Corpse Party is responsible for introducing so many people to the world of RPG Maker and how it can be utilized in the creation of horror games. I can only imagine the amount of creators inspired, directly and indirectly, by this game to create their own horror games in the engine, and I think that’s a great thing. That is where Corpse Party’s merit as a game and a work of art ends.

For a survival horror game, Corpse Party has absolutely nothing to fear. While the abandoned, falling apart school might create a decent enough atmosphere, and the sound design is pretty effective, the vast majority of the game’s horror relies on shock and the repulsive: the corpses of dead children littered throughout hallways, buckets of maggots, literal piles of gore, but the threats that are actually within the school are comparatively pathetic. The few chase scenes here are genuinely hilarious, with virtually every enemy crawling at a snail’s pace while just yelling the character’s name. Actually, a lot of the horror is outright hilarious. There’s a scene in chapter 4 of a man throwing himself off of a roof repeatedly in the goofiest way possible, which had me cackling. Nothing to actually fear though, and the unintentional comedy isn’t frequent or good enough to turn this into “so bad it’s good”.

Any gameplay is an absolute chore. Most of the game is spent wandering aimlessly around the school’s hallways, with (again) no threats to speak of, and little direction to go off of. The school itself is far too big to warrant this directionless feeling, so it’s hard not to just rely on a guide while playing, just to get through these sections as quickly as possible. I’ve already spoken about the pathetic chase scenes, but there are also “puzzles” I haven’t mentioned yet, the highlights of which include following a ghost’s movements Simon Says style, saving someone from drowning by going to the exact tile the game tells you to go to, or picking up a teleporting item by having one character go to one half of the classroom, while another character goes to the other half, something the creators were so proud of that they repeated it like three or four times. Nothing here involves any sort of thinking beyond memorization, and it, again, leads to a lack of any horror, as the game just feels like an aimless haunted house.

Plot and characterization are just a big pile of nothing as well. The plot isn’t offensively bad, but pretty much any other Japanese curse story you can think of does everything here, except probably better. At least you can count on those stories having more interesting characters. I love video game stories featuring revolving protagonists, so I was initially excited to see where things would go, but all of these characters feel like they were just pulled from a mediocre Weekly Shonen Jump manga. As of my writing of this review, I’ve reached the final save point of the game, but haven’t actually finished it, so I will update things if the ending changes my mind (update: it didn’t), but for all of the mediocre gameplay I’ve experienced in so many RPG Maker games, at least those have interesting set ups, characters, and/or theming. Corpse Party is nothing.

To be honest, this is probably the type of game I would’ve loved if I played it as a teenager (I still have a soft spot for Misao, for example, which is basically a bootleg version of this game), but I can’t help but feel like Corpse Party is worthless in 2023. With the tropey characters featuring nothing to make them stand out, the unintentional comedy of the horror, and little details like the panty shots within otherwise serious scenes, Corpse Party’s standout feature is that it feels like a parody of itself. If you want a great Japanese survival horror game revolving around ghosts and a curse, check out Fatal Frame II. Actually, just check out Ao Oni, The Witch’s House, Utaho no Tatari, or even Misao, as these games are stronger indicators of the originality that comes out of RPG Maker (they’re also free, unlike this one). For all of the talk around Corpse Party, including its legacy and its being milked by larger companies over the years, I don’t see this game get recommended anymore as an actual video game, while I still see so many other RPG Maker horror games getting praise to this day. Playing it, it’s easy to see why, and while it might be interesting for those who like these games to go back to it, to see where things figuratively got started, I honestly think it’s better if we just let Corpse Party remain in the past, and let its legacy live on.

Aside from the obvious language barrier, Bokunatsu really is a must play for any fan of life simulators. There's some jank to be found, particularly in its bug catching and fishing minigames, and the game isn't flooding with content like others in the genre, but its relative simplicity works so well to its advantage. You're never going to find a million different things to do everyday like in an Animal Crossing game, but there's always at least something new to find, and its those moments, witnessing Boku's discoveries and reporting on them in his nightly journal that make everything here feel so special.

Besides, what defined Bokunatsu for me, more than anything, was its characters. It's why I can't really recommend this game at all to anyone without at least beginner-level Japanese reading; you'd miss out on so much of the best content by not understanding the dialogue. Every character is really easy to like, but the Sorano family in particular really resonated with me. Maybe its just because the family feels far more human than most video game characters, but I found it really easy to get emotional during certain moments (the scene between Boku and his aunt when the former gets sick was particularly excellent). Despite its fun and cartoony art style, Boku is more bittersweet than anything, and it honestly did hurt a little seeing the credits roll.

