I had always loved JRPGs growing up. I was obsessed with Dragon Quest, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy - the classics that defined the genre. Persona wasn't nearly as popular and it had slipped under my radar for years. When I finally caught wind of what these games were, it was honestly the perfect time - I was the same age and in the same year of school as the characters in the game.

It sounds corny, but I had never really connected with a game like this before, or realized that JRPGs could be so versatile. It was the first game I played that tackled the most mundane aspect of growing up - school - but made something fun out of it, and tied it into a frankly touching narrative about living life to its fullest.

Looking back, sure, this game has its flaws. But that first experience was honestly pure magic for me - the soundtrack, the suicidal imagery, the characters - I had never seen a game try anything like it, and it opened up an entire world of related titles for me to get into.

Although published by Puppet Combo, Tonight It Follows was actually developed by Jordan King. Staying loyal to the 'retro feel' of the publishing studio but honing into a different era, Tonight It Follows turns the dial of time back even further and stylistically presents itself as a 2-D pixelated side-scrolling horror game akin to MS-DOS adventure games.

I've gotta say right off the bat, the audio design from top to bottom is incredibly well put together. Combining the low fidelity of audio we'd come to expect from this generation of games, with visceral inhuman sounds, and a simple yet enticing soundtrack.

I think the concept here though is far stronger than the actual product. It's hard to build tension across a side-scrolling videogame. When enemies do appear, although they look and sound disgusting, they're often underwhelming in their impact due to the fact they go down in a single hit. There's a single enemy however, the presumed "It" from the title of the game, that cannot be taken down. Otherwise, entering the fighting stance and spamming attack is enough to quell any threat, which reduces the impact of these setpieces.

The scares are relatively cheap and feel like inadequate and somewhat unnecessary, the game feel stronger when it's depicting the horror through the pixelated horrific environments. Although I wouldn't describe the pixel art to be terrifying, I think they're artistically a good representation of these themes. It's actually pretty graphic too with some very suggestive themes which are especially apparent as you return 'home'.

Tonight It Follows unfortunately feels like a demo for a bigger project. A measly 10 enemies, 9 being one-hit, is just not enough to be an engaging experience. There aren't really any puzzles which leaves a lot to be desired, and the game length struggles to really surpass 15 minutes. What is present here isn't bad but it feels unfinished, amateur, and the art direction visually and auditorily doesn't do enough to save this from a poor score. This review is with no disrespect to Jordan King, especially as he's worked on Bloodwash which is one of my favourite Puppet Combo associated games.