Just finished your game and I enjoyed the demo so far. It’s clear that so much thought and effort was put into this project and it turns out to be a pretty enjoyable experience. I really like the art style and character portraits, it has a strange "roughness" to it that's quite appealing and makes it stands out from other titles. The environments are simple yet effective, with occasional moments of confusion like when paths are hidden beneath the trees. However, it's well-crafted with a nice color pallet and great pixel art detail, with standout moments like the night sky above the church. Each location feels visually distinct and easily recognizable which h contributes to the game’s sense of space. The stronghold area is well-designed, featuring an intriguing array of random details that break up the otherwise flat snowy landscape. In contrast, the church’s interior is neat and orderly, exuding warmth and comfort in stark contrast to the harsh exterior. The barracks, on the other hand, exude a more cave-like atmosphere, but I appreciated the added detail in the pit and the path leading to the entrance. Overall, the locations are polished and immersive, nothing to complain other than some parts look pretty barebones compare to the high detail clusters in other parts, but I could use some simplicity for the eyes to rest on. Given that many RPG Maker games rely on default assets, I’m particularly appreciative of the custom work here.
The CGs are very nice and pretty as well! To ones that are animated, they're a treat to the eyes and genuinely impressive. Most games wouldn't even spare the effort into making custom animated CGs but this demo has it and I appreciate to where it is used. The settings is alright, with the protagonist as a vampire demon hunter (don't see that very often) that works for a vampiric church with other vampires in the building, we also learn about a potential opposition cult that's behind the robbery and are probably plotting some grander schemes. I'm looking forward to what the story is shaping out to be once Valdrich resumes his journey to reach Drakonopolis, and what the outside world is like (I was really expecting there to be an area beneath the church where you can explore a small part of the town, revisit with the residents as Valdrich, buy items, find new quests and investigate trails of the robbery in the town, playing detective but I guess that's a little bit too out of scope with the project)
Just as it starts to get good the story ended before things really set into motion. I can already tell there’s a lot of depth behind the main plot, I would want to see what the church expansion is gonna be like and how the promise with Aewind is gonna wrap up, and the deal with the book and shenanigans in the city amd the relationships between characters. I would like to uncover more of it if there comes a continuation of the demo.
Though the characters are introduced pretty late into the demo with the first half keeping the player in the stronghold, their personality are still good enough to be memorable and engaging, I'm kinda envious with how well they're written from the little amount of dialogue present. Their lines are fun to read and very witty, especially how they interact with Valdrich, you can already tell what's Valdrich past dynamic's like with the other sisters in the church. I like how Vald introduced to the player and the comments along the way. But his character really shows in the presence of other people to talk to besides his horse friend. He's confident, friendly and flirty with women, much to the displeasure of the nuns. He also respect and feel grateful to Lidochka, which I assumed she picked him off of the streets to raise, more going on there. Mother Lidochka is a pretty virtuous person herself, I get why Vald would see her in that light. He seems to be in good relationship with everyone, even if they (lovingly) belittle him for for running his mouth and just existing in general, I assume they tolerate him enough to have him around and do their bittings, and to care enough about him to reserve a room for his recovery. He approaches the new nun with the same attitude he shares for everyone else, actually managed to amused her somewhat along the way. Since protecting the church and the people inside is his responsibility, he accepts the proposal to find thieves imidiately without hesitation. His habit of talking to his horse comes from what I gathered to be the result of his isolation during multiple long voyages, or it shares something similar with the fact that he has a demon(?) tagging along inside his head (schizophrenia?).
Other characters are exceptional too. I love how Nirnalotte is portrayed, she isn’t just a love interest instead she’s kinda lovely in her own way, there exist a standoffish and witty personality underneath which gives her character more depth and more endearing. I didn't expect the wine in the storage was hidden there by Nirna, not very becoming of a respective sister of faith is she? It's cute when Vlad gives her an indirect kiss with it, as attoinment for her sins! is it punishment if she likes it? You can tell the two brush off from each other's quiet a significant amount and I love the dynamics between them. Would be terrible once she hear about Vlad's second girlfriend(?) in the city. Her position in the church is the mother's right hand nun and the big sister, with fits her personality quite well though Kyraless is quickly gaining on her in influence. I look forward to see how the interactions between them would foster.
Speaking of Kyraless you can instantly tell what her personality is just by looking at her sprite. She does coerces Vald into admitting he's part of the barbarian undeveloped looter Rowicskan savages race though, don't know how that would be tackled in the future but I guess that explains the humans’ and part of the nuns’ reaction toward him. In the 2 choices section I choose "Gold" btw, I fear what will happen if I choose "You" instead but since I didn't save for a while I didn’t risk it. I kinda grow on her aggorant attitude a bit overtime and now kinda taken a liking to it. The moments when she roasts Valdrich are a highlight. I can already sense that their interactions will lead to some interesting developments, especially as the story progresses.
