Sinfonia & Ruptured Souls by Legion aka Max McGee

 

Reg Fontaine is a troubled young man that has an appointment with a psychologist... things start quiet that evening, but suddenly everything becomes strange and dark. Is this all true or these are just hallucinations? 

 

 

Sinfonia or Backstage 3: Electric Boogaloo is a mini-scenario linked to the Backstage series (some characters of the previous games are mentioned and another is seen in a cutscene), it's little more than an intro situation (made in 4 hours by Max McGee) released for an event, that ends leaving just some hints about what's going to happen next. Good music and great atmosphere, as usual. 

 

Download Link

Rpgmaker.net

Rmarchiv.de 

 

Random Fact: some maps of Sinfonia were reused for Ruptured Souls, another short horror prologue, this time for an unfinished game. Since Sinfonia is very short, here's also the derived game, that you will find it below as an extra. 

 

 

Final Verdict: Sinfonia is like one of these gourmet dishes that are really a small quantity but they're so good! Both aestetically and also in terms of substance. Still they are never enough for a complete meal and that makes me sad. Anyway great job with this setting and mapping, the atmosphere is dark and powerful, I also liked the little details like the animation of the protagonist smoking in the beginning. All is really done in a professional way with great attention to the details. Pity there is no game here... still better than a bad game, I guess!

 

EXTRA - Ruptured Souls (demo): you are Mason Lansdale, an American private detective investigating the disappearance of a 17 year old girl named Kyra Leighton. The case has taken you all the way to London, England, to investigate a private medical research think tank called Wingate Medical that has recently requested the records of Kyra and 4 other girls just like her who disappeared.

At first, Lansdale is concerned primarily with breaking into Wingate to find evidence that will make the case, but as the night goes on the situation quickly evolves into something far more sinister, and terrifying and your primary goal becomes survival.

 

In the end, the most potent and relevant weapon you have is your wits.

 

Ruptured Souls is basically an adventure game where you have to be caregul since a wrong move can lead to the protagonist's demise. The final parts becomes a sort of choose-yout-own-adventure segment, but unfortunatly it ends with a "to be continued" leaving a mystery about who or what is pursuing Mason.

Download Link

Rpgmaker.net

Rmarchiv.de 

 

Random Fact: unlike the Backstage series, that is a supernatural kind of horror inspired by Silent Hill, Ruptured Souls is instead a non-supernatural horror game that was inspired by the Resident Evil series. But no, it's not a zombie game, more like a thriller adventure, but there is a symbol very similar to the Umbrella Corporation logo. Not a coincidece, of course.

 

Final Verdict: another demo from Mac McGee that shows a lot of potential. It's good, and it's peculiar how the game starts like Sinfonia, with the protagonist smoking a cigarette, and ends with the image of a building that the protagonist of Sinfonia enters at the end of that game! Oh yes, this little demo is so full of details and other little things if you care to explore and interact that I was impressed. A very interesting demo with a great atmosphere, in my opinion!

Backstage & Backstage II by Legion aka Max McGee

 

Tom Keller is an average enough guy, although one badly down on his luck. On the evening this nightmare begins, he's coming home from a fancy dinner with his wife, at a nice restaurant- where she took him to tell him she was leaving him, and where he still picked up the check. She's kicked him out of the house and had the locks changed, and he's had quite a bit to drink after dinner, and wants nothing more than to call her and give her the piece of his mind. He's already checked into a seedy hotel down town, where he plans to sleep it off after making a phone call. However, he is about to step through to the other side of a mirror that will warp and destroy everything he thought he knew about his life.

 

Tom Keller is lost. He has gone astray, and become trapped in a nightmare world that is a twisted mirror image of our own, tormented by horrific abberations, haunted by shattered memories. He is alone behind the world, and to escape, he must come to terms with all of his sins. 

 

Backstage is a 3 hours and a half survival horror Rpgmaker game,  whose gameplay consists in exploring dark urban locations looking for useful items like flashlight and keys, avoiding traps and solving puzzles. This isn't an rpg, of course, but there are still battles and they happen in real time, bit these are a little weird since you have to avoid the enemy proyectiles and collide with the opponent so Tom will use the equipped weapon, even if it's a gun. Anyway aside for the obligatory bosses (like the lich) there is no incentive to fight everyone. 

The game has more than one ending. 

 

Download Link

Rpgmaker.net

Rmarchiv.de

 

Random Fact: the game had a sequel planned but only the prologues for the two protagonists of this game were released. In fact this time the game had two different playable protagonists, but the gameplay remained the same of the first game. Anyway see below for this short demo.  

 

 

Final Verdict: Backstage isn't a bad game at all (despite some flaws and imprecisions but few games are without them), on the contrary I found it really inspired and an interesting adventure to play. Well I admit that I did not try to find every single ending, nor I played it more than once except if after a while (when I forgot some details). The story is absolutely the best part of the game. Maybe not the beginning, but as the adventure unfolds it becomes really intriguing, especially after the first half. I was in fact constantly doubting about everything: is Tom really an ordinary guy? Has he already met Alice before eve if he doesn't remember that? Do the monsters really exists or is Tom hallucinating? Who knows! 

