Good day!
I played "Birthday Kid" because I was attracted by the custom made art, that is reminiscient of "Tess", even if the game is totally different especially concerning the gameplay (this is an adventure game and not a shooter. Anyway both games have young protagonists (and their "friends") and a mysterious and dark setting realized with a reduced number of colors, but Birthday Kid is a RPG Maker 2003 adventure game with some simple puzzles made by livis in 2018 (in english, shortly after it was translated to spanish), and the only game we have from this developer here. Anyway before I start, please mind these TWO things:

1 - The Rpgmaker 2003 Rtps are used (even if the graphics are custom they're still needed for sounds, menus etc) and you need to grab them if you don't have them already installed.
2 - This is a creepy, dark and disturbing game that deals with themes like suicide and abuse.


Well, of course NOT! Are you crazy? (anyway look how her smiling face is just a MASK! I like these details)

The game starts with us impersonating a boy with bunny ears on his birthday. There's a party and he has to meet the six guests that will soon become clear, aren't really "friends". Well they're even not friendly at all, anyway we start the game naming our hero, whose default name is Pepper.
And so his adventure start with a birthday party that's not really a moment of joy for him, but the reason why will be explained during the game, that will explain what happened before and what will happen after this event.
Is this a linear game? Yes... but still there are different endings, anyway I'm not going to explain what's going on, even if it clearly has something to do with the supernatural.

This game is a classic adventure in which you have to look for items, passwords and hints, that then use them when needed. Most puzzles and tasks are pretty much easy, also because the game is set inside Pepper's house, that consists of just seven rooms! You can save anywhere and anytime but you cannot really get a game over in any way, still I do not understand why there is still the command to equip or unequip items since there is no reason to do that. The inventory, on the other hand, is useful to review the items we possess and the notes.

Visually the game is simple but it successfully conveys a sense of sadness and darkness: all is in grayscale except for the rare use of some colors, and among these the red of blood is dominant. This is not an happy environent and situation and it shows! The best parts for me are probably the custom portraits (portraits, not charsets!) and some slides that illustrate the salient events. I like how some more recent/clear memories are represented in a detailed style, while the most dramatic/forgettable parts instead use stylized characters drawn in red over a completely black background. Two styles that are used alternately during the game. Sounds and music are partially RTPs and partially... something else (laughs and other sounds seems to be from other sources, including the "squish" you will hear each time you step on a puddle of blood)! I do not recognize the music themes but they're nice.
For he rest no problems or bugs, nor typos but I encountered a couple of cut text, maybe because I used a very long name for my alter ego, using all the 12 characters available! But that's all.


A really nice book to read when you're bored, isn't it?

Final Verdict
"Birthday Kid" is a nice game that took me about 50 minutes to complete and reach what I believe is the True Ending. It's cool because at first I believed it was a ten minutes game, then I realized I had to dig deeper, and deeper... learning more about the protagonist and his past. It's cool and better than I expected, on the other hand it's pretty much linear and puzzles and tasks are VERY simple and easy. If you are stuck, just check every room for something, and if this does not work inspect the items and notes in the inventory. That's all, really.

In the end this is still a rather enjoyable game, even if I do not think I am going to replay it, despite being curious about what happens if you fail the last part... can you retry or it's another ending? Who knows, I wanted my true, perfect epilogue.