MiSide Review Overview

What is MiSide?

MiSide is a narrative-driven adventure game with horror elements, centering on a protagonist who is mysteriously drawn into a mobile simulation game. Players take on the role of this character as he navigates an unsettling and surreal world. Combining a vivid anime-inspired art style with psychological tension, MiSide offers a unique juxtaposition of vibrant visuals and fun minigames against eerie and suspenseful storytelling.

MiSide features:
　⚫︎　Multiple endings
　⚫︎　Puzzles and minigames
　⚫︎　Choice-driven progression
　⚫︎　Psychological and supernatural horror
　⚫︎　Various gameplay styles from different genres

For more gameplay details, read everything we know about MiSide's gameplay and story.

Steam

$14.99

MiSide Pros & Cons

Pros	Cons
Compelling Characters Excellent Voice Acting… When It’s There Jarring Aesthetics Makes Great Horror The Terror Is in the Tension Minigames and Collectibles for Days	Pitiable Pacing Problems Underdeveloped Supporting Cast Little Context to Work On

MiSide Overall Score - 88/100

Despite going in with tempered expectations, I was still blown away by the overall quality of MiSide. It’s a truly frightening game with a refined understanding of how a good horror title should utilize every element of the genre, especially its audiovisuals. On top of that, many of the characters show potential to grow into something more, while the story supports an intriguing blend of gameplay styles that keep things fresh without ever feeling out of place. Unfortunately, though, MiSide is too short of a game to achieve the lofty heights it could have easily reached.

MiSide Story - 8/10

The story, despite leaning on the well-worn "main character gets sucked into a video game" trope, is not just solid but surprisingly engaging. This is largely thanks to MiSide’s clever use of familiar conventions and an interesting cast of characters that compel you to keep playing—even as the horror elements steadily ramp up. Unfortunately, the narrative is held back by its pacing issues and a lack of much-needed character development, which are clear consequences of the game’s compact size.

MiSide Gameplay - 8/10

At its core, MiSide plays like a classic adventure horror game. You’ll explore dark rooms, interact with objects, search for clues, and avoid being stabbed by an unhinged woman stalking the halls. But what really sets it apart is the sheer variety of minigames and puzzles scattered throughout the experience, both in required and optional segments, adding just the right amount of flavor and challenge.

MiSide Visuals - 10/10

It’s almost impossible to overstate how impressive MiSide’s visuals are. To break it down: the animations are stellar, the stage designs are meticulously crafted, the lighting is used with incredible precision, and the character models are clearly the product of immense care and effort. What truly elevates the game, though, is its ability to use its stylized visuals to create contrasting environments and characters that are deeply unnerving and frequently terrifying.

MiSide Audio - 9/10

Like its visuals, MiSide’s audio design is outstanding. The contrast between the main characters’ adorable voice acting and the occasional upbeat, rom-com-style music with prolonged sections of eerie silence and anxiety-inducing sound distortions is masterfully done. However, the absence of voice acting for the protagonist and their peers detracts from the overall narrative experience, especially in a game like this where it could have highlighted the divide between the real world and the game’s universe.

MiSide Value for Money - 9/10

Considering its quality, I would have expected MiSide to be priced at around $29.99, not half that. Selling this game for $14.99 feels borderline criminal. That said, the shorter runtime—around three hours for the main story, and a bit more to tackle its alternative endings—helps explain the price. Even so, the hidden collectibles and multiple endings provide strong replayability, making it a worthwhile investment.

MiSide Review: You Can't Fix Greatness

I didn’t expect much from MiSide when I first heard about it. Its pre-release following wasn’t massive, after all; follower numbers were in the four-digit range, which was decent but not mind-blowing. That said, the theme caught my attention. I’m always on the lookout for a good horror game, and Mita, the main character, looked irresistibly cute in the promotional materials. That was enough to convince me to pick it up, despite my struggle to catch up to my gacha games.

For a title priced at just $14.99, I wasn’t expecting much. I figured I’d get a couple of hours of gameplay with relatively tame and cliché jumpscares, plus some well-tread tropes to justify its claim of being a psychological horror game. But after just an hour of playing, I realized I’d stumbled onto one of the most compelling single-player horror games Abraham Lincoln and Alexander Hamilton can buy.

MiSide succeeds because it nails two key elements, in my opinion: its tasteful balance of atmospheric horror and carefully spaced jump scares, and the unsettling contrast between its visuals and its theme.

The Scares Rarely Jump. And That’s a Good Thing.

Let’s start with the first point. Tension drives fear, and in horror games, maintaining tension without exhausting the player is an art form. If it’s too short, then the impact will be unimpressive; too long, and it’s just troublesome at that point.

MiSide excels in this regard, using its top-tier audiovisuals to craft a deeply unnerving atmosphere. It combines some of the most uncanny character designs of 2024, exceptional stage layouts, brilliant use of silence and sound distortion, along with the occasional scenes of lighthearted merrimaking that barely resembles a happy, normal life.

That said, what really makes MiSide stand out is how it layers its scares. It relies heavily on its atmospheric horror to build an oppressive sense of dread. Even the excellent voice acting, which uses the same, jarring incongruities, adds to your anxiety and heightens the wrongness of the world.

