It's best to play this as blind as possible. Funny, deeply emotional, and memorable.
This is a 30+ hour RPG that was mostly developed entirely by one person, which is very impressive for the amount of content it has. Though I wouldn’t say I loved it quite as much as some other RPGMaker games I’ve played as I felt the combat brought it down a bit. An interesting system with the numerous forms Jimmy can turn into and clearly meant to be more difficult than the norm, but the frequent enemy encounters literally every few seconds and heavy grinding needed for bosses was excessive, it dragged the game on longer than it probably needed to be. The characters (Jimmy’s family and occasional others that join the party temporarily) were all pretty bland to me also which was an issue when the game’s so heavily focused on them in the story
But aside for those issues it’s still quite good and clearly made with a lot of heart. Has a creative world with plenty of varied islands/continents and a meaningful amount of optional areas to explore. Given the kind of games this is obviously inspired by, its mix of light hearted and horror aspects was well done, and while the characters were a weak point for me the story it tells was intriguing nonetheless. The music’s great too! Lot of unique tracks all over the place and I never got tired of listening to the overworld theme
But aside for those issues it’s still quite good and clearly made with a lot of heart. Has a creative world with plenty of varied islands/continents and a meaningful amount of optional areas to explore. Given the kind of games this is obviously inspired by, its mix of light hearted and horror aspects was well done, and while the characters were a weak point for me the story it tells was intriguing nonetheless. The music’s great too! Lot of unique tracks all over the place and I never got tired of listening to the overworld theme
This review contains spoilers
At our core, every human is a patchwork of ideas imprinted upon us by others, both consciously and subconsciously. We then continue the cycle of imprinting on those around us, again, both consciously and subconsciously. There’s a reason all art is political, even if not all art desires to engage politically.
It feels impossible, no matter how trite it may feel, to discuss Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass without consistent reference to the inspirations it wears on its sleeve (a strong enough invitation for comparison). Something of a classic Final Fantasy-structured globetrotting adventure with a reinterpretation of Yume Nikki’s transformation system. And, most pressingly of course, a closer set of vibes to what makes the Mother trilogy so beloved than any other game I’ve played. Standing on the shoulders of giants, Jimmy manages, with only a few missteps, to coalesce into an immensely charming RPG with an impressive amount of depth to it.
It’s quickly apparent getting situated in Jimmy’s home atop the clouds it’s some kinda of dream world, beset by the growing rot of the titular Pulsating Mass (an obvious stand-in for… something). This vast world, so rich in variety, is the star of the show. A constant stream of interesting new locales and dungeons reflecting upon Jimmy’s young psyche manages to capture the oh-so-pristine feeling of being a real globe-trotting adventure. It really hits in the endgame cleanup, having the Final Fantasy airship moment and realizing how far I’ve come since the starting island, and how much there still was to experience. Even when I dug well into the game, there was still a solid half-dozen side dungeons with their own unique aesthetics, lore, and gameplay mechanics I never even touched.
Combat alone is chocked to the brim with a stupid number of elements that are so fun to really dig into. Jimmy alone has like 10 separate forms he can switch between in battle, each with completely different niches. As you level them up you unlock pieces of each form to spec base form JImmy into any sort of fearsome fighter. The rest of the team have more predefined niches, but plenty of weapons, equipment, skill manuals, accessories, and collectable furniture that gives a ton of flexibility in the team dynamics. Towards the end, the game does some I LOVE when games do: giving you gimmicky equipment that fundamentally changes how characters work. In the final areas, my healer was rocking with the strongest basic attack in the entire party after an entire game of her being the weakest by a large margin.
The enemies, not to be outmatched, are full of their own little gimmicks, particularly interacting with Goon Jimmy’s grifting. Got an alarm robot in the way? Just steal its voice box and let it flounder in silence. Didn’t steal it and let the alarm summon a Deathbot 3000? Just steal the Deathbot 3000’s voicebox and—oh—that doesn’t prevent it from death-ing you. Of particular interest, basically every boss fight has an interesting gimmick attached to it as well. It’s an interesting contrast to Final Fantasy VII, which (like VI) opens with a boss who’s counterattack serves as a good tutorial to the ATB system, before forgetting boss gimmicks can be a thing until the superbosses. It’s really impressive how well realized Jimmy’s combat ends up being, easily the best combat of any RPG Maker game I’ve played (granted, Omori is probably the only game that remotely competes).
