RPG Maker Fever Undead and Deranged
Warning:This article may contain spoilers and the content inappropriate for children…or may not contain.But get the children away from the screen just in case.
Good morning! Or is it already evening? Meh, as if it matters…cellar, where I’m chained and writing my articles is pitch-dark 24 hours per day. So, today we’ll learn how to make friends, control the undead and have a happy dream ( with some experimental drugs involved).Now then, shall we get started?
Alright, here goes our first title, made by the author of Alice Mare and LiEat series. 1bitHeart is an adventure game, where your goal is to make as many friends as possible . Game plays similar to Ace Attorney series, but with some QTE-scenes, while setting and atmosphere is kinda similar to TWEWY.You can make 49 friends in total, all of them have unique appearance and personality. Plot of the game is pretty good, dialogues are well-written and sometimes hilarious. Besides, every dialogue has it’s own mood supported by stylish well-chosen music track and quality voice acting. Additionaly I want to praise 1bitHeart’s presentation, since both artwork and sprites are extremely beautiful .
And here comes the Boogeyman, the Boogeyman comes for me. Here comes the Boogyeman, he’s gonna take me in my sleep…Nah, actually not. Here comes the latest installement in our favourite the Strange Men Series. This time with the fully voiced in-game cutscenes (and skippable as bonus). The Boogie Man stays true to series and plays like classical horror-adventure with action cut-ins. At some point of the game you can even play as our old friends -David and Sophie, but new protagonist Keith is quite notable too (he’s my personal fav to be honest).Overall the game makes very good impression, the story is interesting and dialogues are bright and entertaining (with many references to previous games).
I’m not the sensitive type, but even I was kinda hesitant to play this game at first, since it has waaay too many suggestive content, supported by quite a lot of graphic violence.But after beating it I can state that this game is totally drugtastic. END ROLL plays like quality role-playing game and somewhat reminds the wild mix of the Gray Garden and Re:Kinder, but with better story-writing and gameplay I believe. Game has plenty of unique dungeons (all of them has some plot-related meaning behind it) as well as tons of optional content, which along with well-designed and interesting characters make END ROLL very enjoyable.
4. Guuzen ~ Ningyou no ito
What? Don’t tell me you’ve never heard about the rite named “doll’s prayer” .You’ll forget all of your worries and path to the Heaven will open before you. But the place, our heroines’ve found themselves in, can be hardly called Heaven. I wasn’t expecting much from this game, but it turned to be quality horror with beautiful character designs, memorable soundtrack, logical puzzles and surprisingly mature story. The game reminds us that we’re often starting to value something only when it’s already lost.Sadly, right now Ningyou no ito is only available in chinese, japanese and russian.
5. Liar Jeannie in Crucifix Kingdom
Yet another full-fledged role-playing game has made it to my list.And kinda tough, I must say. Imagine what if Dark Souls was the turn-based RPG with cute nun as protagonist and you’ll get Liar Jeannie… more or less.Unlike many RPGs, this one doesn’t have any levels, and your stats and basic skills fully depend on your current equipment (by the way, every item in this game can be equipped). A special mention is deserved for game’s bosses - there’s a few main bosses and a lot of optional ones -all of them have their own battle tactics and require some thinking before acting ( especially Pleiades Knights-you want to defeat them, trust me).Also, if things during the fight will become real ugly, you can always summon expendable monsters as your allies (or living shields,heh).
Here we have a game, which looks like a regular fantasy-adventure, but only at first. Plot includes our standard party of heroes (fighter,mage,priest and thief), cursed princess and battle with the local dark lord.But each of these elements plays very different from your typical fantasy stories.At the Tale’s End is definetely a unique experience, a role-playing game in it’s original meaning, without countless random battles, but with a certain weight of responsibility for your actions within a narrative.Also this game has detailed and interesting world as well as quality animated cut-scenes.
A long-awaited Pocket Mirror has been finally released this year. And I’m amazed with enormous amount of work made by the team of developers.When it comes to game’s graphic, Pocket Mirror is stunning. Beautiful artwork and memorable soundtrack help to create this mysterious, unique atmosphere of dark fairy tale. And with that Pocket Mirror has some gameplay issues. You see, while some puzzles are interesting, most of them is quite uninspiring, some of the locations are pitch-dark and hard to navigate.And with that plot of the game is quite complicated,but doesn’t make much sense,if you don’t pay close attention to numerous in-game notes and letters.This game is definetely not bad,but still leaves some feeling of unpolishness.
8. The Maid of Fairewell Heights
Despite the fact that story of the Maid takes place at the haunted apartment complex, this game has no horror elements. Maid feels more like comedy anime straight from ‘90s. Gameplay (along with main character’s outfits) varies depending on the room your’re currently exploring. Starting with regular cleaning you can end up playing detective or running the shop. Game has bright illustrations, good humour and overall is pretty good.
I’m sure everyone knows that beside translating games vgperson also makes their own, and Libretta is one of them..This game definetely gives an interesting experience. While playing similar to Ib, Libretta has it’s own unique atmosphere and somewhat complicated plot, where everyone can find something for themselves (or so I think). Libretta has memorable soundtrack and interesting puzzles, requiring some thinking from the player Also playing shirigories between chapters is kinda fun.
Imaginary Friends is a classical rpg-horror-game with quality visuals, well-thought puzzles and some minor chasing scenes. While story lacks originality, it’s still interesting to follow, since charactrers are nice and game has several endings. Game is about 3 hours long and leaves mostly positive impression. So, if you like old-school rpg-horrors-be my guest.
While having some minor horror elements, Red Trees stays warm and relaxing adventure game with humorous and ironic view on horror genre and quite unexpected ending in a way. Graphic style of the game and whole atmosphere of a local town is somewhat reminiscent of Mother series.Gameplay is quite simple and consist from few “find-and-bring-to-the- right-person” puzzles, which can be easily solved in 30 minutes or so.
Like Red Trees this game is also recommended for players, who’ve already tired from jumpscares, explinct content and overthinking bizarre puzzles. This game has simple yet nice story, unique visuals and some easy logical puzzles.So, if you want to neatly spend 30-40 minutes of your time, try and climb The Stairway to see what’s awiting you at the very end.
The most fitting description for Friendship would be “horror for the beginners”, since it can surprise or startle you only if you haven’t played any other rpg-horrors before. In fact Friendship doesn’t stand out much compared with better quality school horrors ( like Misao or Amayado Bus Stop ).But it doesn’t mean that the game is bad-Friendship is a good way to spend 30 minutes seeing how strong attachment to a friend can turn simple game into yandere-horror.
And here comes our closing title about two former classmates, who’ve found themeselves trapped in the room. Game is only 10 minutes long and basically is one big locked door puzzle. You find the first hint and then successively exploring the room for the way out. Game has two endings determined by how much attention you’re paying to your comrade in distress.
jacobvanloon
gummygunk
blakekathryn
prguitarman
tangentwithtanner
