Step into the shoes of Lyric, the humble innkeeper in a quiet mountain village, as she reflects upon a lifetime of poignant memories, heartwarming friendships, and bittersweet choices — proving along the way that you don't have to slay dragons to be the hero of your own story.
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This game is a product of love, and the gameplay is obviously inspired by 'To the Moon'
Good:
- lovely voice by the narrator
- amazing, eye-pleasing pixel art
- soothing and relaxing piano music
- interesting take on an adventure story
Bad:
- to the most part, the writing was okay. There should be more twists and turns in the conversations as character interactions are part of the core gameplay. Most of the time, words/phrases were too casual, straightforward or skippable.
- for the story development, it was slow. For my taste, twists or important parts should be introduced sooner before my interest/attention died out.
- when the game asked me to talk to nps, i had to walk around aimlessly. This could be fixed with a map that show where those npcs are. It was disappointing to go to an area and finally learned that no npcs were there.
- some sound effects didn’t work as intended. For example, certain part of the story should be scary, but it turned out to sound just okay.
- at some point the game felt like a life-sim, and at other times it was like a visual novel. But most of the time, it actually asked me to walk around. This could be compensated with interesting mini games or side activities or some very light-hearted puzzles. There should be more variety to it. Not just conversing with npcs and walking.
Conclusion:
The game gave me a very chilling and soothing experience at least for the parts I played. But from my experience, I hate to say it’s not justifiable to recommend it to you.
Good:
- lovely voice by the narrator
- amazing, eye-pleasing pixel art
- soothing and relaxing piano music
- interesting take on an adventure story
Bad:
- to the most part, the writing was okay. There should be more twists and turns in the conversations as character interactions are part of the core gameplay. Most of the time, words/phrases were too casual, straightforward or skippable.
- for the story development, it was slow. For my taste, twists or important parts should be introduced sooner before my interest/attention died out.
- when the game asked me to talk to nps, i had to walk around aimlessly. This could be fixed with a map that show where those npcs are. It was disappointing to go to an area and finally learned that no npcs were there.
- some sound effects didn’t work as intended. For example, certain part of the story should be scary, but it turned out to sound just okay.
- at some point the game felt like a life-sim, and at other times it was like a visual novel. But most of the time, it actually asked me to walk around. This could be compensated with interesting mini games or side activities or some very light-hearted puzzles. There should be more variety to it. Not just conversing with npcs and walking.
Conclusion:
The game gave me a very chilling and soothing experience at least for the parts I played. But from my experience, I hate to say it’s not justifiable to recommend it to you.
A Story Beside is genuinely one of my favorite games this year! I'm very thankful that it found me when I needed it most.
This is an RPG Maker game, which caught my attention in the first place — I've played a lot of RPG Maker games as a teenager and I still have a deep love for these, especially when these games are plot-heavy. So let's talk about the plot, shall we?
The story follows a person who would typically be an NPC in a RPG game. The main character is Lyric, and she's an innkeeper in a small village named Pyreside. You will follow Lyric through her entire life and help her with some decisions that have a great impact in the future. Yes, you've heard me right — there are lots of decisions, and I should say that almost every one of them has a consequence. Some of them are very light, some of them can change the life of an another character. And no, this is not your stereotypical "you should choose one of these people, one will die and one will live", oh no. Choices like these are not straightforward at all. Sometimes it's annoying, but I've grown tired of straightforwardness a long time ago, so I really appreciated it. I think it helps you realise your influence more.
One more thing about the choices: you can choose Lyric's partner! There are three options, and one of them is a woman, which is a nice touch. Also Lyric can stay single if you want to.
There are 7 chapters, each one is divided from one another by 7 years. Lyric is not your typical hero, but believe me, a lot happens during her life. I honestly thought that this is going to be a simple storyline, but there is so much drama going on each chapter! And I say drama in the best way possible — it's very reasonable, characters act like real people, and still most of the times I couldn't guess where the plot is going. Lots of people in the reviews say they've cried a lot, and I wholeheartedly believe them, my heart wrenched in awful ways. I don't want to spoil you anything, so I suggest you just play it blindly. There are no TWs except for death, but I mean, that's pretty obvious: you follow the whole life of Lyric, there are going to be at least some people who die of old age.
The game is basically a walking simulator with some dialogues, there are no fights and no puzzles. Only you, the Pyreside village and a whole lot of choices. Every chapter you will need to explore the whole village, and I suggest you checking every corner of the map. That way you'll make sure you've met every character and read every dialogue.
The only thing I didn't like so much is that there's no way to run, the only option is to walk. Lyric is not slow, but sometimes I needed to explore a big place really quick and that was a bit tiresome. But most of the times it was okay, I'm just writing this so that maybe the developers will see this and consider the option for their next game.
In every other way the game was perfect for me, and I sobbed while playing through the ending. I think that in the future I will replay this game at least once just to see the route of another love interest. And maybe I will try to get the best possible ending, since I've messed up some stuff in my first playthrough. Highly recommending it to you, and I hope you'll fall in love with Lyric and Pyreside just the way I did — deeply and irrevocably. ♡
This is an RPG Maker game, which caught my attention in the first place — I've played a lot of RPG Maker games as a teenager and I still have a deep love for these, especially when these games are plot-heavy. So let's talk about the plot, shall we?
The story follows a person who would typically be an NPC in a RPG game. The main character is Lyric, and she's an innkeeper in a small village named Pyreside. You will follow Lyric through her entire life and help her with some decisions that have a great impact in the future. Yes, you've heard me right — there are lots of decisions, and I should say that almost every one of them has a consequence. Some of them are very light, some of them can change the life of an another character. And no, this is not your stereotypical "you should choose one of these people, one will die and one will live", oh no. Choices like these are not straightforward at all. Sometimes it's annoying, but I've grown tired of straightforwardness a long time ago, so I really appreciated it. I think it helps you realise your influence more.
One more thing about the choices: you can choose Lyric's partner! There are three options, and one of them is a woman, which is a nice touch. Also Lyric can stay single if you want to.
There are 7 chapters, each one is divided from one another by 7 years. Lyric is not your typical hero, but believe me, a lot happens during her life. I honestly thought that this is going to be a simple storyline, but there is so much drama going on each chapter! And I say drama in the best way possible — it's very reasonable, characters act like real people, and still most of the times I couldn't guess where the plot is going. Lots of people in the reviews say they've cried a lot, and I wholeheartedly believe them, my heart wrenched in awful ways. I don't want to spoil you anything, so I suggest you just play it blindly. There are no TWs except for death, but I mean, that's pretty obvious: you follow the whole life of Lyric, there are going to be at least some people who die of old age.
The game is basically a walking simulator with some dialogues, there are no fights and no puzzles. Only you, the Pyreside village and a whole lot of choices. Every chapter you will need to explore the whole village, and I suggest you checking every corner of the map. That way you'll make sure you've met every character and read every dialogue.
The only thing I didn't like so much is that there's no way to run, the only option is to walk. Lyric is not slow, but sometimes I needed to explore a big place really quick and that was a bit tiresome. But most of the times it was okay, I'm just writing this so that maybe the developers will see this and consider the option for their next game.
In every other way the game was perfect for me, and I sobbed while playing through the ending. I think that in the future I will replay this game at least once just to see the route of another love interest. And maybe I will try to get the best possible ending, since I've messed up some stuff in my first playthrough. Highly recommending it to you, and I hope you'll fall in love with Lyric and Pyreside just the way I did — deeply and irrevocably. ♡