itch.io

Gameplay:

I didn't understand how "when you die, it's all in vain" until my first death... bold choice to not allow the player to save, but I like it! It's also interesting that the maps seem randomized as well, almost like a rogue-like? It's a different style from other RPG Horror games, but I dig it.

Possibly the AI of the Mares could be tweaked, sometimes they would jump me pretty quickly, other times they would walk slowly toward me, other times they would ignore me completely. I tried leading them away from areas I needed to go to, but this sometimes worked and other times did not. On the map I kept getting, the Mare tended to stay in the same area. This made the game feel either too easy or too difficult, since there were large areas of the map where I did not have to worry about the Mare and other places where it was a 50%/50% if it was an automatic game over. Possibly some tweaking with the chasing mechanic could help with this?

Story:

The choice to have four protagonists is a bold one, since it means essentially writing four different stories. This game makes it work by having the main game loop being mostly identical, and the different stories being told mainly through gameplay, sprites, and end-game sequences. The bulk of the story is told through the shared world and lore, with the individual stories taking a backseat. I thought the strange video and organization, as well as the lore of the game, was pretty interesting.

I think if you were to continue working on this game, maybe a little more attention could be given to the character's stories. I only got Cyril and Minsonne's endings, but Cyril's was a little hard to follow and Minsonne's felt kind of anticlimactic, like she just disappeared afterwards.

Presentation:

There's obviously a lot of thought that went into customizing this game, even to the smallest pieces of it's UI. I especially like the video at the beginning! For me personally though, I think the general font removes some of the creepiness because of the i's looking like they're dotted with hearts.

Creativity:

Setting the game in an alternate world from the get-go, with a sort of sci-fi, fantasy horror combination setting is pretty interesting! I love the thought put behind the video sections and the other ways this game differentiates itself from both RPG Horror and more typical RPGs. Well done!

Horror:

I think a lot of effort has gone into making this game creepy, though it doesn't quite land on scary for me personally. The music is solid, the sound effects are solid... I think a lot of the horror of this game comes from the Mares, but your interactions with them are forced to be pretty limited since they kill you in two hits (or if you get stuck on walls like I do, only need one). Since there isn't a save in this game, it also kind of cuts the tension because there isn't the threat of facing that same horror again. I don't think this is bad, but possibly if it were tweaked maybe it could be scarier? Things like making Pinpin's darts last longer and adding other things to help avoid the instant kill, but also allowing the Mare to roam the map more could help with the horror of this game. Basically give the player more freedom to feel helpless, if that makes sense, giving them a little more leeway in terms of dying but also making the Mare more omnipresent and feel like a bigger threat.

Overall:

There's definitively a lot of heart that's gone into this project, and it shows. I've already talked about it but I really enjoyed the video sections, and was actually a bit disappointed that the game wasn't longer and I couldn't learn more about this interesting world. I nitpicked at a couple of things I noticed, but in general this felt like a really polished and interesting game. Good job!

Gameplay:

The gameplay was okay, maybe a little on the simple side. Since there was a chase at the end, maybe there could have been more chases added? Maybe something stalks you in your dreams, maybe it looks like a large monster until the reveal at the end?

I didn't dislike the VN style picking choices either, though again I wish there were a bit more of them! I did like seeing all the different responses to the things I picked, and am only sad that there wasn't more things (and more consequences) to explore.

Story:

I liked the writing at the beginning, seeing the characters interact and show off their personalities. I thought maybe Sarah was a silent protagonist except when she started talking...? I didn't understand why sometimes it showed her bust sprite and other times it didn't.

Anyways, the endings I got felt... maybe a little rushed? I was hoping to learn more about the characters, Settler's Camp, and the details about the "monster" in general but a lot of these things were left unexplained. I'm also still wondering about Ash saying that the "monster" must have been something big, but it isn't really brought up again?

Presentation:

The bust sprites were really cute! They added a nice touch whenever the characters were talking. The tilesets and sprites were simple, but effective. I think next time I'd suggest maybe using Tint Screen to convey night/day or reality/dreamworld instead of using different colored tiles? It may be quicker than resetting the tiles. As well, though I liked the bright look of the maps overall, I think the multiple saturated colors might have toned down the horror in the night and dream sections.

Horror:

I like some of the custom horror assets, particularly the bust sprites. Some moments were pretty good at capturing a more subtle, atmosphereic horror, particularly the dream sections. I think maybe tweaking the sound design would help increase the tension in general? Maybe something slow and atmospheric, or even a distorted version of an earlier more cheery theme could be a cool twist in a game like this.

Possible Bugs:

Small note, I think some of the transitions could be tweaked? I noticed when coming from the campsite to the cabins, it loads you in facing the left. If you're holding down the left key, it then usually switches you back to the campsite pretty quickly.

