Creaking

Creaking is a game developed by veteran developer Craze and Subzero_Dragon for the 2016 Swap in the Middle with You Event. Earlier last year, I went through a bunch of games from that event, including August and the Abyss by the very same pair. I intended to review this one as well, but forgot all about it until now. Having done so, it’s a game I have rather mixed feelings. Moreover, it’s one of the cases when you know the things you did not like were not simply mistakes, oversights and/or errors forced by outside circumstances, but were intentional design choices, ones that technically follow the treasured principle of story/gameplay/art integration, and lead to an outcome you understand, even if you still do not approve it.

Aesthetics (art, design and sound)



As one might expect from a two-week contest game, everything used is MV RTP. Given the experience Craze has with the engine and RTPs (to the point August and the Abyss literally taught the player the basics of mapping), it’s unsurprising all the maps look very atmospheric. Subzero_Dragon's castle is sufficiently compact for the mapping to not be a significant issue. It is also shrouded in darkness, and has a puzzle involving light sources, which is an interesting change of pace at first. The second "puzzle" involving switches is filler at best; the main challenge is figuring out just what exactly did it do. The final boss map also has a rather unusual combination of arcane and mundane, with a typical RTP pentagram on the floor seemingly incorporating broken tables into its design:



The music is apparently from a Cinematic Soundtrack pack by Joel Steudler, and it’s mainly wistful and melancholic tracks. They are pretty good as background music for the mood game wants to set: however, the same music also continues playing when all the non-boss battles begin, without even being altered in any way. It’s a deliberate design choice, and reaction to it is likely to vary. Some seem to find it great: I eventually grew tired of it about a third of the way through.

Storyline



This is the opening screen, and it’s pretty much the only time you’ll see actual non-gameplay text in Craze’s part. Afterwards, literally nobody talks throughout the game; SubZeroDragon’s part has a single plaque, and then an ending with a similar block of text. As such, you never learn anything about the characters or the world of the game beyond what you glimpse from the imagery and their character descriptions (below.) This can be somewhat of a problem, as a key (and practically only) element of the narrative is that of party members dying randomly but since you know nothing of them, you may not be all that attached either. The one moment where I felt something was while picking herbs after the first character dies, and the description of the herb-picking, which earlier stated how it was done by two people, now said: “But without “spoiler (?)”, she couldn’t find as many as before.” That was unexpected, and so poignant.

I suppose I should clarify “randomly” above: all the deaths are actually scripted, but appear completely random within the game with no warning, which was again the point. Again, some liked this element. However, I expected that “Six playable characters: but will they live or die?” referred to the deaths stemming from my own failures as a player, with characters fallen in battle getting “crossed out” (as was implemented in the commercial LISA: The Painful, and the freeware Fear and Hunger on here. Instead, the K.Od characters actually revive automatically once the combat ends.) I suppose that death striking outside of your control was again the point. For better or worse, though, it also felt like a narrative crutch, the scripts compensating for gameplay’s failure to do the job.

Gameplay



Subzero_Dragon's puzzle, and pretty much the only non-combat gameplay present.

So, Creaking was always designed to be difficult, with the main feature being total lack of either the ability to heal on map, or to buy the new supplies. Going by their classes, the available characters are the 43 year old Mayor Kent, 72 y.o. “Grandpappy” Eddiston, 79 y.o. “Memere” Agnes, 56 yo. Old (Sea) Dog Raul, 8 y.o. Schoolgirl Belle and 75 y.o. Herbalist Nuria. Ages alone tell you that these are not typical RPG protagonists (or game protagonists in general), and I suspect “Creaking” ultimately refers to their physical state, rather then being a reference to “creaking floors”, etc., as I initially assumed upon seeing it described as a “horror game” (which it isn’t; it’s just downbeat). In keeping with these themes, Creaking is very much a low-number game, and so these characters’ HP values range from 10 to 35, and the Energy goes from 3 to 9 points. Similarly, the recovery items never restore more than 5 points of either whenever they are used. You have 15 of Soothing Salve (+5 HP), 15 of Toadstool Tonic (+5 Energy), and 15 Vinegars (status clears). There are also Rations used on-map that give everyone 5 HP, 5 Energy, or a little bit of both, with there being 3 of each. Lastly, checking out parts of the environment marked with the typical rmk glow thing also nets you medicinal herbs that are like the less effective version of the initial recovery items, restoring 3 points instead of 5, and being always tied to their user. On the contrary, the Salves and Tonics can be applied by a healthy but weak character on a strong, but wounded one, making them more precious. This is particularly important, since the Herbalist Nuria gets bonuses when using these items, whether on herself or others.

