Bedtime Adventure

Hello again, m'lovelies. Been a while, no? As I'm preparing to finally have fun with RPG Making again, I figured that it would help to be somewhat more involved with the community. As such, I'm reviewing a couple of games I've been slacking on playing. Helps that these first two games for my three slated reviews are short, no? Without further ado, here's my two cents on Bedtime Adventures. :3

Story
Pretty much the first bits of dialogue sum it up -- Alice is a young girl who is getting ready to go to bed. Simple premise, right? What if I told you...

...that it's the only real thing to the game at all? Yes, this is literally the whole game's story. Even as you do stuff in Alice's rather spacious bedroom, it's really all there is to a story. No world-building despite her map, or anything of the sort. And as it turns out, that's really no skin off my nose.

Mechanics
Very simple in its execution. All you do is walk young Alice about her very large bedroom (with the Dash feature turned off too; then again, it's only one room in the game files), and interact with things in said room in a particular order until Alice is finally ready to get some shut-eye. That's it. Go home.

The Pros
Hoping you didn't really leave after that last statement. So anyway, the game will only run about ten or so minutes if you know what you're doing. There's no combat, no world-building... it's not your typical RPG Maker game. But you know what? That's alright. More than alright, it does what it set out to do nicely.

For one, the graphics fit the RPG Maker 2k/3 set pretty nicely. Nothing clashes whatsoever, if you ask me. It all looks nice and cozy. Alice's sprite and face portrait seem to be custom-made (not RTP assets), and that's good. Her "skills" and "equipment" and "items", though they exist still in the game's pause menu because of the base programmed-in menu, are styled in a way that fits the game perfectly. And while none of the RPG elements do anything, they still are good for flavoring the adorable adventure.

The beginning music is a bit too saccharine for my tastes, but during the events of checking out Alice's specific things in order, you can change the BGM (and even window skin, for some reason) by revisiting certain objects after doing their scripted events.

Despite one bit of object interaction in-game, it's not really a satirical nor cynical game. I came into this expecting something a bit too... black humor at some point, especially if you spent too long for Alice to finally get to bed. But despite the aforementioned incident, Alice is pure and innocent all throughout, and this game is much the same as told through her little eyes.

The Cons
Uhhhh... the starting BGM is too sugary-sweet for my corrupted heart? XD Also a single typo with her description of her bedtime story collection, but a forgivable one. Nothin' to see here, folks, move along.

Overall Thoughts
Okay, so it's more visual novel than RPG. In fact, despite the engine used to create it, Bedtime Adventures is not at all a RPG. But really, what should one expect from the premise? Everything is lighthearted and gentle, and I feel the only thing that comes remotely controversial in-game (if you'd consider it that) would easily fly over a child's head.

As an adult in her mid-twenties, I've seen a lot even in my sheltered youth. Sometimes you have to let your guard down in the hopes of being rewarded by something innocent. I remember a couple months back this one Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers PSA on YouTube that I hesitated to watch (despite curiosity and nostalgia for MMPR), in fear that it would be dark. And it wasn't.

The game, though simple and short, is well put together and downright charming. I wouldn't exactly give it a Misao, but for the experience it presented, it's worth checking out if you've got time to waste. :D