a nice little story :)
Also not sure if it's a bug or not, but there's some dialogue during Anya's dream where the background for the textbox disappears? It's the only time in the game it happens during a character's dialogue, so I was just wondering if it was intentional or not?
(I played the browser version)
This review will include spoilers!
Gameplay - 3/5: Serviceable
I will say that the gameplay here is pretty light, and mainly focused around talking with people or interacting with certain locations. There are a couple opportunities for you to pick from multiple dialogue options, but as far as I can tell there isn't a big effect on the game and at least for me I never reached any kind of 'game over'.
I do think the saving system could be simpler...? It's not bad, but it's a little strange to be able to save from the menu and also from your seat. Particularly in a game where there isn't any, or at least are very few opportunities to get a 'game over', probably just saving from the menu and/or autosave would have been good enough. I will say that the autosave was a nice touch.
Presentation - 4/5: Good!
I really appreciate the custom art which is simple, but very effective. Nice touch with making the fluttering moth element in the UI!
I like the classical music at the beginning, and I think it fits the mysterious tone well. However, I think the beginning had a few too many jokes that it clashed with the darker tone of the music. I thought the jokes were pretty funny, but I think either having less of them or changing the music to something more cheerful (at least during the beginning cutscene) might help the scene to have a more consistent mood. Something like the music from the scene inside the bus would fit well.
Creativity - 4/5: Good!
I really admire the sprite design, which is very good at conveying the different character designs while still being minimalistic. Good job! I also liked the idea of tying the red string to people to follow them into their dreams, it's a cute interpretation of the myth that fits pretty well with this game. The story of a bunch of people haunted by a dead childhood friend isn't a unique one, but I did like this game's take on it.
Horror - 5/5: Great!
The horror in this game starts subtle- little footprints following along, a spooky story. The mystery on Claire's disappearance and the little clues you find in each person's dream really helped to build up that dread. Well done!
Story - 4/5: Good!
This game does a good job at introducing you to the beginning characters, starting with a cutscene between Arianne and Lily. Their dialogue is funny and helps you get a sense of not only their personalities, but the personality of another character named Lovely. I thought it was a well done scene, so good job!
Unfortunately, things get a bit confusing when you're introduced to the other characters. There's so many of them in one scene that it becomes difficult to keep track. The more memorable introductions include the purple haired girl, two of Arianne's cousins, and Lily's boyfriend Riki. Or maybe his brother, Riku?
I'll say that writing a large cast can be difficult, but this game did a very good job with giving most of them pretty distinct voices and personalities. I do think it's a little difficult to remember all the characters and their connections to each other, just due to their sheer number. A couple of the characters kind of had repetitive roles, specifically Niña and the people from the shop probably could have been condensed into one character. Especially as the story goes on, some characters had fewer and fewer lines, and you can't even go into their dreams to learn more about them or about the past. It could be more efficient in the future to cut down on the number of characters, or to recycle their designs or ideas about them into other games.
It does get easier to keep track of the characters as the game goes on. I also enjoyed the ability to go into other people's dreams to find clues about what happened when they were kids. It works surprisingly well given that each segment is long enough to give you just a hint, but short enough not that you feel like you're missing out on what the other characters went through or were thinking. These dreams also help you get to know the other characters better as well, though that does leave the characters without the dream sequences feeling sidelined a little bit. I'm a little disappointed you don't get to find out what happens to the characters after the events of the game, but besides that I was pretty satisfied with both endings I got.
Overall:
A nice little game! The focus here is definitely on it's narrative, which explores the mystery of this missing girl while traveling through the dreams of others. The gameplay is pretty light, and the art and music are good though occasionally the music and story are tonally inconsistent. Probably the most tricky thing about this game is the large cast, which can be confusing especially at the beginning. The horror is really well done for a game this light on gameplay, starting subtly before gradually building throughout the game. Good job!
Posted as part of the Review The Old Event #1: January 2025
Gameplay - 5/5: Great!
First off, the game has a good mix of gameplay elements that help make it fun. Most of it is walking around and clicking on things and seeing what they do, but there's also stealth and chase sections which are spaced out nicely and help to mix things up. I especially liked the idea of trying to interact with people's dreams and try to wake them up.
