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A game that got it all

So, after spending around 7 hours with this game I feel that I got more than enough to give it a score and tell you why you should really give this game a go!

Story

You play as a bothered young man that is mustering up his courage to get a new girl and ask her to prom. However it seems that something is nesting around in this beautiful romantic setting, bent on destroying the happy events.

I won't go into spoilers here, that would sort or ruin the entire game if you decide to play it. However I will say this, the story works really well! There's a lot of thought put into it and it is more than planned out. I never felt that the story dragged on too much or threw nonsensical plot twists into my face. Tip of the hat to the scenario writers, you've really managed to nail a good and solid story right here.

My only slight nit picking would have been to perhaps let more of the unsettling horror elements shine through a tad earlier. While I love the build up it felt like it didn't come creeping until the last third act of the game. While it works it could have been a tad more powerful if it had come all so slightly just a little earlier.

Characters

Ah, the characters. This is where a game makes it or breaks it for me and I am happy to say that in this case it certainly makes it! The main character is a decent enough person and is surrounded by rather colourful additions, making the game feel more alive.

I will say that some of the characters felt a tad one dimensional. Staying away from spoilers I won't name who but some of their motivations made them feel too "straight to the point" if that makes sense. Most of the characters were built up to have multiple layers in their personality, as most people do but some characters came on as flat out unnerving or soulless almost from the get go. Over all however, I can't harp too much on that since majority of the characters were very well written.

Maps

Map work here has been done in a very planned and good manner. I will say I'm impressed since most of the maps are spread out over very big areas. It is very easy to make these maps way too big or make them feel as if they're completely empty but both the outdoor maps and the indoor maps are working very well. They're vibrant and well thought out. My only nit pick is that some of the objects were sometimes taking up extra space where in which I should have been able to simply walk behind it (see the benches in the chemistry lab). However this is nothing game breaking.

The only maps I found myself not liking were later in the game. I can't tell exactly what happened (see: no spoilers) but there is quite the change to the map layout and everything becomes so messy and empty. Though that is of course the intentions sometimes I felt like it was a bother or a bore to run over these maps while I had not minded running over the others.

Gameplay

Pretty standard things here. I will however say that I adore the implement of how to approach your prom date, the choices you can make and also the inclusion of side quests. I almost missed the side quests and I am so happy I didn't. It gave an extra flare to the game and also to the character I was playing, making it easier for me to bond with him and feel that what I did or chose mattered.

Now I will address here that the game boosts on having some unique "game over" scenes. And while I can find this interesting it was something that grind my gears terribly. The special "game over" scenes play out more like cut scenes and when you have seen it once, it is a long and drawn out bore to see it again. As I got stuck on a puzzle that would end up automatically killing you if you failed, I found myself saving beforehand and just quitting the game completely and restarting it rather than sit through the deaths. Minor complaint but I wish I could have skipped the death cutscene once I've seen it once.

Conclusion

This game is solid, actually more than solid. It is fully developed. The maps, characters, puzzles, events. It is all well thought through and you'll get at least a solid 5 hours of gameplay on your first round (mine was longer since I ran around checking everything!). The morbid mix of a love story and horror is very well pulled of. Definitely give this one a go!

Posts

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Thank you for the wonderful review!! I'm so glad you enjoyed the game! :D

Regarding some of your concerns (Spoilers):

With regards to the one-dimensional characters, I feel like you may be talking about Claire, who was from the beginning intended to be one-dimensional (Unless you're not, in which case ignore me, haha). She is, after all, literally soulless. I realize this risked making her a tad boring, so I'm glad the other characters helped make up for it somewhat. :)


The objects you can't stand behind, specifically the counters, were made that way because objects on top of the counters would get cut off and using layering would have effected their interactivity. I'll be looking into fixing these issues for an update since I'm not a fan of not being able to walk behind things either. I still have some things to learn about VXAce it seems, so thank you for your patience about this!

As for the game overs, I would love to add an option that could skip them, although I have no idea how I could implement that. I'll look into it for an update; I definitely understand how it could get frustrating seeing the same scene over and over again!

Again, thank you for the review, and thank you for playing Prom Dreams! <3
Hi there, just dropping by to say that your concerns about the game over scenes and collision with objects have all been addressed in the updated version of the game. Thanks again for your feedback that made it possible! :D
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