Hello! I'm surprised there's a game jam this long D:
The artstyle is pretty peculiar, I think the game would've had its own unique style if even the characters and the ground tile were custom made. I felt though that there wasn't enough decoration around the maps - some flowers and tall grass would've definitely helped - for most part there's only plain grass and some tree. I only played for half an hour, since I unfortunately kinda lost interest midway (But also because I had other games to play). I stopped since the story didn't really pull me in, and the lack of gameplay (in the part I played) didn't help.
rule of thumb: if the protagonist of an rpg maker game is a child, they probably have killed/will kill someone.
i think that, out of all your games, this is by far the scariest one. the combination of the atmosphere, the mystery of the story, the haunting music, the creepy artstyle that elevated every event... it was all incredibly eerie. at some points i physically recoiled in my seat cause i thought a jumpscare was about to happen haha. at the very beginning, when you can't move and suddenly two children slowly disappear, that set the tone up PERFECTLY. man this was so good.
the story was really intriguing!! the idea of a children "slipping off" out of the normal world, and being watched over this evil spirit that wants to play with them, is really really creepy. and the fact that this kid is willing to go to another country just to find his little brother, because him disappearing made his parents not even care about him... it's really tragic, but really compelling. even if this isn't a GANA game, i really got the GANA vibe of "something supernatural happening that only a few people can see"! i feel like the beginning is a bit confusing, since it's not immediately apparent if it's connected to charlie or not, and i kept thinking "wait am i playing as the brother of the two kids who disappeared?" but that didn't prevent me from getting hooked into the story so it's not a big deal. oh, and i loved the unexpected twists and turns the plot took! charlie killing the monk was SUCH a shock haha, but it didn't feel unearned, and i think part of that is because of just how much information is always kept from you. every step of the journey is filled with so much mystery, from the opening scene, to meeting the monk and not knowing if he's lying, not knowing who these spirits are or what do they want (the moment they appeared, i ran away like a coward until charlie said they weren't hurting him lol, such a cool moment :D), finding strange places like the wolf head altar, exactly what even is rirou... i think i would've preferred to have a bit more stuff explained, but it's undeniable how much intrigue and dread comes out of the mystery of the plot. really great stuff.
speaking of intrigue and dread, i REALLY love this "other world" where the rirou lives. everything about it is just... incredibly eerie. the all-consuming blue hue, the seemingly random traces of the real world (the trees, fences, streetlights...), and of course the "ghosts" and their strange games. and sequences like the music game and tony made me the most tense that i've been in a while haha. and like i said, not knowing anything about this spirit or this world really helps in building that atmosphere. you said in a comment that you based this game on a dream you had, and honestly it's easy to see it, it has such a dreamlike and ethereal feel to it.
in terms of presentation, wow! this game's visuals are so unique, and great with conveying the feel of everything. the ghosts are super creepy and i love how blurry and ethereal they look, it's hard to make a distinct ghost design but they were extremely memorable! i love the narration text at the beggining and the end, the opening sliding doors at the start of each part, and in general the use of japanese architecture and symbology. really dig how handdrawn the original art feels, damn this is such a beautiful game. and the MUSIC!!! oh my god, the music was amazing. every single one of the tracks was absolutely incredible, and captured the feeling of each sequence perfectly. it feels like it creeps into your head and doesn't let go, forcing you to experience this twisted story and feel as disturbed as possible. it elevated the unease i felt sooo much. the presentation was just fantastic all around.
like i said, i feel like some more things could've been explained, like what is the altar, what do these games the creatures are playing mean... it's not too bad (and in some aspects it does support the "dream-like" feel of the game), but part of me wanted to get slightly more answers. and there's this one point right at the end, before charlie and henry see the monk, where charlie says "i see it all now" and some images of the ghosts appear... honestly i didn't really understand what happened, and i don't know to which extent that's my own fault lol.
