a cute little game and thats it

ive always really been a sucker for rpgmaker flavoured games and this one scratched an itch I had for so long for a game of that kind cute little art style short enough compelling setting and atmosphere and nice story

story is very straightforward there's a little girl (at first i thought they were a guy) who DIES and becomes a reaper in the underworld where everybody has skull masks and is prone to partying and such and instead of being obedient or something she just goes to look for his lost brother who it turns out is absolutely fucking dead

so more and more stuff happens and shit breaks

nothing that incredible here its just a nice little setup for a great atmospheric lore and there's also a lot of different endings that i wasnt expecting so there's that

art direction is really the winner for me its absolutely moody and thematic since basically everything is may I say lavender lmaoooooooo people died and this is also a diegetic thing in the game since the protagonist takes note of that

so yeah the artstyle is super cute and every portrait is charming enough for me to care about these little characters

also the actual game assets are kinda cute and spritework is delicious

ost is passable enough . nothing too particular but the songs are produced with a lot of cate I can see that and the final boss battle theme is kinda pussy popping

the actual gameplay is great I was not expecting that at all basically you get a skill tree (im sorry I love skill trees) and after getting some souls from defeating ghosts you can get some new abilities and upgrade your stats

and the battle system is interesting enough so kudos

so

Good Game

For how long this game is, it's surprisingly better than what i originally anticipated when i started this, Grimm's Hollow plays into it's strengths pretty well, albeit it isn't anything that thought provoking or grand but it does execute well in practically every aspect, it has really expressive and fun gameplay, however what Grimm's Hollow really does exceed at is it's atmosphere & Story. While the story centers itself around dark topics (E.g. Bullying, Self-Hatred, Loss & Grief, Depression, etc.) it's still accompanied by a cute artstyle and humorous dialogue despite it's melancholic world, insinuating that even in the darkest of places there can still be good laying around with the help of your community. Now some of my complaints i have about this game is the lack of nuance that this game lacks itself with, i know it's 3 hour game and there really isn't a lot of time for significant nuance that's why I'm not being to harsh on it, I'm just simply stating that the game's story is a bit too linear and they could've easily expanded upon some of the early dialogue about how the world works and how the reaper society works. But nonetheless, it's endings were really well executed, without going into spoilers, the endings remind us to cherish those around us that we care about because life is not always that predictable and death can come at any given moment. And if a loved one of yours is no longer here in the material world, they're still alive within our hearts, due to the memories of them that we cherish

Grimm's Hollow sweet little experience that unfortunately reaches the end just as it feels like it's getting started. The premise, getting dropped into purgatory as a reaper not yet ready for the afterlife is pretty damn cool and explores the idea fairly well for as long as its given to do so. The main cast are all fun and nicely fleshed out, again relatively to the game's length. This is all accented with a solid soundtrack and visuals, including some nice little visual set pieces, all working very well together. The last area in particular really sells its strong feeling of mourning, an appropriate endcap to where the game ends up at.

One of my least favorite forms of combat rears its head again, Active Time Battle, and this game sure doesn't change my mind on the system--but it's fiiiiiine. The game has solid fundamentals, with a nice variety of enemies, with each one having its own tangible niche: one gives shields to other enemies, one slowly picks up speed to steamroll you if you don't take it out quickly, one constantly buffs other enemies, etc. On paper, each combination of enemies could be an interesting enough fight to take on, if not for the combination of the game feeling both fairly nebulous and overly easy (the former playing into the later).

A standard level up system is eschewed for XP being used on a skill tree, where you can directly level up your core stats and unlock or upgrade new spells to use. Its a novel enough system, and there is something fun to being able to pop points into something new every few battles, but it makes the player character feel incredibly amorphous. There's never really a point when you can get a sense of how much damage you're dealing or taking when those numbers end up changing after almost every battle, making it hard to ever form much of a strategy. Not to mention the ever-present spectre of ATB, where enemy moves just kinda... happen when they happen. These rough parts don't matter all too much though, when the game is near-trivially easy, even when playing on the harder difficulty. Most enemies would go down with a standard attack to build MP, then a defense-piercing blow to finish them off.