Overall:

A nice game. Honestly could be edgier? I noticed at one point you could choose to bring your friends together or to insult them and keep them separated, it would have been interesting if it affects what order they die in or if they die quicker or slower depending on what you do. But that's also not something you might notice unless you play through the game a few times, and even though I'm not sure it affected the ending I did like going through the dialogue trees and seeing how the characters react differently to things you say.

Though it's a smaller game, it did have a good amount of potential. If you decide to continue making RPGMaker games, whether you choose to go with more humorous projects or go deeper into the horror genre, it'll be interesting to see what you make next!

Gameplay:

The hide and seek was pretty creative! And terrifying hahaha. Honestly I like a lot of the gameplay in this game, there was more variation than I was expecting so it was nice to play around with different things! I think my one complaint, if I could even call it that, was that constantly adding in new gameplay made it difficult to get used to? Like adding in battles at the end was pretty jarring. However, honestly that kind of worked in the game's favor, and I could definitely see the purpose behind the battles. I think it worked in this game because of the story and the aesthetics, though I'm not sure you could pull it off in others.

Also I think for day four with the raincoat... I don't mind the look of the assets in the classroom but it's a little difficult to tell what side of the tables you need to search to look for it. I think some tweaks , maybe have a chair or something could make it more clear that you can check there?

Story:

This game took the theme of Untamed Wilderness and paired it with childhood imagination and horror pretty well. I liked how subtle things helped to tell the player early on how things felt off, and that they get more and more obvious as time went on.

Presentation:

The custom animations are really good. The sound design that goes along with them though really sells the horror all the more, good job on the combination! I couldn't tell you specifics because I got so scared I had to turn the volume really low to finish the game :,) Good job!

Creativity:

Honestly, for a game that's simple on the surface, it makes use of it's simplicity in very clever ways. Even the use of RTP assets to make you think you've come across a corpse, but it's actually a bird? Really creative, actually gave me a scare there. For a minute I thought somebody had died! But other things, Timmy being the one to make the mask and it actually doesn't represent Mister Long Legs at all, the body horror, the gameplay, all very unique and memorable.

Horror: 

I don't know what's scarier- Mister Long Legs, or the fact that Timmy was already level three by the time he started... putting that experience to work in game. Good job!

Overall:

Sorry if I don't have much to say, that game was. Absolutely haunting. So, good job! Also, still wondering where Timmy's mom is.

Gameplay:

I liked the leg puzzle, though I felt like maybe it could have been done a little differently? The way it was set up made me think it was going to be more challenging than it was, not that it's an issue but I was looking forward to trying to think through the solution instead of just selecting all of the options. I did like that you had to check the blueprint before the margins though, it was a nice touch!

Also small thing, I noticed you could interact with a lot of the environment, which was a nice touch. However, a lot of these interactions resulted with the message, "an empty ____". It made sense for locations where you already found something in, but it felt weird seeing it in places I wasn't expecting like the couch or a table. It also felt a little repetitive, particularly in the locker room where only one locker has an item. Maybe for the lockers you could replace it with a little sound to mark that it's locked, and then if it has an item, have an unlock sound along with the message about the item you receive?

Also maybe a bug, in the campsite I interacted with a pile of wood in the middle of the campsite and it said "Path is blocked by fallen leaves". Is that intentional?

I would also suggest, when you complete the puzzle that opens the gate and comes back to the ruined campsite, if you try to go back to the forest there's a message asking "Are you ready to continue?". I think maybe take this out for now, since it gives players the impression that there's more content if you backtrack that way when there isn't really. I was also confused when the game said to get supplies, and there really wasn't anything I could find that let me do that? Just small things that don't make sense in the project as-is.

Story:

The story was interesting, though it felt like there was a lot that hadn't been explored yet? I'm still a little confused about what's going on, my best bet is that a secret lab is conducting experiments on people in the woods...? But as the game is in development I think, that makes sense. I would suggest adding DEMO to the title too maybe? And then when you release it fully you can change it, so people know to come back to it for the full game :)

Presentation:

I like the more unique UI and the use of gentle, bright whites and blues! The artstyle is also unique, I liked the painted look of the tileset. In the forest though, there were some strange horizontal white lines on some of the tree trunks? Not sure if it's intentional or a bug, but I felt like I should point it out.

There were also a few misspellings here and there? Nothing major, I think I noticed maybe one in the book's third chapter and one in the cutscene before you drive out to the campsite.

Creativity:

I liked the frozen taiga setting, the lab, the puzzles, and the secret book! I think I would have preferred if the monster looked a little less typical though, it felt like the mystery was adding up to something more complex.