overall this was great!! a twisted, bittersweet nightmare that gripped me and didn't let go for a second. if i played this as a kid i would've probably fully believed "slipping off" was a real thing and subsequently would've been scared shitless XD
thank you for playing, as always i was expecting your review(pepe emote). i'm glad i scared you, i had an intention to make this game pure horror unlike GANA games. I understand it could be confusing, i still sometimes forget that people approach the game not knowing anything of its origins, oops😅. I think if i try to explain everything, it will take a lot of time and might make the story less interesting, so i'll give you hints: the games spirits play and music - i used traditional nursery rhymes "Toryanse" and "Kagome, kagome". I especially love Toryanse - it plays at the beginning and the end, its so sad and beautiful, and you better google about this song and its meaning, bc as i said i cant really explain it all😄 (btw huge thnaks to Altelier Magicae for accidentally making a perfect soundtrack for the game lol) about Rirou - i saw the name in the dream, but then i chose fitting hieroglyphs for it. Rou means wolf, and Ri means "get sick with something", "suffer from something", "get infected", etc. btw there were 3 kids disappearing at the start - Mary and Tony(hyperactive siblings) and Henry, but somehow people keep missing Henry😥 the scene at the end - Charlie at first didnt see real nature of the children's spirits, at that moment he saw it. about the sprirt that "plays" with kids' spirits - the monk explained it all: "which one of them is Rirou?" - "everyone". "who did that to them?" - "nobody did anything". "but they were just kids" - "they still are". And one more hint - "lord of the flies" also this will be a long conversation it seems, so we better move to discord if you dont mind:)
ohhh i see!! that's a lot of interesting stuff i had no clue about :O it's always so so cool to play games where the creator/s put a lot of effort into the background and lore.
i definitely get what you mean, explaining everything can end up being a drag and i understand that in a game like this, loredumping could just be detrimental to the experience. and ooh, i totally missed henry disappearing, that's on me whoops XD ahh he saw the true nature of the kids' spirits, ok ok gotcha (me missing stuff seems to be a common theme in a lot of my comments hahskds).
i'd love to talk more about the game on discord! :>
Both the endings are so sad. They both involve a kid, giving up everything to wander into the forest. It's past his bedtime; the shadows creep closer. But he has to keep going, he has no choice. It's chilling, I guess. Especially the fact that so many people just walk past this shrine every day. Thank you for the experience!
Abra I loved this!! The art was really beautiful, the music was chilling and I felt really caught up in this like, twisted fairy tale. You have such a talent for finding and capturing this dream like feeling, the perfect balance of everything working together and also being surprising every step of the way <3
i love this video and i'm glad you liked the game❤😘 btw it's not based on any particular myth, it was inspired by a dream:> also if you take requests, you should check this game jam, it's run by our little community, they're all awesome:>(i'd especially recommend "frozen to the bone") https://itch.io/jam/rpg-maker-horror-game-jam-7
This game has a strange charm to it, and the storyline unfolds in a interesting way. I've always been a sucker for the top down, pixel art, story driven horror games like misao. I think your game had a story that was well worth it, and I'm excited to see what other games you come up with in the future.
I play your game in the video below (with a couple others) and leave more in depth feedback. Also if you'd like, you can vote for your game on my channels community page so that it advances in the bracket I have for best indie game of January. I'll be 3D printing a scene or monster from the winners game to gift to the creator.
thank you sm for playing!🥺 i'm gonna watch the video right now and vote for it👍🏻 btw good you noticed the wrong sprite of Charlie in one scene. nobody else did😅
Missing deadlines is something I can relate to. I have like, three partially finished games that missed their deadlines and will hopefully come out over the next several months.
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Hello! I'm surprised there's a game jam this long D:
The artstyle is pretty peculiar, I think the game would've had its own unique style if even the characters and the ground tile were custom made. I felt though that there wasn't enough decoration around the maps - some flowers and tall grass would've definitely helped - for most part there's only plain grass and some tree.
