Halo's Mixtape

Halo's Mixtape is a visual novel by Moga/CARRIONBLUE made for the RMN Game Chill in 2013. It's a short game, no wait a VERY SHORT game!

Sooo what can I say about the plot without spoiling half of the game? Hm let's say that this is a classic game about a hero and an ice witch but where the hero probably isn't so good and the witch is not so evil, we start the game naming the witch, inside her home when she discovers that someone stole her prized tape!
Guess what? She will have to explore the island in which the game is set to find the culprit and get her tape beck, but things will not be so easy... oh yeah in this game we play as a final boss, and not as the hero of the story!

Ok, what impressed me about this "game" is the particular setting and music: the world is really small but nice and I find it very charming despite the short length of the game. Note that all the art and assets are custom, and this is a big plus of this game! The bluish palette makes sense since it's the realm of the *ice* witch, but the little world is also very cute, with monsters and humans living together. Ok there are not many maps and locations, still it's a concept I liked!


Well wasn't this what all heroes are supposed to do?

The gameplay is simply exploring and interacting with items/people to see the dialogues and advance the story (no combat, no puzzles, nothing at all!), there isn't much to do but everything is well made and it works, except maybe for some characters that won't even talk (like the inhabitant of the eastern house! He is totally silent and not interactable!). But even the dialogues aren't that important, except for those that will make the plot progress. So this is about walking, talking, walking and talking, but like a short novel it can be a pleasure to play, well for me it was for sure!

What else? Ok there are some hints about background events that sadly are never explored, unfortunately there are no flashbacks or cutscenes that could have expanded the story and made the game longer by representing visually what the characters are talking about when they explain the past events: in this case "show, not tell!" would have been a better solution, but I know that when it come to events, time constraints are a real problem!

Final Verdict
There's not much to say about this game except that this is a cute and linear short visual novel disguised as a sort of jrpg parody story, with totally original assets by Moba and a nice remix (also by Moba)'With Every Breath I Take' by Bing Crosby. So yeah, assets and music are original, this also was made for an event, so there's not much to expect but the distinct style and parody of heroics is what makes this game stand out. Aestetics and story are probably the strong points of this little game, also there is a message about friendship and caring... and that's good!

So this little gem gets 3.5/5, not much of a game, lasts 10/15 minutes (if you spend your time to talk with EVERYONE!), but it is still an original product made with love.