Nostalgia is Boku no Natsuyasumi's most prevalent theme, and a major point of discussion regarding the game. The scenario presented in Boku isn't something I related to at all initially, but I honestly think there's at least something that anyone who has experienced summer vacation can relate to, whether it's catching the biggest fish in the lake, screwing around with the neighborhood delinquents, or even just witnessing a rainbow after a summer shower. For me, it was those increasingly common moments of Boku and his older cousin sitting and talking under the night sky. Even if I forget everything else about this game, that's an image that's going to stay with me, because it hit so close to home.

Fantastic game. The love for it is well deserved, and it's an easy recommend for anyone with a decent understanding of Japanese. Playthroughs are rather short at around 12 hours long, and the game is really easy to pick up for a bit, then set down for a few months without forgetting anything (my own playthrough took roughly six months). It was also refreshing to play something where 100% completion didn't even feel like an option; a game where it was actively okay to miss out on major points of content. It makes Boku no Natsuyasumi not only a fantastic playthrough, but something worth coming back to.

I think, above all else, what makes Yume 2kki stand out as unique in not just RPG Maker games, or even just video games, but media in general, is how it still manages to impress years after its release. For all that I appreciate about my other favorite games, including those that so obviously inspired 2kki, none have managed to continuously leave me speechless so long after I initially played it like this free indie game has. If games are art, Yume 2kki is a canvas the size of the Louvre.

The fact that 2kki advertises itself as a mere fan sequel to Yume Nikki is an ultimate understatement. To be clear, Yume Nikki is fantastic, it's a 10/10 classic, and it’s an arguably equal game to 2kki. That said, it’s still a cute little hour-long experience that’s fun to drop into from time to time in order to immerse yourself in its vibrancy and its melancholy. 2kki is a monster. Yume Nikki fans can easily count all of its worlds; I’m not sure if anyone has ever experienced all of 2kkis worlds. Yet Yume 2kki, even with its massive amount of locations, would be considered like any other fan game if it just stopped there, but what makes the game stand out is that it just keeps going. Yume Nikki games stop when the player obtains all of the effects, but in this one, that’s when the game really gets started. Collecting wallpapers and menu themes, and digging as deep as possible for the most obscure worlds and events is what really turns this game from a fantastic tribute to something all of its own, completely enjoyable as its own experience and even more impressive as a tribute to Yume Nikki and its community.

It's no secret that this game’s range of quality varies wildly from world to world. That’s naturally going to be the case with this type of game. Some moments will feature some of the best pixel art and dark ambient music you’ll ever hear, the next world will look like a 10 year old’s MS Paint portfolio, but I can’t help but feel that even these utterly mediocre worlds serve as a bonus to the overall experience. Despite a lack of artistic ability in some of these areas, they’ll often simultaneously feature a lot of great ideas (see the Dream Park), and help further establish Yume 2kki as a passion project of passion projects.

Even if these stylistically lesser worlds bother you, that shouldn’t take away from the best this game has to offer, which goes far above and beyond what any other Yume Nikki game, dream simulator, or “walking simulator” has to offer. Any vein of worlds made by qxy or wataru fit nicely within this category. It’s so easy to jump to my favorite section of this game, the path to Lavender Waters, which provides such bittersweetness yet bliss as the player goes deeper and deeper into its worlds. It feels like it’s own game entirely, yet it, and qxy’s other worlds perfectly showcase 2kki’s mix of emotions. Traveling through the Cotton Candy World, the player can continue into the surreal loveliness that world has to offer, but they may find themselves drifting into the horrors beyond the surface. I’ve never been outright terrified playing Yume 2kki, but the ways that horror works itself into areas one wouldn’t expect made those few horrific moments stand out (see the Infinite Library and Static Noise Hell for my favorite examples of this).