I only played for half an hour, since I unfortunately kinda lost interest midway (But also because I had other games to play). I stopped since the story didn't really pull me in, and the lack of gameplay (in the part I played) didn't help.
If you're interested, here's the video gameplay.
thank you for playing and the video❤
(SPOILERS)
rule of thumb: if the protagonist of an rpg maker game is a child, they probably have killed/will kill someone.
i think that, out of all your games, this is by far the scariest one. the combination of the atmosphere, the mystery of the story, the haunting music, the creepy artstyle that elevated every event... it was all incredibly eerie. at some points i physically recoiled in my seat cause i thought a jumpscare was about to happen haha. at the very beginning, when you can't move and suddenly two children slowly disappear, that set the tone up PERFECTLY. man this was so good.
the story was really intriguing!! the idea of a children "slipping off" out of the normal world, and being watched over this evil spirit that wants to play with them, is really really creepy. and the fact that this kid is willing to go to another country just to find his little brother, because him disappearing made his parents not even care about him... it's really tragic, but really compelling. even if this isn't a GANA game, i really got the GANA vibe of "something supernatural happening that only a few people can see"! i feel like the beginning is a bit confusing, since it's not immediately apparent if it's connected to charlie or not, and i kept thinking "wait am i playing as the brother of the two kids who disappeared?" but that didn't prevent me from getting hooked into the story so it's not a big deal. oh, and i loved the unexpected twists and turns the plot took! charlie killing the monk was SUCH a shock haha, but it didn't feel unearned, and i think part of that is because of just how much information is always kept from you. every step of the journey is filled with so much mystery, from the opening scene, to meeting the monk and not knowing if he's lying, not knowing who these spirits are or what do they want (the moment they appeared, i ran away like a coward until charlie said they weren't hurting him lol, such a cool moment :D), finding strange places like the wolf head altar, exactly what even is rirou... i think i would've preferred to have a bit more stuff explained, but it's undeniable how much intrigue and dread comes out of the mystery of the plot. really great stuff.
speaking of intrigue and dread, i REALLY love this "other world" where the rirou lives. everything about it is just... incredibly eerie. the all-consuming blue hue, the seemingly random traces of the real world (the trees, fences, streetlights...), and of course the "ghosts" and their strange games. and sequences like the music game and tony made me the most tense that i've been in a while haha. and like i said, not knowing anything about this spirit or this world really helps in building that atmosphere. you said in a comment that you based this game on a dream you had, and honestly it's easy to see it, it has such a dreamlike and ethereal feel to it.
in terms of presentation, wow! this game's visuals are so unique, and great with conveying the feel of everything. the ghosts are super creepy and i love how blurry and ethereal they look, it's hard to make a distinct ghost design but they were extremely memorable! i love the narration text at the beggining and the end, the opening sliding doors at the start of each part, and in general the use of japanese architecture and symbology. really dig how handdrawn the original art feels, damn this is such a beautiful game. and the MUSIC!!! oh my god, the music was amazing. every single one of the tracks was absolutely incredible, and captured the feeling of each sequence perfectly. it feels like it creeps into your head and doesn't let go, forcing you to experience this twisted story and feel as disturbed as possible. it elevated the unease i felt sooo much. the presentation was just fantastic all around.
like i said, i feel like some more things could've been explained, like what is the altar, what do these games the creatures are playing mean... it's not too bad (and in some aspects it does support the "dream-like" feel of the game), but part of me wanted to get slightly more answers. and there's this one point right at the end, before charlie and henry see the monk, where charlie says "i see it all now" and some images of the ghosts appear... honestly i didn't really understand what happened, and i don't know to which extent that's my own fault lol.
overall this was great!! a twisted, bittersweet nightmare that gripped me and didn't let go for a second. if i played this as a kid i would've probably fully believed "slipping off" was a real thing and subsequently would've been scared shitless XD
thank you for playing, as always i was expecting your review(pepe emote).
i'm glad i scared you, i had an intention to make this game pure horror unlike GANA games.
