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Needs more attention!

Forced Recall is a game made in 2 weeks for RMW's Mysterious August Contest. The goal of the contest is to instill a mystery with at least 20 minutes of gameplay. What Forced Recall did is to run away with these themes and create a fun game.

For someone who used RPGMaker VXAce for the first time, he created a memorable and fun game splashed with creative puzzles and intriguing plot.

~Graphics and Presentation~
The game starts with a black and white opening to show the mood and situation of the game. Something similar to western sci-fi films where you have this big bad company and you're figuring out what they're trying to achieve. It's hard to express in words but it's something you have to see in the game to understand. It conveys the dark, noir-ish world well and adds a certain individuality.



The victim who holds all the answers has been beaten up to a pulp with low chances of survival. You dive into his mind in order to attempt to see his memories and find the answers. By doing this, you're shown a colorful, RPG world. The game is flooded with RPG shout-outs and while using the default RTP graphics, the game justifies it quite well.

Did I mention that the custom soundtrack for this game is pretty awesome? Because they are!

~Gameplay~
Did I mention the game is full of RPG shout-outs? Because it does and the gameplay revolves around it. With only 20 minutes to find the answer, you go through stages of the feelings he had at that time, such as Pain, Rage, Despair and so forth. My memory is a bit hazy on that one, but you get my point. The game focuses on these themes and have levels designed for it. Think of inception, "we have to go deeper."



The deeper you are, the harder the stages are. The game is filled with puzzles that ANY (J)RPG lover knows well. Spikes? Check. Teleportation puzzles? Check. Mazes? Check. Despite this, there is one specific stage that is a certain favorite of mine, which would be where you can play as a fucking Godzilla and trample on towns and kingdoms and express your manly rage. It's a huge stress reliever and the way the tiny people retaliate in futility makes it even better.



As you go on, the game does provide you ways to make sure you have enough time to find the information you need, in the form of crystal orbs. But the damage inflicted on you decrease the overall time you can. So being cautious is of extreme importance. Especially since at some stages there are areas where you can't get time orbs that easily. Or lose your max time quite easily too. Overall, it's a nice challenge.

There's one stage I wasn't a huge fan of, but it's hard to actually pinpoint what's wrong with it, especially since the theme is "confusion."

However, despite that one downside, I enjoyed this game a lot especially since I dislike puzzle games.

~Plot/Story~
It's quite odd writing this section lesser than what I'm used to. But I can't really tell anything about the game's plot without spoiling. But I thought it was a nice mystery. The multiple endings depending on your progress and information you extracted was a really nice touch. Overall, it does make you want to know more. And even if it didn't the gameplay keeps you interested.

Overall, this game is one where I could happily say, CAN'T.STOP.PLAYING.
I highly recommend this to everyone.

Posts

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What Rene is saying in that screenshot is my thoughts exactly.

Nessy does a review! A good review (you should do more)!
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