Riddle School 3! This is the one I remember most fondly from when I was a kid, I would just play it over and over, there was some ineffable element of it that I was just in love with for whatever reason. I'll get into it as the review goes on - and I'm writing this in advance of me actually replaying the game - but I'm excited to see how it goes!
Ok yeah I wasn't mistaken, Riddle School 2 hinted at being something special but Riddle School 3 is the first one to really go all the way in my opinion. In this game the world feels actualized, all the characters have real personalities that are fun to engage with, there's all sorts of silly dialog options and interactable elements that aren't directly related to solving a puzzle which I really like. Things like interacting with Mr. Read or helping Richy get out of his locker then making him a pin equally feel like nice favours and ways to get ahead in the game.
Gameplay-wise, this one excels too, I love the additions that make the game both more intuitive and way more expandable. The ability to mouse over things to see what is interactable and what isn't is such a simple addition that adds so much here and pretty much obliterates any of the super obtuse puzzles alongside the improved dialogue. In a similar vein I love how you can combine items, it's honestly not even used super often which I wish it was but making this progressively more complicated item as time goes on is really silly and a lot of fun.
At this point I kind of started to notice that every game resolves with getting Chubb to get out of the way of the Principal's office, I like the running joke that every principal once you get to them is just a complete pushover but Chubb being "super fat lol!!" is something that the game kind of leans on way too much at this point and I'm glad they kind of resolve it at the end of the series.
It kind of relies on Newgrounds humor and inside jokes a lot, but enough of the game is something other than this that it makes it feel more just like something a teen made on Newgrounds for his friends, which is something very special. Jon hunkered down for 2 months to make this one, and it definitely shows in all aspects of it.
Ok yeah I wasn't mistaken, Riddle School 2 hinted at being something special but Riddle School 3 is the first one to really go all the way in my opinion. In this game the world feels actualized, all the characters have real personalities that are fun to engage with, there's all sorts of silly dialog options and interactable elements that aren't directly related to solving a puzzle which I really like. Things like interacting with Mr. Read or helping Richy get out of his locker then making him a pin equally feel like nice favours and ways to get ahead in the game.
Gameplay-wise, this one excels too, I love the additions that make the game both more intuitive and way more expandable. The ability to mouse over things to see what is interactable and what isn't is such a simple addition that adds so much here and pretty much obliterates any of the super obtuse puzzles alongside the improved dialogue. In a similar vein I love how you can combine items, it's honestly not even used super often which I wish it was but making this progressively more complicated item as time goes on is really silly and a lot of fun.
At this point I kind of started to notice that every game resolves with getting Chubb to get out of the way of the Principal's office, I like the running joke that every principal once you get to them is just a complete pushover but Chubb being "super fat lol!!" is something that the game kind of leans on way too much at this point and I'm glad they kind of resolve it at the end of the series.
It kind of relies on Newgrounds humor and inside jokes a lot, but enough of the game is something other than this that it makes it feel more just like something a teen made on Newgrounds for his friends, which is something very special. Jon hunkered down for 2 months to make this one, and it definitely shows in all aspects of it.