Yinwei Shi Qingmingjie Suoyi Gui Hen Meng (因为是清明节所以鬼很萌) Review

I’ve played a few Chinese-made galgames, and most of them really aren’t much to write home about — heavy imitation, that fake Japanese flavor. I don’t know Japanese, but I play the originals all the time with a dictionary and my imagination, and I still think Chinese-made galgames should have more local flavor. It’s not like you can’t survive without the Japanese formula. After all, Chinese RPGs proved that years ago. Most of the Chinese galgames with that loud chuunibyou imitation-Japanese vibe, I just read the description and pass.

Never mind quality — if you’re that busy copying Japan, why would I play yours? I’d rather just play the Japanese originals. Am I wrong?

Of course, Chinese galgames have an awkward place in the market: thanks to policy, they can only be all-ages. That would sink you even in Japan, let alone here. But I’m glad to see some people still pushing boundaries. Some go the open-ended Tokimeki Memorial-raising route, like “Gaokao Love 100 Days.” Some go for sheer clean school vibes, like “Nijiiro Melody.” Others mine historically and politically sensitive topics for buzz, like “Rainy Port Keelung.” All in all, more attempts are never a bad thing. And more and more people are focusing on mobile platforms — games made specifically for phones and tablets. I think that’s a solid direction, and I’m happy to try them. Like “Ballade,” which I played a while back, and “The Ghost of Qingming Is Pretty Cute,” which I found on Google Play today out of sheer boredom.

“The Ghost of Qingming Is Pretty Cute” was made by Orange Class — I remember them. I played their short piece “Death Livestream” before, and it felt like me showing off in a school essay back in the day. A bit lacking. But nowhere near the vomit-inducing garbage some Chinese devs churn out, so on that alone, it can’t be too bad.

Small download, short story. Basically a few pages of a pulp magazine. The male lead gets dumped, meets a strange ghost at home, spends some time with her. She says she wanted to fall in love, so she came back to the world of the living, but unfortunately got assigned to this guy. Eventually they go from bickering to having feelings for each other, and then the ghost disappears…

That’s the story. No suspense, no twists. The fun part is the daily banter — I definitely got some laughs. The whole “you have to take an exam to reincarnate” bit had me impressed at whoever came up with that.

If you seriously critique this little game, yeah, it doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. But it’s just a light piece of entertainment — more like a short story in a pulp magazine. Skim it, have a laugh, that’s enough.

The game only has 4 CGs. There is voice acting, but it’s pretty rough — not professional VAs, obviously. Anyway, you can’t expect too much. It really does look like something written on a whim.

I originally wanted to say the story has no head or tail, but on second thought that’s way too nitpicky. Ancient short-story collections are full of stuff like this. Fine for killing time. And the heroine is actually kind of fun. Like the title says — the ghost of Qingming is pretty cute.

Google Play download link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=bke.nvlmaker.qmjdghm