Urban Myth Dissolution Center was one of my most anticipated titles from last year’s BitSummit, and with very good reason. Presenting in a stylized format that evoked the very best of pixel adventures and mysterious intrigue, Hakababunko had something special on their hands. Tanaka-San, the head developer, wore his influences on his sleeve, talking emphatically about The X-Files and other aspects of paranormal culture. As a result, when the game was finally released, both myself and resident mystery expert, Heidi Hawes, couldn’t wait to dig in. Here it was, in all its glory, at long last!

Ultimately, though, the game was found to be a bit lacking in terms of execution and proper pacing. The game mechanics, which were often mandatory and rigid, took the excellent storytelling and environment and slowed it to a crawl. You really had to go piece by piece in order to extrapolate an important part of information, even if it was baldly apparent from the very beginning. While the graphics were undeniable in their style and execution and the soundtrack was beautifully scored with unnerving precision, the final product was a bit too awkward to handle to the degree that was hoped for. Worse, there wasn’t a clear way to suggest how to improve the game without removing elements that made the game charming in the first place.

The lack of a proper failstate also just means clicking through options even if you weren’t really reading.

Yet the sales of Urban Myth Dissolution Center have powered forward, giving the game a fantastic first week of distribution, combined with rave reviews from Japanese writers in particular. In spite of an almost universally disparaged interface, the praise is high for what the game is, at its core, and also what it symbolizes. Hakababunko has taken one of the most overlooked genres of Japanese storytelling and brought it to the front and center, not only for audiences across the archipelago, but also to the grander, worldwide audience. It helps to showcase something that we often pass on by in favor of the more well known and almost anticipated elements of Japanese folklore.

People outside of Japan are almost expecting to stumble into stories of the ancient beasts and ghosts of times gone by, including the traditional figures of tengu, kappa, odokuro, and the like. I myself, made a massive misstep in thinking that Urban Myth Dissolution Center would bring those elements up, which, to be fair, it does, but in very subtle ways. Instead, what we’re presented with is something far more intriguing: a combination of the more widespread but less well-known mythology of modern society intertwined with the nearly constant presence of occultic thought and actions in present day Japan. The former is a staple of almost every society, though it takes on different forms and flavors depending on the tonality. The latter, though, seems to be uniquely Japanese in both how it presents and how it’s interpreted by the common person.

Wait, a lot of folk still sleep on futons. Which are on the floor. So how is this…? Never mind, let’s keep going.

Without spoiling too much, Urban Myth Dissolution Center keeps three plates spinning at all times. The first is the perception of how the case is meant to be taken, oftentimes positing that an urban myth has come to life and exacted violence in the material world. The second is the revelation of the very human influence that made this case happen, effectively disproving the idea of the urban myth and also grounding things in reality, however hokey it may be. These two components, as it’s been pointed out, create a Scooby-Doo atmosphere with less of a light hearted tonality and something much more sinister. After all, Scoob and the gang usually had to deal with someone trying to scare people away from a valuable property, not covering up a murder suicide by blaming a ghost.

The choice to focus on these urban myths that have both worldwide appeal and Japan centric twists is a really cool one, and makes for more accessibility for all players. After all, the concept of the Bloody Mary myth or getting a cursed item that will kill the receiver has been kicking around the playground forever, but it has also continued to evolve over time. When I was young, you might get a folded piece of paper that demanded you pass it on or receive an untimely death (my elementary school may have been less than ideal). But, growing older, it turned into emails and text messages, chain letters that promised the same punishment. It’s only now that we’ve come full circle and the digital outreaches the tangible that the old fashioned letters and cursed objects seem to have the most power.

While it might seem a bit of a reach, this sort of connection allows the game to have more universal acclaim and acceptance. You can craft a fantastic scenario revolving around a fictitious being who carries a plate of cursed tofu, but that’ll be an eyebrow raise of recognition at best and a rather lighthearted but forgettable CGI film at worst. Instead, the concept of a base level bad spirit that manifests itself through a vengeful spirit or basic bad juju can be accepted by anyone who has taken a moment to blame their problems on something besides “bad luck.” Hell, even a lot of Western cryptids are really just expansions of ancient urban legends. A wendigo certainly has massive lore around it now, but it used to be simply an excuse for why the guy two tribes over went insane and ate his children. 