I understand it could be confusing, i still sometimes forget that people approach the game not knowing anything of its origins, oops😅. I think if i try to explain everything, it will take a lot of time and might make the story less interesting, so i'll give you hints: the games spirits play and music - i used traditional nursery rhymes "Toryanse" and "Kagome, kagome". I especially love Toryanse - it plays at the beginning and the end, its so sad and beautiful, and you better google about this song and its meaning, bc as i said i cant really explain it all😄
(btw huge thnaks to Altelier Magicae for accidentally making a perfect soundtrack for the game lol)
about Rirou - i saw the name in the dream, but then i chose fitting hieroglyphs for it. Rou means wolf, and Ri means "get sick with something", "suffer from something", "get infected", etc.
btw there were 3 kids disappearing at the start - Mary and Tony(hyperactive siblings) and Henry, but somehow people keep missing Henry😥
the scene at the end - Charlie at first didnt see real nature of the children's spirits, at that moment he saw it.
about the sprirt that "plays" with kids' spirits - the monk explained it all: "which one of them is Rirou?" - "everyone". "who did that to them?" - "nobody did anything". "but they were just kids" - "they still are". And one more hint - "lord of the flies"
also this will be a long conversation it seems, so we better move to discord if you dont mind:)
ohhh i see!! that's a lot of interesting stuff i had no clue about :O it's always so so cool to play games where the creator/s put a lot of effort into the background and lore.
i definitely get what you mean, explaining everything can end up being a drag and i understand that in a game like this, loredumping could just be detrimental to the experience. and ooh, i totally missed henry disappearing, that's on me whoops XD ahh he saw the true nature of the kids' spirits, ok ok gotcha (me missing stuff seems to be a common theme in a lot of my comments hahskds).
i'd love to talk more about the game on discord! :>
yt playthrough:
thank you!
Both the endings are so sad. They both involve a kid, giving up everything to wander into the forest. It's past his bedtime; the shadows creep closer. But he has to keep going, he has no choice. It's chilling, I guess. Especially the fact that so many people just walk past this shrine every day. Thank you for the experience!
always welcome❤🐺
Abra I loved this!! The art was really beautiful, the music was chilling and I felt really caught up in this like, twisted fairy tale. You have such a talent for finding and capturing this dream like feeling, the perfect balance of everything working together and also being surprising every step of the way <3
thank you!
oh btw this was based on a dream i had, so i'm glad i captured a dreamlike feeling🙂Thank you again!
i love this video and i'm glad you liked the game❤😘
btw it's not based on any particular myth, it was inspired by a dream:>
also if you take requests, you should check this game jam, it's run by our little community, they're all awesome:>(i'd especially recommend "frozen to the bone") https://itch.io/jam/rpg-maker-horror-game-jam-7
I definitely will! you're going to give me an addiction if the games are as good as yours lol
oh there are a lot of devs better than me:> join our discord, its a very nice community https://discord.gg/V7QBfsHW
This game has a strange charm to it, and the storyline unfolds in a interesting way. I've always been a sucker for the top down, pixel art, story driven horror games like misao. I think your game had a story that was well worth it, and I'm excited to see what other games you come up with in the future.
I play your game in the video below (with a couple others) and leave more in depth feedback. Also if you'd like, you can vote for your game on my channels community page so that it advances in the bracket I have for best indie game of January. I'll be 3D printing a scene or monster from the winners game to gift to the creator.
thank you sm for playing!🥺 i'm gonna watch the video right now and vote for it👍🏻
btw good you noticed the wrong sprite of Charlie in one scene. nobody else did😅
Missing deadlines is something I can relate to. I have like, three partially finished games that missed their deadlines and will hopefully come out over the next several months.