when i originally played this game during early access, i excitedly gave it 4 stars. the story was great and i found its gameplay intriguing. the full game ended with an interesting concept with much to be desired.

the art direction has improved greatly from its first trailer. i love the aesthetics and the character designs are compelling and fun, with unique personality traits. however, it felt like much of their writing was unplanned. the characters in the later floors felt like they were more concepts than fully fleshed out characters. as the player, we learn more about them through obtaining their memories. for some characters, the memories became wildly repetitive which flattened their personalities, reducing them to simple tropes. it's a dilemma because they look nice and conceptually, they are interesting, but it's hard to find them lovable or relatable because of lack of real characterization.

the story's pacing in early access was very well executed, but i cannot say the same for the full game. i actually sympathized with the nepe on the first floor during EA and felt as though i understood noah and justin much more than i did in the full game. but now, i only get a vague sense of the story while hurrying along to the next floor. the plot right now feels rushed and largely unfinished. after completing the last floor, i didn't feel any sense of finality. while i myself enjoy ambiguous endings, i felt that in this case it would have been beneficial to have some sort of confrontation in an epilogue. sometimes during serious dialogue they would play cliche sound effects that would break the tension and completely change the tone of the scene.

as for gameplay, it felt nearly perfect. i played this game pre-nerf and could not progress past the second floor. post-nerf, it felt refreshing and just the right amount of difficult. the maps were well thought out and the game uniquely combines puzzles with the bullet hell genre. there was a lot of love put into how the game works, from bullet designs themselves to the methods in completing the puzzles. it was immersive and exploring the tower felt rewarding without being too difficult. the only negative i can think of is how uncomfortable the controls are on the keyboard, without any way to change the keybinds. it keeps your hand at an awkward angle, but this only really matters outside of battle. i also wish you could review memories in another menu to refresh yourself on the characters' memories.

ultimately i found the final game to be wasted potential, as i prefer story over gameplay. its progression was too fast-paced to appropriately care for each character. i am disappointed; conceptually, i thought this game would have easily been one of my favorites. if this were a teaser for a full game, i would be excited. i am assuming that somewhere along the line they had to rush for a release date or lost funding somehow, because another year in development would have helped greatly. i would have given it only 3 stars based on its current state, but i felt i should compromise, as the original game in early access was still wonderfully full of potential. it's just disappointing how it turned out in the end.

There is something at work in my soul, which I do not understand.

Thy Creature is a Mary Shelley's Frankenstein inspired video game, in which you play as the infamous nameless monster on a journey to discover the truth of his origin. Unexpectedly coming into contact with others- meeting them and delving into their memories, slowly unraveling the burden and joys of a human nature he is not quite sure he has. Instead of a direct translation of story to game like MAZM's other title, Thy Creature seems divorced from the source; curating its own world with its own charm. A space that focuses more on the emotional history of every living thing in the game rather than looking up at violence for a climax- which is unexpected considering this is a bullet hell. I was not expecting for it to be so melancholic or as touching as it was, somewhat choppy translation aside. There is so much unfiltered creativity here, the mind you have to have to even think to turn Frankenstein's monster into a sexy man with long white anime hair is a great one indeed. I cant really speak its praises enough, every character in the game was visually unique and easily differentiated; unafraid to interact with things like body weight and age. MAZM's visual presentation is always very strong, and it shined here in every way. Playing it I really did feel like I stepped into someones fantasy- it's kind of hard to explain but I cant help but to be very fond of it. I loved everything it did and tried to do in every aspect of the game. A very heartfelt and loving outlook on this world and everything in it.

If I had two critiques...I wish it would of said more with its memory flashbacks, as at a certain point sometimes it becomes a bit repetitive (Chris likes drinking, Leon loves the sea) and I wish I could of seen more of their world building in any way I can. And secondly, though this is probably a budget related issue, the stages in which you have to use the scissors are very tedious and teetered on feeling unbeatable. Cutting things really should be snappier and involve less A button spam. Other than that, this puzzle/bullet hell hybrid is something I've never seen before and should be, if anything else, praised for its originality in every way. Its fun and rewarding, not too short and not too long. Nearly perfect, so I really do hope MAZM goes on to get more funding and work on a bigger scale. I have my fingers crossed for Dracula next.