Veritas lux mea 1.0

I'm beginning to think I could write an article on the preponderance of Latin terms in RPG games, especially in titles. I know it's not a new phenomenon by any means but lately it seems every time I turn around someone has pulled an old Roman moment on me. It's not a bad thing; it's just an odd one. Still for those of you that can't be bothered Googling Veritas Lux mea is literally translated as Truth (be) my Light, and is used as the motto for Seoul University and a few other establishments. In the case of this game however its meaning is a little less clear as whilst there is a truth of sorts to be found before the game's end, there's not a lot of light in it. Unless you're talking about Khas's script lightning, there is a fair amount of that.

This game was made as an entry to the IGMC 2104 and as such had the recommendation to be around an hour or less in length, my last save clocked in at 12 minutes so it was well under that target, but then again the game itself only encompasses about 6 maps, so it's not like there is a lot of exploration available to the player.

The story is simple, a weary traveller is wandering in search of a certain something, what is not clear as the game begins but it's important. That isn't from the game itself but from the gamepage, the game doesn't give you any introduction at all; your character just appears on a lonely stretch of road with a town signpost in front of you and no idea where you are or why you are there. She stumbles upon a rain soaked deserted village with locked doors, a location challenged scarecrow and strange crystal deposits growing from the abandoned graves.


Really? Then it's the only thing that is.

The game has some unfortunate instadeaths built in, which are always annoying when they are done in a way that doesn't give you any warning. The possible bad side effects of consuming an unknown mushroom is perceivable, and deducing that the barely seen spider webs will bring their owners crawling towards you is logical but a random fast moving enemy in an abandoned shack with no warning or indication is not.

Still if you avoid being eaten by something unseen in the dark and stop yourself from eating an unknown mushroom you'll avoid most of the instances. Though given that the 'shroom in question is identified as the Amanita muscaria it would have been good if the developer did enough research to know that Fly Agaric will only kill you if you eat more than a few, if you want instadeath they should have gone for phalloides the Death Cap or virosa the beautifully named Destroying Angel.

Instadeaths aside it become obvious that the next step in discovering what has happened to the town and perhaps finding the thing you are looking for, though as the protagonist is both nameless and silent I'm still relying in the gamepage description for my assumption of that aspect, will involve breaking into a grave, so off you trot to collect the ingredients for an acid potion, yes that pesky mushroom, and hunting down a shovel and rope.

The game uses the default tile-sets though there are some bloodied modifications to some of the furniture and the main character sprite is if not original then is not one I'm familiar with. The music is also an interesting mix of custom and default and has been used with a fairly good degree of finesse. The developer has done a fine job of creating a dark and haunting feel to the game, it's just a shame they didn't apply the same level of detail to the actual story, as there is nothing to indicate what is going on. It's not the mystery of the deserted town that I have issue with that's the point of the game to discover, but the mystery of the protagonist. She's an enigma that is never explained, or given any motivation for what she is doing and why she is doing it here.


Well at least we know where the villagers are.

After a bit of grave robbing and a trip through a cavern complex we final reach the last part of the game, and answer one question but raise many, many more and in the end I knew as much about the story as I did when I started, which is to say nothing at all. The developer obviously has a flair for atmosphere and mood, but little grasp of narrative or balance, which is a shame because the aesthetics were done very well and were seriously let down by the flaws in delivery.