199X

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too many unattractive ♥♥♥♥♥♥

This game caught my attention because of its humorously absurdist premise: "In 199X, you control Clara. That's the problem." I found it intriguing that it had a number of lengthy reviews arguing its virtues. And the price was right. I played through the story once and could not reconcile the glowing reviews I had read with the game I had just played. So I played it through again, front to back, this time grabbing all the collectables and searching out the "Secret Room." I still don't understand the attraction here. Look, you don't control Clara and that's the problem. The game developer has created a protagonist who is the architect of her own demise and you, the player, are just along for the ride. This story is on rails and nothing you choose can change the outcome. I didn't find the story appealing nor were any of the characters very likeable. Well, I'm old and I probably just don't get it. Unfortunately, that has to be my honest recommendation - just don't get it. Problem solved.

[h1]Summary[/h1] A short RPGMaker narrative adventure game more focused on 4th wall breaking story telling. [b]Pros[/b] + Interesting [b]Cons[/b] - Minimal gameplay [h1]Overview[/h1] 199X is a short RPGMaker narrative adventure game with minimal gameplay that is more about the story and heavily plays with the idea of social norms, emotional manipulation, and mental illness, featuring a ton of 4th wall breaking that is basically the premise of the game. For its time it would have been one of those unconventional experimental indie games but it does have an interesting spin to it, where there are also a lot of gaming tropes thrown in that it kind of makes fun of. [b]Story[/b] The game centers on Clara who is suspected to be suffering from schizophrenia, though in reality or maybe even not, you the player are in control of Clara and her decisions and even speak directly into her mind. Although the whole idea is that you are in control of Clara being given multiple dialogue options and decisions you could make along side certain moments where they make a point that you are able to force her to do things. In reality the game is linear and even when you want her to do certain things you simply can't or she will outright refuse forcing you to do the other thing, this is weird as it goes against the premise of the game and for me kind of reinforces that she might just be schizophrenic. [b]Gameplay[/b] Gameplay is quite barebones where you will mostly be interacting with objects and annoyingly sometimes multiple times or have a lot of dialogue, having to go back and do almost every option to talk about before being able to move on so exploring every possible interactable is often required. I find some of the things being talked about also a tad bit pretentious and I guess a little cringe. There are the moments where it does get amusing when they throw some RPG aspects in but they don't happen enough. Though that is not the point of the game so just remember that most of the game is spent interacting with objects, reading through lengthy dialogues, and a lot of walking. [hr][/hr] If you find my reviews useful do follow my [b][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/11028547-Dods-Echo-Chamber/]Curator[/url][/b] page for more!

Had this game in my backlog damn near a decade. Decided to pick it up and played it for about an hour....and... ...it's honestly fascinating? I couldn't call it refined by any means; this is very clearly some random person's RPG Maker passion project. It's as flawed as that premise would suggest, but it's also strangely heart felt and interesting. It's an interesting game to play if you are pondering how to manage narrative and forth wall breaks in interesting ways, that's for absolute sure. After an hour, I went to see if the dev ever did another game...and I was disappointed. This is a voice that I want to believe kept making stuff...because while it's funky and weird? It's a great kind of funky and weird. It's worth the asking price. It's an odd duck, but I don't regret buying it.

Now this is something I haven’t played before… At first, it seems like yet another generic RPG maker game, but it’s far from that. There’s almost no combat, so it’s mostly a story-based title, using that engine. But it’s good. At least the main concept. Clara is a girl suffering from schizophrenia. But she’s not the only protagonist. The other protagonist is the voice in her head, controlled by the player. Scratch that, YOU are the voice! I really enjoyed this concept, even if the main story outside of that is more generic. Of course, this means the game breaks the 4th wall a lot, so this one is a must if you’re into that. It lasts a couple hours and it’s cheap, plus the soundtrack is free DLC. I was genuinely surprised, although most of your choices don’t matter much. But it’s a unique experience for sure, and for that alone I can recommend it.

In the course of playing and even by the end I can't say I ever "got" it or really grasped any one particular message, so much as a melange of themes? But over time it definitely crept its way into my feelings, more than I expected, notably eliciting a weirdly upsetting sense of... wanting? "This isn't how things are supposed to be"...? The game felt longer than it was in a good way, despite being kind of a chore to play, something about it all and about Clara drew me into its scant little world and left an impression.