free steam vn review marathon

[layzner]

it's been more than a while since last post and i've been feeling like a lazy fucker. with a slow workweek, i've been chugging through random free indie steam vns in hope of striking inspiration. i'll go by order, but i've found gold, and not to discount someone's work, but also some unbaked concepts. sorry if there is not a lot of plot overview at all, i'm trying to let most people go in blind..



TRACHI

• plot: ★★★★★


• music: ★★★★★


• graphics: ★★★


• gameplay: ★★★★


• OVERALL: ★★★★★

ah man, i wasn't sure what i was expecting when i started this. as you all know, i'm a total sucker for espionage stories, so i had to install it as soon as i saw it. i don't even remember what i searched up to find it lol

despite the stock rpgmaker assets, autonomy is a stylish game that makes use of what it has. besides it having some of the best dialogue i've seen in an indie game (no corny internet jokes or humor, thank god!), the soundtrack is great, and the characters are well developed. the fictional balkan political conflict that's detailed throughout the 6 hours is fascinating and my god, the plot delivery... autonomy is presented in an alinear matter, often flashbacks-within-flashbacks, leaving the audience to ponder how all the pieces fall together until you finish traversing all the arcs. normally i'm skeptical about this storytelling approach (ie: flashback within flashbacks), but it's gripping and incredibly well executed. not to mention, the sound design is very attentive and used in place of dialogue in a lot of cases. it's great.

the audience swaps between 'protagonists' throughout the story as you progress through each event leading up to the eventual and climactic coup that all three agents arrived for. the gameplay is more of a way to immerse oneself in the kinetic storytelling (there are no alternate endings, missable events, mindlessly having to interact with each and every object for alternate lore which is a HUGE bother to me most times). i will note that you could possibly miss an important line of dialogue in a flashback scene if you don't interact with a bookcase. i will admit, unfortunately there were a few times where i was lost on where to go and had to pull up the livestream for reference, but it didn't hinder my appreciation of the game itself. my only other criticism is that the characters don't really wear clothing of the era and region they're from, but what can you really do with premade assets.

overall, i'd consider it a very well done piece of media that absolutely deserves more love and attention. please don't be put off by the stock assets, i am almost certain anyone getting into it will end up becoming very attached to the plot and characters. take my word for it!

For Mother Matron

• plot: ★★


• music: N/A (i played on mute... sorry)


• graphics: ★★★★


• gameplay: ★


• OVERALL: ★★

oh.... i had high hopes for this one... i really did.. great art direction, i really admire the contrast between modern anime style and photo mixed media. it was a cool concept. but fuck, the story fell flat. the 'gameplay' is infuriating, in which you have to make split second decisions lest you experience instant death. i know you can hold a button to skip through dialogue and resume where you left off, but it's not an enjoyable experience and the plot didn't hold its own for me to want to go through every single route and decision. i did anyways and wasn't rewarded with anything.

this game introduces a protagonist with amnesia which isn't ever explained, and has some semi-interesting worldbuilding, but you're not even in the town long enough to think about or appreciate the landscape that the game paints for you. a uk-flavored flesh hellscape sounds interesting at first glance, but there's no follow through with any concept painted. it thinks of itself as a media like delicatessen, but cannot carry an ounce of thematic continuity. it relies on shock factor and the final payoff is a lame lovecraft expy. it felt unbaked and a waste of my time. an utterly pointless maneuver with not enough polish.

while at first glance i really liked the graphics, it becomes obvious that a character generator was used rather than hiring an actual artist, which is fine. but, i wish some slight effort was put into juxtaposing the sprites where the same body base is used (at least flip the sprites, damnit!). the painted flesh beasts were also more goofy than scary, i feel like more could be done with them. i also want to criticize some of the dialogue which felt silly and sometimes ableist. i dunno. idk how to feel about this game other than disappointment. i'm a bitter guy.

The Missing Parts of Maria Gwozdek

• plot: ★★★★


• music: N/A (i played on mute... sorry)


• graphics: ★★★★★


• gameplay: ★★★★★


• OVERALL: ★★★★.5

i honestly expected it to be a longer game, so i'm just going to treat it like a short and depressing fantasy story. i feel like it treats the subject matter with respect and provides an interesting theoretical scenario. the art style is clean and neat. my only criticism is that it feels like there is no good end for our titular character, in regards to her family and people around her, it's like she's doomed to suffer with no alternative but to trade parts of her body. the only 'good' end involves her sacrificing parts of herself, again, for the health of her family member. but what happens to maria? does she get to succeed in the future? or is her suffering endless, whether it be a damnation to exchange wishes for body parts, or to exist in a depressing life of average stability. mmh, maybe i'm being too critical of something that should be treated like a modern ray bradbury theater episode. i still think it's worth playing, even if it only takes a half hour.

Dissolving

• plot: ★★


• music: N/A (i played on mute... sorry)


• graphics: ★★★★★


• gameplay: ★


• OVERALL: ★.5

another painful disappointment >__>. i had hope for something with a blatant kill the past reference in there, but the only thing holding it up is the art direction. i sincerely love the character sprites so much, but the plot (or lack thereof) feels criminally corny. it is nothing you haven't seen before in other media. it feels like a 2010 creepypasta ported to a game, with the same depth of writing from a 13 year old wattpad writer. i wanted something more, desperately. the side stories also weren't interesting enough for me to care about it. i don't know if the translation was poor, or what. it needed another year of brainstorming to fix it. really not worth playing if i'm being honest.

if you made it to the end, congrats i guess! thanks for hearing out my ranting and i hope you perhaps do the same as i, and try either the games i recommended, or spend some time scrolling through steam and just trying random shit. good wishes to everyone!

Comments

yippee gaming

[kalechipskid]

yaaaaay visual novels ^_^
I remember playing the Maria Gwozdek one a few years back, it was really intriguing and I appreciated the points presented in its short time. I agree with the theater episode thing. I like short impactful things like that.
I'm very curious about Trachi, so I'll play it. I'm a trooper so I like default assets just fine. That was the way of the old days....
I was curious about for mother matron but i guess I'll save myself some time by skipping it lol.
Between you and me....using default renpy font....thats a crime people should be executed for... Whenever I see that in a vn, I go a little crazy.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts~ I never use steam for vns or free games, so I didn't know about this kind of thing.