The Cerebral Symphony by Faenon

  

Brad, a jock, trips one day (at a party, we can only assume), accidentally plunging himself into the hallucinatory world of The Cerebral Symphony where he meets a guy called Ivan, who you might wonder is a human metaphor for repressed teenage angst.

 

Join the schizophrenic, multiple-personality-disorder afflicted Ivan, whose destiny (and personalities) you can steer through his individual choices as he bumbles his way through his life as a renegade thief into a big war between the underground cyborg Mafia, the omnipresent, all-seeing Corporation and the corrupt, power-crazed Government over the six elemental stones that, when gathered together, bestow ULTIMATE POWER on their holder. 

 

On the way you will meet Liz the ADHD werewolf, Jean the insomniac minstrel, Catherine the telepath with a firey temper, Carys the delusional young stage actress, Robert the narcoleptic doctor, Zak the homeostatically-imbalanced fighter-pilot, and Bain the accident prone Gladiator. You will decide whether in the final estimation it is Ivan's more "upbeat" or his "darker" pesonality that will win control of his mind as they battle with his more balanced, "pensive" side.

 

The Cerebral Symphony is a bizarre rpg by Faenon: with a strange cyberpunk world where three powers are competing to control the masses and a bizarre cast of character, the game offers an epic series of adventures. Game combines some classic battles and exploration to puzzles, survival and stealth sections.

The main aspect is that the protagonist, Ivan, has a multiple personality disorder, and in many scenes it will be possible to choose his response to certain events.

 

Download Link 

Itch.io

Rpgmaker.net 

Rmarchiv.de 

 

Random Fact: at a certain point of the game the player may be able to create an alter ego to enter the game and assist Ivan and friends. Really.

Final Verdict: a pretty enjoyable game, a little rough around the edges, but complete and fun. 

Emera trilogy by Sugiyan すぎやん (japanese)

Emera.1 - Rest in Peace - Project Mother, which entrusted local administration to advanced artificial intelligence, has been scrapped, but the recovery of the developed AI, "Mother Core," is not progressing at all. Meanwhile, Ragon Bernhard, an auditor for the World Government, notices a mysterious woman. This woman, carrying a large suitcase, has come to the place to fulfill a promise made in the past…

 

This is a near-future sci-fi dungeon-crawling RPG. As you progress through the levels, the atmosphere and stage mechanics change, and you will face over 10 bosses, including a hidden boss. There are branching endings and several hidden elements. You can also freely build and strengthen the protagonist's combat style to a certain extent. The estimated playtime is 3-5 hours for the original version, 3-7 for the reboot version. The reboot is a significant upgrade in graphics, scenario, and system compared to this work.

 

The reboot was  the winner of the 11th Freem! Game Contest for "Commendable Effort Award"

 

Download Link (original version) 

Download Link (reboot version)

freem.ne.jp (original version) 

freem.ne.jp (reboot version)

Rmarchiv.de (both versions) 

Youtube Playthrough (reboot version)

 

Emera.2 - Odds and Ends - The old world, which boasted an outstanding scientific civilization, perished long ago—an era where magic and mystery thrive, and legends of dragons are told.  In a world that celebrates the earth and respects the mana of nature… 

This city was an anomaly, emitting an eerie glow of inorganic matter and high-tech.

 

This RPG unfolds from multiple perspectives within a single city.  This work consists of multiple chapters, with characters and settings changing in each of them.

This game is different from the previous because it's a series of scenarios with multiple protagonists: here the focus is on the story, although main characters can improve their skills and stats by spending experience points gained through combat. Encounters happen on touch with wandering enemies, but there are also the usual mandatory boss fights. The playtime is approximately 10-16 hours.

 

Awarded the Silver Prize in the RPG Category at the 12th Freegame Contest. 

 

Download Link

freem.ne.jp

Rmarchiv.de 

 

Youtube Playthrough 

 

 

 

Misia, a direct descendant of the old royal family, is tired of living a life that is all about studying. He took the "rusty treasured sword'' and planned to run away from home. He is easily brought back, but an incident occurs soon after...

 

This is a complete fantasy classic rpg with a main hero, unlike the previous title that was more focused on story of different characters. During your journey, you will make friends and you will be able to form a party. Please note that there is no so-called field map in this work. Like in the previous entries battles are initiated touching wandering enemies, aside from the obligatory boss battles. There are several locations and characters returning from the second games, anyway it's a stand alone adventure. The play time is about 15-20 hours.

 

Received the "RPG Special Award'' for the 10th Freeme contest.

Download Link

freem.ne.jp

Rmarchiv.de 

 

Youtube Playthrough 

Final Verdict: the Emera trilogy is an excellent series that started from a small game and then became a whole series creating a series of adventures that may be played independently, although playing the whole series is far more enjoyable due to the return of some characters, heroes become npcs and npcs become heroes. The system is kept consistent during the whole series, all encounters are fought against avoidable enemies or mandatory battles that are often boss fights, the fame uses the classic Rpgmaker 2000 battle system, but he aestetics are enriched by the many edits and custom art that's especially evident in the reboot of the first game. Overall this is for me one of the best classic japanese rpg series, particularly memorable also for its peculiar cyberpunk/techno-fantasy setting.

I Want to Bring Her Back to Life but I Don't Know Where to Start by MacBob

 

Finney wants to bring a woman who is dear to him back to the land of the living but he is unsure on how he is going to go about pulling that off.

