The Missing: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories is the latest new game from quirky game designer Hidetaka “Swery” Suehiro, known for cult classics such as Deadly Premonition and D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die. This is the first game to be released under his new studio Night Owls.
The Missing has you play J.J. as she and her friend Emily paid a visit to the Island Of Memories. Not long after, Emily is missing and you have to find her. Also, no one can die in the island.
But that does not mean no one can get hurt.
“No matter how many times J.J.’s brought back from the grips of death, she drags her mangled body deeper into the woods,” reads the official description.
The game is a 2D Platforming Puzzler, and the puzzles involve hurting yourself. J.J. can lose limbs, immolate herself and other ways of harming herself, painfully doing so. She can regenerate herself and reattach all of her body parts but a lot of the puzzles involves her getting hurt to progress. Have your arms chopped off so you can throw it to something that’s blocking your path, for example.
At least it’s not all just body horror thankfully. From time to time you can read messages from J.J.’s phone and learn about her and her friends, all in a light-hearted banter.
Published by Arc System Works, The Missing is out now on the PS4, PC (via Steam), Xbox One and Switch and is available on PS Store Asia for RM109. The Europe release for Switch has been delayed to the end of the month unfortunately, with Swery actively apologising about this.
White Owls’ other game, the Kickstarter-funded The Good Life, is still in development.