The Piano Player

Hello again.
No, this isn't another monochromatic game, the black and white of the title refers to the piano, that is the real protagonist of this game. Don't worry, in this game made by SquirrelHorse with RPG Maker VX Ace there won't be difficult musical puzzles or other piano-related tasks like in other games I played in the past (see for example Novella, another short game about a pianist). That's not to say that this game won't be challenging, but let's start with the plot...

Well the plot is basically a dreamlike adventure of a piano player (or THE piano player) that tries to recollect his memories, so we start in media res and we will figure out what happened before and choose what will happen next! In fact there are three endings, even if only the first (ending A), true ending will require some efforts to be earned, and it's the most detailed and complex of the three. But let's start from the beginning.
The story begins in the piano player's room, but it soon will be clear that the insecure musician is trapped in a series of repetitive dreams about his past. The game is pretty short and will take about twenty minutes to complete, and it's divided into linear story segments with non-interactive dialogues (except for the ending choice in the final part) and action parts.


The aim is always the same: reach the exit or the girl avoiding the dopplegangers in a maze of pianos!

The action parts can be decribed as chase sections, because even if this game is not really a horror story but a surreal one, the protagonist will have to flee from shadows and clones of himself to avoid a premature game over. The objective is usually to find an item, a person or just the exit in a maze of pianos, but just one hit and he dies (he's a piano player, not a man of action!), so avoid being trapped between two enemies because that will mean reloading the game. Well , I liked how the game gives the possibility to save always at the right time, right before the action sections and the ending choice.

Not every part is identical: I found a chase I wasn't able to win and the game continued normally, another in which the only safe option is to go back... so yes, the game isn't boring even if these parts are super simple to understand. But pay attention, a mistake I made was using the shift key to always run... and that's no a smart choice at all! Many enemies seems to appear from nowhere once you come close, some even do not move at all, but if you did like me you will probably notice them as you bump into them, and that's too late of course.

This and the dialogues are the real "meat" of the game, so let's see the rest: music obviously consist in a soundtrack of classical piano music, and we have pieces from Beethoven, Chopin, Satie, and Debussy. Really appropriate, I'd say!
Then the graphics: SquirrelHorse in what is the first attempt at an RPG Maker Game utilizes RTPs only, but it's difficult to judge the maps since they're few (the music room and the bedroom are also used more times as scenarios for the dialogues) and also related to a dreamlike world that is only partially a reflection of reality. Let's say that most maps are functional and that's ok for this kind of little game. Oh and I also noticed that just ONE single map has no piano in it!


And while the piano player plays his last song, let's read the...

Final Verdict
The Piano Player is a short but nice visual novel with the added touch of the action segments. While the story isn't really original and it's pretty much predictable, I found it to be really emotional and well written. The idea of the game is also quite original and well done, there are no bugs or typos, it's a simple little game but solid and polished. Obviously I wanted to play and see all three endings, and I must admit that the final level that you have to beat for the best ending was especially challenging, but not impossible.
In the end this was a pleasant surprise, not bad, on the contrary, quite good especially for a first game!