- Title: Déraciné（デラシネ）
- Platform: PlayStation 4 (Requires PSVR & pair of PlayStation Move controllers)
- Release: Nov 6, 2018
- Genre: Adventure
- Players: 1
- Developer: From Software, SIE Japan Studio
- Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Price: $29.99, 29.99€, £24.99, ¥3,240
- Rating: Teen, PEGI 12, USK 12, CERO B
- Versions: digital worldwide, JP Standard and Collector's Edition, US exclusive to GameStop
- Size: 10.03 GB
Metacritic (69)
OpenCritic (69)
VRGameCritic (69)
- Gamespot - 5/10
Deracine has the buildings blocks of a good VR debut from Dark Souls creator FromSoftware, but it lacks the engrossing gameplay and mystique that has made the studio's previous titles so successful. It is a good example of a PSVR-exclusive title that uses the medium effectively, giving you ample control over your movement and an enticing space to explore fully with the flexibility of using your own two hands to pick it apart. Its narrative ambitions fail to meet the same bar, though, with intriguing themes that get lost within a poorly constructed narrative that's difficult to follow. Its puzzles fall prey to the same inadequacies, failing to leverage the more exciting mechanics presented from the start and instead relying on trivial scavenger hunts though frozen time. Deracine is a disappointingly flawed adventure that won't likely stick with you long after its conclusion.
- Kotaku - No Score
here are some dark moments that can feel much more frightening because it's VR, but if this were a movie, it would be rated PG-13. Deraciné is definitely trying to creep you out and give you an unsettling feeling, but it's not trying to scare or shock you.
[...]The whole thing wraps up in about 5 or 6 hours. There is one ongoing sidequest that I actually found to be more fun mechanically than anything else in the game. It involves eight hidden coins around the house that are tucked into some very clever spots, and you definitely have to look closely and move your head around to spot them.
- Upload VR - 8/10
Deracine's initially dulcet tone certainly won't be for everyone but scratch below the surface and you'll discover a VR adventure that heads in some fascinating new directions. It's a bizarre beast, placing the ambiguity From Software is known for in the front and center but, despite its often ham-fisted dialogue, it finds genuinely powerful moments of connection as it weaves a memorable yarn. Deracine might not be the game that truly breaks down the barriers between the player and the virtual characters and worlds they love, but it's definitely a strong sign that VR is heading that way.
- Twinfinite - 6/10
It may be a charming, narrative-focused VR experience, but Deracine is let down by its traditional adventure game design. Your interactions go further than exploring and learning, adding a puzzle element that detracts from the characters and the beautiful world. The inconsistent pacing and storytelling diminish the possible impact of the students' tale, making it difficult for any emotion or tension to come to the fore. Deracine has a world worth seeing, but it's not likely to stick with you once you've left.
- We Got This Covered - 9/10
Although action-packed VR titles have their place, I've always gravitated toward the more intimate, story-focused experiences, whether that's "walking simulators" or titles that incorporate elements from traditional adventure games. Deracine feels like a combination of both, and it brings the best aspects of both to the table. The world-building here is as strong as it is in other FromSoftware games, albeit with a lot less bloodshed and frenetic combat. The level of immersion here feels nothing short of masterful; your time at this boarding school, roaming its halls and interacting with its inhabits, goes by quickly, and although you could, in theory, complete this game in a matter of hours, fight the urge to rush through it and explore every nook and cranny instead.
- Video Chums - 7/10
I said I won't spoil Deracine's story and I will not. However, I do want to discuss the fact that it is very subtle, intricate, and told in fragments that you must piece together for yourself in order for it to make any sense. As a result, gamers who enjoy these kinds of plots will absolutely love discussing the story and sharing interpretations of it after they complete it. On the other hand, those looking for a satisfying story with a happy and resolved ending will likely be perplexed and possibly even frustrated after they finish it.
- Gamerant - 5/10
Those that stick with Deracine long enough to get to the point where the load times become an annoyance will likely reach the end of the game as well, as it's not a terribly long experience. It can be completed in less than five hours if players don't get stuck on any of the puzzles, though those that manage to get to the end will likely be annoyed by the convoluted and confusing finale sequence.
