MONKEYNOHITO'S PROFILE

If the game featured 'fully-loaded' gameplay, it would completely undermine the observation presented on the cyclical nature of many RPG gameplay elements. As it stands, there's just enough of things like jobs, skills, equipment, uber-dungeons etc. to lend context to the commentary.

Basically, the job system is futile and grinding for hours sucks because that's a big part of what the game is trying to base its discussion on. Yes, it is completely valid to say something ironically boring is still boring, but thinking improvements to the systems will elevate the game is like saying you can fix a disturbingly human-looking robot by making it look more like a human.

The point of the game is to sincerely ask you, 'What is the point of this? What is the endgame we're searching for? How is this benefiting us?' and each aspect of the gameplay is tuned towards that purpose. That doesn't mean you should partake in distasteful experiences for the sake of art or make excuses for inaccessible or obtuse work, but if you don't like it, that doesn't mean it has no merit.

I like the experiment you've got going on here: it's a fresh exploration of narrative techniques unique to 'games' and a nice minimalist story fleshed out enough that, on its own, isn't too obtuse.

Unfortunately, the open world/lack of direction and inexplicable game overs really do obfuscate the storyline and make for a frustrating experience to trudge through. I understand that open event sequence is a major component of the narrative experiment and it really lends itself to identifying with White's jumbled recollections at first, but there's a point fairly early on where we get it and anything more just starts to hurt the audience's participation.

In the future, reign it in a bit and be mindful of accessibility.

Oh, saving wasn't really too much of an issue in the game. You guys did a good job with save points; whenever I couldn't save, it made sense at the time for suspense and wasn't too far removed from another save spot enough to be a pain. In the first chase scene, it just took me too long to figure out that I should run away instead of trying to fight or sidestep him.

As just an idea, maybe you could delineate better between puny wandering henchmen you can attack and reaper 'bosses' that need to be puzzled to death or run away from in the remake.

Anyhoo, I'm looking forward to a remake, I can even see some really interesting parts of the story you left open to explore later, like why using the scythe is really so seriously do not want. Here in the contest entry, that could maybe be seen as a major plot thread left loose, but I can see how you couldn't really explore it fully within the game's timescale without it maybe seeming melodramatic or flippant depending on your plans.

Cute and melancholy, just the way I like it. :3 I just finished this as one of the contest entries and despite a few problems it's one of the most charming offerings. I really liked your artwork

I ended up dying a lot to confusion though. The chase scene in the middle was good once I figured out I should actually run away, but that was after reloading many a time and starting to wonder if I was even supposed to grab the ladder at all or if it was a trap. I also felt like there was a puzzle or something I was missing when I just ran up and killed some of the enemies, but maybe I'm just a little too aggro from Hotline Miami lately...In the future, removing the attack function might possibly help gameplay focus more on poking around the house and solving puzzles. I did really like the action with the chases and sneaking around though.

I hope that didn't come across too critical, I liked it enough to pick it apart and hope that might help, lol.

I'm glad to see this here, it's one of my favorites.

Personally, I liked how there wasn't a whole lot of lore exposition at the beginning. In such a character-driven story, I feel it was better to learn the basics of the small world Claret knows from the start rather than seeing more of the world beyond the scope of her experience.