Prom Dreams: A High School Love Story, is a horror/suspense title made using RPG Maker VX Ace, developed by QZProductions.

Allow me to begin my review with this: I am not a fan of horror titles. The dependency of jump scares, tropes, chases and tired story lines wear me out. When I came across Prom Dreams: A High School Love Story, I was lured into it by the premise presented of it being centered around the titular event - prom.

We've all had the experiences with haunted schools, mansions, dilapidated buildings and the like, but to have it set inside a lively school? It was intriguing, and here are the reasons why.

Story

I will try and be as spoiler free as possible in this segment as the journey through the mysteries of the game are strong suits of this title.

You play as Kyle Mason, a teenage boy that suffered some sort of tragedy prior to the games' events. At the behest of a friend, he begrudgingly decides that perhaps it's time for him to start trying to pick his life back up, and decides that he'll make preparations to enjoy the upcoming prom. And how else would any teenage boy in high school do this?

By finding a date to prom!

At first, this seemed to be the standard dating sim/harem go-about: Find the three girls whose characters stand out, learn more about them, woo them, and win. And I was curious to see how this horror title would use this to it's advantage, so I played along, not expecting anything major to happen.

And I was wrong.

When the time of the big event came, I was surprised at how suddenly the game took a turn, and I thought I had messed up - but then when I was repeating my previous steps, I began to notice that something had changed. And finding out just how relevant these changes are is up to the player and how much they want to delve into the happenings of the school - it rewards the curious.

Gameplay

As you would expect from a horror game, examination and exploration is key. But, when you're stuck within the halls of St. Giles Academy, what is there to see that you haven't already seen before?

You'll find nuanced differences in the students, faculty and environment of St. Giles Academy as you play, and for the ever observant gamer, you'll find side quests to keep the game interesting as you push through to figure out exactly what happens. You'll be talking to students you'd normally pass up to see if they have anything different to say, and as the game progresses, you'll begin to see cracks in the reality of your situation.

But what's a horror game without the horror?

In Prom Dreams, the beauty of the 'horror' aspect is how gradually it happens. It starts out tame and grows more horrifyingly creepy, culminating in a hellscape where you have to be more aware of your surroundings and take notes to help you solve the near end-game puzzles.

The game, in it's final moments, does really well explaining everything that's happening IF you put in the effort to find them - it neither holds your hand or leads you to them, but simply drops a 'hint' as to when you can begin the search for more answers.

There are chase scenes present in the game but are sparsely used and are short, meaning that it never derails the experience from the mystery at hand. The puzzles range from simple memorization to ones that had me over analyzing the situation when the solution was more simple than it seemed - resulting in a few premature game-overs.

If there's one gripe I have about the gameplay was that, in the beginning, it is a bit slow - but this gripe is quickly counteracted by the fact that, while slow, it's building a narrative. And that when you manage a "Game Over" screen, it lingers just a little bit too long.

Environment and Presentation

St. Giles Academy is quaintly mapped - pleasantly so. The halls are neither too wide or too narrow, are speckled with students and minute details that you may not catch at first.

And the musical accompaniment to the game was well perceived by me: a mixture of classical pieces and up-beat tunes that playthrough the school experience. The use of piano type tunes was a really nice touch, and helped diffused the scare factor at times, until you begin to notice later on that these pieces have some sort of hidden meaning to them.

Final Thoughts

Prom Dreams: A High School Love Story has the check list of horror and suspense tropes ticked off while managing to be a captivating story that drives it's player to delve deeper into what's happening at St. Giles Academy. While some characters may not be as well developed as others, they mesh well to form a competent narrative that does well on it's own.

Other than being slow paced in the beginning and a bit aimless at the end, the game is a joy to play and experience. Being thorough as I am, I managed to get roughly 8 hours of playtime with it, and it was well spent.

I'm giving it a solid 4-Star rating, and I highly recommend you, the reader, to try the game out yourself.