This game also has a very good sense of helping to guide the player. Not only does it give instructions on which controls to use early on, it also gently guides the player to go towards certain areas in certain times to avoid backtracking or interacting with places in ways that wouldn't progress the story.
The autosave was also really helpful, as there are many (very easy) opportunities to die in this game. This is kind of a risky move on the devs' part, but it works because the autosave (and the ability to save yourself) makes it so that you don't often lose a lot of progress. I also liked that even though it was pretty easy to die, the easy deaths were spaced out about once per area you entered.
Presentation - 4/5: Good!
Starting off, I really enjoy the music, particularly the menu music. I think though they fit better in some scenes than in others? One example is the upbeat music in the library and the general house feels like it could work just as well in a fight scene or a tense cutscene between characters. However, it felt a little too energetic while you're wandering around the house at night and hear something spooky. Most scenes the music either fit well or it fit just okay, but I noticed when it didn't fit well it was a little harder to get immersed.
The game mainly uses RTP or RTP style assets for it's visuals. Like a lot of RPGMaker games, it loses a bit of uniqueness because of this. However, many of the adapted sprites and tilesets work surprisingly well with the original RTP assets, and even the use of the sprites in textboxes to tell who was saying what helped to make the game feel unique even while still using those RTP assets. The custom art as well, when it was used, was lovely and helped give a better since of details on the characters that couldn't be made out in the pixel art alone.
If I had one complaint about the art, it would probably be the slight over reliance on RTP portraits and sprites. Many of the main characters had sprites design in the RTP style or possibly were made in an RPGMaker Character Creator, and are distinct from the sprites you're given by the program to make a game. However, many of the NPCs use more generic sprites. This isn't a major thing, but I did feel a little weird seeing the main characters represented by sprites in their textboxes whereas the NPCs were represented by the KADOKAWA made portraits. It gives a slight feeling of the major characters being NPCs and the NPCs being major characters. Personally, I feel it might have been better reversed, or if everyone used the sprites in their textbox, or even if the NPCs only had a namebox and lacked both a sprite or portrait in their textbox.
Creativity - 4/5: Good!
I'll admit that the idea of traveling through the dreams of others is an interesting, but not very original idea. I do enjoy the fairytale-like atmosphere and what this game does do, creatively speaking, is talk about some of it's magical elements in a way that almost parallels it with real world mental health issues, like the dream demon almost being comparable to depression and so on. It's an interesting idea and this game has the potential to really explore it in a way I haven't really seen done before, but as of yet it's hard to see where the project is going with it.
Horror - 3/5: Serviceable
This is a very interesting game and definitely has it's tense moments... but I wouldn't really call it scary, or as having a mysterious or tense atmosphere overall. I do think the game balances it's tense and light moments pretty well, but I think it needs to do a bit more work before it can be considered more of a horror game. Certain scenes, like the beginning section, could maybe have had Reyen wandering in the dark with a small flashlight? This paired with some calmer, or even more mysterious music could have helped to really sell the home invasion scene a lot more.
There's small moments like that where what's there isn't bad, but the horror elements could have been exaggerated a lot more to be more scary. This game also includes a certain about of mystery and buildup, so this might be a game where more horror elements or horror sections were planned later on, but for now they're more subtle.
Story - 4/5: Good!
I personally enjoyed the story, the writing was at times mysterious and at times funny or cute. Like I said before, there seemed to be a lot of potential with the fairytale-like atmosphere and combining that with more psychological themes. I think near the end the story starts to feel a bit rushed, or maybe confused, or at least it's missing the context to explain some things.
Overall:
An enjoyable game, it's a shame that the story isn't finished. It makes good use of RTP assets as well as having excellent music, though small changes could be made to help make the atmosphere more consistent as well as to add in more horror elements or stronger horror sections.
Posted as part of the Review The Old Event #1: January 2025
Gameplay - 3/5: Serviceable
The inclusion of the instructions in the 'weird note' is a nice touch!
The amount of detail that goes into the map design definitely helps the world to feel more alive and lived in. However, sometimes it's a little difficult to navigate areas. Maybe making doorways more clear could help with this, such as extended tiles, door frame sprites, highlighted areas, etc. I think maybe this is done by adding sections to the room along the floor and walls. It works, but it's not super intuitive. The easier places to see you can travel to a new area are the stairs, door sprites, or even just holes in the wall. I think probably making entry walls more visible like those examples could help with navigation, or even just making the map bigger so you transition less often.