Most importantly though, these sudden moments of horror call back to 2kki’s crowning achievement: no other game quite recreates dreams and nightmares in the way that this game has. Most dream simulators are limited in the sense that they often simulate the dreams of its small team of developers, maybe even just one person. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that 2kki’s state of being as a free, international, community-led project has led to a far wider, more realistic portrayal of dreams. The only other game that comes even close is the relatively new B3313, fittingly another community led, free project. Even that game only goes so far though. Yume 2kki really takes RPG Maker to its limits. The engine itself has often been viewed as an outlet for the independent developer, writer, musician, or artist, and in that sense, 2kki is an even more accessible outlet, by already giving developers the game’s defined mechanics and just letting them explore.

To be fair though, so many dream simulators don’t even really try to accurately simulate the average dream. Take the original Yume Nikki, for example. That experience serves less as a simulator of dreams, and more of an open window into a tortured mind. Yume Nikki tells a story, and that makes it a different beast entirely from Yume 2kki, which has no greater story to tell (realistically, most Yume Nikki fangames come with a clear story to decipher). To call 2kki’s symbolism and exploration meaningless would be a flawed perspective, though. Again, Yume 2kki is a canvas for the surrealist, and ultimately, these developers have their own story to tell. It’s as if a character and a world were presented to a room of writers, and every one of them then crafted their own wildly different, yet similar stories out of them.

Still though, 2kki doesn’t really have a main plot, and much like Yume Nikki, all of the endings are very short. A short ending isn’t too big of a deal in a short game, but after spending maybe 30 to 40 hours getting 95% of the wallpapers for 2kki’s final ending, only for it to be a 30 second abstract scene, might hit players the wrong way. The same might be the case regarding how obtuse the exploration can be sometimes. Realistically, the 2kki wiki is a requirement to complete the game, and it’s a great wiki. I find exploring the website to be akin to some kind of treasure map, especially when there’s a menu theme or a cool wallpaper attached at the end, but some might find a constant referral back to the wiki to take them out of the immersion. Neither of these issues bother me too much, what my main issue tends to be is that some worlds are just a bit too convoluted for their own good. Sometimes, great art can get in the way and make worlds actively harder to navigate through, and other worlds just boil down to massive mazes that are easy to get frustrated by without, again, a constant referral back to the wiki. Far from a dealbreaker for me, obviously, though it does turn some potentially fantastic locations toward mediocrity.

For more or less two and a half years, Yume 2kki has been my go-to video game. It stands out so clearly among a sea of open world games where areas are virtually indistinguishable from each other. There’s still so much to discover, too, and many of my favorite discoveries only came in the form of updates from the last year or so. It may seem like I talked about a few worlds, but I didn’t even talk about the perspective shifting areas, if you know you know. You can’t really go wrong with at least trying out Yume 2kki. Knowledge of Japanese isn’t really needed at all in order to play, and there are so many different methods of playing through the game, whether you view it as a collectathon, or just something to blindly fire up once in a while and wander around. I’ve never stopped loving RPG Maker games, but over the last month, I’ve been looking at some RPG Maker horror games I never played before, reaffirming my love for this niche of gaming. That said, nothing I’ve played comes even close to Yume 2kki (or Yume Nikki). It’s a joy coming back to these games and realizing there’s so much more to discover, though it’s a bit melancholic all the same knowing that there’s likely no game in this field that will reach the level of ambition, community support, or raw artistry of Yume 2kki.

tldr: good.

An all around improvement on the original, Utaho no Tatari 2 features a pretty nothing story, and its exploration is lacking in comparison to other similar games, like Ib. However, if you want a genuinely scary game that you can beat in an hour or two, you really can't go wrong with this one.

Much like the original, Utaho no Tatari 2's exploration can feel a little directionless, usually involving searching rooms (often repeatedly) for items rather than any actual puzzles. Unlike the original, I felt this directionless feeling, particularly in the two house levels, really added a certain tension rather than any frustration. Chasers are used sparingly, but were more unpredictable this time, which is exactly what I was hoping for.

The game also features two distinct main routes, both of which are worth pursuing, as well as a hidden ending that shouldn't be too hard to find. The hospital route had the better dungeon and had more outright scares, though the shrine route has that one thing that you probably know this game for, and had more moments that induced paranoia.

Hoping this game gets a fan translation one day. The RPG Maker horror boom is long over, but I'd love to see this game get more attention in the west.

Cool little experience. Probably the scariest RPG Maker horror game I've played so far (Fear and Hunger and The Witch's House are up there). I wish the chasers were more unpredictable, but the mix of RPG Maker default assets and real life imagery make every encounter feel unnerving.