Horror:

The lab had very little horror, though the story in the book was a bit unsettling. The forest and campsite were very good at building a horror atmosphere though! I think I scared myself thinking the rope on the last totem was a noose, though later just realized it was probably a part of a puzzle... Still, good atmosphere, especially when the forest steadily got darker!

I would suggest tweaking the cabin and the ending maybe to maximize the effect. The bright lights inside the cabin killed a lot of the tension that you'd been working hard to build, so maybe darkening the cabin or making it look creepy... maybe you interact with something and a lamp falls over and crashes? Instead of of killing the tension it could help make the player more on edge.

The ending was a little more confusing than frightening for me. I wasn't sure why the character automatically laid down? Also, it can be difficult to show a monster and keep it scary after you've spent so long building up the atmosphere. You can look at a classic example like Jaws, the shark was often more scary when people couldn't fully see it. In this case, possibly a quick jumpscare of the monster's face on the screen while the player is walking wouldn't have been a bad way to show the ending instead of a cutscene?

Overall:

I liked how this game kind of thought outside the box in terms of the theme and went with a snowy tundra instead of something more typical, like some lush dark woods. I think there's a lot of potential here in terms of story and gameplay, but it probably needs some tweaks to make the story less confusing and the gameplay less buggy and maybe a bit more engaging.

Story:

I didn't see a lot of story, but what was there was pretty interesting. There seems to be some lore behind this world and it's beastmen and their hunters, and it felt almost a bit unique that the main character already seemed to know more about what was going on than the player did. I didn't get very far in this game, which is too bad because I'm interested to see where the story goes!

Gameplay:

I have to be upfront and say that turn-based battles just aren't my thing. With that said, I feel like their use here was a little weak. I think in regards to the RPGMaker system it was properly implemented, but for some reason it always felt like there wasn't enough healing items and the enemies hit way too hard.

I also felt like Sidney possibly could have had more skills, I fell into a pattern of either "attack" or "heal" which didn't feel as engaging as it could have been. Still, it felt like maybe there was some attempts to balance the enemies which I appreciated- each type had unique abilities, some which would damage less or apply damage over time, which was a relief in many times when Sidney was low and I needed to use a healing item instead of attacking. It also helped the battles to feel less repetitive, for a little while at least. I think the idea behind the battles, like in other survival horror games, is to keep the player in tension about whether or not they have enough healing items, whether or not this will be the killing blow, which enemy they'll run into, etc. I can see this game attempting that, but I think the difficulty is just a bit too high.

Besides the bandages, many of the other items simply don't heal enough. This kind of makes them useless or even a waste of a turn, especially in battle when an enemy will hit you for maybe 5x that a candy or other healing item will heal you. As well, you rarely find healing items except in chests or from enemy drops. I think I only ever got an enemy drop maybe once or twice? But this was after maybe 8 or so battles.

I think either lowering the damage, increasing the number or healing items/healing efficiency, or simply lowering the amount of battles could help make the game feel more balanced. I also figured out a way to avoid some battles, but still it felt like way too many of them of them were unavoidable. This combined with the maze-like patterns of the map made the game feel more frustrating that frightening, given that I also wasn't sure which was the right way to go.

Presentation:

The pixel art is gorgeous! I also appreciate how base tiles were recolored and reused to create a unique look, as well as making things more visually distinct (such as some interactable items being red).

I will say that there seemed like a couple visual glitches here and there? Particularly before she picks up the flashlight, Sidney's sprite seems to have some black lines on top when you walk in certain directions. Also during battles there's an empty name box, not sure if that was intentional or not. Nothing too bad, just things which could be easily polished up during a bug fix.

Creativity:

Though monster-hunters aren't a new premise, the lore behind the game and the way it was portrayed was pretty interesting.

Horror:

The first real scare was pretty impressive! I also appreciate the background music when walking around, and of course the character sprites were spooky as well. Unfortunately, some of the horror felt undercut by the battles. The base battle music felt a bit too upbeat for the rest of the game and the length and repetition battles also lessened the sense of horror. There's a good potential here though.

Overall:

Given the nature of the randomization of the RPGMaker battle system, I could have just been having bad luck. I may try this game again sometime to see if I can get a bit farther. For now though, I think it's an interesting game with lovely art, but probably tweaking the battles could help make it into a better game. I'll also say, it's pretty hard to balance turn-battle systems and make them feel fair and interesting, especially with RNG involved. All things considered, it's one of the better turn-based games I've played without having a professional ton of beta-testing, so good job :)

Glad you liked it!

Not sure if I was able to finish or not, but I'll leave a review now based on what I've played so far.

Story: The setup is already pretty interesting. The dialogue in some parts were a little hard to follow, at least for me, though it did help set up the world very well. I was also pleasantly surprised by the voice acting in the introduction, which I don't see often in jam games.