Aewind is such a sweetheart and so adorable. She plays the demanding little sister of Vald perfectly and the siblings banter between them is always fun to reload back to. Each interaction where Vlad acts the big bro to Aevvin, tampering her around and rubbing her head much to Aevvin's displeasure is always sweet to see. I don't know how related they are as Vald is presumed to be adopted but I can see parts of Vald's personality present inside Aewin, especially her facetiousness attitude. It's clear they have a lot in similar though financial accountability is definitely not one of them, Aewin has some peculiar choices in footwear after all. Aewin can get overbearing sometimes but she misses her big bro very much (for real this time) and would be sad to see him go. I would love to see how her character and the other nuns develop, may Aewin become a demon hunter as well? Maybe she can travel with Vald once she's allowed her own carriage.
The others characters are just as memorable as well though they don't have much lines dedicated to them. I like how utterly distrustful the two nuns on the top of the longue is at Vald, even after you get back the church fund, they don't seem as grateful as they should be, maybe they're distancing themselves from Vald because of his line of work? Or they're just petty like that, unlike the rest of the church which are pretty friendly toward him. Maura is cool too though we don't get much of her cooking asides from some spices which I can't find an opportunity to use in battle with.
Music! I'm not much of a listener so I can't discern what's good or not but it suits the atmosphere nicely. Albeit a repetitive at some parts where you spent a significant amount of time navigating the map. The music changes with the tone too which is a low bar I guess but it's nice that's a thing implemented.
As for gameplay, the game may get a little tricky at some section, but this is to be expected as the game doesn’t really hold the players’ hands either. The map layout in the stronghold is fairly straightforward, though I found myself backtracking at times as I tried to familiarize myself with the layout. Early on, I found myself avoiding enemies due to the lack of clear indicators of their strength. As a result, I treated the game like a survival experience, managing limited resources carefully since there isn’t a clear way to get more blood/crystals apart from the limited pools in the beginning. This sense of tension was heightened when I encountered powerful enemies, particularly the hidden wolf boss which I came across pretty earlier since I decided to dodge enemies’ confrontations. I quickly learned that every decision mattered, especially when I encountered setbacks that sent me back to earlier save points that took me a wild to get back to.
The enemy scaling is horendous, you have the wolfs who just act like foster enemies with mininal damage and the vex that’s a little more tought but otherwise free EXP if you know how to concentrate your damage. These are all nice enemies for an early game section and you would assume the boss wouldn’t any more difficult than the monsters here. Wrong. The first bost is a whisplash, a welcoming at that for the difficulty but a surprise to say the least. The closest thing I would compare it to in the early section is the wolf boss, which you don’t even need to engage so most player would miss out on the combat experience and to hone their skills over. You can expect to die a few times before you finally escape the boss and move to the next session. It may seems impossible at first but if you are resourceful with your actions and items the boss is managable, the large amount of supplies here also help with that. The boar boss is a joke though. I expect to be tougher but half of the time it doesn’t even attack. I get the demon boss is meant to be as a surprise but a more linear aproach to scaling the heights would also be appreciated. Having the wolf be your companion would disrupt the harder parts of the game, but having it transforms into a weak abili,ty that doesn’t even worth the effort of subduing it at all it just discourages players from finding challenges, only to slame them with a boss they aren’t prepared for beforehand. Maybe in a future revision we can return to the cliff and actually recruit in into the party?
Instant death events are also expected, but they’re limited to dialogue options only and are pretty predictable if you have a keen eye for that sort of things. They will hit like a truck regardless eespically if you haven’t made a save in a while.
The bosses get more difficult each time and every encounters become more tense as normal enemies diminishes, leaving only boss enemies in the end demo section. You do have to carefully manage your resources around them, since it is pretty limited if you didn’t prepared accordingly. The ending boss fight is a bit tough as well but worth the challenge and rewarding once you find a way around it.
There are some unintended furstrating parts I must admit. Whether it was failing to notice key items like the unholy bible that blends in with the table or misjudging my resources and actions. Learning from those mistakes is often enough to get you through the game.
In conclusion, this demo offers a well-crafted experience with a compelling story, engaging characters, and challenging gameplay. While there are a few areas that could be refined such as making certain items more visible or streamlining some of the more repetitive gameplay sections the overall package is very promising. Gameplay asides because it’s probably isn’t meant to be that difficult. It’s been a joy to play (the story for the most part.) I’m excited to see how the story and characters develop in future developments if there comes any.