The Wedding

Preamble
Just so we're square, this is the first horror genre RM game I've ever played, so I won't be reviewing from a position of experienced judgment so much as a blank slate newbie.
But, as a mere player, I did find poor little Anima's tortuous journey worth experiencing.

Visual: 3/5
Anybody can turn down the screen tint to make a "dark"ish setting. What I found to be a neat addition was the use of slowly increasing brightness from nothing when entering a dark area from a lit one, simulating Anima's eyes adjusting to lack of light while imparting a terse sense of 'uh oh' into the player. Seeing as the poor girl only enters dark areas because she's trying to escape something, it's an unwelcome, but well felt, effect.

Unfortunately the mapping suffers. The vast majority of it is RTP, and with the RTP comes it's limitations, creative makeshifts, and occasional absurdities. Some rooms felt 'filled with stuff' for the sake of not being empty. Using multiple vertical bookshelves to fashion a pretend-wall in the garage is certainly an idea, but it's immediately noticeable and breaks immersion. There were a couple of Mapping 101 goofs too.
Still, the end result isn't bad. It was a house. It was dark. It served it's role as a setting.

Audio: 4/5
As per the genre, there's more ambience than genuine music, as well as a lot of silence where the only sounds you hear are Anima's own footsteps. Sadly neglected was the opportunity to have the player hear "other" things too, such as...
other footsteps.....

I especially liked the use of a heartbeat sound effect during various action sequences. There's even a couple of original compositions courtesy of friends or accomplices of the creative team.
Overall, I liked what I heard, but nothing stood out and remained memorable.

Storyline (and Scariness): 3.5/5
Anima and Metus, two soon-to-be siblings-in-law, get bored at a wedding and decide to explore the big estate the ceremony is on. They find a secluded house and let themselves in, and that's when Metus, being the typical D-bag brother, runs through a door and locks it, leaving Anima frightened and alone in the dark. Things go to hell from there.

My summary is little more than the game's actual synopsis, but part of the experience of a horror is the unknown. Scare factor disappears as soon as you know the name and limitations of the antagonist. As such, finding out exactly how deep down the rabbit hole of devilry and dementia The Wedding delves should be left unwritten.

What I will say is that it hit the bottom a tad too early. Maybe 60% through the game I had a good guess, at 75% it became straight-up "let's find out how to fight it", and that's when all that's left is a grind, with a few puzzles reminiscent of jRPGs and this really hard one that forced me to consult a video FAQ.

But the journey to that point was excellent. Starting with a tale of two small children doesn't lay groundwork for anything, and yet anything is possible. The twisted only became moreso, and I loved every bit of the trip.



Gameplay: 3/5
A common complaint I read from fellow players is "the walk speed is too slow".
Really?
This is a horror game, not Sonic the Hedgehog and the Fortress of Doom. Speed walking may have functional use in RPGs because you're always jaunting around, often over your own footprints, but I'm not interested in crashing into furniture because I overshot the doorway here. I want a slow, careful tread where one too many steps might end it all. If speedy travel is what you want, you probably shouldn't even be trying to settle into a creepy atmosphere.

I can also appreciate the walk speed considering it's use during the action sequences. If Anima moved twice as fast as she does now, there wouldn't be any suspense in those parts (unless her counterparts were also twice as fast, which would be ridiculous).

That said, there isn't much else to the gameplay to speak of. Anima moves and interacts with stuff. She spends most of her time solving puzzles to advance, and occasionally gets into a tussle with some scary dudes. Due to RTP overuse, there's an abundance of swords, daggers and axes on the walls of the house she's trapped in, but of course she can't use any of them on her assailants.
She does get an axe item, but it breaks apart as soon as she chops the last log. A classic horror cliche.

Overall: 3.5/5
Despite the weak final act, I enjoyed the game. It kept my imagination running as events unfolded and revealed new details.

Also, pick the long vial.