Recent reviews by Shadowrc

An enjoyable RPG-Maker title, this game was quite an amusing experience. The writing was very memorable for a comedy-adventure approach. It sets itself apart from other RPG-Maker games by how quirky the character personalities are, using mature themes. The party interaction throughout the journey was hilarious most of the time, with Pontius being a personal favorite. There was one scene in particular about looting a particular shelf that Chael felt morally opposed to looting and that had me laughing a lot. Besides the peculiar ending, the game doesn’t do anything too special game mechanics wise. Fights were in a typical turn-based set-up like in other RPG-Maker games. What makes it stand out was the engaging interaction with bosses with down-to-earth entertaining exchanges. The mature nature of the interactions with the characters helped convey a more realistic amusing tale. I did not feel compelled to grind, and the game really rewards you with exploration. All in all, I thoroughly had a great time with this. I’m also very glad to see an active developer that genuinely cares about their community and their feedback. I look forward to trying out their other titles, they have a real knack for making comedic adventure games.

An enjoyable 2D adventure action game, Zeran’s Folly has been a surprise hit to me. This is a mature game, in that it has quite an unfiltered approach to its writing that is for an adult audience. For me, the writing had a nice mix of dark humor, mature scenarios and feel-good moments. Not only that, the gameplay is a fluid experience of platforming action to get through a variety of levels with distinct thematic looks and enemies. The accompanying music has a healthy mix of various melodies, such as soft and hard rock, each heard in appropriate settings. Overall, this made for a great and memorable time that I would recommend given one isn’t easily offended. After all, one can try the non-updated base game for free on the developer’s website to get a feel for it.

The story features Lone, a mysterious individual that has a drive to retrieve seemingly random artifacts, in the hopes that will it help recover his memory of his past. Along the way, he meets a variety of individuals that help him in his quest. He’ll meet a lively rat-child with a knack for magic, a risqué radish girl with neat melee shadow attacks, and an out-going islander sea-dragon warrior with hard-hitting spear attacks. Lone’s party can further be expanded upon as content is continually introduced over time. For example, one can currently recruit a quirky girl who loves explosions and science. Lone’s quest is not a simple fetch quest though. There will be special encounters and revelations that will change how his adventure unfolds. The storytelling employs a variety of scenarios that is not typically used in mainstream storytelling. One can be offended by them; however, these aren’t used without purpose. Sometimes, it’s a form of dark humor, other times it’s a nefarious mature scenario that has a more positive outcome. I really enjoyed how Zeran’s Folly pulled that off. Regardless of being jarred by certain scenes, they all gave flair to the characters. Most characters have a unique persona; hate them or adore them, the writing allows one to make such judgements instead of feeling nothing for them, and that was great to experience. If a scene is offensive, I recommend to simply move on and see where the story goes. All in all, the story was very well done with quite a bit of emotional moments, and it’s worth sticking to it to the very end.

As one starts the game, one can choose between Bard Mode and Marauder Mode. The difference mainly being, besides earning a different completion steam achievement, is how equipped one is in the beginning of the game. The game was originally designed for Marauder Mode, which means starting with only 4 hearts (the health bar) and that's it. While I found Marauder Mode to be a doable fun challenge for the early-mid game, I fully support choosing Bard Mode for a lot less frustrating beginning. In Bard Mode, one starts with max heart count, beginning hip-flasks (used to refill hearts) and are automatically granted many rings that would’ve been found (or bought) throughout the game. Enemies are unaffected, but it's a lot easier to focus on the story this way. The story does not change at all in either difficulty. Rings help augment the player in a variety of ways such as earning more gelder (the game’s currency), refilling hip-flasks, mitigate environmental hazards, etc. There are also rings that just change how the game feels too without affecting combat, such as adding a pixel retro look to the game. It’s important to note that upgrades to hearts and hip-flasks are a permanent purchase, and hearts have a max of 10, while hip-flasks can have a max of 99.

Gameplay consists of exploring a variety of areas that either act as a base for non-player character interactions or action platforming. For character interaction, one could cycle through each of the party members to experience different reactions from various individuals. In fact, it’s encouraged if one wants to fully learn the party’s abilities called talents. Not only that, a lot of the soul of this game comes from interacting with a variety of characters, not just cutscenes. Characters can have very entertaining dialogue depending on who is actually doing the talking in the party.

For the action platforming segments, each of the party members have unique attacks to defeat monsters in the level. Lone, with his focus abilities (charging the attack button for stronger attacks, not unlocked immediately), has a sort of Sonic the hedgehog approach with a spinning attack and fast movement. Simply press a button to cycle through the party members and discover how different they are. Each of the party members has talents, which can be toggled to change how their movement and abilities work, usually for the better. These talents can be earned by either paying individuals for it or talking to the right character to earn it for free (there’s only one way to earn a talent, so explore). The boss fights in the game are quite exciting as well. They all have a pattern, and depending on how equipped the player is, it can be a challenge. Whispers stones are used to save progress in the game (only one save file), and one is always located outside a boss fight. Besides the boss fights, standard enemies have a unique variety. Some shoot projectiles, and others will blitz the player. While the many enemy types will be re-used throughout the game, how they look will greatly vary based on location. This variety keeps things refreshing throughout each zone that is explored. The level design itself emphasizes careful use of navigation, avoiding hazards such as pits and spikes. These won’t be instant-death, but it will be damaging. Chests are scattered throughout the levels, which can contain things such as quest items (like keys), gelder, rings or outfits. Outfits are cosmetic attire changes to the party members, and can be used for alternative dialogue options for certain character interactions too. It’s almost like an easter-egg interaction when it happens since it is rare.

The music is one of great instrumental variety. Besides soft and hard rock, there are deep arrangements that resonate a dark ambience. There are upbeat arrangements that portray a serene ambience. Some arrangements are slow, and some are fast, all of which is used in a very effective manner. It all depends on the location and the mood of the scene. It’s used in just the right ways, and getting the soundtrack is a worthwhile way to experience it outside of the game. As more and more content is introduced, that also means more original music for that content to boot. There are so many unique tracks, it’s beyond impressive just how dedicated Myroid-Type Comics is to create an audio experience with as much detail as the story and gameplay experience.

This passion project has so much going for it, the most impressive thing isn’t the game itself, but the drive the developer has, for not only making this game, but to take input from others to improve it, and to expand upon it with a variety of additional content. With the steam version, one can already see the fruit of that labor with the Path of Flowers and Terna Island Assault. Both of those optional activities were quite memorable to me and it greatly enhances the base game in a variety of ways. The upcoming Necro Pits will be a rogue-like experience with procedural generated dungeon crawling. All these updates are free, which alone is worth mentioning given the modern microtransaction era in gaming. One can easily follow all progress on Twitter and YouTube. The developer is more than willing to discuss anything through e-mail too, be it bugs, story questions, or just general commentary. Thanks, Myroid-Type Comics, for making Zeran’s Folly a memorable unique mature experience full of lively characters that was well worth my time exploring to the very end.

(Due to character limitations, look in the comments for additional commentary.)

The most relaxing platformer I have ever played. During the Steam rewards for 2017, despite being 2 years old, this was my go to nomination pick for the "The World Is Grim Enough Let's Just All Get Along" award. No combat or conflict, just jumping around to complete your task. It even has replayability with the recently added achievements such as for speedrunning. I would recommend this very short game to anyone.