As a note, this is a review I originally wrote and posted on my personal blog, which is typically read by exactly one online friend and involves brief reviews of the games I've been playing lately. The review was written in terms of the broad range of games available in the commercial market, but the star-score I'm giving it on here is in context of the type of games posted on rpgmaker.net.

*****

Another title from the RPG Maker Humble Bundle, although it was part of the "RPG Maker Free Games Bundle 1" within that. In other words, I didn't need to buy the Humble Bundle to get it, I could've downloaded it for free. X) Still, I wouldn't have gone looking for it myself, and the Free Games Bundle appears to be a collection of particularly noteworthy creations.

This game is pretty short, especially for an RPG. It took me maybe around four or five hours to complete, and that's partly because I failed to notice until the final boss that levelling up doesn't automatically make your characters stronger; it only increases the number of "mod slots" to which you can apply stat-boosting and ability-unlocking mods, somewhat like the equipment system in Super Smash Bros. 4. I thought the maximum number of mod slots was three because the rest were hidden from view in the menu with only a down arrow indicating there was more. X) It at least made for an interesting and challenging run. I looked up the game page after finishing and found out it had been made in two weeks for a game jam/challenge.

In Search of Immortality has a very interesting combat system. Instead of attempting to simulate a sensible reality like most RPGs do, it has lots of abilities with highly situational uses governed by seemingly arbitrary (though clearly stated) rules. For example, one of the characters has an ability which heals 30% of an ally's HP, which isn't really worth it for the time it takes since others have better healing abilities...unless that heal brings the target back to full health, in which case it doesn't take the user's turn. Free healing as long as the target has at least 70% health! :D I used that a lot to top off party members. There's also a "first strike" attack that does double the damage of a normal attack, but the extra time it takes for the fighter's turn to come around again from using it generally isn't worthwhile...unless the target was at full HP when it was used, in which case it's actually faster than a normal attack. All these special rules make the combat very engaging, as you have to decide what's the best move for the current situation rather than grinding away with moves that are clearly the best most of the time.

As for story, it's not very long of course, and it's hard to say much about it without going into spoilers. The characters and dialogue are quirky and likeable though, in a "Hoho I wouldn't want to get on her bad side! XD" kind of way. I will note that the setting is one in which magic, particularly of a flavor we might consider "occult" in the real world, is highly prevalent; it has "demons" which are portrayed as simply magical people from some other dimension who can be summoned and contracted, and they may be good or bad outside the bindings of their contract, though they do seem to tend toward mischievous. That along with alchemy, necromancy, etc. which are treated as scholarly, almost scientific fields. So that might have some weight in whether you want to play this game. Personally, while I recognize that dabbling with demons, real or imagined, is pretty dangerous and unhealthy territory, as long as the fictional world is clearly different from reality (especially invoking Our Demons Are Different) I don't mind too much experiencing the story to glean the enjoyable parts from it.

Bottom line? It's a fun little game, and hey, it's free! Check it out.