This is a review copy. I'll buy one copy for a friend to support the game.
With the completion of the final chapter the game has about 6 hours of content plus some optional achievements, kinda reminds me of many cult classics from RPG-Maker, for better or worse it probably has the most complex story that I experienced in years, perhaps you might like it, or perhaps you will find it a bit overwhelming. I thought the writing was very nuanced and I think the characters had good depth to them, although the pacing of the game kinda suffered across many of the chapters, often feeling like things are happening too fast, too slow, or somewhere in between.
The biggest thing I didn't like is that some puzzles were put together too close, although there are sections where I think you did it much better. I would say the best puzzles were around the area where you could travel between the zodiac doors (the one I made the fan art for) because you had to put things together between multiple locations, and after that a lot of the puzzles were forced into individual rooms, or sometimes the puzzle solving itself as you go. I also found it weird how little or how much you would focus on puzzles, sometimes you would go 30+ minutes without a puzzle, and sometimes they would not stop coming, so that is that something I wish was more consistent. On that note, puzzles have always been kind of a tradition with horror games, so I get that you wanted to have some, but honestly I think the writing and building up the tension are your better attributes, and the puzzles should be more complementary, I felt like you forced them into the game a lot of the time.
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I didn't mind the visuals for the most part and overall I enjoyed taking screenshots across the game with many surreal locations, I like that you are being resourceful and only drawing just enough to convey the scene, that being said I also thought the visuals were not consistent. When I look at details in some of the shops, and I compare it to some sections in the sewers for example, it's like night and day, I would much rather you do a shorter game that maintains a certain level of detail, as opposed to having many sections where they feel empty and there is nothing to look at. That being said, the 5th chapter was my favorite in terms of visuals at least, you went back to drawing more surreal locations and I liked how the visuals contrasted the psychological themes within the story.
For the most part I didn't know where the story was going, there may have been just a touch of SIlent HIll but it turned out to be something very different, if anything the mystery is what kept me playing the game, and to be honest, even by the end I was not sure what happened, I think you can take many themes in this game and take away your own interpretation, even despite all of the crazy things you see, you could still maybe make some kind of mental argument, the game almost has a lesson in acceptance, it's less about horror, and more about understanding yourself, or at least that is what I got from it.
[h1] Pros: [/h1]
(+) I liked that the narrative had a slow burn, at least until the last few chapters where maybe it got a little too heavy, I think the game had a good mystery going for it, the characters had a lot of depth to them, and I think overall it had an interesting look into understanding yourself, who you are, and how you should treat people that are close to you.
Actually, a relatively interesting and unique theme for the story, if you not being too nitpicky, it's a bit different from similar games which I liked.
(+) Even though the quality of artwork and detail was not consistent, the parts that were good were very enjoyable to explore, I took a lot of screenshots playing the game, and I think you were very effective at conveying many complex ideas with simple drawings, with the 5th chapter I think being the best with the visuals.
(+) For the most part I think the soundtrack and ambiance was good, except of the song in the chapter 4 during the fight, I thought it was a very odd choice.
(+) Puzzles like the visuals were not consistently good, there were a couple of good puzzles, I think the one with the zodiac doors was the best, and maybe a few decent puzzles spread across the chapters.
(+) Some optional achievement support*
[h1] Feedback: [/h1]
- So with the puzzles, sometimes you would have too many puzzles in one location, kinda making me feel like you just adding them for gameplay, in contrast to having a puzzle that supports the theme of the game, and has something to do with the characters. You have a little bit of both, but I would say, don't try to beat the player over the head with the puzzles, try to design them with exploration in mind, sort of like those zodiac doors, and even if the puzzle itself has interesting conclusion, like that flower moment with the doll.
- The pacing of the game was a bit odd, I don't really mind the slower moments, but sometimes it felt like you would have too many themes and ideas happening at the same time, for example in the 5th chapter I felt like you had like 30 different ideas where a similar game probably would have 5 at most. I don't mind the complexity of the story, it's just that I think you can get the same results with only a few reveals, you don't need like 10 different layers on what is already a story with plenty of depth. It's almost like the game would never end, it's probably the biggest plot landing I have seen.... ever.
- Wasn't a big fan of the arrow elements and QTEs there, sometimes they were pretty fast, and sometimes just annoying to repeat.
- I didn't like that one song during the fight in chapter 4, felt very random.
- The artwork was decent overall, just not consistent with detail, I would prefer if you made a shorter game where each location is heavy on detail like those buildings and stores, less empty areas like the sewers with solid lines and generic texture.
[b] Overall Thoughts: 7/10 [/b]
The pacing was not the best toward the end, but the narrative gave me a memorable experience, it was not bad by any means, I still think the characters were very complex and I liked the overall conclusion and where the characters end up in terms of their understanding of who they are. I think it's just a focus thing, you have some good parts, and some parts that probably didn't need to be there, which honestly isn't a bad problem to have, you probably could have been more effective making the game a little shorter. Enjoyed my time overall, just wanted to be a little more consistent with the detail, and the pacing, I thought at times it got a little too deep, like it has 10 layers to the plot if not more.
[code]Niche, obscure and underrated games: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/31294838-Hidden-Gem-Discovery/ [/code]