Unfortunately, the game decides to take on particular element from the Mother series that… well… read my Mother 3 review: the combat gets to be a SLOG. While it has the nice QoL feature of being able to ignore some encounters when you hit some arbitrary requirement (I assume level??), each individual encounter is difficult enough and enough of a resource drain to become exhausting, and often leaving you unprepared for boss fights with massive HP pools at the end of a long dungeon.
Almost every boss became a loop of attempting it, realizing I did not have the resources to survive the war of attrition against the boss, then switching to easy mode to get through it. The reason it took so long for me to beat the game was the constant ramming my head against a wall before putting it down for a few weeks, several times over. Until halfway through the game when I decided to just keep easy mode on full time. despite the game pinning normal mode as “the intended experience”, easy mode was so much more enjoyable. It saved the experience for me really, turning it into a really chill adventure overall.
This adventure is constantly intertwined with the adventures of a whole bunch of other characters. While the concept of “reoccuring side characters” is of course not remotely unique, I think its notable how many the game has. Halfway through the game the game stops everything to do what could be called an “every character in the game so far tournament arc” and it’s a delight. It (perhaps counterintuitively) really builds up the sense of adventure and strong vibes.
To reuse the phrasing that certainly made people silently wish death upon me on the Mario Discord, Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass is the “quirky Earthbound inspired indie game” that most exactly captures the vibes that made the progenitor trilogy so appealing. I struggle to pick out the exact elements that make them match so hard beyond a lot of very earnest humor interspersed with some really engrossing descriptions (albeit far more R-rated than anything you’d find in Mother). Still, it ended up making for a very similar feeling experience to the one I had playing Mother 3 last year—and not one that felt derivative in the slightest.
The art style does not carry the vibes as well as the writing, with sprites often looking fairly crude in a way that feels amateurish. It gets a tad unbearable in the game’s gorier moments. Sometimes, the game pulls out a pretty impressive looking part that makes me think the spritework is meant to reflect the crudeness and edginess of a child like Jimmy’s thoughts. But then I see the kinda abhorrent spritework for the visual novel section of the game and I lose benefit of the doubt. At least the soundtrack absolutely slaps.
Ironically, the weakest characters end up being the main cast: Jimmy’s family. They’re not bad characters, but just end up feeling kind of thin and “along for the ride” when spending so much of the game with them. And when the story is so focused on Jimmy’s family, it ended up not really emotionally landing for me, especially compared to how I’ve seen it hit some others. It took until near the end, when Jimmy is given brief flashes on consciousness to realize the Pulsating Mass I suspected to be some sort of metaphor (Earthbound-inspired indie RPG about depression REAL???) was literally a Pulsating Mass. It’s a cancerous tumor. Jimmy is in a coma. Then the rest of the game ends up playing out just about how you’d expect it to. While there’s some texture provided, particularly during the glimpses back into reality, to keep it from feel too trite, I can’t help from feeling somewhat dissatisfied.
Jimmy’s adventure is moreso about the journey than the destination, though, and I think the game even makes the case for that. While not some must play game that will stick with me forever, there’s so much heart that it’s hard not to really like it in spite of the issues. It’s a game of impressive craft, especially considering it was a solo development.
For the final, secret form Jimmy can unlock, he imagines himself as the phoenix. “He feels alive. Energized. Jimmy thinks that if he put his mind to it, he could fly right out of bed. He could fly and fly. He could burn bright forever, like a brand new sun.”
It’s a game that knows how to be beautiful.
It feels impossible, no matter how trite it may feel, to discuss Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass without consistent reference to the inspirations it wears on its sleeve (a strong enough invitation for comparison). Something of a classic Final Fantasy-structured globetrotting adventure with a reinterpretation of Yume Nikki’s transformation system. And, most pressingly of course, a closer set of vibes to what makes the Mother trilogy so beloved than any other game I’ve played. Standing on the shoulders of giants, Jimmy manages, with only a few missteps, to coalesce into an immensely charming RPG with an impressive amount of depth to it.
