Recent reviews by Val1407

Probably one of my favourite VN out there.
It ticks all the right boxes that i really enjoy, and it was very enjoyable all the way through... It reminded me a LOT of what i felt when i played 999 and VLR on my DS when i was younger...

For the positives :

- The visuals are really nice, despite the lack of "character features" and only having silhouettes of characters which CAN be hit or miss (i felt like some scenes were a bit less impactful sometimes), you have some really good-looking CG'S, and some of them are animated too! Some scenes like the elevator scene are genuinely unsettling in the best way, but more of that later ;

- The soundtrack is really solid, despite the tone of the game, you have some funny scenes in this VN , and the music in those is so damn funny, it made me chuckle a lot ; And of course the unnerving songs are great too.

- Characters are kind of stereotyped, but also very unique in their own way ... Sometimes in some more "basic" VN's, it can be difficult to really identify who is each character because they can blend in together, especially in terms of japanese names ! But there, all names and characters are well-defined, leading to very few confusion, atleast for me!

- The story is really interesting. It's short, and to the point, there's a lot of random scientific "nonsense" (i say that in the best way possible) , and honestly, being someone who loves that kind of thing, it was REALLY hard sometimes to fully grasp all the concept... it definitely goes way beyond your usual "time-travel/parallel universe" theories at times, i will say that...
Despite the complexity, Everything flows kinda naturally , and ends in a kind of satisfying way! ( but i guess it's subjective) I felt like all my questions were pretty much answered (except for one character, but maybe i missed it)

- The voice acting was also solid ! I'm not the best expert at all to judge, but i felt like all of the voice acting was really done, i don't really remember any moment where i felt like it was odd or anything. I guess the main character can have some lines that sounds a bit weird, but i always felt like it was on purpose.

- But oh man honestly what sold me on this VN... and what i really wanted to write about is how well the setting of this VN is . It nails PERFECTLY that sense of dread, cramped, confined, claustrophobic places . I FELT like i was in some damp underground cavern/lab , and that there was no way back whatsoever. The animated scenes, the music and sounds, the writing... everything makes you feel like you're trapped in some horrible place and that everything can happen at any moment. I haven't felt that way since like i said earlier, the old days of 999/VLR with its creepy ambiance ;
I watch a TON of horror movies, it's basically my ♥♥♥♥, and there was one scene in particular, with a murderer going loose, that really made me feel uneasy, and that doesn't happen a whole lot nowadays.

For the negatives :

- Honestly my only complaint is probably the choices ; i LOVE flowcharts, and this one is ... fine, but it's also kind of ... well i guess it could be a bit better, but it's a VERY minor gripe ; Going back to the same scene multiple times for all choices can be a bit exhausting, especially if you're like me and wants to see EVERY line of dialogue (which as far as i know, you DON'T have to do, but some choices, ESPECIALLY the funny ones were worth it)(no seriously pick some funny options, it's really funny at times lmao) then yeah it can be a little bit... boring . Again, it's kind of a minor gripe overall.

And honestly i think that's it... I wish the soundtrack would be available cause i would buy it ... Also i'm pretty sure all this is made by one guy??? That's kinda crazy to think about ... Especially because of the crazy CG'S ! (unless he hired artists, but the credits didn't really mention it, though... they were in chinese and i can't read it lol) For the price you get? it's COMPLETELY worth it for the experience, no questions asked.

Very glad i played this, again, i would heavily recommend playing it if you really enjoyed 999/VLR's creepiness, unnerving tension , you WILL feel uneasy playing this, in the best way possible!

A very enjoyable puzzle game if you like stuff like Baba is you!!

Let's start with the positives :
- The visuals are very nice, everything looks clean and intuitive, and the game "feels" good to play, the overall presentation of this game is top notch!
- The music is both very athmospheric, and has strong vibes to it, resulting in tunes that are really cool to listen to!
- Lots of secrets and things to collect! You can find so many stuff to solve on every screen!
- Puzzle design can be really intuitive and fun, there's lot of "ooooh i see" moments in the game where you learn little things that helps you understand how the game actually works!
- Lots of Elemental-based stuff, which i find really neat in games
- The dev has plan to add more content later on, which is great!
- THERE IS A LITTLE WATER GUY AND I LOVE HIM SO MUCH, PRAISE THE LITTLE GUY!

