The GU-L Experience

A complete narrated playthrough/discussion of GU-L, a Japanese RPG Maker horror game that was released over two decades ago and has never been translated. Taking clear inspiration from Resident Evil and Battle Royale, the game was a prize-winning entry in a development contest held by Enterbrain, unfortunately forgotten in the present day. Tracking down a copy of this game proved to be somewhat difficult, but it is possible to play thanks to the preservation work of a Japanese blogger (). I’d recommend some Japanese knowledge for this, or at the very least, a good translation program. Advance warning, you’ll have to download some .exe files from a twenty year old link, so if that makes you uncomfortable, I totally understand, but I can at least vouch for their safety. :// First, go to the above Web Archive link. This brings you to the March 2001 Enterbrain contest page. The first entry on the page is for GU-L. From the top of the page, scroll down until you see a purple/pink download button with “5,900KB“ next to it. This will download a 5 MB .exe that installs GU-L onto your computer. If you’ve never played an RPG Maker 2000 engine game before, the game actually will NOT work as soon as you download it. There’s a second step - below the pink/purple download button, you’ll see a link that has the text “RPGツクール2000 RTP“ in it. This is the Run Time Package for RPG Maker 2000 - it’s basically generic files/assets that allow you to play RPG Maker games. Click this link, and on the page that you’re brought to, scroll down until you see one final link that says “ダウンロード “. This downloads an installer (in Japanese) that will install the RTP onto your system. After this, the game will work. If the weird installers and .exe files freak you out, all I can say is that these come directly from Enterbrain (who owns RPG Maker) and they are safe. Hope you give this game a shot sometime. Music Used (In Order) ======================== Lunacid - Beached Yume Nikki - Barracks Settlement Yume 2kki - Scorched Wasteland Space Funeral - Tamariu (Mystery Forest) GU-L - Title Screen (sp-slogo1_) LISA: The Painful - Summer Love OFF - Burned Bodies OFF - Soft Breeze LISA: The First - F* it Ib - Dining Room Yume Nikki - Shining Above the Step, Below the Slope (Snow World Slowed) LISA: The First - The Sireen’s Call LiEat - Stagnation LISA: The Painful - Mirror of Blood GU-L - Drug High GU-L - blood Shin Megami Tensei - Castle of the Four Gods .flow - Overgrown Islands Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne - Shinjuku Hygenic Hospital Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne - Heretic Mansion OFF - Clockwork Majin Tensei II - In The Shop Shin Megami Tensei If... - Gouman Kai LISA: The Painful - Men’s Hair Club Resident Evil 3 Nemesis - Free from Fear GU-L - dancers2 Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne - Shinjuku Hospital After Conception Yume Nikki - Save Screen Theme Shin Megami Tensei NINE - Ikebukuro LISA: The Painful - Exploding Hearts Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne - Nightmare System Baroque - One Foot in the Grave OFF - Unreasonable Behaviour LISA: The Painful - Bath Boys Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne - Amala Labyrinth (Final Movement) Yume 2kki - Green Butterfly Area ReKinder - bm5 LISA: The Painful - Goodbye Baby LISA: The Painful - Goodbye Yume 2kki - Green Butterfly Area (I wanted to use it again whatever) Timestamps ==================== 00:00 - 01:36 - Introduction 01:36 - 08:25 - Tracking Down GU-L 08:25 - 23:04 - Prelude to Madness 23:04 - 45:23 - Nagata’s Game 45:23 - 54:52 - Abaddon - Lower Labs 54:52 - 1:08:36 - Family Matters 1:08:36 - 1:20:22 - From the Depths of Depravity 1:20:22 - 1:33:19 - Project F (Game Over) 1:33:19 - 1:35:33 - Conclusion ===================== GU-L Resources/Extra Footage ======================== @nyanmo22 (GU-L Let’s Play) @STBill (Witch’s House Footage) @UCU3hGcnXYF6RojE8K1kKdYg (Ao Oni Footage) @UCZ6sE1jUjeloB5uCf1tJrZw (BEN Drowned Footage)