Mystic Messenger is a South Korean female orientedvisual novel game developed by Cheritz. It was released on July 8, 2016 for Android and August 18, 2016 for iOS. The game is described as a "storytelling messenger game" and is available in Korean, English, and Spanish. In 2017, Mystic Messenger was awarded Best Indie Game at the 2017 Korea Game Awards.
Plot
In Mystic Messenger, the player takes the role of a female character whose name is chosen by the player. The female protagonist downloads a mysterious app that leads her into living in either a closed, secured apartment owned by Rika, the founder of a charity organization known as the RFA, or the Mint Eye HQ. She meets the remaining members of the RFA and is tasked to organize a party by inviting guests. In Another Story, Unknown tricks the protagonist into playing the game and brings you to Mint Eye, keeping you by his side. The protagonist is able to choose one out of 7 available routes, each with their own backgrounds, as well as finding out the truth behind the RFA.
Characters
Main characters
; Protagonist ; Jumin Han ; Zen ; 707 ; Yoosung ; Jaehee Kang ; V ; Rika ; Unknown / Saeran / Ray ; Vanderwood
Minor Characters
Gameplay
The story lasts for 11 days per route. The first day concerns the game's prologue, three days for the "common route", six days focusing on a route of a character, and one day for the party. The game plays in real time, where players can receive text messages and join the group chat in a special messenger. Throughout conversations in the first four days, the player can give responses to certain characters to increase their likability with them, symbolized as hearts. By the end of the fourth day, the player will encounter a Caution; it branches the game and determines whether the player will get a route or a bad ending depending on their accumulated hearts and chatroom participation within the four days. During each route, the story has three Cautions in different days.
Routes
There are 7 routes in total. 3 routes are available in Casual Story, 2 routes in Deep Story, and 2 routes in Another Story. The game originally had 2 stories and 5 routes, until on September 8, 2017, Cheritz released a route for V in a separate story. The story is named "Another Story" and the main character appears a year prior to the time in the original story. On January 31st 2018, Cheritz released a route for Saeran/Ray in the same story. The routes cost 550 Hourglasses in total.
Downloadable contents
In December 2016, Cheritz added a new "special content" section to the game. The DLC contains new chatrooms, messages, CGs, phone calls, ringtones, and background music. The Christmas episode was added on December 19, 2016; the story lasts for 2 days with 8 endings. The April's Fools episode was added on March 21, 2017; the story lasts for a day with 3 endings. In early February 2017, Cheritz added Valentine's after endings for each character. These special contents remain available even after said events.
Others
Music
The game features two songs - the opening theme is sung by Han titled "Mysterious Messages" and ending song sung by Han and Sirius titled "Like the Sun in the Sky". Both are composed by DoubleTO. About 23 tracks of background music, composed by Flaming Heart, were released along with the opening and ending song and 13 tracks of free talk with people involved in the making via the game's special package.
Official merchandise
In June 2016, Cheritz opened a pre-order session for the game's limited edition special package called RFA VIP Package. The package contains original soundtracks from the game, 2 artbooks, characters' name card, and 2 DVDs of the freetalk session with the voice actors involved in the game. It also contains serial number to unlock the game's VIP membership, which enables player to fast forwarding a chatroom, calling the characters without limits, and 1000 Hourglasses. In July 2017, Cheritz released dakimakura covers for 707 and Jumin Han, who topped the popularity poll, for Mystic Messenger's first anniversary.
Official Comic
Over the years, unofficial fan-made comics based on the game have been made. By godsend, an official manhwa is under the works and it already has a prologue, as well as a first chapter. Currently, they can be found in two languages, but talk has been made of the manhwa being available in three more languages.