For the meh :

- You can explore in a very openworld-like manner, pretty much how you want...... except not really, because you're sometimes heavily forced to go down a path to explore, it's very hit and miss on some areas
- The first 2 worlds are great!! But then... it kind of goes downhill after that and gets really... convoluted.

For the negatives :

- It's VERY hard to tell when you have what you need to do to solve a puzzle or not, it's very annoying to spend a lot of time... just to realize you can't beat the puzzle at all.
- Poorly puzzle design at times, resulting in a lot of clutter or confusing stuff... there's a LOT of puzzles where i have NO clue if my solution was intended or not...
- At the time of this review, you have no idea if you fully completed an island or not, but the dev has plans to fix this later!
- Just a small thing but it took me off from the game a bit, the music is great... but after a while it stops for like a full minute, where you can only hear birds chirping, water waves or stuff like that... which is very athmospheric and is neat for the people who like it... but i would honestly like a toggle for the music to loop, because the cut is VERY abrupt...

But yeah that's about it! Like i said, if you like baba is you-like games, sokoban or just puzzles games in general, give it a try! You won't be disappointed! And if you find the little water guy, please give him some love <3

A really solid game! When i saw the trailer for it, i got hooked immediately ;

For the positives :

- The artstyle is great, very cuphead-esque, bosses and NPCS are really good-looking, and there's a huge variety of monsters too! Honestly probably the strongest aspect of the game!
- The soundtrack is alright, definitely fits the vibe of the game, special mention to the forest one with the bass drop that made me laugh a couple times ;
- Boss fights are well-designed overall, later ones being a bit tanky, honestly the balance of the game is kind of all over the place ... But it's overall designed pretty well so nothing is too frustrating, and yet also not too easy .
- The story was interesting, not something i really expected, i thought it was gonna be more weird, fantastical, mythical and stuff like that but it's actually... very grounded. It's very psychological in a lot of ways, which is fine . It's just not that what i expected, but i enjoyed it nonetheless!
- Abilities are all very unique and feels rewarding, you can really have a lot of various playstyles if you so choose....... if basic attack wasn't already doing the job most of the time that is...

For the negatives :

- Hitboxes are a bit wonky at times, and the game can feel frustrating with the very little i-frames you get (you do get upgrades for it later)
- The game can feel VERY repetitive, especially later on when there are WAY too many ennemies on your path... granted you don't have to fight them all technically, but i don't really like NOT killing them...
- I mentioned it earlier but the abilities while they're great, are basically useless in combat, except a few of them that are very OP , like the big clown guy, or the umbrella (i have NO idea how i would have fought the final boss without the umbrella, it's super powerful)
- The backtracking is a bit too much, and i love backtracking, but there's a LOT of areas you can't get until later on, like the ice cubes walls that you see many times, which was kinda frustrating, especially redoing ENTIRE sections just for that one collectible... I would definitely say it's the weakest part of the game for sure.

As a side note, the game has been made by ONE dev, all arts and gameplay by one dude, which is kinda crazy to me... only the music and stuff like translations or testing he used other people, but the amount of content you get is very impressive. Also the game is VERY cheap , and the soundtrack too!! You can tell there was a lot of effort and love put into this game.

So yeah if you feel like clowning around, and you want a solid metroidvania filled with clowns and fun gameplay, go ahead, this game is for you!

Well, this was an amazing experience. Review is gonna keep spoilers to a minimum, but i will talk about some parts of the game.

I saw this game months ago, a bit before it was gonna release, and i just thought it looked like a cheap ripoff of ace attorney, so i was hesitant to buy it. And honestly, the trailer didn't hook me at first ... (i would recommend going into the game as blind as you can and not watch the trailer, or atleast not all of it, so you can experience the mechanics of this game first-hand) If i knew exactly what i was gonna experience , i would have bought it immediately...

I'm gonna start with the 2 best qualities of this game :
First is the world-building. It's so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ cool. At case 2 i was already hooked. The whole magic system is incredibly interesting, and it made me my mind goes crazy about the possibilities of it ... The characters were very fascinating and varied too, which made me like a LOT of them, especially in case 5 where you already know most of them ; I wish i could tell more about the world, but i can't without spoiling too much, but it goes CRAZY (maybe a bit TOO much, especially at the end...) It just makes me so eager to know more !