- Shindig NZ - 8/10
From a slow, dreamy beginning as a faerie exploring frozen snapshots of time, it builds up into an unexpectedly intense exploration of loss, regret, and that universal human desire to "fix" the past. It does so beautifully.
- Wccftech - 9/10
Hidetaka Miyazaki's storytelling is unmistakable in Déraciné. Much of the darker inspiration to what happens behind the scenes surrounding the boarding school is hidden away for the player to find. In certain story chapters, the player can stumble across books or journal entries and read a brief summary of the world of Rohn and the power of faeries that exist outside of the confines of time. Whatever else occurs throughout the story will be up to the player to decide how these events are intrinsically linked to one another but not every mystery will be plainly explained to the player, as is typical of Miyazaki's approach to lore.
- US Gamer - No Score
Despite the fantastical premise Déraciné is permeated with a realism that feels closer to Dickens' naturalist take on fantasy than, say, C.S. Lewis's allegorical fantasies. Ultimately, Déraciné feels more like an experiment in medium than storytelling. I can actually see Déraciné's story tucked away in one of Miyazaki's RPGs as a hidden quest and it wouldn't feel out-of-place. But while his narrative style is a known quantity, VR proves to be a powerful medium for Miyazaki's unique brand of atmospheric storytelling.
- GamingBolt - 4/10
Almost worse than its nebulous adventure elements is Déraciné's unwieldy, disorienting movement. It's achieved through use of the two required PlayStation Move controllers, but the lack of full locomotion does nothing but greatly hinder the game. Getting from place to place around the game's environments requires a constant clicking of the Move controller's center button to warp from spot to spot. When you add in the awkward turning actions mapped to face buttons, the game simply becomes a disorienting, clunky mess. More often than not, attempting to interact with items or characters requires adjusting angles multiple times and fighting with the controllers to ensure you can actually do what's needed to proceed. I often clipped into characters while trying to engage with them, and after fumbling about and realizing I just couldn't acclimate myself to my surroundings, I sometimes had to warp away and then warp back to try the angles again.
- PS Nation - 8/10
It's always great to see a beloved studio like FromSoftware try something different and for it to work out as well as this game does.
The occasionally frustrating parts, such as movement or repetitious story sections don't mire the fantastic and engaging story that the game tells. Learning about the characters and the world, and trying to piece together the story as the game presents new and different fragments are fun, and I'd definitely recommend Déraciné to VR and walking-simulator fans out there.
- Attack of the Fanboy - 7/10
Déraciné is nothing at all like Dark Souls or really anything else we've seen out of FromSoftware before
[…]Déraciné is a solid addition to PSVR's growing stable of exclusives. It's not a must-play game though, especially if you've been through any of the other VR adventure games out there. It does have a bit of extra magic thanks to its developer and the story they are telling. FromSoftware crafted this game with love, and it shows in its overall polish and heart.
- Road to VR - 3/10
Déraciné is one of the finest examples yet of someone setting out to create a VR game before actually finding out what's fun or interesting to do when you have a headset on your head and motion tracked controllers in your hands. Although comfortable to play and decent looking, the game is designed in a way that perfectly deprives the player of any agency, leaving it as little more than a point and click simulator where you watch a woefully scattered story about characters you have no reason to care about. If nothing else, Déraciné offers up several concrete examples of how not to design a VR game.
- DarkStation - 7/10
As far as adventure games are concerned, Deracine is fairly pedestrian. I love it when developers go against the type and do something new, even if it doesn't work out. Deracine is an okay adventure that doesn't reform the genre or create new conventions and mechanics like the Souls series did for action-roleplaying games. The story, accessible as it is, is pretty good and no matter what, I couldn't shake off the feeling that maybe, possibly, it could exist in the Bloodborne universe - it doesn't though, so don't get too excited. The story has some occult themes that put off a similar vibe, though it does a fine job of standing on its own. If anything, it reminds me a lot of Rule of Rose, an old PlayStation 2 game that also dealt with orphans (only they were tiny little psychopaths) and a paranormal mystery that bind them together.
