Hello players!
This time it's another creepy game, Empty Head by Cutiesbae, author of this RPG Maker VX Ace puzzle-adventure released in 2018 both in english and italian (the native language of this developer).

The game begins with a lawyer, Mr. Arold Baker being thrown out of court for being drunk. The judge tells him to go home, and that's what he does... while going back to his family he encounters an old woman, Hanna, but he hasn't a pleasant exchange at all. At home the situation for Mr. Arold isn't much better, and things gets worse after he goes to bad: he wakes up after a nightmare and learns that his children are disappeared and his wife is acting in a strange way. He then finds some mysterious stairs that leads underground, and this is only the beginning of a voyage into the unknown...


Wait, what is going on here? Uhmmmm I wish I can leave, that's pretty unsettling...

And this is the beginning of the story, pretty original, isn't it? It's not a horror game where the proagonist enters a mysterious mansion that later is revealed to be haunted by ghosts (many games I've played and reviewed used some variations of this plot), on the contrary there are also other important characters like White Fox, Cris and the waitress, because the story is more complex than you may believe at first. Oh mind that the game includes blood, violence, depression, mentions of domestic abuse and suicide. Just a warning. The whole adventure lasts for a couple of hours and includes three possible endings: a bad ending, a neutral ending and the true/good ending.

Now what about the gameplay? Well, this is a classic rpgmaker adventure that includes puzzles and enigmas, and while most of them aren't very original (find the numbers of a combination that unlocks something, and so on) and you may have seen elsewhere, they're still well realized.


PUZZLES! That's exactly what I was expecting from this game and I am not disappointed!

Now, the graphics: Empty Head doesn't look bad but, being the developer's first game it shows the alternation between some nice maps to others that are mediocre or not-so-good. The main problem is the presence of overly large/empty locations that coulbe have looked better if they were smaller. The game also includes many custom sprites, facesets (with various expressions) and cutscenes, and even some bizarre photos (that upon a closer examination they will look totally different from what their smaller, pixelated versions show!) and sometimes there is a clearly noticeable "clash of styles", but I think this was pretty much unavoidable. The music and sound selection is very good and really fits and enhance the atmosphere of the game.

The story is good, because while centered on Arold, a man who is in disgrace but still wants to save his family, also involves other characters that similarly have to face their demons. The dialogues are well written, the characters are interesting and the adventure itself is captivating, I had fun playing this game and I did not miss the absence of combat or other action moments. It was an entertaining experience.


Mirrors that display different images, and clones armed with knives! Oh this does not look good!

Final Verdict
Empty Head is a classic rpgmaker puzzle/adventure, more dark and unsettling than truly horror, even if there are some "bloody" scenes. But all is done well, every scene has a purpouse, is well written (I liked some twists!), and in the end for a first game this was pretty good. It's clearly more aimed to those who like short rpgmaker puzzle-adventures, beacuse they will surely know and like what awaits them here!