It’s quickly apparent getting situated in Jimmy’s home atop the clouds it’s some kinda of dream world, beset by the growing rot of the titular Pulsating Mass (an obvious stand-in for… something). This vast world, so rich in variety, is the star of the show. A constant stream of interesting new locales and dungeons reflecting upon Jimmy’s young psyche manages to capture the oh-so-pristine feeling of being a real globe-trotting adventure. It really hits in the endgame cleanup, having the Final Fantasy airship moment and realizing how far I’ve come since the starting island, and how much there still was to experience. Even when I dug well into the game, there was still a solid half-dozen side dungeons with their own unique aesthetics, lore, and gameplay mechanics I never even touched.
Combat alone is chocked to the brim with a stupid number of elements that are so fun to really dig into. Jimmy alone has like 10 separate forms he can switch between in battle, each with completely different niches. As you level them up you unlock pieces of each form to spec base form JImmy into any sort of fearsome fighter. The rest of the team have more predefined niches, but plenty of weapons, equipment, skill manuals, accessories, and collectable furniture that gives a ton of flexibility in the team dynamics. Towards the end, the game does some I LOVE when games do: giving you gimmicky equipment that fundamentally changes how characters work. In the final areas, my healer was rocking with the strongest basic attack in the entire party after an entire game of her being the weakest by a large margin.
The enemies, not to be outmatched, are full of their own little gimmicks, particularly interacting with Goon Jimmy’s grifting. Got an alarm robot in the way? Just steal its voice box and let it flounder in silence. Didn’t steal it and let the alarm summon a Deathbot 3000? Just steal the Deathbot 3000’s voicebox and—oh—that doesn’t prevent it from death-ing you. Of particular interest, basically every boss fight has an interesting gimmick attached to it as well. It’s an interesting contrast to Final Fantasy VII, which (like VI) opens with a boss who’s counterattack serves as a good tutorial to the ATB system, before forgetting boss gimmicks can be a thing until the superbosses. It’s really impressive how well realized Jimmy’s combat ends up being, easily the best combat of any RPG Maker game I’ve played (granted, Omori is probably the only game that remotely competes).
Unfortunately, the game decides to take on particular element from the Mother series that… well… read my Mother 3 review: the combat gets to be a SLOG. While it has the nice QoL feature of being able to ignore some encounters when you hit some arbitrary requirement (I assume level??), each individual encounter is difficult enough and enough of a resource drain to become exhausting, and often leaving you unprepared for boss fights with massive HP pools at the end of a long dungeon.
Almost every boss became a loop of attempting it, realizing I did not have the resources to survive the war of attrition against the boss, then switching to easy mode to get through it. The reason it took so long for me to beat the game was the constant ramming my head against a wall before putting it down for a few weeks, several times over. Until halfway through the game when I decided to just keep easy mode on full time. despite the game pinning normal mode as “the intended experience”, easy mode was so much more enjoyable. It saved the experience for me really, turning it into a really chill adventure overall.
This adventure is constantly intertwined with the adventures of a whole bunch of other characters. While the concept of “reoccuring side characters” is of course not remotely unique, I think its notable how many the game has. Halfway through the game the game stops everything to do what could be called an “every character in the game so far tournament arc” and it’s a delight. It (perhaps counterintuitively) really builds up the sense of adventure and strong vibes.
To reuse the phrasing that certainly made people silently wish death upon me on the Mario Discord, Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass is the “quirky Earthbound inspired indie game” that most exactly captures the vibes that made the progenitor trilogy so appealing. I struggle to pick out the exact elements that make them match so hard beyond a lot of very earnest humor interspersed with some really engrossing descriptions (albeit far more R-rated than anything you’d find in Mother). Still, it ended up making for a very similar feeling experience to the one I had playing Mother 3 last year—and not one that felt derivative in the slightest.
The art style does not carry the vibes as well as the writing, with sprites often looking fairly crude in a way that feels amateurish. It gets a tad unbearable in the game’s gorier moments. Sometimes, the game pulls out a pretty impressive looking part that makes me think the spritework is meant to reflect the crudeness and edginess of a child like Jimmy’s thoughts. But then I see the kinda abhorrent spritework for the visual novel section of the game and I lose benefit of the doubt. At least the soundtrack absolutely slaps.
