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Oh. So, it was A Heart Ever Wandering. A game which is more a linear story than a game. It's basically go there to get X item then once you have every thing follow the line. There is not even any challenge in getting the items, you just go there and get them. If there were at least something that influences the story, a branching path or something, that would have been nice. But everything I saw so far was linear. So I don't want to sound rude, but from what I gathered, A Heart Ever Wandering barely qualifies as a game in my book.

Now gameplay wise, there is no much to say other than that. So what about the story and the graphics? Well... Graphics are a lot of RTP and maybe some custom tilesets. Which aren't bad. RTP are good-looking on their own. However, the mapping is a bit off at times, but I'll get to that. The sound design is also from RPG Maker MZ RTP, but they are overall well used.

As for the story - clearly the main focus of the game, well... I'm not gonna lie, the story is a good little thriller. It's just sad it cuts short so fast. The story is done after mere minutes of playing. This is way way too short for what it is.

Now, let's get into my critical points - which are mostly going to be nitpicks, but nitpicks I think are worth mentioning.

- The mapping: the fact the police station looks so empty, so abandoned with little to no life, cracks and dirt everywhere. Maybe it is to set up an ambiance, maybe this is part of the story, but I don't have context so for me this falls flat. As for the hills, I noticed some little details that looked off.


- At one point, the player find a cave in the forest. The problem is this is introduces by a clean opening in the ground where a door could fit. That's just odd. Why this choice?

And that's all I have to say. Verdict: I am a bit disappointed in it. It looks... competent. But it just looks competent. The player influence is so minimal and the challenge so... nonexistent that I doubt A Heart Ever Wandering qualifies as a game at all. Don't get me wrong, though. You don't need both to make a game. You can make a game with branching paths everywhere and little to no challenge. You can also make a linear game which is super challenging, that works too. But the fact it lacks of BOTH, player influence and challenge, is the problem here.

And then there is curious details - nitpick I know. Curious graphical decisions - I'm thinking about the police station here. And the story, the absolute main focus of the game, cut way WAY too short.

This game is a bit symptomatic of the beginner Game Master at a tabletop RPG game which railroad his players for the story to happen like he wants to a T without letting his players influence said story in any way shape or form and forcing wins and loses when the scenario asks for it. This is the kind of thing that drag you out of the experience and doesn't make you take the thing seriously. I see you classified A Heart Ever Wandering as an RPG. The problem is I didn't felt like I was in control of anything. A RPG is actually a game where you play a role, where you play as a character. And by extinction making me feel like the story is targeted to me. But I didn't felt like a player, I felt like a spectator. That's not something that should happen for an RPG, that's not something that should happen for a game even. Even when playing a visual novel, players have some agency over the story or their character. And there is barely any Adventure in there. It's just going from point to point, no questions asked.

There you go. Sorry for the ranting, but I needed to put it out of my chest - so to speak. To end on a positive note, the fact I ask for more out of the story is kind of a compliment in a way. That means the story interested me and from the looks of things, I'm not the only one. Now, what you do with it is up to you, SimProse Studios.

Best of luck for the future!

(+1)

Your observations are accurate -- if not for the fact the story was intended to be the focus of the game. It was not intended to be overly "gamey" in its design to start with. If I had more time and could use more resources I would maybe add a little puzzle aspects to the game, but I felt it would detract from the story's focus in this case. Thanks for your thoughts!

You're welcome! Hope this helps!