The Shell Part I: Inferno on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information
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Unravel a string of gruesome murders terrorizing Tokyo in this mystery-thriller visual novel. The secrets of a case from six years prior may just be the key to the current unending cycle of tragedy—and the thing that cracks this woeful world’s shell may be one girl’s smile.
The Shell Part I: Inferno is a visual novel, detective and mystery game
developed by Innocent Grey
and published by Shiravune.
Released on July 27th 2023 is available only on Windows
in 3 languages: English, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese.
It has received 1,029 reviews of which 944 were positive and 85 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.7 out of 10. 😎
The game is currently priced at 9.75€ on Steam with a 50% discount, but you can find it for less on Eneba.
The Steam community has classified The Shell Part I: Inferno into these genres:
Media & Screenshots
Get an in-depth look at The Shell Part I: Inferno through various videos and screenshots.
System requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS: Windows 10
- Processor: intel Core i series
- Memory: 2 GB RAM
- Graphics: Intel HD Graphics
- DirectX: Version 9.0c
- Storage: 2 GB available space
- Sound Card: PCM (DirectSound support)
User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
It's a great game but with it's fair share of major flaws. By no means a masterpiece, but it's still good nonetheless. This is a murder mystery with alot of mature and dark themes, definitely made with an adult audience in mind. The game keeps you hooked and invested in the overall plot as you connect the dots and uncover the brutal truth that lies beneath. Set in post-war Japan, Inferno follows Reiji, an ex-cop turned private investigator as he tries to unravel the truth behind a series of missing high school students. I would say the setting of Inferno is pretty unique, genetic analysis was not yet adopted by the field of forensic science, so they could only rely on traditional methods such as fingerprints, dental records and blood types. Overall, it showcases the resourcefulness and tenacity of detectives during that time, as they depended on the meager list of clues at their disposal. Apart from the setting, character interactions within the game is top notch, characters instantly establish themselves with their personalities and rapport with Reiji. Characters are generally likable, however Reiji himself is just okay depending on your choices. He can be a brilliant detective but also an absolute scumbag (typical of most noir film protagonists). However, this is where I would draw the line in terms Inferno's merits. The execution of the aforementioned adult themes is mixed at best. I am playing the patched version of the game, I paid for the game, so I'll be reviewing the full game. Firstly, sex in this game is done rather distastefully, almost as if it's trying to be an eroge game without any build up, it just happens randomly, resulting in rather unsatisfying encounters. The way how almost every sibling has slept with each other is also very weird (thank god that's not the case for Yukari and Reiji), but it really adds nothing to the plot, it exists for pure shock value, a recurring issue that I will delve into shortly. The overall plot itself is tightly written, I have finished all endings and have barely found any noticeable plot holes. You can follow what is going on and how characters fit into the mystery. However, one issue is that characters *SPOILER ALERT* with alot of screentime just die for the sake of shock value. So towards the end of the game, the game can only draw upon the remaining minor/obscure characters to move the plot forward. It also doesn't help that these characters are supposed to the final puzzle pieces to the overall story. Their roles and motivations are only revealed with a few lines of exposition at the last minute, which killed alot of the suspense I had. Another issue is that this game is unplayable without a guide. Although I had watched playthroughs of the game before buying it. The sheer tonal whiplash I experienced when I realized how many endings this game has was a huge part of why I can't call this game a masterpiece. The worst part is that you will have to go through all the point and click investigations again whenever you try another game, which with the absence of a "skip to next choice" option, really made each replay feel like literal purgatory (yes that was intentional) . I doubt actual detectives can even achieve the true ending without a guide because of how unreasonable some of the prompts are. With that in mind, I would suggest watching some playthroughs first before deciding whether to buy the game or not.
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Pretty good but playing trough it is a chore with all the choices to make you need a guide.
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Cartagra was really good. Kara no Shoujo is a whole new beast altogether. A true detective mystery, KnS is all about finding cruel ways to break the player, and color me broken. Terrifying and disturbing bad ends, shocking revelations, disgusting (but really good) gore make this game extremely memorable and unique. Coupled with Sugina Miki's classy, sexy art and MANYO's fantastic arrangements, KnS will leave you wont for nothing. KnS takes the premise of Cartagra and sends it through the roof, forcing my unfortunate soul to actually think and deduce, instead of just letting the story play out. This game really had my eroge-fried brain firing on all cylinders just to find the truth behind one choice. Another thing that really matters in this game are the choices, which have three sets, investigations, notebook deductions, and regular choices, ALL of which can dramatically affect the story/lead to horrifically awesome bad ends. Save a LOT. The consequence of being so cruel and unforgiving (wtf Innocent Grey) is that it takes a lot of loading and skipping, and endless frustration, which is my only real complaint with the game. I loved the story, the substories, setting, BGs, sprites, CGs, this game is really tastefully done, even the gore. The mystery was difficult to figure out and had me second guessing, but not so difficult that it became ridiculous. I can say that there were no asspulls! The characters genuinely all made me feel for them, even if this game is quite evil sometimes... KnS is best entered completely blind after having read Cartagra, so I can't say too much more. I am seriously hyped to read Part 2 and 3.
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You need to install patch to experience the full content. The Shell Part I: Inferno, also known as Kara no Shoujo, is a VN mainly about mysterious murder (Yes it does have adult content but that's like 5% of the game, so you might still want to treat this game as normal VN) Characters are very appealing, a lot of detail writings are put into showing their mental and plots in this game is super mind blowing, the investigation and collecting clue parts are done really well, a game with good brain exercise you'd appreciate Some people complain about the strict condition of fulfilling certain endings but I don't find it very problematic when I backtrack them. This game has 10+ endings however whether it be bad ending or just neutral ending you always learn additional information about certain people or seeing more behind the scene, the animation skip is also very fast so it won't really feel troublesome to collect other endings. This VN ages really well, but again please make sure you got the patch before playing this game!
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Very good story but on god please download the uncensored patch. This steam version softlock you in 2/3 of the playtrough and has a lot of cut content. I would put a negative review but it's the censored version that's the problem and not the game itself that is bad. Outside of that, it's worth every penny.
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Frequently Asked Questions
The Shell Part I: Inferno is currently priced at 9.75€ on Steam.
The Shell Part I: Inferno is currently available at a 50% discount. You can purchase it for 9.75€ on Steam.
The Shell Part I: Inferno received 944 positive votes out of a total of 1,029 achieving a rating of 8.66.
😎
The Shell Part I: Inferno was developed by Innocent Grey and published by Shiravune.
The Shell Part I: Inferno is playable and fully supported on Windows.
The Shell Part I: Inferno is not playable on MacOS.
The Shell Part I: Inferno is not playable on Linux.
The Shell Part I: Inferno is a single-player game.
The Shell Part I: Inferno does not currently offer any DLC.
The Shell Part I: Inferno does not support mods via Steam Workshop.
The Shell Part I: Inferno does not support Steam Remote Play.
The Shell Part I: Inferno is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.
You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for The Shell Part I: Inferno.
Data sources
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Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.
Last Updates| Steam data | 08 September 2025 15:33 |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 14 September 2025 02:10 |
| Steam price | 14 September 2025 20:35 |
| Steam reviews | 14 September 2025 06:04 |
If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about The Shell Part I: Inferno, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.
- SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about The Shell Part I: Inferno
- SteamCharts - Analysis of The Shell Part I: Inferno concurrent players on Steam
- ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck The Shell Part I: Inferno compatibility
Game modes
Features
Online players
18
Developer
Innocent Grey
Publisher
Shiravune
Release
27 Jul 2023
Platforms
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