Firefly’s Diary Guides Us Through Its First Two Levels

In Nippon Ichi’s upcoming PlayStation Vita game, htol#NiQ or Firefly’s Diary, players will have to guide the protagonist Mion out of the ruins but it won’t be as easy as it sounds. New gameplay footage shows how two players work together through the first two levels of the game.

Firefly Diary’s gameplay starts out at the 3:42 mark of the video, where Mion is shown waking up from her slumber in the ruins, next to the firefly who’ll help her find a way out. Instead of controlling the young girl, players will control the firefly and she’ll always be right behind.

At 6:50, we see Mion attempt to cross a plank connecting the pipes but falls down. Firefly’s Diary has similar puzzles where you’ll need to think outside the box in order to continue advancing. Glowing objects also mean that she can interact with it, so players will need to keep an eye out for that, as well.

Something strange happens when Mion heads to the upper-left at 8:47, but Nippon Ichi wanted to leave this part out to avoid spoilers. The gameplay resumes at 10:22, where she encounters the Shadow Firefly for the first time. Unlike the regular firefly, this one requires the PlayStation Vita’s rear touchpad to control.

If you ever find yourself stuck and can’t see a path, it’ll always be a good idea to try switching out to the Shadow Firefly, who might see different things. The regular firefly can go anywhere around the screen, but the shadow one can only travel within the silhouettes.

At 18:25, Mion and the fireflies see their first foe.

Since Mion can’t fight on her own, it’ll be up to the fireflies to find ways using the surrounding objects to take out the evil Shadows, which the two players do a good job showing at the start of the second video.

From 4:19, the two get the go-ahead from Nippon Ichi to play the second stage that has a factory-like appearance, which could only mean more dangerous traps and Shadows for Mion.

As Nippon Ichi president Sohei Niikawa previously mentioned that the game involves a lot of deaths and gruesome scenes, the second stage gives us a better idea of what to expect for poor Mion in the depths of the ruins.

htoL#NiQ will be released on June 19, 2014 for PlayStation Vita.