Item - Jinrō mura kara no dasshutsu ōkami wo mitsukenai to, korosareru [人狼村からの脱出 狼を見つけないと、殺される]

As a way of giving back to the community, I would like to introduce original non-English gamebooks. I recently picked up a Japanese gamebook called Jinromura kara no dasshutsu (Escape from Werewolf Village) by SCRAP. This was originally an escape room concept (https://realescapegame.com/sjwolf/) that was expanded and ported into a gamebook format. In the book, you are a private detective visiting a European village in the 19th century who is given five days to solve a murder case and identify who the werewolf is. Each day, you read the daily village newspaper and visit various locations in the village to interact with residents and gather evidence. Innovative puzzles which you need to solve to advance are the key differentiator as well as a very compelling storyline. Each puzzle is different and requires the user to think outside the box and utilize various parts of the book, even the words and pictures inside the cover. I thought the puzzles in Dane Barrett's The Mystery of Dracula were hard but some of the puzzles in this book are even more challenging. The book has 429 sections but does not have the true ending. In order to access the true ending, you need to solve the final puzzle, access the publisher's website (https://www.rittor-music.co.jp/dgamebook/01) and enter the evidence correctly. The website also has hints for each of the puzzles.

I could not find an English version of the book (I picked up the Korean version) but if you can read Japanese or Korean and can get a hold of a copy, I highly recommend the book especially for the innovative puzzle designs.

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