Broken Minds

Official Synopsis
Broken Minds is a murder-mystery visual novel set in 90s Japan.

When lonely 20-something Noa Karada finds herself being stalked by a mysterious killer in a rabbit mask known as The Orphan, she contacts the Yamagata Private Detective Agency for help. However, as her case grows more complex, the detectives grow more distant and eccentric. Perhaps Noa would’ve been better off never letting them into her life at all…

Status
Available to purchase on Steam, itch.io, and GameJolt.

Free demo available on itch.io.

Characters
Noa Karada

Noriko Karada

Hiroki Karada

Ume Hakase

Takuma Karashi

Yuzuki Hiiro

Junji Uzumaki

Reiwa Kyougi

Amane Kirishima (mentioned)

The Orphan

Locations

 * Noa's apartment
 * Hospital (never visited, seen in a cutscene)
 * YPDA offices
 * Uzumaki's office
 * Uzumaki's house (mentioned, never seen or visited)
 * Reiwa's house

Resources
Have a look at the official walkthrough if you're stuck, and the medals page for a guide on what you can unlock in the game.

Other useful pages:
 * The visual style page
 * The extras page (spoilers)
 * Credits

Technical

 * Approximately 4 - 5 hours on first playthrough
 * 57,375 words, 7,221 lines total (includes developer commentary and tutorials)

Gameplay
Though Broken Minds is primarily a visual novel, you are able to explore environments in the game by clicking arrows at the bottom of the screen.

The most obvious gameplay comes in the form of the Logic Train sections.

There are also choices to make that set you on different paths, such as the Emoji Mood Choice, and Evidence Choice menus.

Trivia

 * The characters actually canonically change clothes (whereas many visual novel/movie/anime characters have a "signature look"). The reason the sprites appear in the same clothes throughout the game is because it only takes place over three days, and each day is so intense that there is no time to change clothes.
 * The initial plot of the game was about the YPDA fighting terrorists. It was set in the "near future", and would've taken place in only three locations: Noa's apartment, the YPDA, and Noa's parent's apartment. This version of the game was called "Our Sin" (a play on the word "Arson"). The only things that remain from this version are: Most of the main cast, the concepts for the environments, and the fact that the case involves arson.
 * Here are some of the notes written during the development process.

Plot
SPOILER WARNING! This section outlines the full plot of the game, and as such, contains major spoilers for the different routes.

"Sunday. The usual time for my parents to visit me in my new apartment."

Broken Minds opens with Noa waiting for her parents, Noriko and Hiroki, to arrive. Soon after, a figure in a rabbit mask appears at the window, scaring them. Smoke begins to fill the apartment, and Noa and her parents jump out of the window to escape. An ambulance arrives soon afterwords, (presumably Noa called it).

One day later, Noa is meeting with Ume, the "techie" of the Yamagata Private Detective Agency. Ume agrees to help Noa solve the mystery, and immediately starts pressuring Noa about the YPDA's payment for solving it. Ume leaves Noa to talk with Yuzuki, (the coroner). Noa follows her into the bullpen, and begins a conversation, triggering the Emoji Mood Choice Screen. Ume takes a phone call from Takuma, (the chief investigator). Noa hears the doorbell ring, goes to answer it, and finds a letter. Ume and Noa read the letter, and discover that it contains a confession from the masked individual, who calls themselves "The Orphan", that they have killed Noa's parents while Noa is at the Agency. Noa calls Hiroki's cell phone, but he doesn't answer.

Noa insists that Ume follow her to her apartment. When they arrive, they find that Noa's parents really have been killed. The detectives begin their investigation. Takuma asks Noa a series of questions about the case. Your answers to his questions factor into which route you are on.

Takuma's theory is that Noriko and Hiroki were killed by The Orphan right after he left. The Orphan came in through the broken window and shot both of them. However, his theory doesn't cover the damage done to Noa's pillows.

Yuzuki enters the conversation and explains that, contrary to Takuma's theory, while the victims have bullet holes, Hiroki actually died from poisoning, and Noriko died from a heart attack. The other detectives antagonize her. Depending on whether you saw a certain framed newspaper in the YPDA Noa theorizes that Yuzuki is disliked for getting the YPDA into massive debt. Noa can choose to help Yuzuki with the evidence right away, or stay and answer a question about her theory regarding the killer's motive. But either way, Noa eventually helps Yuzuki sort the evidence.