Ironically, the weakest characters end up being the main cast: Jimmy’s family. They’re not bad characters, but just end up feeling kind of thin and “along for the ride” when spending so much of the game with them. And when the story is so focused on Jimmy’s family, it ended up not really emotionally landing for me, especially compared to how I’ve seen it hit some others. It took until near the end, when Jimmy is given brief flashes on consciousness to realize the Pulsating Mass I suspected to be some sort of metaphor (Earthbound-inspired indie RPG about depression REAL???) was literally a Pulsating Mass. It’s a cancerous tumor. Jimmy is in a coma. Then the rest of the game ends up playing out just about how you’d expect it to. While there’s some texture provided, particularly during the glimpses back into reality, to keep it from feel too trite, I can’t help from feeling somewhat dissatisfied.
Jimmy’s adventure is moreso about the journey than the destination, though, and I think the game even makes the case for that. While not some must play game that will stick with me forever, there’s so much heart that it’s hard not to really like it in spite of the issues. It’s a game of impressive craft, especially considering it was a solo development.
For the final, secret form Jimmy can unlock, he imagines himself as the phoenix. “He feels alive. Energized. Jimmy thinks that if he put his mind to it, he could fly right out of bed. He could fly and fly. He could burn bright forever, like a brand new sun.”
It’s a game that knows how to be beautiful.
There's too much for me to say about this game to write it all in a review. If you like this style of JRPGS, just play the game. Preferably going into it knowing as little as possible.
come closer i am a very normal rpg maker game that will not emotionally devastate you :)
This was a passion project made by one man and it shows. It has a rather sizable length, especially if you want to see all of the post-game and side content, yet it never gets dull. Locations and vibes always change at the right time with each area having it's own unique identity and importance in the grand scheme of the story, GOD the pacing of this game is IMMACULATE. Even I, admittedly, have tiktok brain attention deficit syndrome (pray for me), but this game NEVER became a slog even through it's lengthy playtime. No idea what kind of double mega ultra quadruple tiktok brain rot black hole mind subway surfers at the bottom of the screen attention span someone has to acquire to think otherwise. There are frequent party changes to keep things fresh and make sure you aren't using the same strategy the whole game (and helps better showcase each party members' personality), and the WONDERFUL transformation and in-depth equipment systems make putting your strategy together a joy both out of battle and on the fly in-battle. One of the most criminally overlooked turn based games of all time with some genuinely genius game design. Some of the most fun I have ever had with an RPGmaker game.
Needed more dead sisters
played this for a while beat the first boss and liked the writing then looked at the wiki and found out the game is like 50 hours long
it wasnt the best tbh
it had it moment
and the ending segment was shit i hated the open world segmit it was soo bad
but other then that it was pretty good
it had it moment
and the ending segment was shit i hated the open world segmit it was soo bad
but other then that it was pretty good
Around every Steam sale, I check through my library and give an hour or two to a forgotten game from years past, just so I can mark it off the backlog and get interested in the new things. That was my plan going into Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass.
After about 58 hours, I've 100% completed Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass.
When a narrative tries to tell an adult story through a child's perspective or, in this case, a child's dream, there's a risk of being a little condescending. Overexplaining a story and exposing a need to reveal the "truth" of the story, rather than staying within the realm of magic. And if I gave you the broad strokes plot of Jimmy, I think the game could come off as a little emotionally manipulative. But what works about Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass is how fully it commits to its presentation and execution. It never strays from the idea that even if the things we see aren't "real", it matters to Jimmy and so it carries emotional weight. When it slowly unpacks the layers of all its characters, it shows their flaws without any judgement or criticism coloring its storytelling. Jimmy's brother Buck is a bully and a jerk and you get to see plenty of instances of how Buck's abuse shapes Jimmy's idea of self-worth. Yet, you also see Buck at his most vulnerable. Its buried deep within hidden dungeons, but you get to see these little moments of brotherly love that Jimmy treasures. It doesn't shy away from how Jimmy's family have failed him or themselves, but it asks you to feel the same empathy for them that Jimmy feels for his family.