I liked some of the subtler details in the world-building, such as the scenes where the kids make fun of Marianne or when you talk to Acrom and if you try to go the route that Marianne suggested (flattering him too obviously) he gets upset. Little things that help you begin to doubt if Marianne is in the right or if she's blinded by revenge, I don't know if that was the intent but I found them pretty interesting!

Some parts were a little hard to follow though, I understand that Marianne's grandfather had a falling out with the community and that they have a weird relationship with some sort of golden god? But why Marianne continuing her grandfather's mission is the same as her getting revenge, or if the golden skull is related to the same god the community worships or if it's a different god, things like that were a little confusing to me. I'm sure playing through more of the game would help me figure it out, but with the little I played I was having a hard time keeping up with some of these details.

Artstyle: I enjoyed the artstyles, though I wonder if maybe there's a bit too many? I really like the faded RTP assets and the hand-drawn portraits, both of which I felt fit the game very well! However, some of the RTP assets seemed like they had errors where they had white pixels surrounding their hair or stuck in their clothes, some sprites were smaller and looked a little too out of place or were used in a confusing way, and the illustration of the skull broke the immersion a little for me (though the skull illustration was lovely!). The smaller sprites in particular, it was the same type of sprite used for children and for Franz, and I wasn't sure if Franz was a child or if he was just meant to be shorter person.

Nothing too major though, and I did enjoy the artstyle overall, I only wish there was a bit more of it! (Specifically portraits such as for Grandfather and Franz, though I understand those can take time to make). I also really liked the character designs, particularly Marianne, the balding man and the man with one white eye.

SFX/Music: The voice acting was an interesting touch, I would have liked to see more of it in other scenes but it works well enough just in the introduction. Some of the sound effects were a little strange to me, I didn't understand why the grass footsteps sounded different when you were going up and down versus left and right, and why there weren't other kinds of footsteps like when you were in buildings, but it didn't bother me too much.

I appreciated the music, though it didn't leave too much of an impression. I think overall, maybe having music that is a little spookier, or more little sound effects would have really helped make the atmosphere more immersive ad scary. Maybe using pitched up voice acting to create a track of children singing/taunting, or some piano, organ, or choir inspired music are things I could see fitting well with the setting of the game?

Gameplay: I don't usually like games that involve a lot of walking, though the maps in this one were fairly short and there was a good amount of cut-scenes and story mixed in, so gameplay-wise it wasn't too bad. I think I got something almost like a puzzle towards the end, but I got stuck and so wasn't able to complete it.

Overall, a neat little game. From what I played, it's not exactly scary, though the story and art does have the potential for a very unique kind of horror experience. I liked a lot of the elements here (art, voice acting, story, character designs), I only wish there were a bit more of them!

Nice! I'll have to play it when it comes out :)

I played this a while ago (couldn't wait!) so sorry if there's things I missed or if I talk about outdated things since this game isn't fresh in my mind anymore.

I like the idea of the Aoi Oni style chases, and it definitely put some more tension in the game even in the calmer moments! I also think the game did a good job of making sure these chases didn't activate in certain map portions that are difficult to navigate or which have a lot of puzzles, and that every time you did get into a chase then the hiding spots would be pointed out, which was a nice touch.

My one complaint here is that, the difficulty for the chases between normal and hard felt a bit too much of a change? I played an older version so it may have been changed by now but the version I played easy was okay, normal was manageable, and hard made it impossible to walk two steps without running into Pinocchio, haha. I wonder if instead of just the chases, the difficulty options could make some of the puzzles optional instead? Or, probably the variables that affect his appearances just needed to be tweaked.

Speaking of, I enjoyed most of the puzzles though I wished some where a little more clear on what to do (specifically the clock puzzle and the puzzles with the gold and silver suits of armor are the ones I remember off the top of my head). The clock puzzle, I think if one hand were made thicker and shorter and one longer and thinner that it would help people figure out "oh, it's a clock!" and to put the hands in the right places. The armor one I only figured out by randomly pressing them... if there was a better way of figuring it out, I wasn't able to find it, haha. Overall though, I enjoyed most of the puzzles, though some (like the painting puzzle) were a little tedious... I know I did it in my own game so I can't complain, but I think making puzzles skippable kind of defeats the point of them. I think if you wanted to implement something like that, maybe if you were playing on easy and it automatically skipped the puzzle, that it might make more sense. For that particular puzzle though, yeah the constraints of RPGMaker and the way it was set up just made it kind of tedious either way. I think if there was a menu you could select the pieces from, that may play better. Which is too bad, because I got excited to solve it when I noticed the connection between the tiles and the painting! It is what it is though, I think it was a good idea just hard to implement.

