High School Dirty Secrets: Haunted Halls, Hidden Truths
Waking up in a locked school with no memory and only a haunted smartphone for company, “High School Dirty Secrets” plunges players into a chilling labyrinth of psychological horror. As Kasuga stumbles through eerie corridors and cryptic messages, each step unearths a darker truth buried beneath the school’s pristine facade. This anime-styled mystery doesn’t just flirt with fear, it texts it straight to your screen. Our deep dive into “High School Dirty Secrets” explores its twisted mechanics, atmospheric design, and the secrets that refuse to stay buried.
High School Dirty Secrets Review Pros
- Decent graphics.
- 4.26GB download size.
- Steam achievements.
- Full controller support.
- Video settings – window mode, display resolution, lock FPS, v-sync, brightness slider, and field of view slider.
- Audio sliders for – voice, music, SFX, and master volume.
- Controller settings – rumble on/off, Invert axis, and sensitivity sliders.
- Third-person action-adventure gameplay.
- Tutorial pop-ups as you play.
- You can go into first-person view at anytime and play. In this mode, you can see in-game interaction prompts, etc., and use the mobile phone light.
- In-game cutscenes and character interactions are all text-based and show the speaker’s avatar.
- A full 3D game world that is mostly dark and requires you to use your mobile phone light.
- The mobile phone acts like a hub and houses contacts, stories, and the map, etc.
- Pick up and view items via a 3D viewer.
- Find and hide yourself in cupboards and under tables.
- The game does drip in atmosphere; the dark, empty school setting and first-person lighting really have you on edge, kind of ruined with the bad music choices, but turn that off for maximum immersion.
- Horror is injected into the game as you get hunted down by this girl, and all you can do is run and hide when you hear her.
- Checkpoints trigger (you don’t know when), and the game does a good job of saving what items you picked up beforehand.
- The sound effects and screaming of the girl chasing you are a lot better than the normal music.
- The school is huge, and you can freely look around, find keys and open new doors, etc.
- Find clues and notes to help you progress.
- It is a good game flow, it has the balance right from actual progress, and you are just sniffing around everywhere.
- The main gameplay is puzzle solving, and the game does a good job with it; it’s a mix of clues, riddles, and finding the right object to go with another.
- Aside from the performance issues, the game is good and is best played with headphones for sure; it would also play well on the Steam Deck.
High School Dirty Secrets Review Cons
- The performance is not fantastic; it can freeze and slow down at random times.
- No way to remap the controls.
- There is no hard save button, and you are never sure when it has saved.
- You have no accessibility options at all, and the camera can be a bit too loose at times.
- It’s annoying thatthe first-person view is the only way to see prompts and use the phone light.
- Hardly any voice work at all, it’s all just text, and small text at that.
- Could be classed as a bit overly sexy. You look down at your phone, and you are able to see both breasts bouncing around. Oh, and you get chased by an underwear-clad girl.
- The mouse cursor keeps popping back up on the screen, especially when using the menu.
- You cannot pause when in hiding.
- Tutorial-wise, you just get a button prompt or something, and then that’s it, so the first chase sequence is not the best introduction.
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High School Dirty Secrets
Developer: Mitsuki Game Studio
Publisher: JanduSoft
Store Link:
High School Dirty Secrets Review
Summary
High School Dirty Secrets: The Thrills and Highlights of Gameplay:
High School Dirty Secrets drops you into a dark school with nothing but a haunted smartphone and your wits. The third-person action-adventure setup mixes exploration, puzzle solving, and tense chase sequences as you run and hide from the girl hunting you. The mobile phone acts as your hub for contacts, stories, and the map, while first-person mode lets you see prompts and use the phone light. The school is huge, full of keys, clues, riddles, and items to find, and the game balances progress with free roaming really well. With decent atmosphere, strong sound effects, and a good flow of puzzles, High School Dirty Secrets keeps you on edge and rewards careful searching.
High School Dirty Secrets: Where It Falls Short Key Negatives: Performance is the biggest issue, with random freezes and slowdowns breaking immersion. You cannot remap controls, and the lack of a hard save button means you never know when it has saved. Accessibility options are nonexistent, the camera can feel loose, and the first-person prompts being essential is annoying. The text-only dialogue is small, the mouse cursor pops up during menus, and you cannot pause while hiding. The first chase tutorial is not a great introduction, and the game leans into being a bit overly sexy with bouncing breasts and an underwear-clad pursuer.
High School Dirty Secrets Immersive Story and Narrative Elements:
You wake up locked inside a school with no memory and only a haunted smartphone guiding you. As Kasuga explores eerie corridors and follows cryptic messages, the game slowly reveals darker truths hidden beneath the school’s clean exterior. The anime-style mystery leans into psychological horror, using the phone, the atmosphere, and the constant threat of being hunted to build tension as you uncover what is really going on.
High School Dirty Secrets: Visual and Performance Aspects:
The graphics are decent, and the full 3D world is mostly dark, relying heavily on your phone’s light for visibility. The atmosphere works well when the music is turned off, letting the sound effects and the screaming of the girl chasing you take over. You get a range of video settings, including resolution, v-sync, brightness, and field of view, plus audio sliders and controller options. Despite this, performance problems hold it back, and the lack of accessibility features and occasional camera issues make things rougher than they should be.
High School Dirty Secrets Overall Verdict: Is It Worth Playing? High School Dirty Secrets delivers a tense, atmospheric horror experience with strong puzzle work, a huge school to explore, and a solid sense of progression. When it works, it really works, especially with headphones. But the performance issues, lack of accessibility, and some questionable design choices stop it from reaching its full potential. Even so, it offers a good mix of exploration and fear for players willing to overlook its rough edges.
Back of the Box Quotes:
A dark school, a haunted phone, and no escape.