Then is the music. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ the music is amazing. It has INCREDIBLE soundtrack all around , that during case 2 , i was like "i NEED to buy the OST" which i did. And there isn't a lot of OST that i bought on steam. But jeez this one is pure banger, and i know i will keep listening to it for days (honestly, while i played this game, over the span of a few days, i had the music stuck in my head for a long time, it just stuck with me SO much) .

Now for the so-so parts...

The story was cool, and very interesting, but it also doesn't really make that much sense sometimes, can be very convoluted for no real reason (especially case 5...) and can be bit ... wonky at times ; Characters sometimes react very poorly to things that happens, and are quick to dismiss things completely , which i think is a bit of shame . Like i said earlier though, the characters in general are cool, and i enjoyed a lot of them ! But yeah sometimes it just felt ... off.

Cases ranged from fascinating, to kinda boring , case 3 being the weakest. Some cases have some twists to them, but most of them feel predictable and don't really have a lot of "oh ♥♥♥♥ no way!" moments, especially when the main villain is just ... SO stereotypical , like way too much (and also way too powerful...)
I LOVED the mechanics of this game, and the overall gameplay, it has ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ cool ideas that work well... and yet are SEVERELY underutilised, like the whole ARGUMENT system which is used very few times, or just the eye of horus in general . I understand that the game is kind of more about logical thinking , but i would liked more of those moments .

Honestly , i can't really say anything that's inherently bad, except that the game feels so short (but that's because i crave more of it...) i wished we had more interesting cases, more world-building related to case 1-3 (and i guess 4) , and not whatever the ♥♥♥♥ case 5 was , which i won't spoil, but it definitely felt too different than the rest of the game.

So yeah i had a REALLY great time with this game, i'm gonna miss it deeply, i didn't connect as much as i would with it, mostly because i feel like the impactful moments were VERY short, and very few ... but the game overall did leave an emotional impact on me, and i look forward to the sequel and what the author can do with it .

OH YEAH AND THE GAME HAS DRAGONS TOO WHICH IS SO COOL!

TLDR that you probably read on other reviews : If you like ace attorney, buy it without thinking, you WILL love it, no question asked.

I really don't want to give this a negative review... but my heart kinda wants to .

Paracelsian Project is a very short VN, WAY too short for the price and the quality you're given... The visuals are simple but nice, though very barebones (i did like some of the backgrounds!)

The music is definitely the best part of this game, it's really incredible, each track has a lot of vibes , it's very space-y , and it gives a huge claustrophobic feel to the game... Too bad we either can't buy it or listen to it anywhere online...

Characters were a bit flat and very tropey, the game is trying to force emotions through scenes (like with Aaron and Akio) but the game and the scenes are so short, you really can't feel anything for those characters ...

I LOVE flowcharts, and the one in this game is ... not that impressive, very simple and not that interesting to look that, but it does it's job.

The story is ... kinda boring. The whole "humanity is dead and we must save what's left of it, oh also amnesia" has been done so many times, and this game doesn't really give anything new, though i did like some parts of the true end . The plot is quite predictable, and a bit nonsensical at times (the main villain is ... something) i honestly can't say i enjoyed it at all.

I will give bonus points to the UI, the tablet , while mostly useless, was really cool and well designed, there was even a moment where someone breaks the tablet, which makes the button on the screen shatters, that was kinda cool ;

I liked the cypher puzzles, there were easy but simple to understand , i wish more VN had puzzles like that but that's more my own preference. But ♥♥♥♥ the 2nd puzzle for route 1 where you're given "paracelsius" "exodus program" and other things, but the answer is "paracelsian project" , which is both very specific and NOT written like that in the hint, i just typed that out because it was the name of the game... very stupid ; I kinda wish there was more puzzles through the true end , and that the puzzles were harder overall because they were VERY easy, but oh well.

