Man, this is an excellent idea since there are so many games. I'm going to try to play a lot of games, so I'll edit this post with more rankings as I go:
Account Mu (2.5/5):
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This was actually a competent little puzzle game. The mechanics were introduced naturally and built on themselves, but the game is incredibly short (my save file is just over thirteen minutes), and the puzzles aren't breaking much new ground. The ending feels like it's trying to have a message but it either doesn't or is intentionally muddled to the point of nonsense.
(2.5/5):
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This is a pretty average RPG with excellent presentation. Most of the game is spent fighting battles, but the battles themselves don't require much strategy, provide zero difficulty, and end up being more repetitive than interesting. The melodramatic plot seems designed to get the players interested in the politics of the game's world, but the bland characters don't provide a strong foil for this. Veteran players won't get a lot out of this, but younger players will be more forgiving of its sins.
(3.5/5):
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It's a Lovecraftian horror game, and it manages to get its atmosphere pretty close to perfect. There are a couple of cheap jump scares and cheesy moments that threaten to spoil the mood, but it kept together pretty well. Battles are more fun to avoid than actually participate in. The characters are bland, but the plot provides enough intrigue to pull you through, though the ending will seem too by-the-books for people familiar with the genre.
(3/5):
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This is a pretty by-the-books dungeon crawler despite its absurdist hook. The battles run pretty smoothly for the most part, and there are some puzzle elements that were a welcome change to the formula, but the game tends to drag a bit, especially in the middle, as enemy encounters are frequent and enemy types are limited. You'll be fighting the same monsters quite a bit. The class and stat progression systems are functional but not particularly rewarding--neither is item hunting until the final few floors. Enemy evasion will make you scream at some point during your play through. The core of this game is still good, but more could have been done to freshen up the experience.
(1/5):
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This game is kind of beautiful in its own right--think "The Room" in video game form. The dialogue is incomprehensible in the best way imaginable, and there are some bizarre moments that I can only classify as being able to glimpse into the mind of a deranged pervert. The battle system is completely custom, which almost floored me, but the battles require very little strategy and are also very seldom--they sure look neat, though. Most of the gameplay is centered around a series of puzzles that are fairly easy to figure out but sometimes a little aggravating in their execution, particularly the three-lever puzzle. The nonsensical plot, characters, and dialogue both sinks the score and somehow ascends the game to a place of beauty that should be experienced by everyone. I highly recommend this one--just not for its intended purpose.
(3/5):
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This one has really strong presentation, but the story tends to focus on a government plot instead of seeking out an emotional core, so there's little to connect to. The gameplay has some interesting adventure game moments, but it also has several different mechanics that felt underutilized, which sadly includes the battle system. While Dust to Dust is pretty to look at and has an interesting ground situation, the mechanics are downplayed to the point of seeming almost pointless at times, and the story doesn't take advantage of its ground situation and becomes less engaging as it progresses.
(2.5/5):
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This probably has one of the best soundtracks I've heard in this competition in terms of originality and appropriateness. It's a joke game, and the mechanics support that, so it's a fun little send-up of MMOs that has a few legitimately funny moments among a lot of jokes that might fall flat for certain audiences. Other people will find the zaniness more funny than I did, probably. The game doesn't overstay its welcome, either, and can be completed in less than half an hour. The game doesn't explain the jump mechanic, though, so keep in mind that you can hit A while running with shift to jump, which you'll use early and often. The score is fairly low because there just wasn't much meat on the bone, but it'll probably put a smile on your face.
(3.5/5):
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Pretty solid graphics and atmosphere, and the puzzles were interesting without being overly difficult or too simplistic, which is a tough line to tread. The battles, though, were pretty boring, and felt more like a needless addition than an interesting mechanic. Luckily, the emphasis is mainly on the puzzles, but get ready for your progress to be impeded by several essentially identical battles. My rank might be a bit disingenuous, though, since I wasn't able to complete this one. If you have a similarly pathetic graphics card as me, a puzzle based around a moving spotlight becomes basically impossible without lots of trial and error that most people won't have the patience for. The game's rank could probably go down if it doesn't stick the ending, which is a distinct possibility, but I gave it the benefit of the doubt. Worth checking out if you like puzzles.