Once I reached the end of the game, there is a bit of a feeling of "oh that's it huh?" as you get backloaded with a lot of details on the main characters at once. It's also where I cleaned up unlocking the rest of the skill tree to reach the true ending, which oddly required reloading the game twice (the only way to respawn enemies as far as I know) since otherwise collecting every item and defeating every enemy got me bizarrely close to the total XP needed without actually reaching it. Still, going through the true ending itself was really sweet, just like the rest of the game! Yes, I do wish there was more meat here, but it's largely because the ideas and systems present feel far more well developed than warranted for a game of this scope.

It's kinda funny to come out of it with my main "complaint" being that the game feels too good for what it is, but I hope it just means the developer is using this to make a bigger experience in the future--and that could really be something special.

Can't really complain much about this one. Was a cute and fun time. The graphics are 100% the standout here from its beautiful art design to the striking color palette that gives a unique cutesy macabre twist to the afterlife. The story accompanies the setpiece well, with touching and thoughtful characters. Just wish that the antagonist was a little more well developed.

Game mechanics were awesome for an RPG2K3 game. Not every day I get to see a timing based attack. Unfortunately I found the battles to be quite buggy at times with me even shouting at my screen wondering why hitting the down arrow didn't let me dodge. Other times I had to hit the dodge button as I was navigating the menu. Obviously this isn't quite the best engine to implement those kinds of mechanics but I don't blame em. I do just kinda wish it was just vanilla ATB if it meant it was a smoother experience.

Can't complain though. Great game, great experience. Only really took me 2 hours to beat and it's free so I'd say this is worth your time!

Realising that I'm a really big fan of the RPGmaker aesthetic because of games like this. I love looking at games and how they can be designed around certain constraints, seeing what interesting ideas are brought to the forefront to be conducive to both a great experience and one that doesn't compromise in its vision. In this case, it seems like the entire goal of the game was to craft an emotionally moving, character driven story while only having around 2 hours of gameplay, give or take, and I'd say that in this regard, Grimm's Hollow is a resounding success. The game is shockingly good at providing very clear and interesting pieces of characterisation that rapidly inject a lot of charm and colour into the world, all main characters having extremely clear and nuanced elements to their individual motives, a bunch of genuinely funny lines, just a bit of everything to give them just enough unique traits to feel distinct and interesting while still shrouding them in enough mystery to keep them intriguing, even once the game ends.

To add to this, the narrative in general is short yet very effective in its portrayal of attempting to process grief and everything that comes along with it in a variety of ways that naturally act as a way to ramp the tension and stakes. I love the way the music becomes so intense as things go on until it hits a point where it completely plateaus into a series of long winded, droning melodies that feel as if they represent the true reality of the situation setting in. Likewise, the use of colour feels pretty interesting, with the vaguely warm and cool colours of blue and purple being gradually phased out for a much harsher red, which cleverly manages to establish a much more intense feeling that once again feels as if it's then cleverly phased out to a more neutral series of greys and whites.

On top of the excellent, charming writing, I also really appreciated the combat once I got into it, being fairly simple and easy, but providing a lot of variety in what way you could choose to build your character and approach any given situation, having to carefully consider where to dump your resources for whatever potentially dangerous situation is ahead. The little timing based elements also kept it that bit fresher feeling, even if those mechanics were ultimately pretty shallow and felt as if they really should have had some nicer feedback associated with them to feel as polished as so many other elements here, but they did the trick enough to only rarely be a distraction. Overall this is just a really solid little game that does a lot with its short runtime and feels like an extremely well oiled machine with so much heart behind it. Definitely play this if you're at all into RPGmaker aesthetics or charming, occasionally quirky narrative experiences.

I think I found a new favorite game.
I know that, since the story is meant to be short, I shouldn't ask for a longer game like that, but I enjoyed it so much that I just wish to play more games from this dev.
Everything is kinda on point with the discussed themes (grief, loss, death), even the colors and the character design is chef kiss.
It just confirms, to me, that a game doesn't need to be perfect or be hyper-realistic to be appreciated and stand out. Even if the controls aren't the best in the world, you eventually get used to them.
I'm expecting so much more for their next game, because I definitely need another one.
Keeping hopes up!