Flowers for Katsumi Review -KrimsonKatt

Flowers for Katsumi is a short but sweet horror game with an engaging story and great characters. I absolutely loved what was made so far, although I still have lingering questions about if I even finished the game or not. WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!

The game starts off great, with a well written and poetic opening. The opening talks about a beautiful flower, which against all odds endured throughout the spring and summer. However, in the fall, it was blown away and rotted, never to bloom again. This flower is Katsumi, a high school girl who mysteriously disappeared into the city pond and is presumed dead.

A girl named Isa tried to be friends with Katsumi, but wasn't ever able to form a relationship before Katsumi's mysterious disappearance. Isa was found on the bank of the city lake 3 years ago, and was adopted into a kind family who previously also lost some family members too. She is strange in that she has one yellow eye, which even she doesn't know the origin of as she lost all her memories.

On the day of Katsumi's memorial, Isa and her best friend Omoka sneak into Katsumi's family mansion after hearing a strange sound. When they arrive, they are mysteriously locked inside with some other people they know. Most of them seem pretty irrelevant for the story so far, but one really stands out. She used to be Katsumi's best friend, but then she turned on her and became mean towards her. Every night since Katsumi's death she always has a dream of Katsumi falling into the lake while she stands helpless, and soon after Katsumi comes out of the lake as a monster and kills her.

Isa and Omoka leave the room to find clues, but when they return no one is there. After investigating a bit, they find a creepy doll who seems to move on it's own. They obtain a rusted axe, and use it to destroy the doll and obtain and key. They use the key to obtain an old bottle of rum. I think I saw a note that said you had to use the rum to calm spirits, but when you enter that room you see Katsumi's ghost, who after giving a long speech, ends the game and sends you back to the title screen. This is as far as I got, as you cannot move once you enter the room where Katsumi is. I tried using the rum, no luck. I tried checking every object multiple times, no luck. I really enjoyed the game and wanted to keep playing, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't get past that part. There are three different scenarios.

The first is that this is where the game ends, as this version is currently only a demo. The second scenario is that this is a glitch, and needs to be patched. The third and final scenario is that I was stupid and didn't notice something, causing my game to either be impossible to win or just not be able to progress.

Now that I've talked about the story, let's talk about the graphics and music. In short, they are top tier quality for RPG Maker games. The graphics look 100% custom, and look perfect. The character portraits are a great touch, and I can seriously appreciate the effort that went into this game even though the portrait were taken from some 3rd party site.

The music is equally as good, with just the right amount of ambiance and atmosphere, exactly what a horror game needs. The footsteps make the game extra tense, which I can appreciate despite there not being that many big scares.

Finally, lets talk about the gameplay. It's regular RPG Maker horror fare, interact with everything to collect clues and items, use those items to obtain more items and clues to progress the plot, and avoid traps and monsters. This isn't a bad thing, as that type of gameplay has stood the test of time since the days of Resident Evil 1 on the original PlayStation. The only negative I could find are the lack of traps and monsters, but those will surely appear later on in the game. As well as that, the game is very much unfinished, but the developer seems to be putting a lot of effort in removing the various typos that plagued the game in the past as well as releasing consistent updates.

Overall, Flowers for Katsumi is definitely worth your time, especially when it's completed. Heck, it might be another RPG Maker horror classic like The Witch's House or Corpse Party. This game deserves a 4.5/5.

Posts

Pages: 1
Notoh
*Deeply Thinking*
1928
author=KrimsonKatt
Overall, Flowers for Katsumi is definitely worth your time, especially when it's completed. Heck, it might be another RPG Maker horror classic like The Witch's House or Corpse Party. This game deserves a 4.5/5.


Oh my~! That's quite the comparison! Although I don't feel as if Flowers for Kasumi matches up to that level yet, that is a pretty great compliment and makes me feel damn good.

Thank you so much for your review! I appreciate all of the comments you have written out here.

KrimsonKatt
Gamedev by sunlight, magical girl by moonlight
3326
author=Nedras
author=KrimsonKatt
Overall, Flowers for Katsumi is definitely worth your time, especially when it's completed. Heck, it might be another RPG Maker horror classic like The Witch's House or Corpse Party. This game deserves a 4.5/5.
Oh my~! That's quite the comparison! Although I don't feel as if Flowers for Kasumi matches up to that level yet, that is a pretty great compliment and makes me feel damn good.

Thank you so much for your review! I appreciate all of the comments you have written out here.



@Nedras Your welcome!
Pages: 1