Media Journal: Room No.9 (18+)

    CONTENT WARNING: This blog post contains discussions of nonconsensual sex and other dark themes

    After playing Sweet Pool (Blog post coming soon!! I wrote so much its overwhelming me atm lol) I really wanted to play more BL games that played with horror and sexuality. The premise of Room No.9 excited me. It's about two friends trapped in a room forced to choose between sexually debasing or physically injuring each other to escape. It's like Saw with gay sex. I was super interested in the psychological aspect of it, there's so much that can be explored with the bond of two straight men. I went in mostly blind, which usually pays off but this time it kinda was a mistake. I did end up liking it but I did feel it lacking, and was disappointed in the conclusions it made.

    The rest of this post will contain spoilers for all the routes!

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    Common Route

    Daichi's and Seiji's friendship really shine even in the beginning. I was touched every time they wanted to protect each other. Daichi tasks required him to be injured, and he would happily volunteer himself every time, saying that he was used to being hurt. Seeing him give himself up made me sooo sad. I related with Seiji who wanted to protect him. Seiji pushed for his tasks to be done instead, since they were sexual in nature he argued no one would leave with any physical scars.

    Can I say I fell in love with Seiji. Daichi would constantly praise Seiji for being sooo handsome and perfect and considerate. Just like a prince. I totally fell for it. Which did have some consequences (See Ending D). Also they really showed his cute side. I thought it was cute he asked Daichi to cover his nose when the task was for Daichi to collect semen from him. He was embarassed by the smell? lol

    Daichi was pretty amused about this too. There's no doubt Daichi is attracted to Seiji. I honestly don't think its as bad as a thing as some of the endings make it out to be though.

    Ending A

    You get this ending by being cold to Seiji and letting him fully carry the brunt of the tasks. They leave the facility completely changed, Daichi and Seiji are no longer friends and have no contact. Daichi becomes a sadist and Seiji a masochist. They only meet up to have sex, there is no more warmth in their relationship.

    I have a problem with this ending. I was actually excited with the lead up to it, and I thought I was on my way to a good ending? I was interested in what their dynamic was becoming. They both had some enjoyment out of completing Seiji's tasks. They were realizing their attraction to each other and starting to accept it. I thought Daichi, who thought he didn't deserve good things, becoming someone who was allowed to be selfish with his desires was great character development. The same with Seiji. A reserved guy who's under the thumb of his family's expectations, being allowed to let loose and be humililated. It's great stuff!!

    It's sad to see the awakening of these feelings result in a bad ending. I don't like that they framed Daichi and Seiji's hookups as something you're supposed to be disgusted by. I think there could've been a middle ground between this ending and Ending F. Let them be bros and BDSM fuck buddies <3

    Ending B

    You get this ending basically the same way as Ending A, but with showing some remorse. Seiji eventually breaks and attempts to kill Daichi, but he couldn't do it after seeing Daichi not resist. Daichi then kills Seiji to put him out of his misery.

    This made me sooo sad. The fact that Seiji couldn't kill Daichi really told me so much about his character and how he feels about Daichi. He couldn't bear to watch Daichi sacrfice himself again. His best friend who always put others above him and let himself get treated like dirt. I cry. Seiji was protecting Daichi this entire time, silently accepting to do his tasks. He seemed like a dependable put-together guy. But you (Daichi) fail to see Seiji needs protecting too.

    Ending C

    This ending is achieved the same way as A and B, but with Daichi showing a little more warmth. Daichi and Seiji give up on trying to escape and spend their days in the room having sex.

    My thoughts about this feel a little incomplete. I was fooled in the beginning thinking this was a good ending, because the sex they had was sweet and emotional. But then it got to the point to where it was the only thing they did, until they were just wallowing in their own filth. Is the message is if you realize you love your best friend and have great sex with them you'll just abandon the rest of your life? Lol

    Ending D

    This ending is achieved by being considerate to Seiji, but ultimately still letting him do all the tasks. Daichi and Seiji escape the room, but drift apart and drop contact forever.

    This is the ending I got on my first blind playthrough. I really felt for Daichi so I let Seiji continue to talk him out of injuring him. He seemed so adamant on protecting him so who was I to stop him? I've been teaching myself lately to take what people say at face value because I constantly flip things over in my mind and I end up misinterpreting things. It turns out this wasn't a good place to have this mindset lol.

    Ending E & F

    You get this ending by convincing Seiji to let Daichi do his tasks. By sharing the burden the two's bond becomes stronger. They open up about their feelings they never would've let out if they weren't in a dire situation. They complete the tasks and escape the room. It ends with Either Daichi going to the police (Ending E) and not going home with Seiji, they go their separate ways and never meet again. Or They go home together (Ending F), reaffirm their bond on the train ride home and promise to meet again.

    Ending F is probably meant to be the "True" ending of the game. It has the most development of their relationship. Before a difficult task, Daichi made sure to tell Seiji that Seiji encouraging him is what made him want to finish high school when he was planning to drop out. Everyone else he told didn't do much to stop him but Seiji was the only one that advocated for his future. Seiji didn't even remember all this. But he says he always admired Daichi's ability to always see the good in a situation no matter how terrible the situation is. Daichi said how could you be impressed by something I don't even think about?

    It really reminded me of conversations me and my friend would have. Our favorite qualities in each other are invisible to the other person. How many times have I told my friend something they said changed how I think and they don't even remember it? lol

    Final thoughts

    It has an interesting premise that had the potential to really push the envelope but it didn't really go that far. The only really shocking things is the severity of the sex scenes probably. Daichi's tasks were not as gorey as I thought they would be. I wanted to see some of the effects of injuring Daichi would have on Seiji, but it didn't explore that. I think their friendship alone makes the game worth a play. definitely buy the game on sale tho