Hi there!

This post might come as a surprise to you but I'm fulfilling my obligation of writing a review for every entry I played in the RPG Maker Game Jam 2025 and haven't had the time and motivation combo until now. Apologies for the wait.

I'm one of the 6 judges for this RPG Maker Game Jam 2025. I was one of the 2 judges assigned to your game, and we have been assigned to rate your games according to each metric highlighted on the game's main jam page, and submit these ratings to the organisers, who will then appropriate what happens with that. Please contact them in the Q&A if you have any further questions about the judging process. The judges will work on different time schedules, so even if I may have finished playing your game, the entire process might not be finished as of yet. Many of these reviews I am posting while still judging.

All that aside, I'd like to share my VOD of me playing your game, which contains up to an hour of gameplay, and some final thoughts at the end! Depending on whether I stopped the VOD early or not, it will also contain many of the thoughts that I say to you below, which may cause repetition. So just be aware of that.

I will also attach a review below this VOD. I will not disclose my ratings for each category as of yet, but those will be revealed in due time. Not all judges are required to post a review or VOD to each game, but many will do so even if it's optional, including myself.

Here's the VOD:

I thought this game was quirky, funny, hilarious and colourful. I liked the overall presentation. The gameplay. The ideas inherent within it. The only thing that I found holding it back was that it ended halfway through. I wanted to see this until completion. I sincerely think that the only reason I didn't rate it higher was because I didn't get the full catharsis of finishing this story. Although I did rate it quite high indeed.

Theme
Yes! Very beyond expectations. Richard's aim in the story is to deliver beyond what is expected of him. At least one person expects him to fail - the jock security guard. The lizard skin thing is unexpected, the flavour of the minigames and the "dance sequence" is unexpected. The whole thing is quite unexpected. I think this is one of the better thematically aligned entries. Much of the concept is about expectations and trying to go beyond them, or things that happen very unexpectedly.

Gameplay
Very decent. Cool, well-implemented puzzles. They all worked fairly well and they had good intentional conveyed design.

Engagement
Funny story. Lizard people disguising as regular people, Richard who can't get a break finally deciding he wants the girl. And that he should try. I think that's a good central concept. He has to try. Sadly held back by a lack of an ending to push all these things home. Probably the game's biggest flaw. It would be funny if everyone expected him to fail. e.g. people he met while traversing the building would be like "Oh, Richard, it's you" or something like that. Like, everyone hates him. But this story isn't about that, I think. I think it's an upbeat story about Richard finally deciding he's worth winning. He has always been worth it. So it's less a black comedy and more just an uplifting adventure. Going up the ladder until you get to the top.

Presentation
Very well polished. Tongue in cheek, funny with a great original style. Very cute.

Polish
Only minor typos.

Every game's a gift! Keep making games <3

I liked the game! There are lots of different minigames that kept the experience fresh - even if it's risky since with this the game didn't have any baseline gameplay to build on top of. That's probably my main doubt about the game: the lack of a common thread between the game events.
There is the main plot of Richard wanting to get the girl - and the reptilians - which is interesting, but it felt so out of the blue that I thought each floor would've had its own different plot twist.

The game is cool, but I feel like its central idea is not presented in a clear way to fully work beyond expectations, since both the plot and the gameplay do complete 180° multiple times during the game (Which might go beyond expectations, but there was not enough established plot or base gameplay for me to have expectations of). The jam theme here is pretty clear though.
Here's the VOD: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2441782235

Amazing work, I don't know why but it reminded me of an old ps1 game called Salary man sage. 

Clearly a lot of time and effort went into building the floors and getting the artwork up to scratch, solid work.

I'd love to play the full game if you ever finish it!

Dude this was really good!! The art is gorgeous, the animations are super cool, the gameplay is fun, and the story is really interesting! I'm seriously impressed >:0