played oct 26th for rpgmaker october (way past halloween to write this but whatever)
v pelicular case of remake here. the 2016 og turtle head was made by christian asprey aka pikasprey, who became a semi-famous youtuber/streamer after the fact and he hasn't made another game since, including this remake for which he mostly gave advice and approval to team meatpie for certain things. i watched pikasprey's playthrough of his original game before playing this remake (for which i had conecvltist in tow as my going-in-blind control), and frankly it looking like an unremarkable killer-chases-you-at-school type deal raised questions of what there even was to work with here. rather than being exclusively abt the game itself, i believe unmasked is the result of fans of his videos/streams finding and playing his one rpgmaker game, and then deciding it would be funny to go so far as to remake it, until they actually wound up doing that. supporting that is how the remake totally has that fandomy feel, complete w the additions of pride flags and gentle reminders for characters to medicate and go to therapy for their literalized mental illness/trauma, but that is also a big part of why i went for this; these signifiers are part and parcel w rpgmaker communities i've encountered and its honestly cute to see it subliminated like this, even in its tweeness.
at least for the main scenario, which most resembles og turtle head w some major differences, i think they did a real solid job! game looks alot nicer n also has a much more impressive attn to detail that asks you to piece some of the narrative together yourself, which was v cool. also much more effectively conveys how terrifying this is for its characters, especially in harriet's case--the ptsd conceit here just kinda works bc the game doesn't dwell on how debilitating it is or anything like that, so seeing her stoicly push thru as fresh scars reopen is pretty intense. helps too that they succeeded in making a much more fucked up killer for how he plays with his victims, something only lightly touched on in the original. emma's scenario, which diverges from the plot almost entirely, i'm not so hot on. there's this attempt to give her more characterization through her relationship to harriet, but it feels indulgent and it detracts from the game's strengths w its horror. it was already effective for letting you feel for the kids in this slasher scenario when they already are deeply affected by the disappearances at school, the drama over stuff outside of that feels really flat by comparison! plus the puzzles became more wack n flags for the true end were easier to miss, which was a bit annoying.
basically this game's first route is pretty good, 2nd is mostly less good if not unnecessary, so i think it adds up to being ok overall. it's worthwhile just because i think its strikes a very interesting balance btwn typically gruesome rpgmaker horror n a well-meaning eagerness to bring sympathy for its characters in spite of that gruesomeness that makes this feel v much like the product of fandom teens. even as its much less overwrought towards the latter side of the scale in the main route than it is in emma's, again, it has a sort of charm in its approach that's nostalgic to me.
v pelicular case of remake here. the 2016 og turtle head was made by christian asprey aka pikasprey, who became a semi-famous youtuber/streamer after the fact and he hasn't made another game since, including this remake for which he mostly gave advice and approval to team meatpie for certain things. i watched pikasprey's playthrough of his original game before playing this remake (for which i had conecvltist in tow as my going-in-blind control), and frankly it looking like an unremarkable killer-chases-you-at-school type deal raised questions of what there even was to work with here. rather than being exclusively abt the game itself, i believe unmasked is the result of fans of his videos/streams finding and playing his one rpgmaker game, and then deciding it would be funny to go so far as to remake it, until they actually wound up doing that. supporting that is how the remake totally has that fandomy feel, complete w the additions of pride flags and gentle reminders for characters to medicate and go to therapy for their literalized mental illness/trauma, but that is also a big part of why i went for this; these signifiers are part and parcel w rpgmaker communities i've encountered and its honestly cute to see it subliminated like this, even in its tweeness.
at least for the main scenario, which most resembles og turtle head w some major differences, i think they did a real solid job! game looks alot nicer n also has a much more impressive attn to detail that asks you to piece some of the narrative together yourself, which was v cool. also much more effectively conveys how terrifying this is for its characters, especially in harriet's case--the ptsd conceit here just kinda works bc the game doesn't dwell on how debilitating it is or anything like that, so seeing her stoicly push thru as fresh scars reopen is pretty intense. helps too that they succeeded in making a much more fucked up killer for how he plays with his victims, something only lightly touched on in the original. emma's scenario, which diverges from the plot almost entirely, i'm not so hot on. there's this attempt to give her more characterization through her relationship to harriet, but it feels indulgent and it detracts from the game's strengths w its horror. it was already effective for letting you feel for the kids in this slasher scenario when they already are deeply affected by the disappearances at school, the drama over stuff outside of that feels really flat by comparison! plus the puzzles became more wack n flags for the true end were easier to miss, which was a bit annoying.
basically this game's first route is pretty good, 2nd is mostly less good if not unnecessary, so i think it adds up to being ok overall. it's worthwhile just because i think its strikes a very interesting balance btwn typically gruesome rpgmaker horror n a well-meaning eagerness to bring sympathy for its characters in spite of that gruesomeness that makes this feel v much like the product of fandom teens. even as its much less overwrought towards the latter side of the scale in the main route than it is in emma's, again, it has a sort of charm in its approach that's nostalgic to me.