DIS(CONNECT)

Intro

"Dis(Connect)" is a short, comedic, puzzle game developed by Michael Primo using RPG Maker MV. While this project was apparently created for a pair of events on different sites. In the case of this site it was created for the Jingle Jangle Jam held back in December of 2021. Unfortunately it appears that the developer didn't manage to finish this project in time for the event. Though considering this was intended to be an event game I'm going to cut it a bit of slack when it comes to grading since this isn't a super serious project but a fun little game about a robot that has a hard time keeping human names straight.

Story
Summay

We play as a robot known as the Santa Avatar whose been assigned to help a house at N°10001100. Apparently he needs to hide the presents as well as try and remember who gets what gifts based on some crazy Christmas letters. After we manage to hide all of the presents we then go on a hunt for our own gift and manage to find some old candy in the chimney. Well, I suppose when your a Santa Robot you can only expect to give gifts and not receive them.

Strength/Weaknesses

Like a lot of comedy games on this site this project either lives or dies based on how amusing and witty you find the dialogue in this game. While I'd like to say this game can fall back on it's gameplay. The simple reality is most of the puzzles presented to the player in this game are rather easy to solve which is why it's pretty easy to beat this game in 15 to 25 minutes on your first playtrhough.

It's also obvious that English probably isn't the developers first language since this game contains a lot of awkward lines.



While this issue never gets severe enough to make it impossible to understand the game's dialogue. It can lead to some head scratching as you try and turn a bunch of sentence fragments into a complete thought.

Gameplay

On the gameplay front everything takes place in a single room where were tasked with finding appropriate places to hide the various presents as well as correct the name error on every gift. Oddly enough the hiding spots are pretty obvious for the most part, but I suppose that's pretty fair considering the puzzles we need to solve in order to put the right name on the gift are pretty easy as well. These range from unscrambling the letters to paying attention to the wording of certain statements.

Graphics

On the graphical side of things the game is apparently trying to catch the look and feel of an early Game Boy Color game with it's monochrome greenish blue look. And while I can appreciate this look more than some considering I remember spending hours playing games on a Game Boy Color during road trips. I also realize this look may not appeal to everyone.

Sound

On the sound front the game utilizes the standard sound effects from the RTP as far as I'm aware at least. Outside of that the game deploys some 8-bit versions of some classic Christmas songs that were created by 8 Bit Universe. And in some ways playing this game a couple of months after a Christmas is probably for the best. After all, it means I didn't have to go into this game after spending a shift at work listening to Christmas music.

Conclusion

"Dis(Connect)" is a decent time killer if your in the mood for a non-serious game involving robots delivering gifts on behalf of Santa Claus. After all, that old man is way too tired and fat to get down chimneys now a days. Though, I think some of the clues in this game are about as subtle as a brick to the face so if your looking for a challenging puzzle game I'd suggest looking elsewhere.