Intro

"Candice" is a short adventure game developed by Carvonica using RPG Maker VX Ace and was created to showcase the capabilities of the engine to one of her friends. Of course, this means the initial build of this game was put together in about 24 hours. Though how much longer it took to create the expanded build recently isn't specified, but I can't imagine it was that much more since this is still a rather short game at about 20 minutes or so to experience all of the content the game has to offer. Though before I get into the story I'd like to provide a waning about a game breaking bug in this game.

Game Breaking Bug

At one point during the game your forced to murder your mother. The problem with this is she spends her time running around the room trying to avoid you. As a result you can potentially kill her in front of the door which means you can no longer leave the room since her body will be forever stuck there.



Admittedly this bug is easy to avoid by simply killing her on any other tile in the room, but this is something that should have been caught in playtesting in my opinion. So I will hold this against the game.

Story

You play as Candice, whose woken up in her room at midnight and is now exploring the house to figure out what happened to her the previous day. And while some of what happened is rather obvious from the carnage that was left behind when you find her body.



Though to understand the whole story you'll need to look for hidden notes and read journal entries to piece together why this tragic event took place.

Gameplay

There really isn't that much to cover in this section. That's because there isn't much for the player to do beyond explore the house using the arrow keys while choosing to interact with objects by pressing the z key. If anything the game misses out on a potential element since an undead horror breaks into your room near the start of the game, but beyond watching it run around a bit from inside another room.



There isn't anything else to this monster since it can't leave that room. Nor can you reenter that room while the monster is present. So it basically just exists for a simple jump scare. As a result it feels kind of pointless since the developer could have definitely had it chase the player around the house into various rooms where the player would need to solve puzzles or find story clues within a set time limit.

Graphics

Graphically the game largely utilizes resources found within the RTP for RPG Maker VX Ace, but does include at least one edit where the main character's eyes are red on her sprite while she's possessed. Outside of that notable little tidbit the game is mostly alright in this department in my opinion. While the game is rather dark it's set that way for the sake of setting a creepy atmosphere which it manages to achieve. Though I do find it odd how can I see my bedroom while being inside my sister's bedroom.

Sound

Sound wise the developer definitely chose her background tracks rather well since they definitely help aid the visuals in setting an unnerving atmosphere. At the same time at least some of the tracks are from the RTP. So you'll probably be pretty familiar with some of the selections if you've played a lot of horror games on this site. And the music selections that didn't come from the RTP are apparently from the RMN Music Pack.

Minor Bug

When you first launch the game it asks you if you want to play in full-screen mode or windowed mode. The issue here is that if you pick full-screen mode the game will stay in windowed mode while choosing windowed mode will result in the game going into full-screen mode. Admittedly this is a minor issue, but it's still mildly annoying to deal with.

Conclusion

"Candice" is a pretty short game that just feels underwhelming. I'm not sure if that's because the game lacks the necessary length to leave a major impact on the player or because some of the story ideas contained within this game could have been easily expanded upon and fueled additional content. Content that would have added to the horror aspects of the game like getting to play as Candice's sister for a bit. Though I suppose exploring those options would have murdered Carvonica's attempts at writing a story whose main driving factor is the mystery of what happened to Candice last night.