Gurl, no...

This game came as a really pleasant surprise to me as an unexpected birthday gift (I won't say who from in case they'd prefer I don't, but massive thank you again!)
It was received as a random recommendation that I immediately recognised as something I'd meant to look into years ago, but forgotten about - needless to say I hopped on it pretty quickly.

I didn't have any particular expectations per se, but I was pretty confident that I'd like it, and am happy to say that the surprises didn't stop once I booted it. I've only played a handful of Wolf RPG and RPG Maker horror games but the ones I've liked have hit a real sweet spot for me and it's become a niche that I'm increasingly eager to dip back into.

Mad Father - despite being quite a bit older than some others I've played - uses some really interesting techniques that I haven't seen all that much of to emphasise the horror element, without relying on loud bangs or grotesque monsters. It wasn't exactly groundbreaking or anything, but there were a number of little things that on my first encounter had my eyes light up a lil with a "woa nice!" - The first hour or so especially was just a joy to play through.

The story itself is pretty good, nothing to write home about but memorable, and for 95% of the the game it sticks to the narrative really well which is appreciated. There's also voice acting but only for certain lines or shrieks which did a much better job at elevating the eeriness than expected. The music was also great, and the art is pretty, just an all round a solid game honestly. Biggest gripe with it would unfortunately be the True Ending. I get what they were doing but idk, it's not what I wanted :(

In conclusion, if you're into indie horror RPG maker games this is well worth checking out, and thank you again to my friend for gifting it, twas an excellent choice! :)

Let’s just say I was highly impressed with this game, I’ve always taken a huge liking to indie horror rpgs and mad father did not disappoint at all. It’s just one of those games that you must play in the indie horror rpg genre. It’s always pleasantly shocking to me how games like mad father and other indie horror rpgs can create such a good gaming experience and convey such a good story with such little content and budget. I absolutely adore every design and detail about this game and its ost is phenomenal. Fun engaging and challenging puzzles as well, and suspenseful plot twists that really had me invested. All three endings to the game were fucking amazing. I throughly enjoyed my time playing through mad father even though I had backloggd it for years. I likely will find myself back replaying the game sometime in the future. I was tempted to give this game 4 and a half stars, but a solid strong 4 stars is a good rating I think, nothing too shabby to complain about.

There's a really interesting through line of this where Aya knows her father is a monster and keeps finding ways to justify it. Time and time again, she sees the horrible things that he's done and keeps trying to convince herself that its okay and he can change. Its only when his rampage turns against her that she's forced to recognize how conditional his love is. That even his "good side" is filtered through his violent, dreadful worldview. That there's nothing that can justify the way that he treats others and nothing that'll stop him from hurting you if you violate his inner rules.

I'm not necessarily sure how I feel about the new modes in the remake and the character reveals going on there. I sort of feel like it betrays the original theme for the sake of shock value. On the other hand, it doesn't end completely miserable for everyone, even if its still real grim. Sometimes, you just gotta accept the weird cheesy rpg maker as is and roll with it.

Another short little actually this and LiEat weren't made in RPG Maker but the similar Wolf RPG Engine RPG Maker experience with a surprising amount going for it! I played the original version of the game, not the 2020 remake on Steam, but it remained a really lovely experience!

Its visuals are quite good for one of these games. If you told me this was the remake's graphics, with its uniform art style and nice hand-drawn cut-ins and character portraits, it'd be totally believable (the remake is even a good step above this and looks really good looking). It greatly elevates the game's really unsettling vibes and left me rather creeped out at points. In general the game is really well put together, above many of its peers.

Despite a short length, the story told had just enough meat to it to keep me hooked onto it, with an ending that really caught me off guard and creeped me out. Various details about the mansion the game centers around are dropped throughout that change the way I reflected on earlier parts very effectively, adding to the permeating creepiness.

The gameplay itself is fairly standard, exploring the mansion filled with various puzzles to solve. Most of the puzzles were perfectly fine, though a couple rather contrived ones forced me to a guide and exclaim "how the fuck was I supposed to figure that out". I'm calling out the puzzle where I had to deliver an imprisoned lady's eyeballs ripped from her head by heading back upstairs, filling up a bucket I acquired previously in a courtyard pond, using it to douse the fireplace in another room, and dropping the eyeballs in a hole behind the fireplace that I am 95% sure does not logistically line up with where her cell was located beneath. But besides that and one or two other puzzles, no real issues!

The game doesn't leave anything behind that will keep me really thinking about it months from now, but it still provided a good, bitesized, creepy time! The fact I'd be willing to pay for the remake the re-experience it even more improved, which I couldn't even say for Ib--one of my favorites of the RPG Maker bunch--feels like a testament to the game's quality.