Grimm's Hollow is a captivating indie game that takes players on a journey through the afterlife with a unique twist. The story follows Varskeletor, a character whose comedic antics and unexpected turns keep players on their toes. While the game starts with a hilarious misunderstanding, it quickly evolves into a deeper narrative that explores themes of loss, redemption, and self-discovery. The gameplay mechanics are simple yet engaging, with a blend of exploration, combat, and puzzle-solving that keeps the experience fresh and exciting. The soundtrack complements the gameplay perfectly, enhancing the overall atmosphere and immersing players in Varskeletor's world. Grimm's Hollow is a hidden gem with a storyline and soundtrack that surpass even the most renowned titles in the indie gaming scene.

Score: 8/10

This game was very cute, almost sickeningly so. I'm very impressed by all that was able to be done in RPG Maker 2003. I'd like to have a project copy of this game to dig around in.

That being said, there were a few things about it, like any game, that were a bit off. It has a pretty good and in depth tutorial for the simple mechanics it presents, which I like. I also really like the skill tree. However, the battles themselves were a bit lacking. In all fairness, I did play casual mode, so it may just be that, but despite having a swathe of skills to learn and upgrade, including some semblance of a type or color chart, the game just wasn't long enough to fully expand or make use of any of them. I was able to mow through most of the enemies by dedicating all of my points to upgrading my attack stat, which honestly felt pretty satisfying to me. But this was lost during the final boss, where it culminated in me having to use my regular attack for every turn because sprinkling special moves in either didn't do as much damage or didn't seem to change the battle. For example, the skill that halves or 'destroys' the enemy's defense didn't make my attacks do more damage. Was this a self-dug grave? Maybe. I'm willing to take that. But I still think it made the final boss kind of just exhausting because it was essentially the same turn on repeat about 15 to 20 times.

The game also uses a QTE for it's regular attack and special evade commands. This is ultimately why I chose to use the regular attack as often as I could, both because it felt a bit more 'active' to combat the timer-turn system, but also because you start each battle with no MP and gain it as you deal damage, so you have to use it to charge your MP. So in my mind, why not just stick to the regular attack, especially if it's able to do as much damage as it does? Not to mention the fact that MP is zeroed out at the end of every battle (or at least, in my time it was, the MP bar is visible when you open the menu so maybe there's a way to preserve it) so it's not like you can stockpile it for future combat. There's also the issue of the QTE's not overriding the menu during combat, so it's possible for a QTE to be covered up by a menu you have open. They're also quite easily cheesed because you can spam the button you need to press (or at least, you can for the evade one). However, I'm sure those are faults of the engine and not something the developer has control of, I know how finicky RPG Maker can be.

Overall fun experience. The few flaws it does have are not enough to degrade or distract from the time I had with it.