Also , if you're missing the last 2 achievements... I had to look up with an external software that there is a secret bad ending where you have to be unfriendly with everyone... cool idea, but there was no way to know that unless you "cheat" to see the achievement, as far as i know nothing in game tells you about it... oh and the last cheevo is for getting all endings, so you might have to restart the game to get it. Speaking of the "friendly" system, i wish it was more developped... It basically was useless, most endings being dependant on a single choice ...

There is quite a lot of typos too, but i will give it some slack, though be warned they ARE here ; I got some weird bug during ending 1 where the background was just black, for both variations of the ending too ! Loading the scenes fixed it , but it kinda ruined it because things were happening on screen, and i couldnt see anything, and i had no idea at first it wasn't supposed to be like this...

I do love small VN like this one, and i want to do my best to support them and show appreciation ... but yeah, it's not worth the price at all... I will recommend it if you just want a quick VN that's visually quite pleasing , has some crazy good music, some cool UI, and some decent puzzles. But other than that... everything else kinda falls flat.

Hopefully the devs improve and make better VN (and story) ,i sincerely hope the best for them !

A very solid VN.

Some of the animations/CG are really visually pleasing and cool to watch for how abstract they are, you will see when you see them.

Music is solid too, arcade is a banger, other songs really sets the mood, my other favourite song is probably the "creepy" music (no idea how to call that)

Story was very well done and interesting, it introduces a LOT of scientific knowledge , but they are mostly very easy to understand and very interesting to follow ; Some good twists, although some a bit too predictable ; I love flowcharts, and this one was ... fine, the game doesn't really have a whole lot of choices, which is a both a + and a - , depending on if you like that or not (i personally like a more linear story)

It was hard for me to really relate to the characters and feel very emotional about them, they're kinda basic and not that interesting, though the special abilities was a neat touch ; Special mention to Jase which is the best character, but seem to also be a bit underutilized and just... there. Voice acting (which is semi-generated if i understand it correctly) was fine, though a bit too robotic (but that's to be expected)

Be wary that there's quite a bit of typos and weirdly translated sentences, which did makes some sections less impactful to me ;

I would definitely recommend this VN if you want a short, but solid story , which will ♥♥♥♥ your brain, but in a very good way. I will definitely think about this game for a while because it talks about some really interesting subjects that kinda passionates me . Nothing is really revolutionary , but what it does, it does it really well.

Fantastic presentation (visuals, music, sounds, BG and movement) really top-notch for a free game !
Didn't like at all that the character was speaking in "you" all the time and not "I" , even though there's a slight "robotic" meaning to it , i feel like it was very off-putting. Also didn't like how androgynous the characters were (cautionne looks like a girl but he's a boy, dr danger looks like a man but she's a girl, what..?) The voice acting was cool to have, but also very grating at the same time (i guess a bit on purpose cause cautionne is kind of a ♥♥♥♥ but still)
I liked the puzzles, but they were a bit too trial and error-y to my taste, especially in hard difficulty... But they were unique and enjoyable for the most part ;
I definitely recommend for any puzzle/escape game enthusiasts, massive props to the presentation and the design especially for a free game! Everything was visually pleasing and nice to hear .

I don't usually write reviews (even though i should but i'm often lazy) but i needed to do one for this gem of a game. As other reviews have said it , if you like zero escape/danganronpa/AI somnium files, its a MUST buy, the inspiration (especially ZE) is all over the place and you will feel right at home .

The artstyle was weird for me at first, but it quickly grew on me, characters are interesting and likable ( E basically feels useless though , you will know why when you play the game lol) speaking of, i didn't really like the whole initials nickname thing, especially because it really didn't do a whole lot in the game, i would have rather liked unique nicknames in general.

The music was very much on point. It hits that ZE feels again, and i've had times where i was feeling uneased and a bit stressful because of it (which is a great thing! )

The writing was questionable at times, some sentences/characters thoughts didn't really make sense sometimes, but overall it was really good, with a lot of puns and good dialogue ; I really liked that it took inspiration from AI and made all chapters a wordplay with "AS" , very clever !

Puzzles were fine , there's barely any per-say because its mostly automatic, but it was cool to see characters help each other to escape (though again, you spend a lot of time with E that does almost nothing most of the time , i would have liked more character interactions during escapes)

I don't know why, but i LOVE flowcharts in VN, and this one is the most enjoyable i've seen in a game with all the colors, choices and stuff , it's simple but really cool-looking, and the final view of it makes it really nice.