- The A.V. Club - No Score
Looked at as a whole, there's something defiantly refreshing about how brazen a departure Déraciné is from Miyazaki and his team's flashiest, most cash-catching work. It's a deliberate throwback to a time when FromSoftware was the oddball developer behind games like Kings Field and Echo Night, rather than the brand ambassadors for "Git Good" video game masochism, and it foregrounds the persistent melancholy that's helped the studio's bloodier games be more than just a series of playable heavy metal album covers.
- IGN Japan - 9.7/10
Déraciné has a fantastic atmosphere and wonderful storytelling. It utilizes VR and PlayStation Move to create a type of interaction not seen in other games. The innocence characters show to the player add a warm and friendly feeling to what is already a fascinating adventure game
- OnPSX (German) - 7/10
Unfortunately From Software has not set a milestone here, neither for PSVR, nor for the adventure genre. For this it feels too stiff in absolutely all aspects. Sure, you get an interesting story told here, which can entertain the inclined listener well and gladly 5-6 hours. But you have to deal with bad controls and wooden interactions and you can't really influence the story in a significant way. Everything is fixed down to the smallest detail, you jump through the story from point to point not dissimilar to the spatial movement. The puzzles aren't really tricky either, but sometimes you're just stuck because you missed something. Even all trophies are simply unlocked by the course of the game. The replay value is thus at absolute zero, and there remains a feeling that more could have been done with it. I hope that From Software won't withdraw and start thinking about a bit more gameplay in another PSVR title. In this form I can only recommend the game to those who have a great desire for an extraordinarily told story.
- Shacknews - 5/10
In the end, Deracine accomplishes little that a point-and-click adventure couldn't do. It's capable of beautiful and engaging moments, but hamfisted dialogue, awkward voice acting, and frustrating VR behaviors ruin it, for the most part. When the game is clearly trying to be delicate and graceful, the sinister undertones (likely due to the voice acting) give it a bizarre, unnatural tone, and for a studio that's capable of absolutely excellent narratives and gameplay, this felt quite tone deaf.
- Gameinformer - 7/10
Déraciné approaches VR in the right way, letting the player soak in the environment at their leisure, but the teleportation movement is awkward and most of your engagement outside the narrative hinges on how much you enjoy picking up objects, looking at them, and putting them somewhere else. The world is interesting, and the narrative features a handful of fun, dark twists, but the ultimate experience is bland, even if it does have its charms.
- The Verge - No Score
The conceit that you're a wraith-like faerie even gets around some of the issues inherent in VR. It doesn't feel strange that you can teleport around the school, and it's not so jarring when your spectral hands clip through objects. That said, while Déraciné mostly benefits from virtual reality, there are elements of this style of game that are worsened by the headset. Déraciné's story necessitates a lot of backtracking, which gets especially tedious in VR. Similarly, while the puzzles in Déraciné are mostly easy to figure out, there were a few times when I missed a specific item or clue and found myself unable to proceed. Those moments of frustration are exacerbated when you're fully immersed in the experience.
- IGN - 7.8
What's more, the story hints at more lore than I expected, and by the end I became just as interested in the children's future as I did this world's past. I'm not sure I understand every facet of what makes Déraciné's faeries tick, but what I did learn captivated me, and made me hope for a bit more time in its world.
- Metro UK - 4/10
There's a lot of interesting ideas and features in Déraciné but we'd be lying if we said we didn't want it all to be over after just halfway through its four hour running time. Everything feels far too much like a tech demo that got out of hand and while it's good to see that From weren't interested in retro-fitting one of their previous games throwing ideas at the wall and hoping something sticks isn't much of an alternative.
- Eurogamer - Recommended
Miyazaki's flair for Victorian creepiness helps elevate the rudimentary puzzles, too. These generally involve collecting items and moving them around the place, giving a flower to the right person or slotting the right key in the right lock. But when you step back and think about what you're doing, it's often arrestingly strange and sinister.
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