Luciferd

[ルシファード]

1998年8月27日

“A new type of psychological adventure game”

Luciferd: Psychological Adventure, released on August 27 1998, for PlayStation, developed by TENN Laboratory and supervised by the T.N.S. Research Institute, is presented as a new type of psychological adventure game.

Luciferd is an interactive adventure game where the player explores, investigates, engages in dialogue, chooses dialogue options, and solves puzzles. However, the game is primarily conceived as a multi-scenario psychological test composed of five independent stories inspired by Jewish mythology, the Old Testament, and religious, historical, and political traditions, thereby creating a unique universe.

Long ago, a battle raged that divided the heavens. People called this battle Armageddon.

Having lost memory, the protagonist plunges into the realm of the unconscious to confront the past. It is a strange world where reality and illusion intertwine… The player’s choices will shape the future.

Taking on the role of an amnesiac protagonist, the player must explore five worlds to reclaim his lost memories.

Each story is approximately one hour long and features multiple branching paths and moral choices that can significantly alter the course of the narrative.

These decisions are used to analyze the player’s psychological tendencies and reveal the player’s “true nature.” The result is an interactive experience focused on the unconscious, emotions, and moral responsibility. It is therefore important for the player to choose carefully.

At the end of each story, the player receives a personal analysis that displays the consequences of his actions, and a psychological diagnostic.

The player’s personality is evaluated according to the “Lucifer Point” system, a moral scale ranging from 0 to 100, centered around ±50, delivered by a designated angel depending on the score, in order to determine whether the character leans toward good or evil. This virtuous indicator evolves according to the player’s actions and serves as a diagnostic measure, with the player’s personality type shifting based on in-game choices. A higher score brings the player closer to demonic forces and reflects a more evil nature, while a lower score draws the player toward divine forces and reflects a more ethical nature. This alignment also determines the ending.

This diagnostic framework draws on research in psychology, sociology, and statistics and is attributed to Japanese research psychologist and author Hachirō Asano, a fortune teller known for his work in physiognomy and facial analysis. After graduating from the University of Fukuoka, he pursued research in France and, during the 1960s, explored computer-based recognition of human traits with the aim of applying these methods to personality diagnosis.

This pseudo-scientific dimension gives the game a distinctive aura, hovering between popular psychology, modern divination, and video game experimentation.

The game is a virtual experience that appeals to the unconscious: the player must navigate between good and evil, make moral choices, and observes the psychological consequences that follow.

The narrative constantly evolves based on the player’s actions. The player’s choices determine everything, and each world explores a specific theme related to human concerns, survival, emotions, or collective destiny.

The outcomes are often dramatic, at times tragic, and some endings feel unavoidable despite the player’s choices, reinforcing the perception of a fatalistic universe.

In essence, it is a game that judges the player’s moral nature.

Because this is a personality test, the player must provide his gender, zodiac sign, favorite color and favorite number, reinforcing the idea of a personalized diagnosis. Once this is completed, the opening sequence begins and the story unfolds.

The core stories remain identical whether the player chooses a male or female character, even though the narrative framing is inverted accordingly.

The player then selects one of the five stages. Every story presents several variations, each progressing and concluding with deeply different moral and tragic outcomes.

All actions are handled with the directional inputs. A menu provides access to inventory, which displays the items currently in the player’s possession, map, and save functions.

The game supports the PlayStation Mouse.

Luciferd can thus be perceived as a system that judges the player through his conversational choices, sometimes in disconcerting ways: realistic, strategic, or individualistic attitudes may be labeled morally negative, which raises questions about the system’s underlying ethical values. Some scenarios seem doomed to end badly, and maybe they are not designed to guarantee a happy ending. Sometimes, outcomes are tragic regardless of the player’s actions. … Still, seemingly positive endings do exist and can be reached if the player consistently makes good moral choices throughout the narrative.

Once the final chapter is completed, the story comes to an end. A special ending unlocks after finishing every scenario, and the overall result depends on the player’s total Lucifer’s Points.

The game comprises five narratives, corresponding to five different worlds, each presenting its own parable about humanity — with every story profoundly transformed according to the player’s moral alignment.

“Lemuria” takes place in a world where humanity lives beneath protective domes, isolated from the outside environment after an ancient nuclear war. The story portrays a devastated Earth following a global conflict in which 99.8% of humanity perished, and the remaining survivors continue to decline in number within these enclosed habitats.

In modern esotericism, Lemuria represents a lost primordial civilization — a symbol of humanity’s forgotten spiritual heritage.

The narrative follows a group of immigrants traveling to Lemuria to save a dying man and secure a future, only to discover a rigid, unequal society where immigrants are marginalized and political tensions are rising. As conflict erupts between the authoritarian administration and a revolutionary movement seeking equality and environmental restoration, the city is pushed to the brink of destruction. After a nuclear devastation wipes everything away and resets the timeline, a new beginning emerges: Lemuria becomes the starting point of a global ecological renewal, transforming hell into paradise.

“Hourai”, set in ancient China, centers on the quest for the elixir of immortality. Inspired by classical legends and the pursuit of eternal life, it explores humanity’s desire to transcend natural laws and overcome mortality.

