htoL#NiQ: The Firefly Diary Review

There is a certain elegance in a video game stripped down to its most basic existence. When a game uses pure imagery, no cutscenes, and no dialogue – you’re getting a unique gameplay experience. All of the features are present in NIS’ htoL#NiQ: The Firefly Diary for the PlayStation Vita. Before you think I just slammed the keyboard for that title, it’s no mistake, that is the actual title.

htoL#NiQ: The Firefly Diary doesn’t set you up with any backstory and or objective. Your character is a little silver-haired girl named Mion. At the start, nothing is known about her other than that she appears young and has some sort of antlers or twigs growing out of her scalp. The setting is that of what appears to be some sort of ruin or post apocalyptic world. Also shadow creatures that instantly murder your face off if you make contact with them. So yeah, not the most friendly of settings.  

Your initially allied with a green firefly named Lumen that you move through touching the screen. Wherever Lumen goes, the apparently empty Mion follows. Lumen can tell the girl to climb, fall, sit, push a box, climb a box, activate a switch – basically every means of locomotion that she is capable of. This firefly is your guide and more or less the character you’ll actually be controlling.

The other firefly, Umbra, is met early on the game. This purple firefly lives in Mion’s shadow. It is controlled by tapping the back screen of the Vita and then controlling it via the back screen. Umbra can only travel within shadows but can activate purple objects. Using Umbra often involves you positioning Mion to get her shadow in a specific location or waiting for something in motion to reach a certain place on the map. This often can slow down the gameplay, make it a waiting game, or become frustrating if you have poor timing.  

I for one am terrible with the back screen on the Vita. This made puzzles involving Umbra more difficult to complete. This isn’t a fault to the game but just my efficiency. The default setting of the game only uses both touchscreens for control. That’s it. Never will you press a single button on the Vita. Similar to my issues with Umbra, this can make for an overall sluggish experience. Again, granted, I’m not the best with touchscreens.

The mention that this is the default setting is because it can be changed in options. The d-pad makes for more fluent gameplay but the experience becomes cheapened. I’m sure the creators of this game designed it with the intention of being touchscreen only. Thus, when you don’t use it, the general feel is altered. The juxtaposition to this, is that many of the later puzzles really involve you to have excellent timing and quick reactions between the two fireflies. The d-pad makes this so much simpler.

As far as the art goes, I’m a huge fan. There is a delightful contrast between the cutesy-Mion and the darkness of the environment. While later levels will be brighter, the same sharp-like art style remains. For the purpose of many of the puzzles, the environment is very key. In the case of Umbra, it often needs to travel down thin wire shadows that have to be cast by the surroundings.

In this game, Mion is going to die. Not based off the plot but based off your gameplay. To win, you’re going to have to trudge through trial and error gameplay until you either figure it out or are able to execute it. This can be frustrating. Save points can be found after the entirety of a puzzle which means passing a difficult part only to die after will force you to start that entire section over. If you’re on tilt, you may want to sit the Vita down for a bit before you end up having to buy a new one.

There are also flashback scenes that really tell the story of the game. These scenes have to be found and are often extremely well hidden. This means to learn about Mion’s past as well as what happened to the world, you have to be very thorough on your searching in levels. I’m the type of player that ‘has to know’ so I’ll spend countless time searching and dying to find these scenes. In these scenes, you have to play as Mion without the fireflies. While in other games this sort of memory activity often breaks up gameplay, I found them refreshing. After going through so much trouble finding them – I felt like I earned some new gameplay.

htoL#NiQ: The Firefly Diary is not your typical game. It’s not merely a journey or just an experience because it’s hard as hell. You are going to die and you’re going to be challenged. If that type of gameplay speaks to you, I can’t help but to recommend this game. If you’re not a puzzle person, I’d stay clear. At the price of $20, I’d suggest it if you’re on the fence. The game is beautiful to look at, sadistic in execution, but also rewarding upon accomplishing a nightmarish puzzle. Mion deserves your help, you just have to guide her there.