I also always appreciate being able to skip the introduction, though in this case I had to start over a few times while trying to find the right difficulty. A really minor thing, but I would have preferred if the "skip introduction" could have gone all the way past the section where you play as Geppetto and started when you get the key and have full access of the house (and have to start running from Pinocchio). I understand why it's set up the way it is, and the Geppetto section didn't take too long to play through anyways, but right after is where I feel like the game really begins (and it's easier to get a sense of the difficulty from that point on). I'll also say that the old man was probably one of my favorite characters hahaha, his interactions with Geppetto were pretty funny.

My last issue is with the endings. They all made sense, they just felt too short? For some of them them being short was okay, but I think particularly the "True Ending" I would have preferred to see a little bit more of what happens rather than just being told, if that makes sense. My favorite ending was probably the one where Mia just decides to up and leave the house though, hahaha.

I also have to say, great job with the story! For "adapting" a well-known story, you managed to make a version that's not only pretty distinct from the original despite sharing similar elements, but also made sense and everything was tied together really well. Good job!

Overall, good game! I'm interested in seeing what you work on next :)

Nice game! There were a lot of different controls so I was pretty confused at first, but once I got the hang of it, it was pretty fun :) Good job!

omg thank you so much!

Thank you for playing, and I'm glad you enjoyed it! Yeah the ending was somewhat rushed (including the 3rd tape), but I'm glad to hear all the feedback and have definitely learned a lot from making this game!

Congratulations!!

No problem! Honestly the CGS weren't that bad. It was mostly just when I was playing and I would be talking to Fawn's sprite, and then her sprite would disappear and the background would change to include her that it would trip me up a little, if that makes sense. 

Oh, thank you! I'm still very new to game development so I'm still trying to figure things out, haha.

Gameplay:

Though the puzzles worked well and had a good variety to them, I think they could have used a bit more explanation in order to solve them.

Story:

The story that's been set up so far in the demo is interesting, though a little light. The reveal at the end makes me wonder what else they have planned for the full game, since the demo already feels like it could work as a standalone game.

Presentation:

I think personally I would have liked if the design fit a theme better, particularly the UI. The ripped up STEM notes on the title screen is a unique idea, and would have looked cool if implemented maybe for the window boxes, as an example. The visuals and music did look and sound decent though.

Horror:

The horror was pretty decent, I think I would have liked a bit more scares personally. But what's there works well for the length of the game.

Overall:

A decent game! There's a couple places that I think could be polished more, but that's mostly me nitpicking. The puzzles, once I figured out how to solve them, were pretty fun!

To answer your questions, yes the truck was being driven by Erik! I actually made a script for each of the tapes, but scrapped or altered them depending on what assets I could find. Originally I had planned for the player to be able to walk up and interact with the truck as well, but I ended up cutting that. It was also planned to be revealed that Erik was secretly banned from going to family gatherings, so part of it is that and part of it was Maggie trying to save face in front of her boyfriend.

The scripts is also kinda why tape 3 is the way it is, I was actually struggling to get the assets for tape 2 for a while and then tape 3 got put aside as a result. That and I kept changing the script for 3 and it ended up being a mess... what's in the game now is a lot of last minute decisions, so it's obviously the weakest section as a result haha. I think in the future I'll probably go with my gut and plan out everything before.

I also had a couple different ideas for the "phantoms", the strongest being that they represented the potential judgement of people outside the family. Kind of why the family is so keen on keeping everything a "secret" is because they're worried about what other people would think. But I wasn't sure how to implement that, so it came out more vague. The actual shower monster is either based off Eddie or his dad, you can't see it from his character animations but when I created references for all of them both Eddie and Rick have similar builds. I actually tried to do the same thing with Chris and his mom, not sure it comes across though.

Thanks for asking!

Oh, interesting! I was thinking anything to do with the showers was a reference to the Psycho film, and since it's so iconic I just assumed that was why there were so many of them.

Thanks!! No worries about the feedback either, I like doing it but I understand it's not everyone's thing.

And honestly concerning Mine, I was pretty inspired by the other games in the jam (including your's!) and I tried to take a lot of the constructive criticism that people gave me and turn it into something better this time.

I appreciate your support! Though to be honest, I still think your games are a lot cooler than mine. All things considered, I did have fun playing A House for Alessa. It was very different from your last game, but there's always so much to explore in your games and I always get excited to play them. I'll have to check out your other ones, including A House for Alessa 2!

Alright, I finally finished! Neat game, I liked the story. The puzzles were good, I think a little more clarity would have made them easier to figure out though? The piano room one I just assumed it couldn't be deactivated at all because of what it said when I first entered. Besides all that, neat demo!

(I rated this game in all categories, but I didn't always have something to comment on for some categories so I omitted those from this review).