(1.5/5):
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While this game had a fairly interesting party dynamic that didn't overstay its welcome, the premise of four medieval warriors in space is somehow less absurd than the game's ending, which will leave the vast majority of the audience unfulfilled and angry. The gameplay leading up to that is decent but not enough to save this one.
(2.5/5):
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The mechanics and atmosphere work together well to create a game about survival in a harsh world. However, an intentionally muddled and stripped-back plot works against it to provide little intrigue behind the unique world, and the ending will probably serve to anger rather than satisfy. The lack of any means of mp-regeneration for the majority of the monsters that make up your party keeps battle strategy limited, which is another attempt to focus on survival, but here it saps the battles of potential strategy.
(2/5):
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This is a short puzzle game made in Unity. Unlike Account Mu or In Arcem Miseria, puzzle solutions are pretty obvious, but they're also more active, so the difficulty comes in the execution of the puzzles rather than trying to determine their solutions. The primary puzzle mechanic is implemented well, but it feels like it could have been more fully explored, and the game is much too short and generally easy. The story feels tacked on and could have been removed with little impact on the experience.
(1.5/5):
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The graphics are pretty strong here--basically professional. However, the game is just a collection of four mini-games that are overly simplistic. This could work quite well as a little game for small children (one of the games is a memorization game, for instance), but the average age of this community probably would find the mini-games old hat and too simplistic. Some people might get a chuckle out of the zaniness that bookends the game.
(3/5):
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This is a polished little adventure game that could have a little bit more direction behind the puzzles at times, but options are limited enough that the player shouldn't get stuck for long (aside from potentially a puzzle regarding reaching the moon). The characters, setting, and music are whimsical, and fans of cute things will find this game lovely, but the game holds off from dwelling on more serious subject matter, which makes the parts that are supposed to be touching lose a bit of their emotional punch. There's not a lot of meat on the bone, but it's a short, satisfying adventure game that might be too simplistic and cutesy for veterans.
(4.5/5)
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As of writing this, Oneshot is probably the best game I've played from the competition, but I think the fact that it was made in rm2k3 may end up disqualifying it, though it's going to get a big following regardless. It's an adventure game that has several meta moments involving the player themselves into the game, and the end offers a choice that can only be experienced once--you can't start a new game, and if you quit the game prematurely, you'll never be able to continue. This adds a lot of weight to this final choice. The story is very much high concept, but it's a fully realized concept. The game is more about its world than its inhabitants, which worked, but I feel like a lot of the dialogue with the inhabitants ended up feeling a bit wasted. I think I would have liked to see characters have more than one appearance. I also would have liked some more characterization for the main character, but, conceptually, he's fulfilling his role. The puzzles were pretty strong for the most part, but there was an earlier puzzle that involves a machine with three parts that got me stuck for a while; I didn't realize it had three parts, and, in terms of the puzzle, it really only needed one part. A few puzzles were solved just by exploring rather than following any logic; why would I know one person has the ink well I need and how would I know what he wants for it? These kinds of things aren't clearly telegraphed to the player, but the player will still probably solve them because the game encourages exploration. I would have liked to see this game take better advantage of its central mechanic throughout the game, i.e. giving the players more choices so that the player's experience would feel even more personal. These are small complaints, though, as this is a game that really succeeds in its goal, and even if it's a high concept game, the storytelling knows how to convey this concept in a way that feels emotionally resonant. Looks and sounds great, too.
(3/5):
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Beautiful aesthetics, an inventive battle system, but battles can get overly long and require memorization of a convoluted element chart rather than much strategy, and the story is likewise drawn-out and a little shallow.
(3/5)
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This game about exploring an adventurer's mind to dispel his inner demons starts out strongly, but the plot ends up relying on a few cliches that end up keeping the story from being memorable. Gameplay is split between active combat that more or less consists of trading hits until you win and rpg battles centered around choosing the correct dialogue options, which was more interesting but potentially too easy. The rtp visuals early in the game feel out of place with the game's setting and pixel movement, but the final section looks and sounds great. I feel like this was a good game that could have been outstanding with more thought put into the writing and more complexity added to the mechanics.
(3/5):
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The battle system is engaging and interesting, but it's lacking much challenge. The story is pretty forgettable, as is the mapping, but some of the assets--like the portraits--are really well-done.