The village section was an absolute slog and the creator knows it, they literally included a password to skip the section of finding keys. Would genuinely recommend getting the scarier and more fun bad ending, then looking up the true ending on YouTube. Hoping the sequel has better puzzles and makes the story more engaging, but I enjoyed my time with this one.

I've been a fan of this artist for a couple of years now, and it's no surprise to me that art design is easily this project's best aspect. io manages to capture this nasty, industrial setting so well. The music is great as well, a mix of dark ambient and piano that fits the atmosphere perfectly.

The writing is kind of been-there-done-that if you've played basically any essential RPG Maker game, but I found the chemistry between Lera and Nika to be enjoyable regardless. I want to say I loved the slow build up into outright horror, but I do wish the game was more show and less tell. I didn't need the protagonist to stop and tell me that things were getting weird. I have eyes. Credit where it's due though, moments where rooms change slightly, and you are left to tell what's different were really eerie; I wish those moments were the rule and not the exception.

Pretty amateurish with a lot of first game hiccups, but as a free 30 minute experience, I'd say this is worth your time if you enjoy RPG Maker horror. I have a soft spot for these games personally, but the art design and atmosphere are still enough to warrant a playthrough. I really hope that this isn't their only game, because I'd love to see where they go from here.

I don’t really know how much of Artificial Dream in Arcadia’s appeal is carried by the crossover between MegaTen and Touhou, or just the fact that we haven’t seen Megami Tensei 2’s brand of dungeon crawling in a minute, but what I can say is that it’s a lot of fun, with a clear passion for the two series evident throughout the game and a clear effort to make this style of game play well and make sense in 2023. Features of MegaTen that are often considered frustrating (e.g. pitfalls, one way doors, the magnetite system, the luck based feel of negotiation) are made far more manageable thanks to new additions such as grimoires or the battery system, or, of course, the bullet hell hijacking. The complexity of the dungeons feels toned down from those games just a little bit overall, though they are still well designed and a test of survival and endurance, and anyone missing Atlus’ strangely addicting brand of bullshit dungeon design can look forward to the final post-game dungeon. It’s a comparatively welcoming and accessible game, with all of the quality of life improvements you’d expect from a modern Megami Tensei game, while still requiring careful team building and strategy. I was worried about this game pulling an SMT5 and making level-ups too powerful, and thankfully that’s not the case; I found myself building a new party for just about every dungeon, partially just for fun and partially to not get destroyed.

There’s no way of getting around this, but the story is really lame. The plot just feels like an excuse to explore Gensokyo and collect Touhou characters, and while I never expected a great, or even decent plot from this game, I was still disappointed with how it flounders in some areas. The execution of the tower, for example, which seemed like it was meant to be this game’s version of Tarturus, felt so half-assed with its one gimmick repeated throughout the floors. Not to mention how the final boss and ending felt so anticlimactic. At the very least, the plot does allow for some really fun scenarios, such as vandalizing Eientei with Mokou, or invading the moon and leading a rebellion for moon rabbit worker’s rights. The unintrusive nature of the plot also means that the player is easily able to break away from the story and tackle some of the sidequests and minigames. The strengths of Touhou Project’s writing don’t have too much to do with the plot, it’s more so world building and characterization. In that regard, ADiA sees more success, but still isn’t that great. Shoutouts to the postgame though. If you felt let down by the main ending like I did, that part of the game feels like an actually solid conclusion.

It’s not a perfect game, and even at their best, games like this are niche for understandable reasons. If you’re the type to play an RPG for the story more than anything, you should just go for something else. Still, if you’re a fan of Megami Tensei, Touhou Project, or dungeon crawlers, the game is well worth your time. If you’re unfamiliar with the franchise, I’m not sure how good ADiA is as an introduction to Touhou, but this is probably the best way of getting into classic Megami Tensei, in the event that you’re interested in SMT 1 or 2, but are discouraged by the jank. With a story mode of around 25 hours and a full completion time of roughly 40 hours, I find ADiA is the perfect length for this kind of RPG, and it's well worth the miniscule 10 dollar price tag (I agree with others that the game’s price could have easily been doubled). As a longtime fan of Megami Tensei and Touhou Project, and someone who has missed these types of games, I loved every second of Artificial Dream in Arcadia, despite its flaws. While I don’t expect others to get the same appreciation from it, it’s still a great game, serving as an excellent tribute to both franchises and a lovingly crafted dungeon crawler in its own right.