Please Love My Computer Game

PLMCG is a hard game to review. It's very different from your usual rpg horror games. I think that the game is actually still on going (you'll see what I mean) and I only managed to get one ending, but I feel that I have played more than enough to write a review.

Now I went into this game not knowing what it would be like. I expected meta elements, but I was definetly not prepared for what the game actually turned out to be. And it's very hard for me to talking about the game without saying what that is.

It's not spoilers, but if you would rather go into the game blind, I recommend you turn back now. On the other hand, I enjoyed the game a whole lot more once I realized what it was, so maybe it might help you out too!

Anyway here's what this game actually is. Don't say I didn't give you spoiler warnings!







It's an ARG.

Now if you don't know what an ARG is, I'm... not gonna explain it to you, you should probably google it.

Of course, not knowing this, I was very very confused while playing through. The puzzles seemed ridiculously obscure and... pretty much impossible. And that's the point. This is not a game that you're supposed to beat on your own, you're supposed to beat it as a community of people, combining the info you find the proceed further. While I did manage to get one ending, I believe that there's actually more to be found, but currently the steam forums need to do their job to unlock a new code. It's very interesting that someone actually decided to make a game like this.

Did they do a good job?

Mostly!

There's a few things here and there that are just... so frustrating, so hair rippingly bad, that it ruined what otherwise would have been a very fresh, and actually rather creepy exprience.



Before going into the main negative of the game, why not start with some other things.

For one, the game's visuals are quite good. I mean, at least the base game's are. The mini hidden games within the folders were mostly fine too, but there were one or two here that... didn't look all too great... (See: Princess Powder, The Wailing Trees)

The walls throughout the game also were generally in the wrong perspective. They didn't exactly work with the tiles given. The developer tried to go with something more link to the past esque where you can see the side walls as well, but again, as I just said, with the tilesets present it just didn't really work out.

And you might have noticed that I mentioned hidden mini games. Yup, this game actually features 6 other games hidden within the game folders that you have to play through to get through some of the puzzles. These ranged from interesting to downright hell to play through. It was a very cool gimmick none the less, and even featured some of the developer's older games unfinished games! It was nice to actually see them in action. (Too bad ''Is This It?'' didn't make an appearence. That game looked cool.)



Why, yes, I'm going to mini-review these all individually, thanks for asking.

Cherished Lighthouse
A decent short experience. Pretty easy to get through, but fun none the less. Also has some nice CG art and graphics.

Belong
The game I just mentioned is my favorite. There's just something about it I love so much. Maybe it's the gore, or the serious and cryptic mood that kind of reminds me of the V/H/S movies. Either way, love it.

Play
Starts off real bad, but once you get through that first giant open room, it's actually pretty cool!

The Wailing Trees
Utter garbage, I'm sorry to say. I was really hoping it would be similar to Belong, but it was basically a walking simulator in a forest that felt like it was 300x300 tiles, and the fact that you couldn't see shit did not help. Also, not fond of the mapping at all. It was just very frustrating to play through.

Princess Powder
The slow ass dialogue and graphics kind of ruin the experience for me, but overall, it's actually not horrible.

Jpodfxbtibqqz
It's a maze. I hate it. Nuff' said.


Anyway, back to the base game. Let's talk audio. I believe the soundtrack is fully original (except in the hidden games?) and even features some songs with lyrics and stuff! It was pretty cool, and there were also times when audio was used greatly to scare the player.

Oh yeah, this game is scary. Like, for an rpg horror game, it's REALLY scary. Of course, emphasis on the ''for an rpg horror game''. Yes, it's a scary game, but I personally was not scared by it other than a few scenes that legit creeped me out. Still, I think it deserves to be sitting on the shelf with games like Turtle Head when it comes to the scares.

Some of those meta puzzles are actually pretty cool too! There's multiple puzzles where you have to increase or decrease the brightness of an image in photoshop to get a code. There's a puzzle where your game crashes when you step on a tile unless you hold down the left mouse button. There's a puzzle where you have to get a password from within the game files to unlock a door.

The only puzzle I wasn't fond of at all was the middle mouse one. Basically, you have to click on a wall with the middle mouse button to reveal a secret passage. It would have been really cool had it not been for the fact that the clues were hidden in the worst of all minigames... sigh... the fucking wailing trees.

But yeah, there were a lot of scenes that made me go, “holy shit, I didn’t know that was possible in rpg maker!” It felt so professionally made.



And you know, I already kind of did mention part the biggest problem of this game. It's frustrating. To elaborate, no, I did not mind the super obscure puzzles, the problem for me was the player walked too slow, the text was too slow, it was generally too dark to see where I was going, et cetera. Some many things slow the game down and just consume my time as I constantly have to backtrack or repeat cutscenes when I launch the game up again after a crash. Things like this brought down a gameplay experience that is otherwise very unique and splendid.

There is also no story here at all, and if there is, either it completely went over my head, or I couldn't read it. Yeah, I also wasn't a fan of how nearly every phrase was blacked out and couldn't be read. It would be fine if it was just a few here and there, but almost everything within the game is impossible to read. (The mini games are fine, though)

It was a really well polished game. I could not really find any bugs, and even if I did, I'd probably mistake them for features, since this is... really that type of game.

Honestly, the best way I can describe this game is that it's like The Beginner's Guide combined with some meta horror game like imscared or Calendula. It's a frustrating experience, but in the end, it was very unique and I enjoyed my time with it. I will say, I think I still like Take the Dream IX better. (I actually spent about 2.5 hours in the main game, the other 2.5 was spent digging through game files and playing the hidden games >.>)

I give it three and a half fucKING WAILING TREES out of five.



EDIT

Okay, I just had to come back and change the review to four stars because the more I think about the game I begin to remember all the things about it liked and forgot to mwntion here. Besides, yes, while I was very frustrated while playing, in the long run I feel very satisfied, and begin to realize that I actually truly did love this game.

Okay, so main positive that I forgot to mention - it’s very replayable. It’s a very non linear game with tons of secrets to discover, as well as randomized events to keep things fresh.

Yeah, my initial reaction was that it was an okay game, but I kind of am starting to fall in love with it, and also get pretty obsessed, so I won’t be happy unless I increase the rating up a notch ^^;

MAKE THAT FOUR WAILING FUCKING TREES