🔞 ADULT: Id/Frankroach/recommended/ - Collection

To start off with a very simplified review; it's a fun but relatively short experience, and absolutely worth every penny, scratching that particular itch for old style RPG's, with only very minor hiccups.

For more details, let us start with the actual bad parts; get those out of the way. The most noticeable is a few typos, syntax or grammar mistakes throughout the game. Some of them are very small, understandable typos, while others make sentences rather odd to read. However, this can be fixed easily. At times, changing target seems to not work in combat, combat can be a bit too fast for information (though a combat log helps this) and, on occasion, the game can actually have some glitches (one sidequest glitched in two different ways on separate loads).
While it's not a bad thing per se, or a flaw, the game does feel rather short or small in scope, and I would've loved if it were bigger. But, hey; that's just to show how fun of an experience it is, no?

With the sour spots out of the way, we can talk about the good:

• the graphics are what you'd expect from CRPGS and Adventure games of the early to mid nineties, from the simplistic but stylized sprites, to the bizarrely detailed higher resolution images, that strike that beautiful balance between eerily realistic and just off enough that it looks somewhat alien. The lighting system can seem a bit odd and too advanced for the style from an immersion sense, but it works very well with the palette and design choices made;
  
• the music and sound are also great. The music, similarly, has an almost "oh, it's just a 90's game OST" presence, which may sound like a negative at first, but given how close the songs resemble the era it evokes, it is absolutely a fitting blast from the past that'll pull you into the experience. With that in mind, the music in the game is quite fitting for most scenarios. The sound effects are also very well used, as they can present some disturbing noises that enhance the more macabre points of the game, or they can make combat feel extremely satisfying;
  
• the gameplay loop is fun enough. The exploration part of the game has enough going for it, with various different environments with their own loot, enemies and events to face, all feeling relatively unique to each other. The combat is quick and snappy, and with enough depth to make one want to experiment with it and, if they're bold, try their best to maximize their abilities; hitting an enemy for almost 4x the damage in a single shot can be a exhilarating experience. Even the skills you can pick for your characters are all quite useful, as opposed to always having a clearly worse skill to choose. If you enjoy games like DnD, you can easily pick up and enjoy this;
  
• the dialogue and writing are more than serviceable. Some characters can be weak, but when there's so much going on, maybe it's the strength of other points that makes them feel so; some characters stand out so much, that you wish there was more of them. Even for the party members, they all have distinct personalities, and they even add to a lot to the events in question, never feeling like they're just stat blocks to make combat or interactions easy. The story itself is relatively simple, but the fun added twists to certain elements does leave one in suspense as to how it'll turn out. The general writing is also quite nice, mixing olde English with more modern forms of talking without ever feeling like it's too modern or even trying hard to be Shakespearean, striking a beautifully poetic form of description alongside characters who can go from eloquent poets to crass barbarians if the need arises.

At worst, I would have to warn that this game does take on some dark topics and imagery at time, and it might not be everyone's cup of tea.

To start off with a very simplified review; it's a fun but relatively short experience, and absolutely worth every penny, scratching that particular itch for old style RPG's, with only very minor hiccups. For more details, let us start with the actual bad parts; get those out of the way. The most noticeable is a few typos, syntax or grammar mistakes throughout the game. Some of them are very small, understandable typos, while others make sentences rather odd to read. However, this can be fixed easily. At times, changing target seems to not work in combat, combat can be a bit too fast for information (though a combat log helps this) and, on occasion, the game can actually have some glitches (one sidequest glitched in two different ways on separate loads). While it's not a bad thing per se, or a flaw, the game does feel rather short or small in scope, and I would've loved if it were bigger. But, hey; that's just to show how fun of an experience it is, no? With the sour spots out of the way, we can talk about the good: [list] [*] the graphics are what you'd expect from CRPGS and Adventure games of the early to mid nineties, from the simplistic but stylized sprites, to the bizarrely detailed higher resolution images, that strike that beautiful balance between eerily realistic and just off enough that it looks somewhat alien. The lighting system can seem a bit odd and too advanced for the style from an immersion sense, but it works very well with the palette and design choices made; [*] the music and sound are also great. The music, similarly, has an almost "[i]oh, it's just a 90's game OST[/i]" presence, which may sound like a negative at first, but given how close the songs resemble the era it evokes, it is absolutely a fitting blast from the past that'll pull you into the experience. With that in mind, the music in the game is quite fitting for most scenarios. The sound effects are also very well used, as they can present some disturbing noises that enhance the more macabre points of the game, or they can make combat feel extremely satisfying; [*] the gameplay loop is fun enough. The exploration part of the game has enough going for it, with various different environments with their own loot, enemies and events to face, all feeling relatively unique to each other. The combat is quick and snappy, and with enough depth to make one want to experiment with it and, if they're bold, try their best to maximize their abilities; hitting an enemy for almost 4x the damage in a single shot can be a exhilarating experience. Even the skills you can pick for your characters are all quite useful, as opposed to always having a clearly worse skill to choose. If you enjoy games like DnD, you can easily pick up and enjoy this; [*] the dialogue and writing are more than serviceable. Some characters can be weak, but when there's so much going on, maybe it's the strength of other points that makes them feel so; some characters stand out so much, that you wish there was more of them. Even for the party members, they all have distinct personalities, and they even add to a lot to the events in question, never feeling like they're just stat blocks to make combat or interactions easy. The story itself is relatively simple, but the fun added twists to certain elements does leave one in suspense as to how it'll turn out. The general writing is also quite nice, mixing olde English with more modern forms of talking without ever feeling like it's too modern or even trying hard to be Shakespearean, striking a beautifully poetic form of description alongside characters who can go from eloquent poets to crass barbarians if the need arises. [/list] At worst, I would have to warn that this game does take on some dark topics and imagery at time, and it might not be everyone's cup of tea.