ViktorTheGreat
Bio
i don't play a lot of games
Badges
Gone Gold
Received 5+ likes on a review while featured on the front page
Loved
Gained 100+ total review likes
Busy Day
Journaled 5+ games in a single day
Gamer
Played 250+ games
Liked
Gained 10+ total review likes
Best Friends
Become mutual friends with at least 3 others
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N00b
Played 100+ games
Roadtrip
Voted for at least 3 features on the roadmap
Favorite Games
311
Total Games Played
087
Played in 2023
321
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I'm sorry, but this game is just so bad... so, so bad...
Like, first of all, the visual style is obviously inspired by the spritework in the GBA Pokemon games, but without understanding what made it good or look nice. I've never used this version of RPG Maker, but I can't imagine that the tileset cheats to make things overlap and look realistic were removed. But instead, all the tiles start and end on the grid, making everything look out of place and unfinished or cut off. Furthermore, for some reason, the protagonist's sprite is super fuzzy, and the sprite of the assailant loops on the opposite side when he walks. These are simple fixes that would've taken mere seconds to correct. It almost makes me wonder if the person who drew the boxart sprites is the same person who did the in game sprites.
Like, first of all, the visual style is obviously inspired by the spritework in the GBA Pokemon games, but without understanding what made it good or look nice. I've never used this version of RPG Maker, but I can't imagine that the tileset cheats to make things overlap and look realistic were removed. But instead, all the tiles start and end on the grid, making everything look out of place and unfinished or cut off. Furthermore, for some reason, the protagonist's sprite is super fuzzy, and the sprite of the assailant loops on the opposite side when he walks. These are simple fixes that would've taken mere seconds to correct. It almost makes me wonder if the person who drew the boxart sprites is the same person who did the in game sprites.
Furthermore, the gameplay leaves much to be desired. Reading the Steam reviews, a lot of people seemed to think the hints were too easy and thus, the game was too easy. Although I would agree that the hints are very direct, I couldn't figure out how to get any ending other than the sleep-death and suicide endings because I literally couldn't figure out how to trigger them. Considering the game is based on a timeloop, you'd think that you should interact with the bed in order to progress the day and check to see if you made the right decisions... Nope! No matter what I did, checking the bed gave me the sleep-death ending. And because of the lack of polish, I wonder if this was intentional or if I missed something. There was a 'hint' about burning the closet, and there was a lighter noted in one of the desk drawers, but I couldn't pick it up? And interacting with the closet directly after interacting with the lighter in the desk did nothing as well. And of course, none of the tasks involved anything beyond interact-with-x. I get that RPG Maker has limited mechanics outside of battle, but that's just motivation to be creative. How about instead of talking to the plant to water it, you have the player find a bucket, go to the sink, fill the bucket, and then take the bucket to the plant? I don't know, anything at this point, because this game feels like it's only 30% done.
I knew this was a trans story but I was worried it would be trans in a written-by-a-cis-liberal way, so I was very glad to see that it wasn't.
I'm not sure if it was just an issue with the Steam version, but the visuals were oddly fuzzy in a way that looked like they were scaled up just a tiny bit too much. It kinda gave me a headache, but it's okay.
The one time where 'it was all a dream' is a completely acceptable ending. Technically that's spoilers, but come on, it's very obvious from the beginning, plus this game is more about what you do to get to the ending rather than the ending itself.
I like the sort of unorthodox puzzling going on here, in the ways you have to use some bits of real world logic to solve the puzzles. Especially when using this visual presentation, as the GB Pokemon games it clearly takes inspiration from are very cut and dry with what you can do and interact with. I like the small touches of absurdism too with the door that leads to outer space and the shrine. It really does feel dreamy.
However, I do wish that the game was more grid-like. I know pixel perfectness and grids can be harder to achieve in engines not designed around/for it, but it was really bugging me how I'd get snagged on something because hitbox of my sprite was bigger than the sprite itself and I was mildly too close to a wall. If it happened once or twice, it'd be fine, but it happened way too often.
However, I do wish that the game was more grid-like. I know pixel perfectness and grids can be harder to achieve in engines not designed around/for it, but it was really bugging me how I'd get snagged on something because hitbox of my sprite was bigger than the sprite itself and I was mildly too close to a wall. If it happened once or twice, it'd be fine, but it happened way too often.