Like i said, this game is a no-brainer if you like ZE , or similar type of games, the price is right (i feel like it could have been even more honestly) the story is very engaging, with a true end thats really gonna make you go "aah so thats why" for many of your questions during the game, i was honestly very surprised by how well thought out everything was , there IS still a few discrepancies, and some things kinda made me feel "thats a bit TOO convenient it works that way"

Overall i really don't have much to complain about , please buy this game and the sequel (at the time of this review i haven't played it yet but i heard its much better!) to encourage the developer , he's also making a third game, and you should really help motivate him by buying his other games!

I have to say.... im very disappointed.. i was really, really hyped for this game ... i read some reviews about it, watched stuff , i knew it was kind of danganronpa-like, everything seemed perfect... yeah but seems every review i read didnt talked about the most CRUCIAL point in the game (or maybe i just overlooked it) , the SCORE system... basically, every time you die, you can revive you characters... but with SCORE points. These points you can get by killing ennemies, looting stuff, etc ... and that's just something i plainly don't like , because it makes me worries a LOT, what if i use all my points, what if i don't spend them like i should do... idk, its just something that shouldn't have been put into the game in the first place, i see 0 point (pun intended) to put that here, making die each character so that they can reborn with new skills sounded so fun , but now that there is kind of a limit idk anymore... Now i'm even WORRIED about making them died ^^"

2nd point, the combat system, oh boi... its BARELY explained, you got one tutorial at the beginning that barely make sense , i had to adapt for a while because i didn't get why sometimes when charging i wouldn't attack, and how to clearly activate that pink bar on the UI, the combat system in general feel a bit clunky, idk something about it bothers me, cant quite put my finger on it, but it seems like you could just ♥♥♥♥ up very easily if you don't pay attention... to be fair, its more personal, i feel like this type of combat doesn't really suit me... then you will ask "why did you buy the game then" well on trailers an on reviews, it sounded fine, very fine even, it looked super cool to just move around, attack when you want... but when you play the game, idk, feels weird...

3rd point, the shigabane, or the skills you got when you die in a certain manner, i LOVE that concept, its just great, so much potential... yeah but there is way too much potential... there's more than a HUNDRED shigabane PER CHARACTER, you probably have close to a thousand of them all characters combined, thats... WAY TOO MUCH! I'm a completionist, i don't mind grind in games most of the times, i play for achievements... but this time, i almost never had that feel before, i feel like i don't even want all achievements, having all shigabane looks like it could take dozens of hours... it doesn't even sound that fun to do...

4th point, There's just... wayyyy too much stuff overall, that's probably the reason for that high price, but i wanted a soft RPG and a nice story to enjoy, instead, i feel like i've got a full strategy / survival game... you have to manage the SCORE, your food, your age, your deaths, you can cook, you can sleep, craft stuff, manage inventory, manage your equipment weight, check if you need to go to the toilet (yes), check your overall stamina, your life etc... i don't even think i said everything, but you got a lot, which could be a good point if you like that, but that's not exactly what i really signed for.. Yes you still got the basic RPG elements that i like, but i pass most of my time in menus more than actual fighting or enjoying the story (seriously the item management takes so much time)

5th point, the price... please buyers, take care before buying this, i played 4hours of this and was like kind of near the first boss, i just barely experienced the game but, due to reasons above, i wanted to refund it ... yep couldn't do it, a bit of a middle finger on that cause i didn't even had time to play and experience the game at all... i paid 50bucks for this, and its a LOT, i don't really have high hope that it will be worth it in the end ... but i have to stick to it, cause i cant refund it anymore now

And now im stuck, torn between reducing difficulty to enjoy the story, or just raising it to have more challenge even though im scared of ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ everything, should i go for achievements or juste finishing the game... this game had sadly torn me up way too much...

At the time i'm writing this , i finished chapter 1, and this "review" is more of a "throw-in" of what i didn't like in this game, more than a actual real review, i might update it later with the good points later when i will be more advanced into the game

EDIT : thanks for all the thumbs up, but i don't classify that review as a real review (yet) , still very appreciated but no need to !