As an indie rpg, its also just jampacked with content. There's two or three hidden dungeons for all five of the continents you explore in Jimmy's mindscape. Each dungeons reflects one of Jimmy's fears, from strangers to heights or even complicated math problems. There's minigames and bonus sidequests and hidden little storylines everywhere. And exploring these dungeons and games rewards you, either with better weapons and gear or new information about Jimmy and his struggles. Its one of the most ambitious indie games I've ever seen and its delighted in sharing everything it can with you. I despise playing rpgs on my keyboard and I couldn't put this game down for a whole week. A masterpiece of storytelling and gaming.
~Mid-game spoiler rambling:~
The moment the true brilliance of the game really shines is in the Blood March area, a continent themed around various horror movies and Jimmy's forgotten toys. One of your party members is the creepy, clingy Jonathan Bear. He encourages Jimmy to leave his family, he's spiteful to minor obstacles, and he's obsessive and terrifying. Jimmy, in his only really malevolent act as a silent protagonist, shoves Jonathon into a furnace to finally get rid of him.
And Jonathon's voice speaks out of the furnace.
"Do you think it would be that easy to forget? I'll NEVER let you forget. What your greedy little hands did to get me. The lies you told to hold onto me. You'll never forget."
And the true horror of how a young kid's silly selfish decision has become a burning, agonizing guilt in his chest just expands into this devastating level about childhood products and how we cling to them or outgrow them. This game is masterful.
After about 58 hours, I've 100% completed Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass.
When a narrative tries to tell an adult story through a child's perspective or, in this case, a child's dream, there's a risk of being a little condescending. Overexplaining a story and exposing a need to reveal the "truth" of the story, rather than staying within the realm of magic. And if I gave you the broad strokes plot of Jimmy, I think the game could come off as a little emotionally manipulative. But what works about Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass is how fully it commits to its presentation and execution. It never strays from the idea that even if the things we see aren't "real", it matters to Jimmy and so it carries emotional weight. When it slowly unpacks the layers of all its characters, it shows their flaws without any judgement or criticism coloring its storytelling. Jimmy's brother Buck is a bully and a jerk and you get to see plenty of instances of how Buck's abuse shapes Jimmy's idea of self-worth. Yet, you also see Buck at his most vulnerable. Its buried deep within hidden dungeons, but you get to see these little moments of brotherly love that Jimmy treasures. It doesn't shy away from how Jimmy's family have failed him or themselves, but it asks you to feel the same empathy for them that Jimmy feels for his family.
As an indie rpg, its also just jampacked with content. There's two or three hidden dungeons for all five of the continents you explore in Jimmy's mindscape. Each dungeons reflects one of Jimmy's fears, from strangers to heights or even complicated math problems. There's minigames and bonus sidequests and hidden little storylines everywhere. And exploring these dungeons and games rewards you, either with better weapons and gear or new information about Jimmy and his struggles. Its one of the most ambitious indie games I've ever seen and its delighted in sharing everything it can with you. I despise playing rpgs on my keyboard and I couldn't put this game down for a whole week. A masterpiece of storytelling and gaming.
~Mid-game spoiler rambling:~
The moment the true brilliance of the game really shines is in the Blood March area, a continent themed around various horror movies and Jimmy's forgotten toys. One of your party members is the creepy, clingy Jonathan Bear. He encourages Jimmy to leave his family, he's spiteful to minor obstacles, and he's obsessive and terrifying. Jimmy, in his only really malevolent act as a silent protagonist, shoves Jonathon into a furnace to finally get rid of him.
And Jonathon's voice speaks out of the furnace.
"Do you think it would be that easy to forget? I'll NEVER let you forget. What your greedy little hands did to get me. The lies you told to hold onto me. You'll never forget."
And the true horror of how a young kid's silly selfish decision has become a burning, agonizing guilt in his chest just expands into this devastating level about childhood products and how we cling to them or outgrow them. This game is masterful.
Delightful game with that patented Earthbound 'Looming Darkness' ready to pop out at all times. The music hits that exact mix of quirky and and catchy that you want in this genre. F R E S H
The way this game is written makes me wonder how creative Kasey Ozymy really has to be, from its funny and charming characters and dialogues to the unique art and soundtrack. This game is not far from perfect. The ending is astonishing good aswell, really got me
Uno de los mejores RPG por turnos e indie que he jugado. Súper emotivo, divertido y muy bien pensado. Es de lo más infravalorado que he visto.