Join Finney as he journeys the Lordless Land, a land cursed by a Calamity that revisits every 100 years, looking to cure a woman suffering from an illness that has kept her asleep for years. In his travels, he gathers allies and a share of adversaries as well.

Here is hoping that he might finally bring the woman back to the land of the living by the end of his journey. 

 

I Want to Bring Her Back to Life but I Don't Know Where to Start is probably the game with the longest title I played! And it's also an unique rpg in the sense that it uses a custom made combat system, that's pretty tactical. Moreover the game includes optional subquests and maps that for the most time only extend horizontally: you usually move from left to right or from right to left like in sidescrolling game, however it may happen to find stairs and go up or down, for example.

 

Download Link

Rpgmaker.net

Rmarchiv.de

Internet Archive 

Random Fact: despite the long title the game project is called simply "Unspun Tale". MacBob this year released another complete project titled "Unspun Tale 2", and the game is called Country of Snow, but aside for a similar fantasy setting (that may or may not be the same world) and a similar combat system, has no relation with this game, but it's a stand alone story. More on that one of the next days.

 

 

 

Final Verdict: besides the combat system, that I found really well done and interesting, I also must stress the beauty of the little animations: characters act, move and express themselves in detail. It's a beautiful little world that comes to life, and also a great story told through several scenes.

Sunset over Imdahl by Teo Mathlein

 

The story is about Lohn, a young boy who is the sole survivor of the siege of Imdahl. Wandering the streets in desperation, Lohn meets a nobly-dressed man who offers him a chance to bring his hometown back to life. Without knowing his intentions, Lohn accepts on the man's offer, and the game begins.

 

Sunset Over Imdahl was made in rm2k and utilizes hand-drawn backdrops over tile-based mapping. The game is short, containing only a few hours of gameplay; however, is a completed project of the highest standard. The game is available in English, Spanish and German and consists in a classic linear adventure game with no battles, but includes a couple of minigames.

Download Link

Rpgmaker.net

Rmarchiv.de

 

TvTropes 

 

Random Fact: If you picked up a certain key near the end of the game, you keep it for the next playthrough. This is used to enter the Developer's Room, but if you try to enter the Developer's Room without actually unlocking it properly, the game will detect that the required switches weren't set and freeze you in place while displaying a disturbing image.

Final Verdict: in my opinion Sunset over Imdahl is art, a real masterpiece and a really unique game with incredible aestetics that frame an original and well written story.

Vaporwave Simulator by Unknown

 

Vaporwave Simulator is a game made in RPG Maker 2003, with its aesthetics jokingly and sincerely based off the vaporwave trend a few years ago. You are "You," and you lost your sunglasses, and you can't be hip with the trends without your sunglasses. Though, there's something more serious in the weirdness if you dig deeper...

Vaporwave Simulator is a surreal Rpgmaker game in which the protagonist has to explore a surreal landscape filled with weird characters to find a pair of sunglasses. The plot is an excuse to a series of bizarre situations and encounters. The graphics are a colorful mix of various edits and rips. The game has no combat nor minigames, it's a sort of walking simulator.

Itch.io

Rmarchiv.de 

Random Fact: the game was made in 2016 by an unknown developer that wishes to remain anonymous and recovered and hosted by Scitydreamer.

 

 

Final Verdict: this a rather unique game from a now defunct site. While not very long or innovative, it has a distinct charms with its unique aestetics and sounds. It's a game worth remembering, since it tries doing something that's not seen often.

Nicolas by Promatheus

 

You're a space marine partaking in a mission on a distant planet, Nicolas. Normally, industrial missions such as this require little or no military support. Things started to screw up early on though, so no languidity for you.
Just at the moment when you think you took control of the difficulties, they took control over you. You must struggle to survive with your teammates, and carefully reserve your equipment.
If you still hope to reach Earth sometime, of course... 

 

Nicolas is a sort of open-planet rpg adventure: you have to perform a series of mission on the surface of the planet, like reactivated some automated mining facilities, and these can be in any order. There are also some optional quests like obtaining samples for the scientist, anyway the biggest difficulty will be the resources management, since these are scarce. Enemies are mostly weak, but they often outnumber the party members.

 

Download Link

Rpgmaker.net

Rmarchiv.de 

 

Random Fact: the portraits of most characters seems to be edited pictures, maybe of the developer and friends.

Final Verdict: Nicolas is an interesting adventure game where managing the scarce supplies is crucial to survive. The plot and gameplay are both pretty simple and it's pretty much an ok game, I just have liked it more if it was more generous with loot or if battles were shorter, since the atb bar recharges so slowly. Sigh. I know that combat is a big part of the game, but I found it pretty annoying, there aren't lots of abilities or equipments and feels a litte repetitive, but I kept playing to see what was going to happen next. What can I say more? Give it a try!

Island Sky by Ocean

 

Welcome to the Island of Azulea. It is vacation time, and the students that go to the University in Seaside city are taking a break from the pressures of school. So the best way to enjoy it is to have fun at the beach, right? Usually yes, but not today. For the day of four university students and a teacher are going to get quite interesting...

 

Island Sky is a linear lighthearted adventure that uses a custom made tactical turn-based combat system.

This is not a complex or revined game, but rather a very interesting experiment and a really peculiar Rpgmaker game.

Download Link

Rmarchiv.de

 

Random Fact: the game was originally made in 2001, then lost and recovered in 2005. There was the intent to remade it using Rpgmaker XP, but so far the remake, called Azulea, has not been released.

Final Verdict: a really peculiar game, a little rough and not very balanced, but pretty interesting. The aestetic is also pleasing in my opinion.