Imaginary Friends is a RPG Maker VX Ace horror/puzzle game that explores childhood fears and loneliness. You explore the main character's childhood by solving puzzles, while covering the past events to find the reason why she doesn't have any friends. The Game relies more on psychological horror rather than jump scares and gore.
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La historia no está mal, pero morí mil veces y se acabó haciendo frustrante
This review contains spoilers
Right off the bat, I can tell there was a lot of heart that went into this game. And for a first game? Pretty damn amazing to have its own unique artstyle and music. But it wasn't the art or the music that clued me in, it was the story.
I liked what the story was going for and the message it was trying to teach the player, but the delivery was the very definition of too much, too soon. In the very beginning, with the grocery store getting all empty, there's very on-the-nose dialogue coming from the NPCs. "You deserve to be alone." "No one is going to help you." "Hahahaha, you will never find them..." This writing is very much in your face. Especially towards the end in the school where the game makes it a point over and over that Hailey betrayed Oliver. "You had friends and you lost them." "Who would want to be friends with her?" I half-expected LowTierGod to appear on the screen and give me a step-by-step guide on how to tie myself a noose.
Even in its best parts, like going around and helping the cloudy systems and generally feeling good about helping the citizens out, they still took the time to spell out exactly what message I was supposed to get from that interaction instead of interpreting it for myself. I suppose that's why it felt so amateurish.
I only decided to get the Best Ending route, but my overall criticism of the story is just to let the reader interpret more. Like the final conversation with Alex, she could instead simply assure Hailey that she'll always be there to write back. Maybe give her some comfort that she'll be okay with making friends, she just needs to try. Personally, I would've cut the part out about Hailey being rejected and give her a fear of rejection instead, making her not reach out and thus no one would've reached out to her in turn.
I still don't hate everything, though. Like I said, the cloud area was great and I was a fan of the vibes in the painted forest. I just wish the story would've delivered a lot better. If there's more games from this dev, I hope to play them in the future to see how they've fared. I hope this ends up being a nice stepping stone for an amazing game in the future.
I liked what the story was going for and the message it was trying to teach the player, but the delivery was the very definition of too much, too soon. In the very beginning, with the grocery store getting all empty, there's very on-the-nose dialogue coming from the NPCs. "You deserve to be alone." "No one is going to help you." "Hahahaha, you will never find them..." This writing is very much in your face. Especially towards the end in the school where the game makes it a point over and over that Hailey betrayed Oliver. "You had friends and you lost them." "Who would want to be friends with her?" I half-expected LowTierGod to appear on the screen and give me a step-by-step guide on how to tie myself a noose.
Even in its best parts, like going around and helping the cloudy systems and generally feeling good about helping the citizens out, they still took the time to spell out exactly what message I was supposed to get from that interaction instead of interpreting it for myself. I suppose that's why it felt so amateurish.
I only decided to get the Best Ending route, but my overall criticism of the story is just to let the reader interpret more. Like the final conversation with Alex, she could instead simply assure Hailey that she'll always be there to write back. Maybe give her some comfort that she'll be okay with making friends, she just needs to try. Personally, I would've cut the part out about Hailey being rejected and give her a fear of rejection instead, making her not reach out and thus no one would've reached out to her in turn.
I still don't hate everything, though. Like I said, the cloud area was great and I was a fan of the vibes in the painted forest. I just wish the story would've delivered a lot better. If there's more games from this dev, I hope to play them in the future to see how they've fared. I hope this ends up being a nice stepping stone for an amazing game in the future.
eu gosto mais do conceito desse jogo do que a execução dele. nenhum puzzle ou cena ficaram no meu coração, eu só lembro de ter me deixado triste não por ser um jogo Emocionante E Bem Feito e sim só por ser um assunto sensível pra mim. por mais histórias sobre amigos imaginários!