Gameplay:

It runs like a typical visual novel, if a little buggy. A couple times I had windows pop up about "so and so song not being played in channel 2" or variations of that, but I was able to keep playing for the most part.

Main thing I would have liked to see, what's common is sometimes visual novels allow a "skip" option to progress through parts of the story you've already seen. I'm not sure how doable this is in RPGMaker specifically, but it would have made it a lot easier for people trying to see multiple endings than just having to click through all of the dialogue over again. I appreciated being able to save whenever, but it has it's limits.

Story:

Story was pretty interesting, I enjoyed a lot of the writing too. The first ending I got was Ending 3, which honestly I was expecting. But I was surprised by endings 4, and then ending 1 and 2- 1 felt the most realistic, and I appreciated it. I also only realized at the end why her name was "Fawn", hahaha.

Presentation:

It's works well for a visual novel, though it's a bit buggy in some areas. I think some of the UI could have been spiced up a bit. I think the art is lovely, though it was a little visually confusing sometimes, mostly when Fawn would show up in the backgrounds in a pretty different style than the talking sprites.

Horror

Sound design was excellent here in moments were Dana was scared, and I appreciate how there's plenty of moments of horror, even at the beginning when there's "nothing" to be scared of.

Overall:

If it were me, I would have tried to use a program like Ren'Py or other program made more specifically for use with visual novels to avoid some of the more buggy aspects, and a lot of those programs include things like the "skip" option automatically which helps when trying to get all the endings. But otherwise, it was a pretty neat little game! Good work!

I'm sorry again but... I'm stuck on the piano room puzzle. Is there a way to deactivate the squares, or find another path? I can't think of a way to solve it where I would live, because the no matter what I do the square nearest to the key always activates and there's no other way for me to leave, that I can find anyways.

Oh, after the second tape! Thanks for pointing it now, I'll get on it right now!

I was more confused than offended by the partial nudity and sexualization, but now that I know it's a reference to 80s movies it makes a lot more sense! I would also not trade it away for a game that doesn't include the ending with Alessa and Greta, that ending was pretty funny and it just wouldn't have been the same if it was more SFW.

Gameplay:

I thought the gameplay was really strong, I liked all the different puzzles and I liked that there was a variety between that and chases. I did think the chases here were a little weaker than in "There is Something in the Anderghast Mine", I think just because that game had more of a focus on chases so those chases tended to be a little longer and were more unique from one another, that's how I feel anyways. But I enjoyed the puzzles more in this one!

The one thing I didn't like so much was how large the spaces were, within one room or hallway wasn't too bad but because you have to backtrack through a lot of areas I found it a little tedious to do all that walking, especially near the end when I was trying to get the different endings. I would have appreciated some unlockable shortcuts, or just having the maps be a bit smaller if there isn't another reason for them to be so large. I think this style is fine though for other types of games where you don't backtrack as much, just here it was much more noticeable.

Story:

I liked the story, it was pretty cheesy, but that's pretty fitting for the 80s horror vibe.

Presentation:

Presentation I felt like was very good! I appreciated all the little effects like the CRT filter and other effects. My favorite has to be the mural that looks at you when you're turned away, that was pretty awesome.

Creativity:

This game is certainly pretty creative. I think certain puzzles were similar to ones I'd seen before, but I still enjoyed them so I didn't mind too much.

Horror:

Horror was pretty decent, I definitely had more than enough different death animations to choose from! I think, not a horror problem exactly but because you backtrack so much in this game I was wondering if there might be more effects in some of the hallways like how you see at the beginning- lights turning off, things falling over, people chasing you, etc. Like maybe if you receive a certain item, it unlocks something somewhere so that when you travel to an area to use that item you receive a new scare you didn't have before, or something like that. 

I only bring it up because I saw a lot of these littler scares early on in the game, but the more I explored the less and less they showed up. By the end of the game, the house felt weirdly empty because of this.

Theme:

There is a family, and they have some secrets! I think I would have liked if the game was a bit more clear on which secrets were explicitly secrets or not, if that makes sense. Like, the family does scary things, but for most of the game they're pretty open about it.

Overall:

I was a little frustrated at the beginning because of how often I died and because I wasn't always sure what to do, but once I got into the groove of it and memorized more of the house it became a pretty enjoyable game, especially once I got to more of the puzzle sections. Thanks for making it!

My only question is- what is the code on the mirror for?? I was never able to figure it out...

I've updated the game, let me know if you're still having issues. I'm not sure about that bug that made you play through the flower puzzle without the tape, I think it may have been part of bug-testing in a previous version that hadn't been deleted before it was uploaded. Either way, it should be gone now.

Also, thanks for letting me know about these bugs, I appreciate it!