While sorting evidence, Noa can either "solve" or "tamper" with three items, depending on which route you're on. The detectives then consider the evidence before them, and either solve or don't solve parts of it depending on your choice of evidence and whether you were solving or tampering with it. No matter what, the detectives always zero in on Noa's therapist, Dr. Uzumaki, as a person of interest in the case after she mentions him. They pile into the detective's car to go to his office.

When they arrive, they are greeted by Reiwa Kyougi, Dr. Uzumaki's secretary. She's about to go home for the day, but is convinced to let the detectives talk to Dr. Uzumaki.

Unfortunately, they find Dr. Uzumaki sprawled dead on the floor. Ume, Yuzuki and Reiwa move his body to prepare for an on-the-spot autopsy. Takuma recruits Noa into "helping him" search the office for clues (when really, she's doing all the work).

Noa finds rabbit-themed chocolates dumped in the pond. She needs a key to access Uzumaki's private office, and so goes to find Reiwa to get it. Reiwa is crying, but after some consoling, gives Noa the key. Noa finds a piece of paper in Uzumaki's file cabinet with scribbles of rabbits all over it.

She shows it to the detectives, want her to pay for their investigation of Dr. Uzumaki. Noa points out that they need to tie Uzumaki's murder to The Orphan in order for her to pay them for investigating both murders. Takuma does so by connecting the rabbit sketch and rabbit-themed chocolates to The Orphan, who has been established as having a connection to rabbits. Noa can then choose which suspect to try to tie the murders to: Dr. Uzumaki, Reiwa, or a girl named Amane Kirishima, who is a patient of Dr. Uzumaki's. Takuma dismisses Amane as a suspect because he has deduced that she is a little girl who probably wouldn't kill anybody and has no connection to Noa's parents. He also doubts Reiwa has a connection to Noa's parents."I don't think Reiwa had any motive to kill your parents, or try to burn your house down. Therefore, I don't think she would use rabbit-shaped chocolate to kill her boss. Why be so specific if not to send a message?""— Takuma." Thus, the detectives conclude that Uzumaki is their prime suspect, and that he poisoned himself with the chocolates so that he wouldn't get caught. Yuzuki reveals that the unidentified poison that Uzumaki was killed with is the same poison that Hiroki was poisoned with. Ume suggests that Noa spend the night at Reiwa's house, since her apartment is a crime scene. Reiwa agrees to let Noa stay there.

When Noa and Reiwa arrive, Reiwa reveals to Noa that she thinks she killed Dr. Uzumaki in a drug-induced rage because she knows many terrible secrets about him. He isn't a licensed therapist, for one. This triggers the first Logic Train gameplay section, in which Noa must either convince Reiwa that yes, she did indeed kill him, or disprove it, depending on your current route.

Noa can then ask if Reiwa will be her friend. Reiwa refuses. Noa goes to sleep, and has a strange dream where the detectives, who have turned into rabbit creatures, are on the stairs near Noa's upper apartment. Noa awakens distraught, convinced that her dream is important somehow.

Reiwa drives Noa back to the YPDA offices, for the endgame. Once there, the detectives begin their final deduction based on either of two conclusions: Uzumaki is The Orphan or Noa is The Orphan. Each conclusion gets three different Logic Train gameplay sections, as Noa argues with the detectives and tests their theory.

Endings
Uzumaki is The Orphan In this version of events, Uzumaki stood outside Noa's apartment window with a homemade gun, ready to kill Noa's parents. However, he was scared off by a puff of water vapor from Noa's rice cooker, which he confused with smoke. The next day, he returned to try again. He waited until Takuma left, then shot Noa's parents, spewing bullets everywhere. The shock of being shot at by a rabbit masked individual triggered Noriko's heart attack, and even though the homemade bullets didn't kill her, that did. Uzumaki also saw that Hiroki was still breathing after being shot. Luckily, he had a pink poisoned chocolate to feed him (the detectives mistook a chocolate smear on Hiroki's lips for a lipstick smear). He drove right past Takuma on his way to deliver the letter. Once he was back at his office, he poisoned himself with the chocolates.

