Aria's Story

TLDL ratings:

General rating: 9/10
Art and graphics: 10/10
Story: 9/10
Characters: 9/10
Accessibility: 8/10
Music: 10/10
Gameplay: 9/10

(TWs: Spoilers and ableism.)

Art and graphics

The game’s art style was very reminiscent of the Final Fantasy games I played when I was a kid. I thoroughly enjoyed the imagery. It was very different from other RPGs you find on RPGmaker in that it was extremely intricate and detailed. One of my favorite things to look at was the room with the large tree in the center while the library was still open. The colors were vibrant and lively. It felt like the creators literally breathed life into the scene.

Everything was decipherable as far as to what every object was, which (believe it or not) a lot of people struggle with - especially with the level of detail that the game’s art has. Sometimes when an artist packs in too much detail, the artwork is just lost and confusing; This game is not one of those cases.

Once the game becomes eerie, the central lighting fading to darkness around you was very good for setting the tone.

Story

I thought the storyline was a bit confusing, even for a demo. It certainly did draw my attention and leave me craving more, but that was because I was left with quite a few unanswered questions.

These were mostly plotholes and world-bulding. (Anyone that knows me knows that my biggest issues with games/tv series/movies is world building. If you don’t world build properly, your writing will be shit.)

What time period is this set in? The clothes could pass off for present day but the architecture looks colonial (?), possibly? There’s no electricity (apparently, since Aria doesn’t think to turn on a light in the dark library). There’s have Shakespeare (which is from the Elizabethan Era) but also Scy-fy books? Is it set in this universe, or an alternate one? She lives in a town far from this forest there happens to be a library smack dab in the middle of? And goes there daily? Walking? Bus? Does she not go to school?

I could go on forever. Friendly reminder that world-building and character development are extremely important in media! I appreciate the focus on the visuals and the music but some things story-wise seem a bit half-assed.

Characters

Just as it’s not uncommon for me to complain about lack of attention to world building, it’s also not uncommon for me to complain about lack of diversity in characters.

Even in the side characters at the beginning of the story, while you are walking around - there isn’t a single dark skinned sprite. Why this is, is beyond me? There is only one (in the bottom right corner of the room with the giant tree) that is slightly tanner than the others? But I had to squint and tilt my head to really notice the difference between their complexion and Aria’s.

Of course, if there are no people of color - it’d be even more ridiculous to ask for a disabled character. Someone sitting calmly under the tree in their wheelchair, perhaps? Someone sitting at a table and running their fingers of the pages in their book. When Aria asks what they are doing, they explain that they are reading in braille? These are little things that make media at least a tiny bit more inclusive.

No fat characters either, but honestly - is there any surprise?

Unless the creator’s answer to my previous world-building questions is that this is set in a world where all dark-skin, disabled and/or fat people just didn’t exist (in that case, I don’t want to play this is the worst game on the planet), they should look into diversifying at least the other sprites. I’m being a bit more loose on this score because I’m waiting for the continuation of the game. If there are more characters and they’re all the same lazy mess - this score is dropping.

Accessibility

I do understand that this is a horror game but the creators should add warning about jumpscares on their summary page. I have played horror games without jumpscares before and I have seen several games with jumpscares come with warnings attached.

Aside from that, the font was very easy to read but I can see how perhaps the overwhelming amount of color and brightness might be difficult (or glorious) for an autistic person or someone with synesthesia.

The puzzles were easy to do! And for that, I am grateful! I am learning disabled so sometimes these games border on impossible for me to complete without a walkthrough. (I kept having muscle spasms in my hand during the riddle answering and I kept selecting the wrong answer by accident, haha. No fault on the creators, however! I was just anxious to see what was on the other side of the door!)

Shortly after playing the game, I took to the “Aria’s Story” tag on Tumblr to find art to reblog for my personal blog. Instead, I came across this post by the creators.



While it seems like a harmless search for voice actresses, I noticed something that really irritated me (as an actual Psychotic person).



“different types of laughs (normal,mysterious, psychotic,…)”

I understand a lack of word availability for what you’re looking for - “evil” or “villainous” would have been a better way of wording this.

Narrator is believed to be the antagonist of this story and by using language like that associated with her, the creators are coding or identifying her as “mentally ill”. By doing this, they are feeding into the stigma that mentally ill people (especially people who suffer from psychosis) are dangerous and evil).

Edit start.

I sent the creators a message and they handled the situation properly. They politely asked for an alternative as English isn’t their first language and apologized. As a bilingual person whose first language is Spanish, I understand the feeling.



It was a bit unsettling that they were quite persistent on Narrator not being mentally ill. I didn’t mind if Narrator was mentally ill. It was moreso the usage of a slur to describe her that made me uncomfortable.

Regardless, I think the situation was handled adequately.

Edit end.

Music

On to my favorite part of this game.

I honestly don’t have much to say. The music was extraordinarily well-done. My favorite piece was the music that played at the main menu. It was so complex for the music to an RPG (at least from what I’ve grown accustomed to).

Every tune set the mood with pinpoint accuracy. I can’t wait for the music to be released publicly, I’d love to have it on my computer or iPOD to listen to whenever. Or if there’s already a place I can purchase it, I’d love for a link to be posted up.

Gameplay

For the most part, navigation was rather easy. I was a little anxious while wandering around because there were so many items around (stacks of books, sheets of paper, etc) that I was afraid I’d overlook something important so I spent most of my time trying to interact with almost everything on screen.

I found that the spacing/positioning was a bit strange but it wasn’t anything impeding.

Last notes

For the most part, I enjoyed the game, particularly the art and the music. I really wish the creators hadn’t made that ableist comment (for which I have already messaged them) because it left a sour taste in my mouth.

Whether or not I play the full version of the game, depends on how my message to the creators will be handled by them.

Edit start.

Seeing as they handled the situation in a proper fashion, I will be waiting excitedly for the finished version of the game. My scores will still remain the same for the demo, so it is up to the completed version to either alter them and make them better or worse, or keep them the same.

Edit end.

My general rating is a 9/10.

Trigger warnings for the game: blood, minor jumpscares, violent/gorey talk.

Tips:

1.) Sometimes it’s better to just stay quiet.