One Final Burial

Hello!
Shuruzy is the author of this RPG Maker MV game released for the last event, called "Event Event" Event (that's a lot of events!) and consists of four levels (or floors) of a longer game, but for now rest assured that there is 1 hour and 30 minutes of gameplay, so not exactly a short time. Shuruzy is the developer of a game I reviewed a couple of years ago, Tower of the Starblessed, another short game even if in that case a complete one. It's peculiar how both games (that aren't connected) were made for an event, both are more or less linear, and both feature a duo of protagonists that while in the case of the Tower of the Starblessed had to climb several floors to reach the top, here we've two heroes descending a dungeon to reach the bottom floor!

We start the game playing as Trip, an explorer sent to... explore thise peculiar dungeon, since it's filled with strange creatures (not a surprise) but he also a friendly ghost that gives some assistance (but in exchange of money!). After a while Trip discovers that he's not the only visitor, and he meets Erakhos, a mysterious fellow that is here for... some other reason! It's immediately clear that Erakhos is versed in the arcane arts (can in fact use his powers both to heal and unleash torrents of fire!), but his identity, role and mission will all be explained duting this short first part of the game. So, play and see!


Yes, he can fight and that's good. All battles from minions to bosses are unavoidable, so get ready!

"One Final Burial" is a linear dungeon delving adventure, but it's NOT your typical RPG Maker MV game: most of the action takes place in a sort of side view perspective that is used for battles, quicktime events, party management and cutscenes (or "visual novel" segments). These events are linear so it's mandatory winning battles (no matter if against lesser enemies or bosses, just remember you can't escape of avoid confrontation!) and surviving traps (but good things like finding loot may happen too!).

Let's start with the battles: the game uses a more or less classic combat system where the characters may use items, use one of their attacks or support abilities (that are healing, buffs or debuffs) but they may also defend to avoid damage and recover three hit points. Yes, three, but the game uses low numbers so do not worry, this can save the day.

Concerning attacks and support skills, SOME of them cost Energy Points, and this pool of points is shared among the characters. Points are earned dealing and recieving damage, but remember that IF you spend too many points the action won't happen (for example if you have 2 Energy Points and you use a 2 points action with Trip and 1 point one with Erakhos, this last and usually slower party member won't act at all because in the pool there will be 0 Energy Points!). You have also to pay attention to the element used, because some attacks are more effective than others and some particular opponents may even be HEALED by some particular elements!


Remember to use the right weapon for the right enemy: flying ones are weak to crossbow attacks! Now I can focus on the cannon flowers!

Another problem the player may have to face is that, like in most rpgmaker games if a character dies he has to be resurrected only using a particular potion (since there are clearly no inns for resting here!) or Erakhos' special exploration skill. What are exploration skills? Well outside of combat you can manage your party (changing the equipped items), use consumables or these skills that are limited for a number of uses for each floor: Trip can explore, giving a little prediction on the next encounter (that can be a combat encounter, a trap, loot or a resting place, in any case it will just warn you), instead Erakhos can completely restore the condition of the party (it's usable even if he's at 0 hit points). Besides combat you can also encounter the previously mentioned traps that consists in simple timed quicktime events: do them well and you are unharmed, otherwise you get damage.

At the end of each floor there is usually a boss battle, that's followed by a safe area with some loot and our friendly ghosts that provide healing and items... as usual for a price of course! If you want you can even ask him to summon more monsters, but I never did that, good to know that you also have this option. And there is also the option of interacting with some points of interests for some extra dialogues.
You can also save here or during the exploration segments, so it's a really player-friendly game, it also lists a story mode, that I can guess it's an even easier version, anyway I liked the game as it is.

Visually there is a dominance of Rtps assets like the tilesets, icons and backgrounds, but there are also many custom made sprites and animations, like the battlers for example. In any case everything merges perfectly, and the game looks good, but also the little custom sprites really enhances the narrative and the dialogues as the characters not only change expressions but also move and make gestures in the cutscenes. Nice, and really well done!


The game includes some quiet areas where we can rest, buy items and find some loot (in this case some equippable gear that can surely become useful)!

Not the Final Verdict
Ok, the story is not complete but I liked this demo so far, and as an entry for the Event Event, it's pretty good. Only issue I have is the strange damage caused by Erakhos' burning attack: it always causes something like 6,333333333 damage or others odd recurring decimal numbers... well it's not a problem, still it looks pretty weird.

So, this is the demo of "One Final Burial", a game that I guess won't be really much longer (from what I've read this is 50% of the full game) due to the short nature of the mission and the small party, still I can expect some nice surprises in the next release. It's fun, not too difficult and also it's not one of the classic, boring rpgmaker games but it shows that's still possible to make something a bit different (see the shared Energy Point System) also adding elements from other genres (visual novel and quicktime events). In any case I left for last the part I liked most: the two characters, since due to the story being extremely simple they really manage to make this little classic dungeon delving adventure and amusing and entertaining experience!
Well done!