Do you mean you were facing the TV directly or was there another space? I'll go ahead and look for those bugs, for now if you're playing the most recent version (1.1 I believe) then you can try downloading an older version (I think 1.02) and it should have less bugs and also skips the flower puzzle entirely. Sorry about that!

Thank you for the hint, I finally got it! Also, I'm sorry to do this again but... After solving the combination puzzle, I'm stuck again. It was there was a "click", but I can't find anything else that's changed. Is the click for something in the same room or somewhere else?

Gameplay:

The gameplay is pretty simple, you collect keys for different rooms to unlock others, read notes along the way that help explain the story, and occasionally have to remember a code to access special locations. It works, though I was hoping there would be a little more to the puzzles.

Story:

The story was interesting, I'm used to seeing games about families from a human perspective not from their robots or AI! This game also includes both sci-fi and supernatural elements and I always love seeing those paired together. I think they could have been blended a little better though? There were a couple moments were the clash of genres was a little jarring- specifically because of how the people talk in the notes feels older, and their appreciation for older things like books, instruments, and painting made them feel kind of out of time with the more sci-fi elements.

I think if there was just one or two more details it could have made a bit more sense why such old fashioned people had a robot to begin with. Especially because a lot of the notes don't even mention the main character, I didn't always understand what their place was in this family.

Presentation:

Most of the UI is the basic RPGMaker one, a few included older elements like class, health and mana, which weren't really used in this game. The look itself was pretty unique, but I think more music, in-game sound effects, and a little bit more customization with the menus and the title screen would have helped sell the mood of the game better. A small note, there weren't a lot of misspellings but there were some grammar errors (their instead of they're, maybe a few others) so the writing might need a look.

Creativity:

When I first started playing and saw the note about how the visuals don't always match up with what is actually there, I felt a bit excited. The premise is actually pretty cool- you play a robot/AI with limited visual sensors, and have to navigate through a storm ravaged mansion in order to find out the family's secret? That's really interesting!

It also lends itself well to puzzles, as maybe you have to figure out what some objects are without being able to "see" what they are. I was actually a little disappointed I didn't see this in the game, like, maybe in order to find one of the keys a note tells you it's hidden behind one of the master's paintings. It tells you the name of the painting and everything, but the problem is, you can't see the paintings themselves! So you'll have to rely on clues, like maybe you know this is one of the character's favorite paintings, so you have to look at the painting in their room, or something like that.

In fact, I thought there might even be a puzzle where you have to find a key that someone has, so you find it somewhere and then move on, only realizing later that the sensors didn't pick up that the person was dead! I was actually in dread of that for much of the game. Maybe that's kind of morose, but I thought it would be a good way to point out the visual limitations and the possible horrors associated with that.

Horror:

There were a little bit of horror elements, including me once or twice finding "organic matter" which was a little unnerving since as we already talked about, you don't always know what you're looking at in this game. However beyond what's mentioned in the notes, most of the game is pretty lacking in either direct scares or an unnerving mood. I think even just a little bit of unnerving music, or even music with slight computer glitches would have helped to bring this element out a lot more.

Theme:

The game is certainly about a family and their secret. I was kind of hoping the reveal would have a little more build-up, I think one of the notes tells you directly but I would have liked maybe if they talked about about the master's son first, talk about some of the feelings the family had leading up to the "event", or even maybe we have to walk through one of the rooms that has things they were trying to keep hidden or secret. Of course one of these rooms could already have been just that, in which case I think it would help to make it a little more obvious, maybe have some required dialogue mentioning how "strange" the room is or something like that.

Overall:

A nice little game, the premise is pretty interesting I just wish that more had been done with it.

Interesting story! Is there a way to find the key, or to solve the combination lock puzzle? I'm kind of stuck in that last room.

Thank you! Yeah, I definitively was trying to do too much with those tapes I think, but I'm glad you liked the game besides that!

Sorry that it's been so long, but it should be fixed now. Thank you for playing and letting me know about this bug!

Checking the front door or sleeping should progress the story, but there might be a bug that prevents you from doing either. If you try both those things and neither of them work, let me know and I'll try to fix it.

Yeah I mean you don't have to take my suggestion too seriously, I wasn't sure it would work well or not myself. I think it's a tricky thing to balance unfortunately, having too much or too little dialogue and putting it in a format that is fitting but not frustrating. I'm also surprised to hear you got complaints like that on your bitsy game! From the ones I've played, they tend to be more narrative-focused due to their limited features, so constant dialogue was more the expectation. I guess every game is different depending on what you're trying to convey, or even the person playing it!

Unfortunately I'm still having trouble trying to reach the chest next to the building? I'm wondering if the NPC in the very upper left corner is blocking the path for me, or if I'm just missing another path I could be taking. I managed to get the potion and the armor, but I have no idea how to use them haha.

