So I'm one of the strongest representatives of the "let's be positive on playing and reviewing games" campaign, and that was my attitude when playing Darkseed: Revival, but still it doesn't make me blind to some huge flaws this game possesses.

I'll try to make this a constructive criticism review though, because there are some really good ideas behind this project, but they just weren't well executed.

Darkseed: Revival is a short game from Kyrsty, her Game Gale '10 entry. You play as two guys who are members of a species called homo predatas, which are some sort of enhanced humans with psychotic and cannibal instincts. They wake up in some lab where they've been stuck and studied for 3 years, and now they ought to escape the lab and find some answers.

Graphics
This is one of the major weaknesses of this game. Kyrsty is actually a talented artist/spriter, so I expected nice visuals from her. I liked the sprites of Harry and Jackson, they were cool and detailed. But the maps... well... it looks like something that was put together in MS Paint in a few minutes. The whole game consists of 3 floors with a few rooms in each. All floors look about the same, and they look something like this:



I mean... it's almost Atari quality, and it clashes with the characters and objects, which are much more detailed. Also, room disposition is too random, there are no actual halls or corridors, just a broad floor with random-sized rooms scattered around. A huge problem was also the lack of visible doors in all maps. You just had to touch parts of the wall and hope they were exits.

Another thing that bugged me is that all enemies apart from the boss looked exactly the same, with very minor color changes. Overall I think it just seems like laziness reigned on the graphical aspect of this game. What is really intriguing, though, is that there are some well-drawn concept arts of this game in this very gameprofile, meaning Kyrsty wasn't saving time or effort on this game. What then?

Battles
I'm a guy who's had too much of default RPG battles, and battles in this game consisted of 90% of the game time, but still... I kinda enjoyed it. I played on Normal, I didn't find battles to be too hard nor too easy, there's a smooth character progression through leveling and equipping. Considering how short the game is, I would say the battles were nicely executed.

I also liked the Psychotic bar thing. Whenever you get hit, this bar fills. You can use part or all of it to activate powerful attacks that drain life from the enemies. It was a nice touch. Two problems with this though: I had to guess how to use it, because nothing in the game explains it; all three attacks (30%, 50% and 100%) seemed to have the same effect.

Another issue I had, which I already mentioned in the graphical section, is that all enemies looked the same. And they all look like ninjas, I don't know why a lab would be protected by a bunch of ninjas.

Music
There are basically two tracks in the game, one plays when you walk around, and the other is the battle theme. The basic theme is ok, but the battle theme is probably the worst battle theme I've heard in an RPG. And it plays significantly louder than the other song, so I had to keep turning my volume up and down.

Story and concept
Now, let's talk about what matters the most (in this game anyway):
The gameprofile description of this game starts like:

A futuristic tale of blood, gore, desperation and 'cannibalism'.

Let's analyze these words one by one.
Futuristic: Although the creation of another species (the homo predatas) is obviously science fiction, there's nothing futuristic about this game. You walk around a lab with paper files and computer, and fight soldiers using guns. At some point there was a mention to someone watching Sweeney Todd, which made me believe this game is present-ambiented. Doesn't really matter, anyway.
Desperation: This word would make me expect some sort of psychological horror aspect in this game. But the thing is, the two main characters are kinda superpowerful beings trying to escape a lab full of puny humans. They don't seem desperate to do so, they crack jokes all the time, and they take everything very lightly. I think I missed the desperation in this game.
Blood, gore, cannibalism: That was my biggest disappointment. At the opening scene, you have a very bland screen transition that suggests some scientists have been eaten by the characters. Here, I'll show you:



After that, there are NO MORE references to cannibalism, except for the psychosis skills that suggest the characters are eating their enemies (since you drain their HP). That's all the cannibalism and gore in Darkseed: Revival.

So this game is not really futuristic, not really about desperation, or blood, or god, or cannibalism. What's it about?

I'm not sure I understand completely the plot, but it has to do with some people developing a new powerful species from the homo predata, using Harry and Jackson as research material, and as a means to create something else. Throughout the game, you'll find hints about the research being conducted on the lab, and about the main characters' past. I don't want to spoil anything, but there aren't really any major findings or plot twists involved. And the real problem is that the story doesn't lead anywhere. Gameprofile says:

you'll discover a plot to change the world forever.

There's nothing remotely like that in the game. The game ends abruptly, like it's a prequel to something, or the Act I of a bigger game. Nothing really important regarding the future of the world seems to happen inside the game. At the end you just escape the lab and go find a friend.

But maybe I missed something.

So, here's my main issue with this game:
Behind Darkseed: Revival, there's a cool concept of a human mutation of cannibals, a new powerful species that's being researched and could evolve to something greater, and between all that, a story of two friends (brothers?) who've been subject to everything. That's a cool idea, a cool RPG premise.
But here's how this game is executed:
You walk through a dungeon-like lab fighting repetitive enemies in a default battle system, while you find papers and computer with pieces of this story, concept. Apart from the ending, nothing really happens the entire game, you just read stuff and fight. The idea of a game about cannibals really appealed to me, but it was underdeveloped both story and system-wise.

So, even if I disliked things about graphics or music, they really didn't bother me much as did the waste of a great concept in a very bland and overall empty game.

If I were to give Kyrsty any suggestions, I'd tell her to diversify the pacing of the game, and not to rely too much on written story... and NEVER to rely too much on battles. A handful of puzzles and cutscenes would have done miracles to this game.

I think I should also complain that the story is somewhat confusing. The way it's presented is not original, but very risky: you start the game knowing nothing, and you find scattered pieces of information that give you better understanding of the whole thing. I mean, I got the overall plot idea, but even though I think I read everything there was to read, I always felt like I never got quite there. And for a game that relies heavily on the story, leaving the player confused is not a good idea. You should never overestimate a player's ability to understand and put together in his mind random bits of info (that's an issue I had with Visions & Voices too).

Random thing I liked: The humor. Not only some of the dialogs were kinda funny, but I liked that hair gel was an item, a picture of a blond chick was your save point, etc.
Random thing I disliked: Save points. They were randomly placed and completely unnecessary. Since the only source of healing were items, you had the same opportunities of healing anywhere, so you should have the same opportunities of saving anywhere.
Final observation: If homo predata are another species and they eat humans, they are not technically cannibals. :)