Type-NOISE: Shonen Shojo review – trauma dumping

Type-Noise Shonen Shojo protagonist sat in sewer water — Things start strong with protagonist Zena waking up in a stranger sewer with no memory of how she got there (WhisperGames)

Zero Escape-esque puzzle solving

It’s not often you’ll see big budget video games try to tackle the sensitive subjects of mental health and trauma. Some have tried to varying degrees of success, such as the two Hellblade games, but discussions and analyses of mental health are more common and typically better handled in indie titles.

However, it’s not enough to simply broach the topic. The truly great examples, like Celeste and Chicory: A Colorful Tale, stand out because they actually have something meaningful to say about their subject matter and are incredibly fun to play regardless of their messaging.

Sadly, the same can’t be said for the recently released Type-NOISE: Shonen Shojo, which certainly tries, both from a gameplay and story perspective, but stumbles multiple times throughout its roughly 15 hour running time.

The best point of comparison is the Zero Escape games, as Type-NOISE sees a group of strangers being forced to solve puzzles through a series of glorified escape rooms; all of which offer some wonderfully trippy and psychedelic background art.

In this case, it’s six Japanese teens trapped in a strange city, with no memory of how they got there, and a feline mascot called Spectre warning them not to leave, lest they set off the explosive devices in their heads.

As they explore the city and try to find a way to escape, the cast regain painful memories and are forced to confront their traumatic pasts, which raise the question of whether it’d be better to forget those memories entirely.

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It’s a familiar but no less intriguing premise, that lends itself well to a mystery-driven story and things start off quite strong thanks to a fairly breezy pace. You’re thrown into the deep end and after getting through your first escape room, with little time wasted on introducing the key players and grasping the basics of the situation they find themselves in.

This pacing persists throughout the rest of the game, but it’s something of a double-edged sword, since it means there’s little time for the cast to have any sort of meaningful interaction, especially as a group – since you typically only explore escape rooms with one or two other characters.

It doesn’t help that none of the cast are particularly compelling. They already start out with one-note personalities (like the abrasive one and the peppy one), but even as they recover lost memories, all that changes is that they’re secretly much sadder than they realise.

Type-Noise Shonen Shojo escape room that looks like a nightclub but underwater — The escape rooms offer some enjoyably warped visuals (WhisperGames)

We couldn’t tell you if this is a fault with the English localisation or not, but it may be as it’s disappointingly clunky. Nobody talks naturally and we counted numerous spelling mistakes, missing words, and other weird errors throughout, which results in undermining many of the story’s more dramatic and emotional moments.

We’re also convinced this poor localisation resulted in giving us the wrong hint for putting the right colour of make-up on a mannequin, during an early puzzle. This is assuming you can actually read any of the text, since it often appears far too small.

The developers have acknowledged the ‘unnatural’ localisation and ‘plan to review and revise the overall text,’ but we’re not sure if that’ll do much to improve the overall story.

It reminds us a lot of Silent Hill: The Short Message’s attempt at tackling mental health issues. The game clearly means well, and has a nice sentiment about accepting one’s trauma and forging new relationships with others, but it lacks any subtly or nuance in how it depicts and addresses each of the cast’s pasts.

Type-Noise Shonen Shojo one character grips another by the shoulders with a desperate look on his face — Any genuine tragedy is overshadowed by awkward dialogue and a complete absence of any nuance (WhisperGames)

Abusive parental figures are so cartoonishly cruel they make Final Fantasy 7’s capitalist villains look nuanced by comparison. And a couple of plotlines are hampered by some very soap opera style storytelling, that makes it even harder to take things seriously.

Type-NOISE has nothing to say about the struggles of young people in abusive relationships, other than it’s a bad thing. The same applies to plot points regarding things like suicide and rape, with no effort to examine the effect they can have, beyond making the characters sad, or how they can heal afterwards. The power of friendship and self-belief can only do so much.

One plotline about a character’s toxic romance comes the closest to offering a bit more nuance, as you see it turn from a sincere, loving relationship to something more bitter and destructive. But since you’re only provided fleeting glimpses of it, its degradation comes across as rushed and it sadly falls apart by the end.

Admittedly, the main mystery about the truth behind the city, and how the cast wound up there, has a good pay-off, thanks to a couple of fun twists that recontextualise the entire story. It’s cliched at points, but at least the game ends on something of a bittersweet high note.

Type-Noise Shonen Shojo fighting game puzzle that resembles Street Fighter — There are a handful of unique puzzle ideas, like this fighting game one (WhisperGames)

We found the actual puzzle solving to be mostly fine too, if awfully simple at points, especially if you’ve cut your teeth on the likes of Zero Escape or AI: The Somnium Files.

In a way, this makes Type-NOISE quite welcoming to those not as experienced with puzzle games, since most of the time you’re only scouring for items – like needing a key to unlock a drawer or putting together disparate parts of a video game console.

Interacting with certain items gives you puzzle pieces that you need to fit together to unlock the casts’ memories, which in turn provide hints for solving the more in-depth and unique puzzles for each room. Examples include a game of rock-paper-scissors in the guise of a fighting game or an obvious Ace Attorney inspired courtroom trial.

However, some items are very easy to miss because of how small they are, although there’s a button that highlights every interactable object in the room, rendering this a non-issue.

There’s also an optional guide if you really struggle figuring out what needs doing next, so you’re unlikely to ever get truly stuck… barring that aforementioned make-up puzzle and maybe one devious slide puzzle near the very end of the game.

With so many other indie games out there, that do a better job at examining mental health issues and trauma, there’s little reason to play Type-NOISE: Shonen Shojo unless you’re really hankering for some escape room style puzzle solving.

Perhaps its sincerity and willingness to touch upon mature topics will be enough for some people, but anyone looking for a thoughtful examination beyond ‘don’t let bad things get you down’ will be left extremely underwhelmed.

Type-NOISE: Shonen Shojo review summary

In Short: A well-meaning Zero Escape expy that’s too simple for puzzle fiends and too shallow for anyone looking for a nuanced examination of dealing with one’s trauma.

Pros: Brisk pace and short length means it doesn’t overstay its welcome. Approachable to those less experienced with puzzle games. Some neat plot twists near the end. Solid soundtrack and fun visuals for the escape rooms.

Cons: Incredibly shallow in how it depicts and addresses mature subjects. No interesting characters. Very clunky localisation and English script. Some may find one subplot about rape borderline offensive.

Score: 4/10

Formats: PC (reviewed)
Price: £16.75
Publisher: WhisperGames
Developer: DankHearts
Release Date: 17th September 2025