Thank you for playing! Yeah, the slimey sound for the door was intentional, but it sounds like it wasn't conveyed well, I'll have to keep that in mind for future works. Also thank you for letting me know about the continue button being broken! I had a feeling the lack of saves could make the game frustrating already, but I can't imagine it with even the continue button being broken.

I appreciate you playing through the game regardless!

Possibly! Do you have other games that use the same plugin and have a similar issue?

Maybe that's it, I was playing on my laptop lol. I was able to get past it and play the game, mostly properly, it was something I kept running into but it wasn't consistent thankfully and I saved a lot so everytime it was an issue I just restarted.

Great job by the way! I ended up really like the story and all of the glitchy effects, I like how cohesive everything turned out to be.

Thank you :)

Hmm... in terms of the dialogue, it's not always necessary for the NPCs to have distinct voices in RPGs, just there at least two or three of them all seemed preoccupied with identity (who is me and am I you or myself sort of thing) and a lot of them were interested in the environment but specifically how, nonsensical it was? I think that for me was what felt a little same-y, or, not that they are preoccupied by the same thing but that they do it in the same way. Nobody is like, "oh this HAS to be a dream", or someone else thinking it's like, a trick or a punishment. I mean again, it's not strictly necessary, but besides the guy who tries to fight you it feels like everyone is more thinking about what's going on than anything else, and in general people will have pretty different reactions to things, even similar things. Even things like crying, or going silent, or asking for help. Just my opinion though.

Well, mostly I think the feeling of same-iness could be more the way the dialogue is conveyed rather than the language itself. I think because it's all typed in with minimal pauses, it feels clunky even when it doesn't need to be. And often it makes their dialogue feel more similar than it is, even when some people use longer sentences and some more fragments. I think some use of a message plugin which pauses during a passage, or even just spacing out some of the lines would help with the impact if that makes sense. The dialogue does have a good rhythm, but it's paragraph-like format kind of hides this. For example:

"It is... by no means... a physical house, but... are we? Are you? What is physical? Is it thought? Is it the void? Is it the soulful tune of despair? I do not even know who I happen to be, and yet I feel, emanating, pulsating, this... this..."

This passage includes a lot of sentence fragments, which actually is a very fitting style for this game! However, I think it works better when spaced out more like poetry, but it doesn't even need to be that much. For example:

"Is it... by no means... a physical house."

"But... are we? Are you?"

"What is physical? Is it thought? Is it the void? Is it the soulful tune of despair?"

"I do not even know who I happen to be, and yet I feel, emanating, pulsating, this... this..."

Not that exactly, but I feel like it reads a little better? Especially in an RPG format where the text boxes tend to be smaller anyways.

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anyways, sorry for the long comments! I hope they're able to be helpful at least. Thank you for letting me know about sticking to the edges, I'll try to make my way into the house and possibly comment about it if I'm able to get in and see anything new.

Gameplay - It's always tricky to implement gameplay which takes control away from the player and have it be interesting or scary rather than frustrating, but I thought it was done fairly well here! I think it's helped by how short the game is and that the game has a kind of autosave that kicks in during some scenes (though how, I'm not sure since it seemed to remember some actions but not others). The glitchy effects themselves were pretty cool, short enough that it wasn't frustrating but often enough and long enough to help make the game very interesting to play. Besides the maze, the ramen, and the "dream", there weren't a lot of gameplay mechanics to interact with, which is a shame. It would have been interesting to have a few more scenes like in the dream, figuring out certain puzzles while dealing with (or even using??) the glitches.

Story - The story was very good! There was enough in the beginning to get you interested and invested, especially when I happened to open up a crate and found a picture of his daughter. What would cause a man to venture down and commit himself to living underground, especially if he was just starting a family? I think the ending also helped tie everything together in a very satisfying way, even if it was a little sad.

Presentation - I loved all of the effects used in the game! Even from the start, the small arrow to select, the way lighting works, the glitches themselves were all very cool.

Creativity - I think a lot of this game was very unique, especially even how it takes the theme and mixes it with other things such as technology.

Horror - Horror can be a hard thing to pin down sometimes, and subjective too. I really liked this work, but I feel like it possibly could have used some more horror elements? Or at least, I think this game had a lot of more subtle horror, but because it's so short it doesn't give you a ton of time to let it sink in all the way. I think if it took a bit longer and built up the glitches more, put the dream later, and gave the main character more lines that were more distressed, that it may have been more effective. I think especially the main character, I would have liked to see him get a bit more scared at things, or at least be more stubborn about decisions. If he were more resistant to going outside, even when we needed to, or if he responded more to the glitches that were happening instead of it feeling like it was just happening to us.

Theme - This game fit the theme pretty well of course!

Overall, good work!