Pretty great game that still leaves me thinking about it. Aside from its story, the combat is very engaging, and some genuinely haunting and disturbing moments. A hidden gem of an RPGMaker game that I wished more people talked about
I can see that the game has great ideas, but it's needlessly long and it feels like such a slog to play through. Unlike your typical 20 hours long JRPG, this is about double the length which is just too much for me. Most of your exploration just consists of moving in an area while fighting, so it gets boring easily.
There's a very strong core to Jimmy, but I think the choice to focus on gameplay so heavily goes against it. It's really long, and IMO not as fun as it thinks it is, so it's a testament to that core that I still end up having a very positive opinion on the game overall.
(Logging ratings from glitchwave.com)
on one hand, random encounters every ten steps and an utterly broken economy where you go from scrounging through piles of crap to get pennies to having an absurd dragons hoard of wealth
on the other, a very unique and rewarding combat system with great bosses and fantastic dungeons, with an utterly heartwrenching story to boot and an amazing ost
you owe it to yourself to play this, flawed though it may be
on one hand, random encounters every ten steps and an utterly broken economy where you go from scrounging through piles of crap to get pennies to having an absurd dragons hoard of wealth
on the other, a very unique and rewarding combat system with great bosses and fantastic dungeons, with an utterly heartwrenching story to boot and an amazing ost
you owe it to yourself to play this, flawed though it may be
It's a quirky earthbound inspired indie rpg. If you have any interest in those you know what to expect.
The quality of the writing is the main draw of the game and what sets it apart from others. There's a lot of layers to peel back if you're willing to dig deeper, and every location, character, and enemy is steeped in symbolism. I found most of the fun came from trying to figure out why Jimmy portrayed things the way he did in his imagination. There's clearly been a lot of care put into the writing and characterizations of the people you meet.
As far as the gameplay goes, it's got a job system similar to early final fantasy games that offers a good deal of flexibility for building your party. I did find the combat skewed too difficult for my tastes. I felt underleveled for most of the first half, so I switched to easy which then made the game braindead simple.
The art is serviceable, probably the weakest part of the game but it gets the job done. The soundtrack is phenomenal and I still listen to several of the songs from the game. It's on the same level as something like Undertale for memorable bangers.
Overall, it's worth a playthrough if you like other indie RPGs. It does drag towards the end, but I was invested enough to finish it out. There's also plenty of optional content to delve into if you want more.
The quality of the writing is the main draw of the game and what sets it apart from others. There's a lot of layers to peel back if you're willing to dig deeper, and every location, character, and enemy is steeped in symbolism. I found most of the fun came from trying to figure out why Jimmy portrayed things the way he did in his imagination. There's clearly been a lot of care put into the writing and characterizations of the people you meet.
As far as the gameplay goes, it's got a job system similar to early final fantasy games that offers a good deal of flexibility for building your party. I did find the combat skewed too difficult for my tastes. I felt underleveled for most of the first half, so I switched to easy which then made the game braindead simple.
The art is serviceable, probably the weakest part of the game but it gets the job done. The soundtrack is phenomenal and I still listen to several of the songs from the game. It's on the same level as something like Undertale for memorable bangers.
Overall, it's worth a playthrough if you like other indie RPGs. It does drag towards the end, but I was invested enough to finish it out. There's also plenty of optional content to delve into if you want more.
I've only played the demo, love the shit out of it.
Historia que te mata por dentro, musicote increíble que pone los vellos de punta y personajes ultra profundos.
A cualquier fan de los mother-like o JRPGs le va a gustar.
A cualquier fan de los mother-like o JRPGs le va a gustar.
Recomendadísimo si te gusta Earthbound. Tiene muchísimo contenido y aunque la primeras horas se hacen un poco cuesta arriba porque no tienes muchas posibilidades en combate pronto se amplían haciendo que los enfrentamientos sean bastante interesantes, sobre todo por la variedad de enemigos y bosses con estrategias abismalmente diferentes.
Might be the best RPG maker game ever made.