Uzumaki's motive is theorized, but never confirmed.

The detectives then offer Noa the chance to join their agency for having helped them with the mystery. Noa can either refuse or accept this offer which results in the "JOIN" or "ALONE" endings.

JOIN
Noa can be seen posing with the detectives in a framed newspaper. It is implied that she replaced Yuzuki as a member, as Yuzuki's face is scribbled out in a nearby framed roster of detectives.

ALONE
The framed newspaper includes Yuzuki, and her face isn't scribbled out. Noa is crouched in her apartment, alone with her thoughts.

Noa is The Orphan In this version of events, Noa created an incredibly elaborate plot to remotely kill her parents in order to have friends. It started when she mailed the poisoned chocolates to Uzumaki. The "fire" was actually a bit of dry ice in the rice cooker. Noa used a stone tied to a string to fake tapping sounds at the window. When she directed her parents to look there, she removed the rabbit mask from her purse. The reflection of the mask in the window made it look like the figure was outside. Noa then jumped out the window. In the ambulance, Noa swapped Noriko's lipstick with poisoned lipstick. She created the poison by swiping Reiwa's drugs while visiting Uzumaki. The drugs, when mixed with "a few household items", create a poison that kills within half an hour when ingested, and doesn't damage skin. Noa gave Noriko the antidote to the poison in the hospital. She also altered Hiroki's cell phone ringtone to emit a high-pitched sound that would disrupt Noriko's pacemaker, and also trigger shrapnel bombs in the pillows. When Noa called Hiroki in the YPDA office, the ringtone killed Noriko. Hiroki performed mouth-to-mouth to try to keep her alive, and was poisoned by Noriko's lipstick. The bombs went off, disguising the murder as a shooting.

Noa's motive is revealed in pieces throughout the different routes.

This conclusion results, again, in two choices. The detectives offer to take a large bribe and completely let Noa off the hook for what she's done. Or, she can refuse the bribe and go to jail.

JAIL
Noa is seen in a jail cell, ruminating on events.

PAID
Noa is seen leaving the YPDA, free to murder again.

Routes & True Endings
DEEP SPOILER WARNING! It is highly recommended that you play the game to discover these secrets for yourself before reading.

There are two "true endings" in Broken Minds, which are unlocked after you play through the game on "NICE", "EXPIATOR", "BLEAK", "PUPPET", etc. Dialogue and Logic Trains that you have seen before become skippable, making it less of an excruciating experience.

After playing through the game and getting one of the "Noa is guilty" endings, play up until you first talk to Ume in the YPDA. A cutscene begins, revealing that the choice between "NICE", "LIAR", "PSYCHOPATH", etc. is actually a choice between alternate personalities — Noa has dissociative identity disorder, which explains some of the vagueness of the writing.

Noa's "nice" alter is convinced by the "puppet" alter to look under her sleeve, where it revealed that "puppet" has been communicating with "liar" and "psychopath" to work against Noa's "good" alternate states by reading messages on Noa wrote on her own arm in marker, and then rubbing them away.

"Expiator" warns "nice" of the danger, and Noa hurries home. She finds her parents alive and well, since she never triggered Hiroki's cell phone ringtone by calling him. She confesses to them that she isn't entirely ready to have her own apartment and be independent. They understand and say they will support her. She runs to the upper apartment to confirm the memories flashing through her mind, and finds equipment for planning and carrying out the murder, including some real life representations of Logic Train minigames.

Noa's "evil" alters realize that they have lost. Finally, Noa explains that she continued to live with her parents in her life, and that she's beginning to make some friends after finding a new therapist.

Playing through the game again (or loading a save), from the "Uzumaki is Guilty" ending, and then playing the game until you talk to Ume again results in a darker ending. Everything is the same leading up to Noa exploring the upper apartment, where she discovers that it is completely empty. It is implied that the entire scheme to kill her parents was just in her head. A gunshot sounds from downstairs. Noa rushes down to see Uzumaki standing over her dead parents, wearing the rabbit mask. He mutters something about Amane needing a friend, before shooting Noa point blank."This one's broken...""— Dr. Uzumaki."Seeing both true endings unlocks the extras menu.