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Game Review: Original writing, incredibly neat graphics, psychologically accurate, introspective. Nice submission!

SPOILER WARNING: There are spoiler-y sections in this review which can be accessed by clicking on the "Show" button, but honestly, this game should not be spoiled for a first-time player. If that description fits you, play the game first! Honest, you'll thank me for it afterwards. Let's not mention my scurvy trick with the review title, shall we? =)

Resonate ~call out my angel~ is that rarity: a short story in RPG format. This is hard to pull off in the absence of parody and fourth-wall breaking, as the RPG genre inherently lends itself to detailed, epic, novel-length tales and world-building. It speaks volumes for this game that though it can be finished in a little over an hour, it feels complete, and it tells a deep and coherent (short) story without sacrificing the gameplay element.

Story: (5 out of 5)
Resonate's story, like Wither's, is a puzzle in itself: finding out how the introductory sequence ties in to the rest of the game, and what the three short dungeons actually represent in terms of plot and character, is probably the most engrossing and challenging part of the game. While the author does spell it out in a helpful text document bundled with the game (which, like this review, you should not read before completing it), it's much more rewarding to figure things out for oneself, and to have that satisfying and emotionally resonant (see what I did there? ^_^) "Eureka!" moment when it all comes together at the very end. Yes, there are fantasy tropes in play - a World Tree (of sorts), dungeons, monsters and bosses - but these are at the service of the greater plot. Very well done, and an excellent example for those who aspire to integrate gameplay and story development as seamlessly as possible.

Writing: (4 out of 5)
While the writing style - terse, with short sentences and many things left implied rather than spelled out explicitly - works well within the context of the game, what is less easy to overlook are a number of minor spelling errors and grammatical infelicities. None of these are game-breaking in a true sense, however, and may arise from the fact that (I'm guessing here) English is probably a second language for the speaker. If I have a major criticism to make about the writing, it's the dialogue - at times, it comes off as awkward or simplistic, especially during the resolution of two of the three characters' story arcs. None of this, however, merits more than the deduction of a single point from the "Writing" score.

Gameplay: (5 out of 5)
The gameplay is very linear (as befits a short story): you have to visit three dungeons in a fixed order, face the challenges that lie therein, and retrieve "Miracle Water" in order to nurture a sapling and make it grow into a tall tree. While this is nothing special in itself, what makes the gameplay shine is the way in which equipment is handled - rather than equipping armour and learning skills as you level up, you can equip skills in the form of spell cards (similar to Last Scenario's spellcards, or even Chrono Cross' Elements minus the convoluted number crunching). This makes equipment selection and party balance an important part of your approach to battles, and means that you have to rely on strategy rather than brute force or spamming your most powerful attack. This comes to a fantastic climax during
the final boss fight, which can only be beaten through strategy: you need to work out how to handle his attack pattern single-handedly, as your other two party members have been temporarily taken away, but once you do it, it's extremely satisfying. If there's a moment that vindicates the gameplay in Resonate, it is that final boss fight.


Artwork: (5+ out of 5)
It is clear, right from the opening scenes, that artwork is the strong point of Resonate's developer. Paying homage to 32-bit games (I suspect Chrono Cross was one of them) as well as to the RPG Maker classic Sunset over Imdahl, it foregoes traditional tiles in favour of hand-drawn backgrounds and objects. Even if the rest of the game was mediocre, it would pass on the strength of its art alone. Exceptionally good work.

Music: (4.5 out of 5)
The music was good; it was neither too commonplace (the usual RTP or Final Fantasy tunes) or heavy-handed, and it fit the mood of the game well. While most of it was quite satisfactory, a special shout-out must go to the track that plays during the final boss fight, which is in a class of its own.

Professor Q's Handy-Dandy Lecture: (Here Be Spoilers)
At its heart, Resonate succeeds because it carries a much-needed - and much-ignored - message for our times. If we view the entire plot from start to finish, the "gameplay" section is nothing but a metaphor for overcoming immature personality traits and behaviour patterns - impulsivity, paranoia and unhealthy dependency - and learning to mature and grow as a person in an often imperfect and frustrating world. At the beginning, the protagonist falls into a depressive stupor brought about by her inability to cope with the demands of everyday life (yes, I know it's not strictly a coma, but "coma" is a shorter and more impactful word than the boring technicality of "depressive stupor" or "dissociative stupor" - Q.), and it's only when she manages to change herself - and to recognize that there are people who care for him when things get difficult. What a wonderful lesson. In our days, when too many people increasingly rely on immature behaviours and defences to cope with the stresses of life, and are often content to submerge themselves in sub-culturally accepted paranoia, recklessness or dependency, such a message cannot come too soon. Bravo, bravo. I wish my own students displayed as much psychological insight as this game's developer does. Perhaps I just need to work harder on that "teaching" thing. ^_^


In summary, Resonate is more than a game: it is a story, and an experience, and a life lesson. Play it. You'll learn something worth learning.

Very highly recommended.

Posts

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Thank you so very much for this review!
I'm really happy that you saw so much into it and caught so much of what I meant by it!
I'm really inspired to make more stuff, now.
And Resonate's shortness is what made it feasible to begin with...
I wonder what I'll do next (I'm already working on a thing but i'm not too happy with this thing)

Anyhow thanks so much! ^v^ <3
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