I was a little surprised by the lack of intractable items put into the maps too. Not that a game needs to have everything be interactable per se, but it felt like the things that were was kind of random. It didn't help with the feeling of blindly interacting to try to figure things out. I think at least for the puzzle where you have to find the right box, even just interacting with a box and Mateo saying "oh no, wrong box!" could help give the player a bit more direction. I wasn't even sure I was in the right room, so it ended up feeling like an accident when I found the supplies
I will say that the fetch quests are kind of tedious, but puzzles like the flower one was a lot more fun.
Presentation - 3/5 Stars: Serviceable
The use of both RTP assets and custom assets are pretty effective at giving the game a more unique feel.
I like the main menu music, though it is more sweet than mysterious or foreboding. I think the music that plays later in the basement and the house is a better fit maybe for getting the player in the right horror/mystery mood for the game. Other than that, I really liked the music in this game! Especially the section after you plant the seed was very creepy.
I think also making better use of sound effects could help the game feel a little better. Specifically, when you're trying to enter a code and you get it wrong, you get a sound effect or maybe some text like "oh wrong code". Just in general it could give a little more life to the game, if that makes sense.
I do have to say that this game suffers really badly with bugs that let you walk on walls, especially in the later parts of the game. They're not game-breaking, but it gets really distracting after a while especially as the story starts getting more intense and they're becoming more not less frequent. There's also some bugs with respawning items, again more in the later part of the game,and possibly some bugs where you can only transition in certain spots, or you might switch back to a previous map just by walking in the wrong direction.
Creativity - 4/5: Good!
Though most of the assets are RTP, the custom assets, music, and story really shown with their own creativity, particularly the story and custom art. I will say that some elements, like the puzzles, were never something too unusual for RPG Horror games. I think a little bit of creativity not only with the art and story, but also getting creative with puzzles and gameplay could have helped to make this a particularly creative game. I liked puzzles like the flower puzzle and the car scene puzzle, but I think I wanted more puzzles like that and less of the more generic or more confusing ones.
Horror - 4/5: Good!
I think the game does a very good job of having a slow build up of dread. Particularly the car crash scene was very unsettling. Like other reviewers have mentioned, the monster has a good design but not a very sophisticated chasing AI, though I didn't mind this since I personally hate chase scenes. I will say that some of the horror was undercut by distracting bugs and some slight confusion about the story.
Story - 4/5: Good!
The game keeps it's focus pretty well on the characters of Mateo, Lysander and Ianthe. I liked the small reminders Mateo got of their time spent together, and how it becomes more foreboding by the absence of those characters. I also have a soft spot for stories about people trapped in houses... well, you could probably tell just by playing any of my games. But especially the way Mateo becomes more and more cut off from the outside world as his own personal horrors grow was a nice touch, I really liked the way the game explored his anxiety.
I will say I think the game could have used a little more context? We know Lysander and Ianthe were Mateo's friends, but for a while I wasn't sure if they were also his siblings, roommates, or even his parents. I also had assumed Mateo had just moved into a new apartment, and this helped the idea that he was more reluctant to leave it. But then later a pile of books says he's "not done packing", implying he's getting ready to move away? I think a couple more details could have helped get us into his headspace and help the story flow a little better.
Overall:
For a first game using RPGMaker, this game was excellently made. It used a mix of RTP assets and customs assets very well, had a good mix of puzzles and gameplay, and even had decent music and an interesting story to boot. However, the game also suffers from some bugs, lack of context, and some trouble with navigation. There's a lot of things this game does right in terms of design and gameplay, I just think I would have preferred to see more of them. More things to interact with, more sound effects, more obvious transitioning areas, etc. If y'all ever make another game in RPGMaker or otherwise, it would be interesting to see what you come up with!
Extra Tips:
Many of the issues in this game are minor, and thankfully have some pretty easy fixes. With the map collisions, probably just a better knowledge of RPGMaker and an eye for detail is needed. When adding custom tiles or creating new tilesets, you really have to keep aware of what the collision is set to for each tile to avoid these kind of bugs (this includes events!).
