Shadows
By: Zylos
Review by Starrodkirby86
Unfortunately for me, I was never a fan of puzzle games in the RPG format. I mean, I love the puzzle genre itself, mostly the logical words games or dropdown ones such as Puyo Pop and Tetris; it's just that some of the puzzles within the general top-down, birds' eye view format, it's simply that my dreaded brain tends to be slower and more frustrated when it comes to these. Alas, I played Shadows, probably because of my duty as a Global Moderator and the fact I won't get jealous from certain friends playing the game before me (I won't say your name, Aqua). Shadows is, like many of great completed games in the RMXP section, a short game about trying to find escape from this strange location...while uncovering the past within carefully plotted out journals in this...building.
The selling point of this game is definitely the puzzles, yet somehow it's the story that also engrosses the player, you. To my dismay, I wasn't on the edge of my seat at the very beginning, but as more plot was revealed (In a masterfully way), and some interesting connections the player can possibly make (How many games have 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in the library? Well?) melt in with the game. You, the player, plays the role of...Well I can't exactly mention who you're playing as, it'll ruin the occasion, but the goal is to escape the mansion. As traversing through rooms, solving slowly complexing puzzles, you'll uncover the truth behind the mansion and the inhabitants. By the time you reach the end, hopefully you are an observant character. The game ends in two ways, the bad ending which through my personal interpretation was extremely interesting. The good ending is just as awesome and is somewhat befitting for the end. All of the events have already been done, it's all in the past, just uncovering someone or something's history is so intriguing. It might be a personal fetish for me, who knows.
It's just a bit strange why a mansion has so much puzzles. Of course, the game is definitely puzzle-oriented, and I can't bicker at how illogical some mansion points is because at a higher standpoint the mansion is a perfect building (No inconsistencies within each map's pathway, I can actually devise a perfect map of the mansion if I were wanting to). Because of the extreme use of puzzles, there are no battles or real action requiring skill, giving logic the dominancy for this whole game. Fortunately, the puzzles in this game aren't extremely frustrating, considering adequate intellectuals may find a minor challenge by the end. This will give the conclusion that the game is easy, but it isn't in actuality. No, the puzzles aren't actually the challenge, but it's the secret rooms. As mentioned in the Project thread, there are three hidden rooms, two of them enclosing required information to obtain the good ending. These secret passages aren't the easiest items to find unless you uncover the map, which is also hidden (Man, we're all so lucky). Find all three rooms, and you'll see more of the story unravel itself, in different perspectives...
The gameplay for Shadows is definitely the puzzles. To create the most intricate puzzles require the mastery of Eventing, and Zylos fortunately made it through that boundary line of Advanced and Intermediate. One hint to signify the author's skill level is the number of uncorrected bugs within each puzzle (Or uncorrectable bugs to be exact). All the puzzles within this game have no flaws whatsoever, at least, to my minor dissection of the game. The puzzles fit the theme of the mansion and are not out-of-whack, from doing simple math to using what resources you have at the moment, the game pleasantly uses your logical side of the brain. If I were to nitpick at some of the puzzles, it can be that the directions for the puzzles are too vague. Of course, this gives you ample reason of why you should explore the mansion and find hints, but when a room gives no exploratory hints and simply the puzzle, it can get confusing. It's a simple nitpick or rant actually, which is in the Dragon Puzzle Room. The only directions are to move the Dragon Knights to encircle the Dragon Statue, but encircle is an ambiguous word. It took me a lot of trial-and-error to realize what the correct positioning is. I don't regret wasting all that time though.
The whole game uses custom graphics, with some minor exceptions (i.e. RTP rips). Kirk (Redwyn) has done an excellent job on the graphics, if he is the fellow that created the hero's poses and whatnot. The poses are excellent, especially the piano play. The mansion has definite looks of ruin, and each room is laided with interesting objects. For me however, my only throwback within this category is the bland execution of the Credits. Okay, the flashlight overlay and the painting of Zylos is definitely nice, but so much could have been done with the other people within the credits. The credits are evenly distrubuted, and somehow because of that it was a bore looking at frames with text inside of them. Why not have some image of the person like the author? That's not very much of an issue though, and is more of a personal neehaw.
The music enhances the game and the creepy atmosphere of it. I'm surprised at where Zylos found these interesting melodies, the scary ambiance of the mansion, and what other items I forgot to mention. Straying away from the bandwagon, this game does not contain any bit of RPG-like music, nor any real BGM of that matter. You just listen to the quiet and creepy winds and tinglings from the game, which slowly delves you into the Trawnley estate...
In the end, the longest part of the game may be trying to find the secret passages (Without any hints), or the last two puzzles of the game. But in order to achieve going there, and lasting that long even TRYING to solve those puzzles before smashing that game into the Recycle Bin, the player becomes engrossed trying to see what happened to the mysterious S.T. and Dr. Carver. Shadows is the perfect game to leisurely play, as it's length and minor frustration is definitely a great time passer. A good sense of satisfaction is achieved if you reach the good ending too, try it, try it out now!
POINTS GRADE:STORYLINE: 9.0/10
Pros:
~A nice enhancer to the gameplay
~Uncovering the past has never been so much fun
~Many connections can be made
Cons:
~Takes a while to fully get entangled with the story
~After 100 years, you expect S.T. to find three secret passages in the game...
GAMEPLAY: 10.0/10
Pros:
~Puzzles fit within the theme
~No flaws
~Not very frustrating
Cons:
~One puzzle seems to be vague
GRAPHICS: 9.0/10
Pros:
~Excellent use of Poses
~Good use of the objects
~Who doesn't hate a painting of Zylos?
~Great Diary
Cons:
~The player itself looks somehow strange
~Some minor nitpickery
AUDIO/SOUND: 8.5/10
Pros:
~Enhances spooky atmosphere
~Creepy melodies...
Cons:
~No climactic songs
~Oh bother, Fur Elise!?
Personal Score: 10.0/10
AVERAGED: 9.3/10
Ending with a quote: "Sitting from behind, he reached around front and slowly rubbed up his companion's thighs..."