Crimson Light

Spoilers beware in Story and Impact sections!

Game Overview:
You play as Une (whose full name I can't pronounce) in her quest to find her sister (who looks like a guy and has a name that's either pronounced Lin or Lane) while evading phantoms that make your fear go up, but interacting with dead bodies that you are perfectly fine with being next to.

Review

I will break down this review into five parts, and evaluate the total by averaging the categories. (This way, my review will only be 20% biased!) I have attempted to complete the entire game, however, the dev has not specified how many endings there were. I have gotten... three? about. Although, I'm not counting the various gameovers I've gotten along the way.

Story 2/5


No, it's a note that says that holy water doesn't work on the phantom things.

This is definitely not a story-heavy game, though it is a chase-heavy one. Even after playing, you know very little of Un..? Un-el-ma? Oo-nel-ma? and Lin... Lane?'s backstory other than something had happened in the last village, something about a Reaper, Unelma having murderous tendencies, and that a lot of people really didn't like them.

The story also lacks some consistency and polish, what with the aforementioned note in the church, as well as a katana somehow being in the attic of a religious sanctuary. (This game doesn't take place in Japan, does it?)

The only way to sort of understand why these things are happening to you is to read the four note scattered around various houses. There really is not much story to be, quite literally, found.

The game certainly is character-driven, but none of those characters had noticeable development. Unelma (in one of the endings) being revealed as the killer did not come as much of a surprise. Her callous reactions to the dead had long ago hinted to the true murderer of these villagers (I saw it coming all the way from that one guy in the house screenshot. Scroll down.)

Gameplay/Mechanics 3.5-4/5


Those, my friend, are called blatant plot devices!

The gameplay comes primarily from looking for objects, walking around, and avoiding suspicious-looking characters that try to chase you when you get in their line of sight (classic horror RPG mechanic, a bit overused though).

However, the 'fear' and 'seal' mechanics are extremely interesting, although they're rather unpredictable and lack explanation or description. I feel like these mechanics could be explained more to the player, either through the game description or some kind of ingame initial stage that *shows* the player how these work without the player being at risk of a gameover from experimentation.

>> Gameplay difficulty: It's pretty easy once you get the hang of it, there are plenty of fear-reducing items that you might not even get to use.

I have a slight objection to the blatant plot devices railroading you, though. There's virtually no explanation as to why pink floating spinning crystals are conveniently blocking places that the plot will address later on.

Graphics and UI: 3.5/5


She probably isn't. Also, this room is nice and uncluttered, but then- BAM


My eyeesss

The custom facesets and UI is definitely a plus to this game and enhances the horror-feel, however, there are many minor mapping issues and a lot of the maps feel extremely cluttered. The fog effects contribute greatly the the cluttering. Perhaps simplify some of the maps, then playtest it with the fog effect on. I'm sure that without the fog the village looks perfectly fine, but as of now my eyes hurt a bit from looking at the screen for too long.

My only other suggestion is to simplify the UI a bit as well, as there are many aspects of the UI that you don't even use (such as: status screen, equipment screen, quests tab). Might I suggest the Non-RPG Menu?

Audio 3.5/5
The tracks fit nicely with the atmosphere, and the sound effects certainly helped set the mood. Using music found on the 'net is definitely a step above using RTP music.

Impact 1.5/5
I felt no empathy for the characters, nor did I particularily care about what had happened to the village. I had no attachment to any of the residents, after all. There was no prior interaction between my character and any of the given villagers, and all the flashback interactions were downplayed quite a bit by Une's two-facing from "Oh, thank you so much for the food!" to "I guess I should feel grateful but rather I'm angry that I'm being pitied" that completely takes away the impact.

Although I felt slightly sorry for the person my character proclaimed was 'a nice guy', there were never any moments of "NOOOOO why did you die, nice neighbor-man?!" but rather something more like "Oh. Look, there's blood. I better go follow the bloody footprints!"


Congratulations, you are now a psychopath!

Une did not receive any character development, and for most of the game her remarks came off as rather deadpan, even cold, especially when she observed a dead body and said "I'm glad he's dead." Her observations on the various dead bodies weren't integrated with the larger story, and they felt more like forced bits of backstory, especially when Une calmly clarifies each and every person's relation to her, as well as what they did when they were alive, completely disregarding the blood-soaked floorboards. It felt more like an epitaph on a gravestone, or Une talking to someone else about the dead villagers long after this event rather than a single character's reaction to the passed away.

tl;dr
While the gameplay is innovative, the graphics are custom-made, and audio selections are aptly-chosen, what this game really needs to work on is its plot, backstory, and character development.

It's difficult to give this game a consistent rating, as it excels in some parts but work is needed in others.

Overall Average: 2.85/5
Rounded up: 3/5

Final Verdict:

Senpai, please don't notice me!