Obligé de faire une recommandation tant que j'ai plus la motiv ...

Voila la raison meme pour laquelle j'ai envie d'etre un explorateur de jeux indés pas connus, on trouve de sacrées perles dans le lot... et ce jeu la en est clairement une :D

Lucid path c'est quoi? c'est assez difficile a expliquer, je dirais que cest un genre de RPG, clicker, stategie? Je vais expliquer un peu mieux... résumé à la fin!

Vous incarnez un heros sans nom qui decide de s'aventurer dans un donjon qui vient de s'ouvrir... votre but, c'est de progresser dans le donjon, tout en gagnant du meilleur equipement, vous avez 3 manieres pour en avoir : L'arene, le magasin et les donjons eux-meme. L'arene en 3 niveaux de difficultes, permet grace a une mise de jouer a un combat de "timing" qui si vous reussisez, vous gagnez un objet pour 3 fois moins cher que dans le shop... si vous perdez, vous perdez la mise... le magasin offre beaucoup d'objets avec tous des stats differents, a vous de choisir le mieux sachant que cela fonctionne par rarete (blanc < vert < bleu < jaune < violet ) , tout cet argent , vous le gagnez sois dans le donjon, sois en farmant des mini jeux de type ascii / retro bien sympas (qui me rappellent les mini jeux de tamagotchi dans un sens xD) , vous pouvez aussi faire 3 quetes avant chaque essai dans le donjon, qui vous donnent des points de training que vous pouvez depenser en stat pour monter votre heros.

Tout ca, c'etait la phase de la ville, j'ai oublie 2-3 trucs mais le principal y est. Pour le combat, c'est du tour par tout automatique, rien a faire, vous pouvez mettre en pause, ou accelerer les combats, les seules autres actions sont les sorts que vous pouvez obtenir qui sont utilisables une fois par essai de donjon, comme des sorts qui reduisent l'attaque des ennemis, les empoisonnent, ou augmente votre defense... vous avez un "checkpoint" pour chaque palier de 5, (6-10-16-20 etc ) qui, si vous perdez, vous pouvez reprendre, chaque palier de 5 augmentant le fric gagne dans les mini jeux. Chaque palier de 20 change le type d'equipement, et vous devrez refarmer du nouvel equipement... S'ajoute a ca a chaque palier de 10 des boss a la fois absurdes et interessants...

Maintenant... Je vais parler du point qui ma le plus bluffe, l'histoire.Il y a certains choix a faire, je sais pas si ils sont vraiment decisifs, je referais surement une partie pour voir si ils le sont, mais voila , deja chose a savoir. 2eme chose, absolument aucun spoil, mais jai ete bluffe par l'histoire interessante et profonde derriere ce petit jeu, je mattendais PAS DU TOUT a ca, on se dit "boh ok on va juste niquer du monstre pi voila" et non ca va bien plus loin... je vous laisse le decouvrir... une petite surprise au niveau 50 que je spoil pas non plus est assez agreable a ce niveau la... et ca devient encore plus insane plus tard! Je veux vraiment pas en dire +, je vous laisse decouvrir ca, mais c'est vraiment quelque chose qui ma bluffe :D

Les + et les -

+ L'histoire totalement surprenante et profonde
+ Un gameplay simple, mais extremement bien foutu, rien a redire
+ J'espere que y'aura moyen d'avoir/acheter l'OST car bordel qu'elle est geniale <3
+ Des graphismes pixels tres jolis , plaisants a regarder
+ Vraiment pas cher pour la qualité fournie, et qui a l'air d'avoir une bonne petite duree de vie de 5h environ?

- Rien apres la fin malheuresement, pas de endless mode :/
- L'arene un peu inutile en fait, vaut mieux farmer pour le shop :/
- Pk ya pas de succes? ca serait PARFAIT sur ce jeu :'(

En résumé : 16/20 ? Pour 4euros, un tres bon gameplay, aucun bug, une histoire geniale, tres bonne OST, franchement, si vous souhaitez passer un bon moment et que vous semblez emballe par le concept, mais foncez :D Sachez par contre que le farm est de mise, vous allez passer un peu de temps a farmer entre chaque palier, mais c'est fun et court donc .. achetez ce jeu et soutenez les devs ! :D