When I was first starting out with RPGMaker I didn't really like the default look of the menus, especially when it shows health and mana and so on in games that don't use those resources. For MV specifically, mjshi's Non-Combat Menu plugin is a really good solution to this and pretty easy to use (https://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?threads/non-combat-menu.56344/). I think adding this to the game would be a nice quality of life update that requires less menu navigation on the player's end and keeps them focused on the story and the horror, rather than wondering what they'll be using their HP for later on.
Another thing I noticed, specifically when opening up notes such as Ianthe's guide is the text box at the bottom of the screen. There should be a way in the editor to make a transparent textbox, and then you can simply put a textbox with a space so it doesn't show up and block the guide or other pictures.
Hope these tips are helpful!
Posted as part of the Review The Old Event #1: January 2025
Gameplay - 3/5 Stars: Serviceable
The main mechanic in this game seems to be puzzles and collecting "Things". There isn't a lot of explaination in how to solve puzzles or which things to collect, which certainly adds to the dream-like atmosphere but can also make the game a little more confusing for players.
I think puzzles like the hooded lady asking you to bring "three friends" is one of the easier to understand ones, especially since the "friends" are found all in the same building. Other things, such as using the items requires more experimentation to figure out their purpose. Probably the most confusing part of the game is figuring out what to do next to reach the next area. Particularly in World 2, I spent a lot of time just trying to explore the desert looking for doors and such, and didn't find things like the building or the train station until way later.
I like how this game encourages you to not only think outside the box but also experiment a bit, but I think it could have been balanced by helping out the player a little more. It's hard to think of ways to do this without being too obvious and destroying the dreamlike and curiosity-driven atmosphere, but I think even something like shadowy footsteps that lead you to the next location, or ominous pointing NPCs or so on could help with the navigation a lot. Even just making the map smaller could help with players figure out where to go instead of wandering for longer than needed (unless that's the intent?).
Presentation: - 4/5 Stars: Good!
I liked the use of custom assets in the game! Also small touches, like the starry background being used like water reflections was a nice touch!
I also liked the use of custom sound effects and background music, particularly the sfx in the menus. I will say I think this game could have used more of them? Such as drinking sound effects or a wobbly sound effect, maybe when Iva drinks the Drink. Overall the game sounds just a little quiet.
Creativity - 5/5: Great!
This is certainly a creative game. I think some of my favorite parts was using the background to represent water or other areas, and also how you can use the items to solve puzzles but they also double as clues to the story. Nice work!
Horror - 4/5: Good!
This is a pretty subtle game, and especially subtle in the horror. I liked how there were small moments, such as wondering about the fate of your "friends", the touches of red when the world fades into night, and Iva's portrait getting more distorted as the game goes on.
I think other aspects, such as confusing story and navigation lessens the dreamlike and horror aspects a bit. There is a section that seems pretty spooky and has more red areas in it than the rest of the game, but it's one of the smaller sections of the game. I think maybe a little bit more of a focus on horror could have helped make this game really memorable, especially later in the game.
Story - 3/5: Serviceable
I have a couple theories about what the story might be, however the game is vague enough that I'm not sure which one it could be. At first I thought maybe Iva had been drugged and kidnapped, thinking about how she responds when drinking the Drink, maybe it takes place at night, could that also explain her strange dreams? But after seeing the ending I think maybe it was something a bit more different.
I think maybe the game could have benefited from being more direct, or at least including more items and locations having to do with the story. I think if the focus was on the girl, the school, the city and her classmates that it could have had more of those elements and less of the desert, the train, and so on. I think it helps make the game feel more dreamlike and absurd, but it ends up making the story feel more confusing and disjointed as well.
Overall:
This is a nice little game, and it certainly is trying some interesting things in terms of presentation, creativity and atmosphere. However, the dreamlike atmosphere often clashes with confusing game play and story. I think it's a difficult thing to balance between holding the player's hand while also trying to be more subtle and allow room for exploration and experimentation, but I appreciate this game for being willing to take that risk! Despite confusing gameplay, there were neat little moments I got while exploring that I hope to have more of in other games I play in the future.
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 :)
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!
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 :)
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!
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.
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!
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.
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!
