Spiritome is a game released by Mocoon and Aracade in 2016, unfortunately as a 20 minute demo only. Yes, this is one of these rpgmaker 2003 games that unfortunately were never completed, anyway let's see why it is interesting.

Spiritome is said to be a story-driven, puzzle and exploration game set in a small village and inspired loosely by Slavic mythology and Grimm fairy tales. Well in this short demo that you can download play there aren't really puzzles, by the way there's this small village to explore including some buildings, the total of the maps in this demo is about ten, no more. Anyway even if the story is linear there are a couple of optional interactions that will let you earn extra items, not that's needed at all, but I like being rewarded!


Uhmm maybe it's because you moved on the spot like some kind of fidget spinner, dear kiwi kid!

The story is about a young boy that lives with his family in a big house on the north part of town, a bit isolated from the rest of the village. Here he resides with his his sister and parents, the father is particularly important since he seems to be a student of the occult that deals with spirit, and his son is the one who will inherit his profession... and his Spiritome! The Spiritome of the title is in fact a tome that is about the spirits and it's written in a particular arcane language...
Anyway for most of the demo we live a normal childhood (even if in a village populated by bizzarre peasants, some are humanoid plants and other are humanoid animals, anyway there are also other humans like Jamie, hid best friend!)

The game is basically a sort of walking simulator even if there is an inventory and you will even have access to a shop (the only one in the village) at a certain point. You have to perform a series of tasks that are always indicated in the diary, points of interests are also often highlighted, but interacting with everything is possible and you will be rewarded by some interactions and descriptions.

Anyway the best feature of this game, besides the unique setting is probably the wonderful custom graphics (even if there are some sprites already seen in other Rm2k3 sets like First Seed Material), very pretty and detailed. Characters and portraits aren't the usual Rmk2-style you have already seen but they are made from scratch, so the whole world feels new, unique and original.
Could this game have Rtp sounds and music after I told you this? Of course not! There are great ambient sounds (the sea) and some original music tracks, it's true that some comes from a stock music site, anyway the final result is pretty good and they really fit the various moments of the story.

Finally, the details: the game has tons of them, just look at the pic of the protagonist that appears in the saves and changes as the story changes him! Awesome. I also like how the beginning of the game starts and comes at full circle with the ending. It's strange since this is supposed to be a demo, a part of an incomplete game, because its ending really recalls the exact first sentences.


What? What kind of question is this???

The Final Verdict
A masterpiece among the demos, this game raises a lot of question: what was supposed to happen next? What was this Spiritome able to do? Was the story all set in the village we see in the demo (as the developer wrote on the description of the game)? We do not know, anyway this short 20 minutes demo shows a lot of attention to the details, creativity and storytelling skills.
My advice is that if you have 20 minutes of free time you should play this game, it's not the usual fantasy game or visual novel, but it's really well made and has lots of charm. I'm pretty sure there will be something you will find memorable, for example for me it was the Corn guy!
Aren't you curious now?

Not a Spiritome but a Spiritbooklet, still very good!