Locked-down Updates

This was certainly different. Instead of playing the hero who saves the village you play the demon who terrorizes it… except it’s all staged and they are all actors (plot twist: They are tricked to believe they are). The jokes were excellent and I appreciate what they did with the gameplay. Instead of letting you grind mindlessly if you can’t beat an enemy it forces you to adopt a different strategy.

I have mixed feelings about this game. On one hand the gameplay is solid for the most part (except a certain bug that rarely happens but is a tad annoying, and how much luck you need to finish the last level) but on the other the story is quite bad and the english translation feels like it has been machine translated from russian. To make things worse the achievements are bugged.
The art was fine but it was very limited and I wasn’t particularly a fan of the H-scenes (specially since the game freezes during the scene that plays after beating the 6th level).

I didn’t like this one. While the combat was interesting it ultimately felt wasted because there’s the grand total of 1 fight in this game, and the outcome is more or less similar. To make matters worse you have to watch (or should I say hear? after all it’s an audio with a still image in it) a 10-minute epilogue for each ending if you want to 100% it (which is a huge waste of time).

I was aware I was about to play a really good game and it still managed to blow me away. The art was awesome and the story was great, even if the characters speak in an incomprehensible language. There are also plenty of twists, some of them are predictable and others not so much. I’m still surprised the elder brother ended up dying at the end of the game. I didn’t see that coming.

I couldn’t help but compare it with Chtulhu’s Saves the World and honestly, it’s way inferior. There’s barely any room for strategizing in any random fight because by the third/four turn the monsters will be powerful enough to be able to wipe out your party, and it gets a lot harder in the second half. Funnily enough the boss fights didn’t feel as hard as the random mobs. One thing I liked about the game is there’s a finite amount of random encounters, which makes exploring easier once you beat them all (you can still fight mobs if you want, but they don’t appear randomly anymore).
The story felt quite… aimless. There isn’t a clear goal in the game and instead is a succession of smaller goals (like explore the eastern ruins) until the game just ends. At least the humour was on point as it was in Chtulhu’s Saves the World.

Man, this game was quite good. It takes a bit of time to get used to it because there isn’t a level system like in most RPGS. Instead, you have to pick up stat and skill points scattered throughout the game to improve the character’s stats and learn new skills.
The plot was your usual “rescue the princess” plot with a spin and enough humor to keep it fresh. If you’re looking for a serious story with major plot twists look elsewhere, because there are none here.
Overall it was a very entertaining game even if it was a bit frustrating at first (doing things out of order sure can make things harder). It’s not a masterpiece but it sure can keep you entertained for a few days (especially since it has replay value).
Oh, and before I forget. If you ever decide to play it make sure to check the manual in your installation folder first. There’s vital info about the game and the different skills there.