Taut is a 2007 freeware horror game made in RPG Maker, which takes heavy inspiration from Silent Hill in terms of visuals and the movies of David Lynch.
Reviews View More
TAUT is the only known released game from the German RPG-Maker developer Char0n (not to be confused with the japanese developer Charon) and for me is also one of the best, if not even the best German RPG-Maker game ever made. The game even received several awards for "project of the month" on the German RPG-Ateilier.
The game takes inspirations from David Lynch's movies and the Silent Hill series and even describes itself as "Just another Silent Hillish game", but is surprisingly not a survival horror game. Judith Neelley, the protagonist of the game, is actually unable to defend herself from the paranormal threats and has to escape from them or solve them otherwise.
The game features a lot of deep and dark implications, that are not directly on the nose, and that you'll have to think about. There is, or at least was, some game theories going around in the German community, that the game might be inspired about two confirmed murderers from Georgia. But let's get back on track.
The game starts with the protagonist girl (Judith), in an almost empty room. Downstairs, she finds a note that she and her mother are about to move, and she should go and bring everything down, so that the movers can pick it up later. This, however, is already where things start to feel off. The only room that seems to be ready for moving, is that of Judith. Her mother's room is still filled with a lot of things. It's like only Judith wants to leave the town behind her. Later on, she gets stalked by a ghost in this house. As she leaves, she has multiple paths to take... Which one she'll take is up to the player.
Even though the game is only a demo, it already featured multiple routes and endings. Even better is that some events are randomized, meaning that even if you take the same route, you'll still have a somewhat different experience every time. This is something that I noticed when watching a Let's Play, just to notice that the Let's Player in question got a scene, that I've never seen myself, even though I took the exact same route.
The original graphics of the game are perfectly made and fit the situation and feeling of the game, and it's setting.
It is sad, that we'll never have a full version of this game, but if you're into RPG-Maker and horror games, I can only recommend you this. The game was also released in English, which should make it accessible to an international community.
The game takes inspirations from David Lynch's movies and the Silent Hill series and even describes itself as "Just another Silent Hillish game", but is surprisingly not a survival horror game. Judith Neelley, the protagonist of the game, is actually unable to defend herself from the paranormal threats and has to escape from them or solve them otherwise.
The game features a lot of deep and dark implications, that are not directly on the nose, and that you'll have to think about. There is, or at least was, some game theories going around in the German community, that the game might be inspired about two confirmed murderers from Georgia. But let's get back on track.
The game starts with the protagonist girl (Judith), in an almost empty room. Downstairs, she finds a note that she and her mother are about to move, and she should go and bring everything down, so that the movers can pick it up later. This, however, is already where things start to feel off. The only room that seems to be ready for moving, is that of Judith. Her mother's room is still filled with a lot of things. It's like only Judith wants to leave the town behind her. Later on, she gets stalked by a ghost in this house. As she leaves, she has multiple paths to take... Which one she'll take is up to the player.
Even though the game is only a demo, it already featured multiple routes and endings. Even better is that some events are randomized, meaning that even if you take the same route, you'll still have a somewhat different experience every time. This is something that I noticed when watching a Let's Play, just to notice that the Let's Player in question got a scene, that I've never seen myself, even though I took the exact same route.
The original graphics of the game are perfectly made and fit the situation and feeling of the game, and it's setting.
It is sad, that we'll never have a full version of this game, but if you're into RPG-Maker and horror games, I can only recommend you this. The game was also released in English, which should make it accessible to an international community.