Yes, this is a game with the (comparatively) rare passive skills: last time I remember encountering one was in Solstice combat demo. Each character has one of those as well as three active ones (two for Eddiston and Belle), and the results can surprise. For instance, the leader, Kent, is pretty tanky, with second highest health, 7 Energy, passive chance to get hit over others, a limited heal (that always goes last), a buff and a two-turn debuff to practically all stats. Eddiston has both decent health and takes 50% healing bonus, but only has 3 Energy: enough to either use a defence buff/Poison+ Blind cure Stabilize 3 times, or to use it once and then deploy a strong, potentially stunning attack. Being 79 years of age, Agnes is limited to 15 HP, 3 Energy, but possesses high magic resistance. Her weak stunning spell, Cantrip, is straightforward; Natter On is hardly so, given it cures and (barely) recovers energy at the cost of Sleep, while Poke skill is free but only cures said Sleep/Silence at the cost of 1 damage. Raul seems like a good damage dealer, with a default chance of critting, and being able to cure everyone’s Hexes or halve one enemy’s damage for one turn. Schoolgirl obviously goes first and has lowest health, but highest Energy, though she can only use it for a Wind attack and slight cure/magic protection skill. Nuria is a pure healer, with only a weak magic attack, and who can strengthen a character while turning them Berserk.



Random encounters are a key element of the game. This (Undertale-inspired?) subversion is quite memorable, but ultimately doesn't lead to anything.

At first, this all looks very intricate, and you might well spend a while just looking at all these skills in the menu trying to work out if the default party composition (Kent, Eddiston, Agnes and Raul, with Belle and Nuria in the “background”) could be improved or not. Then, you eventually start fighting in your first random encounter, and discover that no matter what you try doing with all this, there’s ultimately no combination to find that feels great to use, or even decent. Again, that is a design choice; the game avoids actual rookie errors like a ridiculous encounter rate (though it was apparently worse in the older versions), a lack of enemy/encounter variety, or a surface-level “variety” while all the enemies actually fight identically to each other (present even in classics like A Blurred Line.) The first area (of the three) has some of the following encounters: poisonous/silencing (?) Ring Viper and group damage dealer/sleep inflicter Carniflora, Carniflora and a paralyzing Large Bee, two Large Bees, three Mousies (weak, nearly always go first, great evasion) Ring Viper and a Runespider (weak physically, but can cast Freezing Rune/Burning Rune). For some reason, RNG often gave me those in clusters, first giving my 3 Bee and Carniflora encounters, then, as I was entering the cave, there were four Viper and Runespider ones. Second Area adds more three-enemy encounters often featuring Pain (strong, can potentially buff itself (“Pain rapidly evolves!” and/or attack two at once), like Pain, Carniflora and a Bee; or a Mousie and two Carnifloras. There can be Pain and Suffering (strong “Suffering forces you to emphasize" single-target, or group-damage freezing spell) together as well. SubzeroDragon’s short castle level adds vampire bats with their self-heal, and throws at you some combinations of those bats, Vipers, Runespiders and Mousies.

As I said before, these encounters have the main thing in common: they just do not feel good to engage in. This shouldn’t be confused for being difficult per se, because unlike even some conventionally difficult games, like Illusions of Loyalty, let alone extreme examples like Fear and Hunger, it’s extremely unlikely that any one single encounter will end you or your party. Only Viper/Runespider fights really have a chance of getting there, assuming the Viper manages to get its poison across several characters while Runespider wastes no turns on its 1-damage melee, and your character also keep missing. Otherwise, most battles are essentially you and enemies scratching at each other, with your strong attacks being slightly better scratches you can barely use without running out of required Energy. Unlike most games, here it’s generally you whose main advantage is in numbers, and the corresponding ability to focus all four active characters on one of two enemies in the hope it drops dead that turn.



As such, the difficulty is almost entirely an additive thing, as you know that the encounters are infinite, and your key goal is to avoid being too drained by them. After the first fight, you are told that 3 HP and 1 Energy will be recovered by every active character afterwards, so your key goal is to keep losses within that level. Up until the second area, this is actually somewhat possible. The addition of Pain and Suffering enemies means you’ll sustain somewhat more damage per encounter, but it’s still not much of a difference, especially compared to what happens during the first boss battle, featuring Pain, Suffering, and She Who Speaks – potentially the most crazed creation of Enterbrain’s artists, and here notable not so much for her (pretty conventional) attacks, as for the boss health pool AND the ability to revive its defeated companions. I defeated it on the first try, but it’s an endurance challenge, where you’ll regularly run out of characters’ Energy and devote every third turn or so to recovery items.
Afterwards, Subzero_Dragon's part begins and it’s generally better to just escape every encounter there. He seems to have eventually thought so too, as no encounters will actually appear once you pick up a key element (lantern), and then turn it off once the puzzle in the image above is done. However, I assumed that the said puzzle wouldn’t be a one-off, and there would be more cases where its light will help to discover something. Instead, there’s just a maze afterwards, with conventional boxes storing Angel’s Tears that are intended to help against the second (and final) boss, being essentially an equivalent to Andraste’s Seal in the Dragon Age: Origins Mage Tower boss battle. Ultimately, I found it considerably easier, and defeated it without resorting to such.

Conclusion

Creaking is ultimately a game where combat is the main storytelling element alongside being the main gameplay one. In the words of Craze himself , “it wasn't meant to be too fair or pleasurable. it's old people hitting things with canes. if you felt frustrated but eventually got through it, my intentions were fulfilled… this was not about "proper" gam dezin, it was about making you hate everything.” In this way, it’s practically an “art game” in the more controversial sense. Opinions already differ on whether this experience is worth it, and they are likely to continue being divided should this game find a wider audience.