A Hint of a Tint

Always having been a fan of rogue-like games like the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series, I had high expectations for this game when I downloaded it. Right from the bat I was pleasantly surprised by the dialogue system of the game, never having seen it before. I proceeded to play the demo, and enjoyed it, until it came to a sudden end. I replayed it, and was pleasantly surprised again, by the fact that, just like in the Mystery Dungeon series, maps were generated randomly.

Audio (3/5)
The music is very enjoyable, and very soothing. This is exactly the kind of music one would like to hear in a rogue-like game. There isn't much to say about it except it sounds very good. I would have given it 4 out of 5 if it hadn't been for the ticking sound effect every time you take a step. It is very distracting, and makes it seem like the game isn´t running smoothly. I found this to be somewhat of a setback, but a minor one.

Mapping (4/5)
One thing I really love is how the maps are randomly generated, yet still hold a lot of detail. Paintings spawn on the walls, together with vases and fireplaces, making the place look nicer than you´d expect of a place that spawned the moment you entered the room.

The only thing I don't like about the maps are the occasional lighting errors that arise, but these don't pose too much of a problem, and are only temporary anyway.


Story (2/5)
The story isn't the best part of the game. I'm not saying it's bad per se, as it seemed very interesting. The story seemed very random, though. Too random, almost. I was slightly confused when the story was about a human girl who was either spawned or transferred to a world full of monsters, and was trying to escape, and when you start playing, you are a bee, trying to find a human male. The demo is very short, which doesn't help make the story more understandable. The biggest problem I have with the story, though, is the many cutscenes, that come up at seemingly random times. Also, as you are playing as the bee, the story of the human girl seems unrelated somehow.

Gameplay (3/5)
The rogue-like battle/exploration system is very enjoyable. With lots of items and experience lying about, it's fun to explore and grab everything you can find. The system can be quite confusing, though. With all the different keys buttons being mentioned at once, and all of them being different keys on the keyboard than their name implies, people who don´t have experience customizing rpgmaker´s buttons (like me) can have a hard time remembering what to do. What the keys do is also only mentioned once, and can't be read again if you've forgotten them. All these things are mentioned in the readme, which is very helpful, but this might be a good option to include in-game in further versions.
The difficulty is pretty inconsistent, some enemies being scared of you after you've hit them once, and easy to kill, some beatable only by using items. The fun of exploring easily makes up for these issues, though.

All in all, a great demo, even if it's a short one. If you're not into rogue-like games, I wouldn't advice you to play this game, but if you are, it's definitely worth giving it a try. The developer has mentioned a full version of the story mode of the game being released soon, which may make the story more understandable, as that was the only point I thought the demo was missing out on.