Hello once more, folks. Been a bit since I'd wanted to write this review; stuff came in the way, but I am raring and ready to go for this one. To my knowledge, this is the first game here I'm reviewing that, surprisingly, no one else has at the time of my writing it. With this, I fearlessly challenge myself to create a review for this game, the adventure that is Sethstuck.

The Story
Right off the bat, you're treated to instructions on your typical RPG Maker game's controls, as well as the option to select a backstory. For those such as myself who have dove into this game without knowing of its origins, there's a narrative-based Let's Play of Link's Awakening that this tale is a tie-in to. Either way, your meet with the foul-mouthed protagonist Seth on a Game Boy Advance screen, just about to complete Link's Awakening as a red Link. However, once he plays the final song, he fades from the Game Boy screen and awakens in some kind of netherworld.

As it turns out, Seth is somehow whisked away to the land of the dead... with his body still alive and kicking. As you venture forth alongside the grim reaper Thanatos, you find that the underworld tower you've appeared at is home to a bunch of dead Seths from other timelines. Your mission? Explore this strange realm and try to figure out quite what happened, while trying to stay alive among the angry deceased. The story escalates over time as you meet one of Seth's dearly departed friends, as well as learn of Seth's demonic dad who's likely up to no good, and may just have something to do with this timeline anomaly... maybe.

Game Mechanics
It's your typical RPG Maker XP game, except not. There are a bunch of mechanisms in play that I feel more games made with this series of editors should possess. The dialogue, while vulgar, makes sense for an angsty teen(?) and is quite fun to read through. There's a custom menu and font for the game, a welcome addition over the default pause-menu screen. While not entirely necessary for how the game works, there are two options that can be useful: the ability to choose whether or not you keep chest items (good if stealing in a game matters), as well as a "What Do" ability for Thanatos that lets you know what you need to do next. In addition, all the angry dead Seths (and other things you'll encounter) are run into on the maps to begin fights with 'em; no random encounters here.

Other than that, everything feels about standard for an RM game, and that's not necessarily a bad thing, as it's done pretty well. In addition, there are other cool aspects which I'll denote in my 'The Pros' section right... now!

The Pros
This game is dripping with its own style. Ever wanted to play a game where the grim reaper of his underworld was really just using a Halloween costume as equipment? That's here, and he does get a pretty funny confusion-doling ability later on too (dun wanna spoil what the attack itself it, but it's a bit out of right field IMO). Ever wanted to get items from Hot Topic to refill your stats? That's here too.

I'm also fond of using the coffee mug to get some underworld water as a healing item for your party members (warning: do not use on the living Seth in your team), which reminds me a lot of a 'Dark Souls' Estus Flask item. The battler graphics are all custom-drawn and, which I found interesting, the miss rate is noticeable in-game but not cripplingly so (which could be based off RMXP's stats in-engine, I think, but still). In some battles you actually need to heal an enemy to defeat it, an interesting take considering the in-world nature of foes damaged by healing effects. There's bosses which you can afflict with status ailments, which plenty of folks seem to suggest in how to improve JRPGs, and you even play as a potential villain at certain points of the quest.

The Cons
Even so, there are some issues. Like I mentioned before, there are instances of non-standard game overs, notably if you give the wrong healing items to the alpha Seth. In a lot of instances, the What Do ability isn't exactly needed either; much of the time you're forced to push forward, especially when you get to what I call the Rug-Burn Maze (you'll understand once you get there). My gads, the Rug-Burn Maze.

Speaking of areas, there are two mechanical problems I ran into. For one, the specific spot you're supposed to walk onto to get to another map screen isn't always obvious, and this is especially prevalent in wide-open areas where the 'exit' tile could be anywhere within a 3~5 tile expanse.

Unfortunately, at this point I'd almost completed the game (I believe), but I'm stuck at a presumably point-of-no-return zone too; I'd figured out where to go with the clues given to me, but can't advance past a room with three locked doors. Maybe I skipped over the text too fast, but I'd done everything I could and couldn't figure out where to go. If LavenderSiren, the dev, reads this I'd suggest them giving a vague hint or something in the comments. Would be a boon.

Overall Thoughts
Despite needing juuuuust a dab of polish, there's a lot about this game that I like, and a lot of potentially good ideas it manifests. Being the longest RPG Maker game I've reviewed thus far at nearly 2 hours before I got stuck, but having dang near completed the game as far as I can tell, I can only say (mostly) good things about the game. My main hang-up is getting stuck at the end, and that may very well be my fault more than the dev's.

In other words, figuratively and literally, I'm stuck on Sethstuck. =P