"Room 502: Boarding School Youth Mystery" is an adventure game where you can play the role of a detective in everyday mysteries such as "Ice Candy" and "Small Citizen Series" and solve mysteries [BitSummit the 13th]

 

In the genre of detective novels, there is something called "everyday mystery" that solves mysteries that occur in everyday life without murder or other incidents.

Honobu Yonezawa's works such as the "Classics Club" series, which is the original work of the anime adaptation of "Ice Candy", and the "Small Citizen" series, are representative examples. When you hear the word "everyday mystery," many people may think of these works.

Room 502: Boarding School Youth Mystery, which is being developed by Seoul, South Korea-based development team LOTS, is a detective adventure game that is a mystery × everyday life × the school, which is influenced by the works of Hoshin Yonezawa such as "Ice Candy".

We were able to experience the demo version of this game at "BitSummit the 13th" held on July 18~20, 2025 at Miyako Messe in Kyoto. The full version will also be localized into Japanese.

The image is taken from the official X (Twitter) account of LOTS.

The main character of this work is Hae-eun, a realist woman who has just entered Myungseo High School. The demo version begins with her heading to room 502, the dormitory where she will live from now on.

Hae-eun was trying to face her new life with a slightly cold feeling, but as soon as she entered room 502, her distraught roommate Serin said, "Da-hee has disappeared !!." I am told.

Dahi is one of the unseen roommates in room 502, which is a four-person room. She was supposed to be walking right in front of Serin with a carry case, but when she entered room 502, the carry case was left in a mess at the entrance. However, in a short time, all the luggage was organized, and only Dahi himself suddenly disappeared.

Dividing Se-rin's testimony into multiple "clues," Hae-eun begins to "deduce" the whereabouts of Da-hee, who has disappeared. Hae-eun combines several clues to form a "hypothesis". When a question arises, a new "clue" is selected to resolve it, and "inference" is derived.

The interface at the time of deduction is that "clues" and "inferences" are displayed in the rings on the left side of the screen, and from these, the one corresponding to the "problem to be solved now" displayed on the right side of the screen is selected. Depending on the situation, there may be only one correct answer out of multiple hypotheses, and multiple "clues" to be presented may be required, and there were situations where it was difficult to proceed without a certain amount of solid reasoning.

Although it stumbles in places, as the deduction progresses, the new "reasoning" appears in a small ring near the center, and you feel that you are gradually getting closer to the truth.

As the story progresses, new facts are revealed, and it seems that this may advance deduction.

In the demo version, the last roommate appeared in the middle of the demo and got a new testimony.

Formulate several hypotheses based on the testimonies of those around you and the facts that the situation points to. It is ...... to identify what is realistically possible among them and steadily approach the truth.

When I was playing the game, I thought, "This is the same as what Hontaro Oriki (*1) and Tsunegoro Kobato (*2) are doing!", and when I talked to the development team, they told me that they were influenced by Mr. Yonezawa's works such as "Ice Candy".

*1...... Detective role in the "Classics Club" series *2...... Detective role in the "Small Citizen" series

I like mystery adventure games that test the player's own thinking. But I'm not looking for bloody murders and crimes...... I think there is a lot of need for that.

Room 502: A Boarding School Youth Mystery may be a game that gently penetrates into the gaps of your heart.