Hi there!

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:

Hi there! There was plenty about this game that was very impressive. The CGs (while sometimes feeling like sketches) were many, and very detailed. The battle system and mechanics itself are quite challenging within the maker, and I can tell that it took a lot of effort to create. There's pixel-perfect movement, animations for dust, putting actions in active slots, and engaging in action-based gameplay.

I think the gameplay itself and the arc has its moments of brilliance, and then sometimes it shows its moments of weakness. There are some really cool parts in this, and really cool fights. And then sometimes I felt like I was just in a "middle place" sorta thing, where there were items and monsters strewn about but they didn't really challenge me or act how I thought they would. It's interesting to think about. I think a lot of it has to do with the jankiness of the engine itself, which you have worked around quite greatly.

For instance, the hunger system is an interesting choice. Hunger systems in games have generally been massive gambles, and it's almost hardly that we get one that actually works well for the gameplay loop. Because, by definition, it seems to be just something that punishes you if you forget about it for a bit. And that's all it does. You just keep feeding yourself, and then it punishes you if you don't. Inherently, it's sort of an annoying mechanic unless you do something great with it.

If there were a bunch more immersive sim mechanics like in a Bethesda game, then it would start to maybe make more sense, but even then, that's probably only in hardcore modes. I think maybe if the entire game was designed around the hunger mechanic, it'd be fine, but it's very much just a "okay hurry up and run before you get hungry" type deal and that kind of rushing doesn't make me feel good. So... hunger as a punishment system generally I don't get along with very well, and I think many people can agree with me on that. But hunger as a reward system? Maybe?

Also, conversations don't stop hunger from decreasing, OR stop you from being attacked by enemies nearby. Which can lead to some very aggressive rushing when you're talking to someone, and all of a sudden, someone else starts attacking you and you're like "WAIT WHAT" and then you have to rush through the dialogue to return the attack. Eek.

So all in all, I do quite love the large amount of graphics, sound, mapping and the impressive amount of mechanics and atmosphere that makes me like the *idea* of playing it, but I feel like the core gameplay loop would need some tuning in order to enable more strategy. Currently, it seems more technically impressive than it is a balanced game to play.

Story-wise, I also found many moments to be utterly exhilirating, and then other moments to be slightly more absurd, and unearned. So it is at times a mixed bag. There is clearly a lot of potential here. Some tuning of the story and its events and roots could return a great impact.

So clearly, **very** clearly, there is lots of talent on display here. So much. And I find myself being more impressed at the game technically than enjoying it. But I do like it a lot, and thank you for making the game. I appreciate your time and effort you put into it, and it pleases me greatly that people are still willing to push the boundaries in the engine as you are.

Keep making games. Every game's a gift.

The presentation and music is great and story seems interesting, but in my opinion you need to redo the controls and add controller support. Maybe I'm clumsy with fingers, but with first enemies rushing/jumping/teleporting/camouflaging(?) it was too annoying trying to use WASD/mouse and then having to use your little finger trying to press shift to run or space to roll to evade attacks. Also, is it said in the game that 'e' is like action button? In the controls readme it says that it's a 'proceed' so I missed it at first and had to use enter which was annoying. Also, I think in the controls readme the mouse buttons are explained wrong(?)

i played this game on my twitch earlier! (finished it offstream which is a shame cause i didn't know i had like, 5 minutes left on the game time)

my favorite aspect about this game is definitely its presentation and pacing! especially the pacing, seeing how things slowly unfolded was so well presented in this game, especially the village part! i loved putting the pieces together and having the big reveals confirm my assumptions. just really well made on that part.

art and aesthetic is extremely well done, i love that you had custom music and everything too! (bonus points for me for commissioning artists!) the bridge scene was the best part of the game.

my only big criticism is the hunger system didn't really feel like it had a purpose? or at least not that big of an impact cause healing also restored hunger which made it almost impossible for me to drain the bar down.

overall i quite enjoyed this game! phenomenal job!