 I liked a lot the Revenge ending, and even if it's probably not a game for everyone, if a player is fond of dark and horror rpgmaker games he/she should play this one at least once (puzzles aren't that difficult, and it's impossible to get stuck). Not the best game by Max McGee, but still a good one.

 

 

 

EXTRA - Backstage II (demo): in this game you have to choose between Racheal the Prodigal or Tim the Prophet, anyway their separate paths are going to cross at a monastery. 

One thing about the two protagonists: the Prophet's adventure is a bit more interesting because it has a sort of prediction about what will happen next (well... he's a *prophet*!) while the poor Racheal is instead thrust inside a difficult situation without many explanations.

 

Backstage II is a game that aimed at improving what was done with the first game, offering better maps, better assets, two protagonists, but a similar gamemplay. Both prologues are pretty short (15 minutes each more or less, for a total of 30 minutes, 10 of actual gameplay and 20 of dialogues) and give just little informations about what was going to happen next, but at least mapping is much better than in the first game.

Download Link

Rpgmaker.net

Rmarchiv.de

 

Random Fact: the demo of Backstage II wasn't the end of the series. Despite being unfinished there was a last tale related to the setting and the mysterious entity know as Mask. But this is another game for another time. Very soon. 

 

Final Verdict: it's really a pity that Backstage II was cancelled because all aspects hinted that this was going to be a better game than the previous one, and I liked Backstage, it was a pretty good horror adventure, even if there were some parts that could have been better, of course. And Backstage II was really going to improve and correct all the parts that weren't exactly good, and improve those that were good. Mapping, story, gameplay... all here looks better, pity that this is just a short introduction to another adventure in a dark world of horror. But still better than nothing, I guess!!!

Iron Gaia - Virus by Legion aka Max McGee

This time the protagonist is Dietrich Slade also known as Sigmus the Fallen. Once a brilliant and gifted rocked scientist who was the chief of propulsion for the Iron Gaia project, Slade was rewarded by the Gaia for his role as Her creator by being in turn recreated by her. Rebuilt in Her image as one of her Celestials, angelic beings genetically engineered and cybernetically enhanced to act as her servitors.

 

As Slade tries to secure an exit from the self-destructing Iron Gaia space station, he meets someone from his distant past, one of the men who made him what he has become today. Dr. Cross, who he had believed dead. So, as he struggles to escape, he reflects on his journey, from man, to Celestial.

 

Iron Gaia - Virus isn't a sequel of Iron Gaia, but rather a spin-off focusing on Dietrich/Sigmus, a character that we play in the prologue of the first game. This adventure explains lots of details not mentioned on the first game like the survival of Major Tom Brighton, the formation of rebels, and the reason for Gaia going insane. 

 

The game was inspired by System Shock 2 and plays like a dark sci-fi adventure with stealth sections. Dietrich/Sigmus has also hacking and repair abilities that may prove useful but need to be raised in the course of the adventure, and he can also unlock new combat skills.

The game is much more fast paced than the first since it has a time limit of three hours before the Iron Gaia crashes down, leading to Game Over.

Download Link

Rpgmaker.net

Rmarchiv.de

 

Random Fact: while the sequel, Mana From Heaven, was planned but never realized, this spin-off was instead completed, and tells about the past and future of Sigmus before and after the events of Iron Gaia.

What is interesting is that his true name is Dietrich Slade, and unsurprisingly this is obviously a homage to the protagonist of Demon Legacy. Yes, another, after the one in Forever's End!

 

 

Final Verdict: Music is good, and so is the graphic and maps, really better than in Iron Gaia. However the game is a little frustrating at times, it's extremely difficult to avoid battles, compared to the first game.

The ending is also pretty unsatisfying, but I assume that this was supposed to be followed by the real IG 2.

Iron Gaia - Where Angels Fear To Tread by Legion aka Max McGee

As the amnesiac test subject designated Number 898462138069001 (as you later learn, structural engineer Armand Carter) you awaken aboard the enigmatic Iron Gaia mobile space station, your memories shattered.

As the only human awake on board the rapidly decaying station, controlled by an insane artificial intelligence with delusions of deification, is up to you to unravel the mystery of your own identity, and to answer the crucial question: what is the Iron Gaia?

Iron Gaia is an epic sci-fi rpg adventure set on a giant space station controlled by an insane AI. The game includes minigames, puzzles and many battles in a sort of futuristic megadungeon. Graphics aren't the best part of the game that instead offers interesting characters, a gritty adventure and the possibility to choose the difficulty, normal o hard. There are three possible endings to the story.

 

Download Link

Rpgmaker.net

Rmarchiv.de 

 

TvTropes 

 

 

Random Fact: Iron Gaia was inspired by The Systems Malfunction universe is a sci-fi/fantasy setting created by Devon Oratz detailing the galactic civilization that emerged from the ruins of Iron Gaia after it crash-landed on Earth. Besides Iron Gaia and Iron Gaia: Virus that serves as prequels to the setting, a dozen of short stories,  a Live-Action roleplay and a tabletop rpg were based on it.

 

Final Verdict: Iron Gaia can be descrived as an epic adventure inside a futuristic dungeon. Visually it's not impressive, but the sense of dread, loneliness and isolation was really unique. It has its charm and a great atmosphere, despite the not-so-pretty visuals I had fun especially in the beginning, where it becomes more similar to a survival horror than to an rpg.