Intro

"The Ash Black Cat and the Happy Ogre" is visual novel/horror game being developed by Tailusei using RPG Maker VX Ace. And while there haven't been any recent updates posted to RMN the developer has been more active on sites like Tumblr. So it appears this project is still in active development. Though if the developer is still on pace to complete this game by Halloween of 2023 is unknown to me, but some of his social media posts have mentioned life getting a bit hectic and that usually means time for hobbies being set aside for more important issues. Though even if this game does get finished, I'm probably not going to play it.

As for why I'm not going to play this game if it's ever finished. That basically boils down to three things. For starters I'm not a fan of the horror genre and usually prefer to avoid horror games on this site, but in order to keep up TheRPGMakerAddict when it comes to makerscore I've been covering them in order to maintain my lead. Secondly, I'm not a big fan of visual novels. While I'm used to playing games that are rather story heavy at times since I tend to prefer turn-based RPGs. The amount of reading you'll be doing in most visual novels in comparison to playing the game tends to push me away. After all, if I wanted to spend the better part of a few hours reading dialogue I could read one of the hundreds of books I have in my room. And thirdly I just find the demo rather boring since there's very little to do beyond walking around and interacting with a handful of objects while trying to find something meaningful to do.

Story
Summary

You play as Felix and Noelia who've found themselves locked inside a run down Italian high school after hours. Though how a school with a leaky roof, hallways full of mold, and random bits and pieces of papers in every corner manages to still operate at all is beyond me. You think they would have shut down the school a long time ago, but apparently forces most mysterious keep it running somehow. I guess this school operates like the creature from "It" by Stephen King or something. Since I can't imagine most parents looking at this school and thinking it's a good idea to send their kids there for eight or more hours a day. Especially with the roof threatening to collapse and potentially bury the students and teaching staff alive. Though, I suppose the real question is do you have the skills, luck, and patience to get these two out of the school safely.

Translation

The English translation is rough in a few places, but considering the developer isn't a native English speaker and these issues typically don't hinder the player's ability to understand the developer's intent. I'm willing to look the other way on this issue.

Greatest Strength/Weakness

I really can't think of a strength this project has on the writing side of things just yet. On the other hand Felix and Noelia have such a strange reaction to Felix's doll running about that it reminds me of the "Ghostbusters" (2016) film where the ghostbusters react to the various ghosts like their very existence is a joke. As a result the game ends up breaking any immersion it could have had since I'm left wondering who in their right mind sees a wooden toy running about and simply responds with "let's get it!". And yeah, that last bit is meant to be a joke about the ghostbusters trying to catch the ghost in the library near the start of the first film.

Gameplay

On the gameplay side of things "The Ash Black Cat and the Happy Ogre" acts like an old school adventure game where you need to search for potentially useful information and items to aid you in your quest as well as solve puzzles. On the downside these puzzle bits are pretty spread out if the demo is anything to go by. So your going to find yourself spending large amounts of time just trying to find objects of interest.

To make matters worse this project is also a horror game. Which means in order to ramp up the scare factor you need danger around every corner. So you'll sometimes walk into beginner traps that are unavoidable unless your using the guide provided by the developer.



After all, how else would you learn that interacting with this window in a bid to climb down from the second floor to safety would kill you?

And on a side note the demo also includes a short quick time event. A quick time event you'll be forced to endlessly repeat until you beat it. So I hope your button pushing fingers are up to the task.

Graphics and Sound

On the graphical and audio side of things the project appears to be a combination of premade and custom assets. As such the game does go a bit beyond most other free projects made with RPG Maker VX Ace. After all a less ambitious developer would simply rely on the RTP for these aspects of the game.

Conclusion

If you couldn't guess based on some of my comments earlier in the review. My opinion on this game should definitely be taken with a grain of salt since I'm not part of this game's target audience in any capacity. As such, my conclusion is if your not a fan of the horror genre or visual novels. This probably isn't going to be the game that will win you over. So seek this out at your own risk. And seeing as how this project is still in development. I'll hold off on assigning a numerical score to it.