Of course, tension alone isn’t enough to sustain a horror game. At some point, the jumpscares must come into play. While MiSide doesn’t lean on them excessively, their very presence is enough to keep your nerves on edge. The mere knowledge that jumpscares exist—even if they’re implied early—creates a strain that lingers until you reach the rare "safe" zones.

Contrast Makes a Difference

The contrast between MiSide’s cutesy, anime-style character designs and its actual theme also serves to drive the horror home. A cursory glance at the game’s marketing material wouldn’t give you any idea that it’s a horror game unless you dive deep enough into its trailer, right? Although I would argue that the trailers give away too much information, those who randomly encounter MiSide on the Steam Store would be in for a treat.

It introduces you to a protagonist playing a waifu-raising mobile game—a game within a game, if you will; "Gameception" for all my fellow millennials. A short while later, you find yourself pulled into that game and meet the girl you’ve been interacting with for the past month: an innocent-looking and infatuated young woman named Mita. Together, you try to adapt to the game world with Mita’s support, sharing meals, playing games, and making small talk.

This is what the game sets up—the original premise that could have been your life if this were any normal romantic story. It’s cute, wholesome, and sure to induce type A diabetes. But, as we’ve already established, MiSide is anything but normal.

Once you get off script and find yourself on the other side of Mita’s affection, things immediately take a dark turn. That is when the game transforms into a very real psychological horror experience that would make any Doki Doki Literature Club fan proud.

However, instead of letting go of its cutesy aesthetics, MiSide seems to make a deliberate and visible attempt to maintain them, ensuring that the player knows that it’s trying. The result is an extremely unnerving mix of the adorable and familiar with the horrific and unknown, twisted together as if something were trying to repair your experience with the dregs of imagination’s nightmares.

It’s an incredible and reliable formula that rarely misses its mark.

The Characters are Surprisingly Rich in Lore

Now, I’m trying very, very hard not to accidentally let any spoilers slip into this review, so I apologize in advance if things seem too vague. That said, MiSide features a cast of characters that are surprisingly deep, despite what you would expect from its price and genre. The protagonist, for example, despite starting out as a textbook mob-type lead, eventually grows a unique personality as the game progresses. Surrounding him are, uhh, characters that are not only distinct in appearance and personality but also in the way they interact with the protagonist.

"But," you may ask, "isn’t that normal? Character dynamics are supposed to be wide and varied!" You’re right. However, MiSide’s characters themselves aren’t conventional. Many of them are… similar to each other, with the only ways to quickly distinguish them mostly being limited to their slight differences in physical appearances and personalities.

Fortunately, many of them have vastly different backstories and experiences despite sharing the same roots. Unfortunately, the game really doesn’t have the time to explore that aspect due to content restraints. That’s quite a massive shame, as a lot of them have the potential to become more than just characters you meet once or twice.

Take, for example, Cappie (my beloved): a character that mostly serves as wholesome comic relief during the earlier stages. While her role was a short one, she had all the potential to be a recurring character thanks to her supposedly large role in the story—a role she ultimately wasn’t able to fulfill due to certain circumstances.

Which is a shame, really. If the game were about twice the length it is now, there would have been enough room to develop more of the characters, including her.

It’s Way Too Short

Almost every single problem with MiSide can be traced back to one prevailing issue, in my opinion: the game is way too short. This lack of content prevents it from developing its wonderful cast of supporting characters, providing context to each world’s state, denying it a stage to tell a very impactful story, and everything else in between.

This is especially noticeable in the very early stages of the game, where it first assumes its slice-of-life romance gameplay. It’s an extremely short section that immediately peppers you with red flags signaling that things are not what they seem. It could have benefited from having this section stretched to double its length, with the foreshadowing saved until the latter half so that you don’t get that feeling of something being off until you’ve mostly acclimated to the "gameplay."

The lack of time also really hurts the worldbuilding potential of MiSide, as you’re only treated to developments visible in a bird’s-eye view and very rarely the relatively interesting ones on the ground. This, in particular, stands out the most as a disappointing missed opportunity due to how proficient the game is at triggering your curiosity with its stage design and non-recurring characters.

Is MiSide Worth It?

Not buying it is a disservice

This game may have lacked the budget, considering it was made by a handful of people and released with a $14.99 price tag, but it certainly had an abundance of passion and talent poured into it. MiSide has some of the best animations I’ve seen in horror games within a similar price bracket and features some of the most horrific characters I’ve ever encountered. Do yourself a favor and give this game a chance, especially if you’re a fan of horror games. I promise you, this game won’t disappoint.

Steam

$14.99

MiSide FAQ

Is MiSide a waifu raising game?

No, it isn’t.

What are the collectibles in MiSide?

You can collect character profiles and costumes in the game by achieving various feats or finding hidden objects.

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MiSide Product Information

Title	MiSide
Release Date	December 10, 2024
Developer	AIHASTO
Publisher	IndieArk, Shochiku
Supported Platforms	PC
Genre	Horror, Psychological, Simulation
Number of Players	1
ESRB Rating	TBD
Official Website	MiSide Website

Alfonso Majarucon

Writer of things from game, anime and manga reviews to news and webnovels. Hopelessly addicted to story-driven games, especially cross-platform ones. Favorite games include Punishing Gray Raven, Arknights, Limbus Company, Elden Ring, Touhou, Soul Nomad and the Disgaea series (except 3 and 6). Avid..