It is a common practice in the world of gaming for reviews to be separated in categories like graphics, music, sound effects, story, gameplay, replay value, texture, upholstery decor and wine selection, with each category being given a numerical score, plus an ending section averaging said scores out and providing some final thoughts. While I'd argue this review format is perfect for triple-A titles designed by committe, it is not really applicable to indie atmospheric adventure games such as Amort, which relies a lot more on the way its individual elements work together than the quality of said elements by themselves.

Created by RMN names I admire a lot, Amort is an interesting little game. It built up an effective atmosphere, is structured in a nice way, and got me interested right from the start with its foreboding introduction.

As I continued playing, however, I got the feeling that the game was a tad rushed. This being a jam entry, that is to be expected, of course. Still, I can't help but wonder what this game could have been made into were the developers given more time to work on it. There are many good ideas here that could have made for an amazing game in different circumstances.

Story, atmosphere, presentation

The game's story follows protagonist Lycia, a divorced woman who returns to her hometown to take care of her ex-husband Morgan when he falls ill. Things take a turn for the worst when a mysterious postman shows up on Morgan's door carrying a bag full of human skulls. After being forced to get rid of the deranged man by herself, she goes after some of her old acquaintances in search of answers, which results in her uncovering a sinister truth about the place she once called home, and being attacked by people she once called friends.

I like how there is some room for ambiguity in the story, as Lycia constantly questions whether the town was always that bizarre but she just couldn't notice when she was young and innocent, or if the place really has changed for the worst in the years she spent away from it. It makes me kind of sad that the story never seeks to explicitly resolve that ambiguity, though.

Without wishing to spoil anything, I feel like the main "revelation" of the story is not the freshest one in the book. It's by no means bad and, this being a jam entry, it was probably cooked up on the spot, but it is very cliché. The ending is rather... anticlimatic. At first, I thought there could be multiple endings if I had done some things differently, but after a second playthrough, I didn't notice anything significant I could have done that I hadn't done before.

Either way, the story does its job well. It is not supposed to be a life-changing plot with deep, philosophical meaning. Instead, it is supposed to drive home a sense of mystery and dread, and it does that very well, especially when coupled with the very appropriate minimalistic graphical style, creepy single-layered music and faint sound effects. The graphics and music are probably my favorite part about this game, in that they're simple, but very effective.

Gameplay, structure, replayability

First things first, I really like the way this game is structured: each chapter starts as a graphic adventure in which you have to solve some puzzles in preparation for a single turn-based battle that then ends the chapter. The only chapter that diverges a bit from that formula is the last one, which has you fight a handful of battles before the final boss.

The battles themselves are pretty nice. I don't usually like turn-based battle systems, but these actually provide a little semblance of challenge, as I was never able to beat the enemies by simply spamming "attack" all the time. There is also, thankfully, no grinding at all. Grinding is always tedious and may serve to make the game's challenges effectively trivial and boring given enough time and patience, so it's always a breath of fresh air to see games forgoing it in favor of a more thoughtful approach.

To aid you on the adventure side of things, Lycia has a supernatural power of "perception", which is triggered, appropriately enough, by pressing the P button. This power highlights objects of interest all over the visible screen, which on one hand makes the game way less frustrating as you don't have to keep interacting with every little thing in sight before finding something you can actually use, but on the other hand outright gives away the solution to many of the game's puzzles.

I also feel like this perception mechanic was very underutilized, as all it really does in the game is indicate what stuff you can interact with. I feel like it could have been used to maybe make a more thoughtful puzzle. In fact, that's what I thought was going to happen in the final chapter when...


I understand that criticizing a jam entry for underutilized ideas is akin to killing an ant by dropping a mailbag full of skulls on it, but all those untapped ideas just make me wish there was more to this game. You know, more puzzles, more story, more places to explore, more of all that good stuff. I know for a fact that the good people who made this game are very good at designing puzzles, so it makes me kind of sad that the time constraints of this jam made them unable to.

The last thing that kind of annoys me about this game is how it loves to take control away from the player. Some cutscenes feature nothing but the main character walking towards an NPC, which I am very capable of doing myself. I know this is a minor nitpick, but it still bugged me a lot.

Also, while I was definitely entertained by what the game had to offer, there is little reason to play it more than once. Basically any successful run of this game involves doing everything that can be done in it, unless you're some kind of Jesus of turn based battles and can beat the opponents without gathering all weapons in the adventure sections.

Conclusion

Given all my nitpicks and criticisms, one could be forgiven for believing that I dislike this game, but nothing could be farther from the truth. While it is a very flawed piece, it is not without its charms. Its thoughtful usage of turn-based battles, its interesting chapter structure, and its minimalistic yet effective atmosphere are just enough for me to recommend this to anyone with a craving for a short RPG Maker adventure game. It won't take too much of your time, doesn't overstay its welcome, and is a charming little experience for what it is.

Do keep in mind, however, that this is a jam entry, and as such, it is not very polished nor very well executed in some regards, and it will also give you little reason to come back to it once beaten.

I feel like this game could have been great with some more free exploration, some intriguing secrets to discover, and maybe some harder puzzles, but what little the game does contain is pretty nice.