Secret of Evangelion Game
Secret of Evangelion is a video game that was developed by Cyber Front and released for PlayStation 2 in December 2006, then later ported to PlayStation Portable and Windows on June 28th, 2007. The PSP version of the game also had a limited edition release that sold for a suggested retail price of 7,140 yen and included a specially designed PSP case and screen protector. The PC release sold for 8,190 yen and included a pack of five postcards with individual designs.
Both of the later releases included extra illustrations unique to the re-release, as well as a bonus quiz game. This quiz game has three difficulties (easy, medium, and hard) and each difficulty has a pool of fifty questions that it pulls from. Ten questions are selected randomly and the player has three strikes before they fail the quiz. Completing all three difficulties awards the player with special illustrations of both Rei and Asuka, the two characters that “host” the game.
Gameplay
The main game itself plays much like a standard visual novel. The story is told mainly through text and character portraits that have limited animations and pan around the screen to mimic movement. Most of the interaction in Secret of Evangelion comes in the form of allowing the player to choose a location to travel to. This can lead to a variety of possible interactions with different characters. This mechanic also is what decides what ending the player will reach when they get to a specific point in the story. As the player only has a limited amount of interactions they can choose from, they will have to be careful when deciding where to go, as an unintended interaction can change the route of the game. Lines spoken by main characters other than the protagonist are voiced by their respective voice actors or actresses (e.g. Megumi Ogata as Shinji Ikari, Megumi Hayashibara as Rei Ayanami, etc.). That said, Shinji is not the protagonist of this story. Several unique characters were designed for this video game, two of the most important being the protagonist Kyoya Kenzaki and Hitomi Kaga (voiced by Satsuki Yukino).
Story
The story of Secret of Evangelion uses the basic plot of Episodes 17 to 24 of Neon Genesis Evangelion as well as The End of Evangelion, but changes aspects of the original story and adds more to it. It is told through the perspective of Kyoya Kenzaki, a man that was selected to be a member of NERV’s Intelligence Committee and is very devoted to his work. He is level headed and incredibly duty-bound to whatever mission he is currently on. He was also friends with Misato, Ritsuko, and Ryoji back when they were in college, but due to their own professional lives, they drifted apart throughout the years.
During the battle with Sachiel, he becomes gravely injured, but due to an experimental transplant operation that uses parts from an Angel instead of a human, Kyoya manages to fully recover in a remarkable amount of time. After this point, there are several points in the story where Kyoya’s humanity is questioned by other characters, even if they mean well.
He is then tasked with visiting the Nevada branch of NERV to steal Evangelion Unit 04 and destroying the entire branch by going as an “inspector” from NERV HQ. He completes the task set before him and manages to take Evangelion Unit 04, transport it from Nevada to Japan in secret, and made it seem like it was destroyed in the explosion that destroyed the NERV branch. However, during a test with the Dummy Plug system, the unit goes berserk within the GeoFront and Kyoya has to find Shinji to stop the unit before it begins destroying NERV HQ.
Fortunately, he finds Shinji nearby and tells him that Evangelion Unit 04 is about to attack the facility. Shinji is hesitant, as his recent encounter with Evangelion Unit 03 has made him not want to fight another Evangelion Unit again. Kyoya affirms that he doesn’t have to worry about hurting someone, as Unit 04 is being controlled by the Dummy Plug system. This gives the pilot the reassurance he needs to pilot Unit 01 and halt Unit 04’s advance while the control room attempts to power the Dummy Plug system down. Much of the remaining story (on the main route) takes heavy inspiration from the original anime and movie, but told from Kyoya’s perspective.
New Game Characters
For this game, two new characters are introduced into the storyline. Kyoya Kenzaki and Hitomi Kaga.
Kyoya Kenzaki
Kyoya is a member of NERV’s Intelligence Committee. He is a cool and stout man very focused on his work and duties at NERV. He is sometimes cold and avoids human interaction when possible. He is an old friend of Misato, Ritsuko and Kaji.
Hitomi Kaga
Hitomi is a member of the NERV research and experiment division. Acquiring her doctorate at the young age of 24, she is classed as a genius. After joining NERV she has played a significant role in the creation and experimentation of the dummy plug system for the Evangelion Units.