(1.5/5):
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This game has some killer mapping, and some players might find the early investigative bits entertaining, but dialogue serves mainly to progress the forgettable plot and make jokes and references that never really landed for me. Likewise, characters are flat, and the battles are simplistic, suffer some design flaws, and are pretty similar to one another. Ruselan also forces you to grind, and it doesn't make it particularly easy for you, as your characters don't have healing or status recovery spells, several enemies can poison, and it's a decent hike back to the inn. Luckily, you only have to make it to level eight or so, which doesn't take too long, but, with no forced battles before the last boss, it's pretty much all grinding.
(2/5):
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The seemingly stock plot, poor mapping, flat characters, and lack of clear direction might be a barrier of entry for players, but after that there's a reveal of a fairly clever design concept that I won't spoil here. The concept is clever enough to push the player to continue until the end, but the game never really rises above that concept in terms of plot complexity or character development. The battle system has some cool ideas that aren't fully realized.
(4/5):
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This game focused on long-term mechanics rather than short-term ones, so the emphasis is more on unique character progression rather than difficult battles. It was kind of a weird choice for this contest, as the game is several hours long (about six if you're a completionist, four if you're not). It had some game-breaking glitches in it, which I imagine will be fixed soon. The storyline didn't have much going for it, but the characters did have distinct personalities that make them likable within the context of the greater narrative that Indra and Fomar are weaving across their oeuvre. As a standalone game, though, the story wasn't that strong. The art and mapping are great, though, and the character progression makes this game really enjoyable in a left brain sort of way.
(0.5/5)
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I'm going to be honest: I originally picked this game because the title seemed ridiculous and I wanted to make fun of it. After playing it, though, the title makes perfect sense, and it's a cute little story about a kid pretending to be a knight. This seems like it's someone's first game, and they were probably doing it for fun, so I don't want to insult it. That said, there are a lot of passability issues, a couple of glitches, some occasionally bizarre mapping, and gameplay consists almost entirely of fetch quests. This probably isn't worth your attention, but my guess is that the developer mainly did it for the fun of it, so, if you happen to stumble on this little review, keep having fun with rpg maker and we'll be here if you want any guidance.
(4/5):
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This game looks, sounds, and plays great. The story is told really well, but it treads into melodrama territory when more specifics about the main character's past are revealed. I also found the gameplay to slow down a lot after I got lost in the jungle area for a while; that made the game's magic sort of fade for me. The battles are generally too difficult, but the developer allows the player to continue after a loss and the ranking system encourages playing the battles repeatedly until you master them rather than just beating them, which were smart decisions, though this aspect of the game seemed to conflict with the game's narrative for me. I think if this game stuck the ending, it could have been a 4.5, but the events leading up to the ending were so melodramatic that the player might come away feeling cheated after the very absorbing first half of the game.
(0/5):
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I have a theory: solo game projects can tell you a great deal about the developer. I've always felt that way about writing, especially when the writer is fairly new, as they haven't learned the ropes and aren't filtering themselves much--other than filtering how they THINK they should write. Game development, in a way, seems even more personal, since you're in charge of every little minutia. So, sometimes I like to play a game in order to think about the mind behind it. In the case of Voices Focused, I admit that I did this for my own sick amusement, as it was clear from the game page that it was either made by someone with schizophrenia or, more likely, a hypochondriac who thinks he has schizophrenia. What I played was in line with that, but what I didn't expect was a game that played in such a fragmented, underexplained way. Among its many sins are: random battles with an incredibly high encounter rate, incredibly uneven difficulty levels (bosses tend to be easy while random encounters will sometimes stomp you out quickly), item and skill descriptions that don't clearly convey their function, a "search everything to proceed" mechanic, default everything implemented poorly, and several game-breaking glitches, including one that occurred to me around the two-hour mark that I assume makes beating the game impossible. While the bizarre ground situation and item/skill descriptions reveal a lot of potential for an engaging-for-unintended-reasons experience, the gameplay is so frustrating that you shouldn't give this one a second thought.
(2.5/5):
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My biggest issue with this one was that it didn't function very well as a standalone game. The story seemed to imply something larger, and the characters, while having distinct personalities, didn't have arcs, so they felt a bit flat. The mechanics were cool but the battles were all won with the same basic strategy.