Hourai, a mystical archetype from Chinese Taoism, is the paradise of the immortals — a symbol of spiritual awakening and inner transcendence.

The story follows a traveler sent by his emperor to seek the legendary elixir said to exist in Hourai. After years at sea, he reaches a kingdom where any mention of immortality is forbidden. Drawn into a political conflict between the king and the exiled general Xu Fu, —who has secretly spent his life searching for the same elixir—the player uncovers a tragic truth: the promise of immortality breeds suspicion, betrayal, and obsession rather than salvation. In the end, the player drinks the elixir of immortality and confronts the Emperor of Hourai, freeing him from his endless torment. Eventually, all the people of Hourai fade away.

“Canaan” unfolds in an underground city ruled by computers after humanity fled the contaminated surface. In this post-nuclear society, a supercomputer named Abraham suppresses emotions and desires to maintain order, raising the question of what defines humanity when feelings disappear.

In the Bible, Canaan is the spiritual Promised Land. It represents the culmination of the spiritual journey.

The story follows a resident drawn into a youth rebellion seeking to destroy Abraham, the central AI that governs Canaan while secretly controlling the population through surveillance and systematic lobotomy. As tensions rise within the city, the player discovers that Abraham is embodied in Reason, a young woman created to regulate humanity’s psychological stability. After taking control of the administration, the rebels realize that destroying Abraham would also kill Reason. The attempt to erase the system fails, leaving Canaan unchanged—though many young people are beginning to escape the government’s control. In the end, Reason and Genius, the rebel leader, depart together to the surface.

“Carneades” follows a spacecraft carrying the last survivors of Earth after the planet is struck by a swarm of meteorites. As they search for a habitable world, the journey becomes a metaphor for a displaced humanity struggling to begin again elsewhere.

In Greek philosophy, Carneades stands for sacred doubt — the purification of the mind through skepticism.

Aboard the vessel Carneades, thirty crew members monitor five billion humans in cryostasis, on a journey that has already lasted nearly three centuries. After losing contact with the ship’s rear section, the crew discovers that the previous team was decimated by a bacterial infection caused by a meteorite fragment, and chose to sacrifice themselves to prevent contamination. As the infection resurfaces, paranoia grows and tensions rise among the officers over whether to detach the infected section or attempt to develop a vaccine. The player’s decisions lead to catastrophe: the crew is ultimately exterminated, the ship sterilized, and humanity once again brought to the brink. Yet two survivors secretly escape, carrying with them the fragile hope that future generations may learn from this cycle of doubt, sacrifice, and error.

“Adama” is set in a prosperous nation inspired by medieval Europe, depicting a flourishing society where individual destiny is shaped by social structures and shared collective emotions.

In spiritual and esoteric traditions, Adama represents humanity’s origin and the weight of existence.

The story follows Prince Henry, who returns from abroad to be crowned king, only to discover that members of the nobility are conspiring to take the throne. Betrayed by those close to him, Henry finds out that he is the twin brother of a humble baker, from whom he was separated at birth as part of a manipulation designed to preserve political control. As a plot to assassinate Prince Henry unfolds, the two men exchange identities. In the end, deprived of his crown and his future, Henry chooses to share the fate of his imprisoned father, embracing a tragic destiny shaped by his own actions and by the political system imposed upon him.

Each of these endings represents just one possible outcome for each story, determined by the player’s choices.

For example, in Lemuria, instead of following Mary and assisting the administration that ultimately leads to the nuclear explosion, the player may choose to side with Gilliam and the terrorists. This choice results in a confrontation with Dr. Peterson’s perfected insect-man life forms, after which the player escapes the city.

In Hourai, if the player chooses not to trust General Xu Fu, instead of drinking the elixir of immortality and confronting the emperor, the conflict results in the general’s death. Overcome with guilt, the player is forced to flee for ever and ever, leaving immortality as an unattainable illusion.

In Adama, if the player decides not to flee the city, he avoids being imprisoned and succeeds in foiling the assassination plot. He is then able to reunite with his father and live peacefully with his family.

Luciferd is a success in terms of perspective and storytelling. It is designed as a hybrid experience, combining an adventure game, a psychological test, and an interactive reflection on human nature. Despite its rudimentary appearance, the game offers a surprisingly deep exploration of the unconscious and morality, leaving the player responsible for charting his own path in a universe where every choice reveals something about himself.

Each world acts as a symbolic projection of humanity’s fundamental fears, staging extreme situations that serve as psychological mirrors. The conclusion is often dramatic, describing a path that gradually leads to the end of humanity. In this symbolic hell, it is up to the player to make his own choices.

Each line of dialogue holds genuine importance and expresses a remarkable depth of meaning. The interactions feel like participating in a kind of awakening of humanity, and removing even a single line would weaken the story of an essential part of its moral and ethical significance.

Lucifer’s Points operate more as a tool for moral questioning than as an absolute judgment. Thus, on a psychological level, Luciferd does not attempt to tell the player whether he is good or evil. The game functions as a projective experience in which the player learns less about the protagonist’s destiny than about his own position when faced with moral dilemmas and the contradictions of the human condition.