The Centennial Case : A Shijima Story

A century of deaths hangs over the Shijima family, turning a stately Japanese mystery into an unusually cinematic detective adventure. You play Haruka Kagami, a crime novelist drawn into four interconnected cases spanning 1922, 1972, and 2022, where recurring symbols and seemingly impossible murders point toward a much older secret. Rather than presenting its story through conventional cutscenes, The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story unfolds as a lavish live-action drama, with carefully framed performances, period costumes, and locations that give every era its own character. The tone is serious and theatrical, balancing family tragedy, locked-room intrigue, and the unsettling promise of eternal youth.

Each case moves through an accessible three-part structure: watch the Incident, examine the evidence during Reasoning, then test your answer in the Solution. Footage pauses at key moments so you can inspect dialogue, behavior, and objects for clue words, gradually building a mental board of facts and possible connections. In the Reasoning phase, those clues are combined into hypotheses; pairing the right evidence exposes contradictions, opens new lines of thought, and narrows down how a crime occurred. The final confrontations ask you to choose the explanation that best fits the case, so attention matters, although the game generally steers players forward rather than punishing them with harsh adventure-game dead ends.

What makes it memorable is the way its FMV presentation serves the detective work instead of merely decorating it. Actors return in different roles across the timelines, creating a deliberate, almost stage-like sense of repetition that encourages players to notice family patterns and visual echoes. The cases are mostly linear, and the challenge comes from logical deduction rather than free-roaming exploration or reflexes, making it easy to enjoy at a relaxed pace. Fans of Ace Attorney-style reasoning, interactive crime dramas, and Japanese television mysteries should find plenty to appreciate, while newcomers get a guided, polished route into the genre.