Lost Cartridge - Cold Read

There are a few reasons to buy this game. -> It's retro style is refreshing, especially with the modern conveniences that have been added on. -> The incredibly graphic death scenes that have been lovingly added to document a player's bad choices~ -> The sound design is rather good. It has that retro feel while also using more notes than those old games would. -> If you get into the story it's pretty interesting. What I disliked~ -> Most of the story is confined to the end of the game. -> I personally don't have much of an appreciation for item-based input puzzles, (BUT! The puzzles that weren't based on items were very fun~) -> The NPC's that are in the game don't have much dialogue. While it is understandable in the context of the game's story, as in not talking too much to you is actualy helping you, I do think it would have been nice to dive deeper into their stories. Still, a good buy~ enjoy!

If you dig Lily's Well or I Cannot Drown, check this out. Hell, if you like RPGmaker horror games in general, this a solid one, and well worth the price tag. The art is good, the puzzles are entertaining, and it gave me a few good spooks.

Maybe I just expected too much from this game. Before it, I played Lily’s Well, and I absolutely loved that one: the story really hit me, I was motivated to unlock the true ending, and everything you did there felt logical and well thought out. This game, unfortunately, feels like it’s missing all of that. The story doesn’t pull you in, and it’s hard to care about the characters at all — with the exception of Caroline, maybe. On top of that, some of the visual choices are just strange. For example, when it starts snowing, the effect is so harsh it actually strains your eyes. But the weirdest part is how much attention is given to the protagonist’s deaths. It feels like the artist is genuinely enjoying lingering on them. In Lily’s Well, there were disturbing moments and deaths too, but they were scary in a meaningful, appropriate way. Here, you get dozens of different mutilated corpses and death scenes, all drawn with almost loving detail — and it quickly becomes uncomfortable rather than effective. The puzzles aren’t engaging either. Most of the time it’s just “guess which item goes where.” Often, logical uses for items don’t work, and the protagonist doesn’t comment on failed attempts in any interesting way, unlike in Lily’s Well, where the main character’s reactions added a lot of clarity. The locations are also way too large and empty. In Lily’s Well they felt more compact, intimate, and cozy. Here you’re forced to run back and forth across huge, barren areas far too often. Chase sequences quickly turn into routine. They’re not challenging — just repetitive and boring. Overall, the game didn’t live up to my expectations. It’s not terrible, but it feels pretty mediocre as a whole.