught if he wanted to protect his sister and continue what he was needing to do he would have to leave no witnesses behind.

And so he made the decision that he would break into her room and remove her. At first, things were going to plan but as he made his way to her he realized she was awake. He got to her before she could scream and while he thought she would be scared she didn't seem scared at all. She actually seemed to view him with some sort of affection, but he couldn't let that get to him now. After a short time discussing things he had to make a choice, leave now or finish the job. And so the Sickness kicked in reminding him what could happen if he left her alive. 

Though he didn't want to kill someone that was a victim and innocent...by her talking to the cops and the press she had broken the one thing he asked her not to do. And so with his blade against her neck, he brought it across and watched as she slowly faded. After he knew she was gone he started to leave her father made his way into the room and before he could react Suoh killed him with a quick stab through the eye into the brain. The sudden noise reached the girl's mother who called the police but before she could say much he made his way behind her and cut her throat as well. He had managed to wipe out the entire family by himself.  

Once this was done he returned home and then decided to take up his boss's proposal and become a hired killer.

I want to also mention that after you play through and get one of the 3 good / true endings you unlock a new ending called "Lucia's ending" Lucia being the girl that you saved and then later had to kill. I am not going to spoil the ending but we'll say it isn't what you expect.

Now, of the multiple bad endings you can end up in, of the three good/true endings, I have only really done 2. I decided that the 'true ending' wasn't one I really wanted to do and I have my reasons for that and to not spoil anything I will not discuss why. That said, I did get the 2 good endings, and as I am sure you already know it is based on each of the only 2 love interests in the game. 

When Suoh joins the hired killers group he is also given a task to befriend and support the coordinator's daughter Misa. Misa isn't able to speak and she was raised by her father and trained to be a killer when she was able to learn. That said she has no real interest in it, she does it because it is all she knows. Misa is the same age as Suoh and a bit of a free spirit, she enjoys water, nature, animals, and gaming. She seems to be sheltered from the world though that is most likely due to her profession at her age. Misa is one of the love interests.

The second love interest is one that honestly isn't a surprise to me but to some, it might be. The second girl and love interest for Suoh to go for is his twin sister Sara. Sara was once a very dedicated student and shown to be very smart and wanted to get a degree in law. She can be a bit careless and yet also be playful. She has a serious side as well and later on it is touched on that since the accident that killed her parents and injured Suoh that she has started to show changes. She is still smart and maintains good grades, but she has started to show signs of mental instability and mood swings. It is when she gets a note from the councilor to have Suoh to come in to talk with her that he finds out some other news.

Apparently, people think Suoh is abusing her as well as sexually taking advantage of her, and even though there is evidence to prove any of this the school reaches out to him in an attempt to get his perspective. He is taken aback by this but soon just tells the councilor that nothing like that is happening and that the other students need to mind their own business and so does she.

Continuing his killing jobs and providing support to Misa he also has to contend with Sara wanting to know why he's making so much money all of a sudden. An envelope of $2K was one thing, but after his most recent request to kill a wife abuser he was paid $18K. He of course continues to make up things that he knows his sister will accept as answers. 

 Eventually, after some time the twins end up in an interesting position. (Remember this is if you choose Sara's route) at one point the Sickness begins to cause Suoh to see things that are not there or things that are not happening, or at least distorts what is happening. With this happening during a time that the siblings were sampling joking around Suoh believes he's taken the joke too far when he kisses Sara and at first she seems to be into it, then as the vision fades he realizes she's crying and that he may have made a mistake. 

Time passes and there are more and more instances where something she says or does trigger his sickness to show him different visions, eventually, he begins to question why he is seeing these visions and before he can react the Sickness explains it to him. The reason he sees those visions is that it is what he wants, it how he feels, he wants to make his sister happy not just by providing her with a home and brotherly love but to be more to her. Of course, he refutes this but realizes maybe it is that after all, and if that is the case he needs to stop it.

Before that happens however his sister confronts him and tells him that she wants to be seen more to him than a sister, she wants to be his girlfriend. The two make the decision that their relationship is no longer just being siblings but now they are lovers and no one can ever find out. Soon after this Suoh is sent out on a special mission along with Misa and Sai who is Misa's father. The three infiltrate a large company to steal things they can use to help solidify their boss's control of the city. In the process, he is injured and almost dies. When he awakes he is in a hospital where he finds his sister next to him waiting for him to wake up so they can go home to be with one another.

If you instead decide to go with Misa's route there are obviously some things that change while other things stay the same. The biggest change of course is one where Sara is killed and Suoh begins to fall prey to his Sickness and it is Misa that steps in and helps him through it. He is also told by Sai her father that Misa needs someone to take care of her, that she is bright and would do great in school, but because of Sai's work, she never got to have a normal life. During a couple of kill requests that Misa was with Suoh on she realized that in a strange way he was like her father, for the most part, he did what he had to to survive and to provide. But also there was a part of him 'the sickness' that made him enjoy taking someone's life. 

Eventually, Suoh realized that because of his sickness he didn't deserve kindness, he didn't deserve love or compassion, he didn't deserve to live while his sister died. In his mind, all his mistakes all the bad he had done, all the evil deeds he committed all he deserved was to be killed. However, it was during this darkness that Misa and he bonded to the point that he realized he had feelings for her. After his sister's death she moved in with him to help him keep his mind straight, she seen him in his best and worst moments, and no matter what she never left him.

During his mission with Sai and Misa at Adder Corp. he saw as Misa was almost killed by a stranglehold from an old comrade. After he rescued her by giving her CPR he was then injured with a blade through the back sending the blade through his chest. Before he passed out though he saw as Sai killed the man that had stabbed him and Misa now awake and alert seeing him getting stabbed he saw fear and tears stream down her cheeks. With those things went dark.

Despite that, however, a month later he awoke in a hospital and was able to be reunited with Misa once again.

This Visual Novel has several bad endings that I have managed to avoid thus far and I plan on keeping it that way. I highly enjoyed this Visual Novel as it looked at several aspects of mental issues along with the darker side of living life where money can mean more than a life. While there were no adult-oriented sex scenes, there were several insinuations mostly between Suoh and Sara. 

I think anyone that likes psychological Visual Novels should have this in their library, as well as anyone that is taking psychology...though you may need therapy...(though this VN is nothing compared to Doki Doki Lit Club...I lost part of my humanity on that one.)