Instead of just thinking aloud, Jasmine, how about getting out there and doing something about it?

But the third plate really draws me in, and it’s the supposition that the undercurrent of everything has been controlled, however lightly, by an outside force. Now, we don’t need to hammer home the point of “powers beyond us pull the strings,” because it’s 2025 and we all have access to the news that tells us exactly that almost every single freaking hour. But a majority of people have a decent idea of what these puppeteers look like. We have faces for the government officials and oligarchs that invest in the future they design, and we see their plans come to fruition in real time, whether we want them to or not. But having someone unseen work in plain sight – usually through shadow clauses and purposeful distractions – is interesting, particularly when we see it happening in Japan presently.

While Urban Myth Dissolution Center is a work of fiction, it does touch upon some real world issues that continue to upset the country. Japan does deal with some cultish behavior, and its power and influence is greater than you might think for a country that’s arguably secular. While I won’t be gauche and bring up incidents from the pre 2000s, there has been modern movement across the board from groups who may not have the clearest of motives. Some groups are simply trying to bilk folks out of their money, and they absolutely exist in massive quantities. As UMDC presents, sometimes the actions that might be perceived as spooky or supernatural are just power plays to control someone, either physically or financially. It’s a song as old as time and not surprising (but still well executed).

Honestly, I appreciate her taking my advice and really stepping up her initiative.

Japan is, at present, a hotbed of new religions that mostly sprung up in a post-war society, which makes a lot of sense when you recall that the previous emperor was viewed as a God king. A majority of these new religions take their roots from Buddhism and extrapolate outwards, crafting new paths and ideas that come in vein with the leader’s own personal takes. For example, the Honmon Butsuryuu-Shuu is basically a hardcore practitioner of oldworld Buddhism, making them more akin to the Amish in the United States (though I am loathe to boil it down to such a simple comparison). Happy Science, on the other hand, has a leader who claims to be from Venus and thinks they can sell remote vaccines by mailing you $100 DVDs. The range of how these religions function and how they affect the people of Japan, as you can imagine, vary greatly.

But the greater groups who have more specific and frightening agendas are the ones we should take notice of. It’s not for nothing that a former prime minister was shot dead in a country where getting a gun is exceedingly difficult, and that his death was due to his ties with the Unification Church. The Unification Church may be under pressure from the government currently for failure to pay fines and addressing violations, but its influence is still strong and widespread. Moreover, they aren’t even the most dangerous group in Japan currently. While I won’t name names in order to prevent crosshairs being drawn, this upcoming movie about reincarnation and how it’ll absolutely save Japanese people should give you a clue about the deep pockets that some cults have.

Oh shit, Azami too? I’m so glad I can inspire violence!

Urban Myth Dissolution Center never names or specifically centers on any of these groups, and I imagine that Hakababunko may not have even considered the parallels. The presence of a doomsday adjacent cult in the game is more of a throughline that you don’t fully face until the very end, and the turns that happen are quiet extraordinary. Yet the masked appearances, the infiltration of businesses and higher powers, and the will to politely but brutally stomp out those who would criticize their actions is a parallel I can’t ignore. It isn’t like someone living in the woods and planning to take over the local Arby’s by force, but it does bring up some of the notions that were present in Murakami’s 1Q84. Hakababunko did mention literary inspirations, and some of the strongest may come not just from fictional tales, but ripped from the headlines moments that Japan has seen unfold in recent memory.

Urban Myth Dissolution Center does an incredible job of keeping you engaged with the wild and weird, but also spinning a longer tale of the impact that nepotism, cult mindset, and magical thinking can have on a society. At first, I was put off by the lack of specific Japanese landmarks and locations, until I realized: this is every city. This is Tokyo to Fukuoka, Sendai down to Osaka and all the major machis in-between. Everywhere has the potential to harbor the secrets of human activity and the apocalyptic mindset that might be locked behind glassy eyes and a tight lipped smile. It’s a long tale to get through, and it’s not always the most fluid gameplay, but the message is clear and concise: keep watching and keep listening. The ones that speak aren’t always ghosts, but they are always dangerous.

Urban Myth Dissolution Center is available now on PC, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation 5.

A copy of Urban Myth Dissolution Center was provided by the publisher.