A normal school day goes awry as the spirit of a dead classmate enacts her revenge on those who wronged her, while also wishing for your help to save her. One of the first rooms you stumble into has a vase of roses with a key within it. You try to grab it, prick yourself on the thorns, and die. A little while later you wander onto the roof, walk towards the edge, get pulled off the side by a ghost, and die again. Perhaps you pick up a book in the library then the bookshelf crushes you, and--surprise surprise--yet another death!
It took me until finding the list chronicling every single unique death you've occurred in the game for it all to click in. Misao may put on the guise of a typical RPG Maker adventure horror game at first, but this one is FUNNY AS HELL. While yes, you are wandering around solving fairly solid puzzles and collecting items--this is by the same developer of Mad Father and has a similar quality in that regard--the main perverse incentive is finding out how you'll get brutally murdered at every step. It's the most effective set-up/punchline repeated to great effect: you perform an action you probably shouldn't be doing and then you find out what the punishment is. Several deaths had me giggling by the intentional absurdity of them.
While I've played several incredibly brief RPG Maker games during this journey, this is the one that particularly stands out for one that gave me the greatest sense of "oh, it's almost over already?" when I realized I already acquired most of the key items required to complete the game. Not to say the game feels incomplete, but I feel the game would've benefited from having just a biiiit more area to explore. Its basement suggests the idea of there being something more to the game, akin to Mad Father's slow treck downward through each floor, but that was ultimately an area that took less than 5 minutes to go through. Again though, what's provided was a greatly enjoyable time, and the fact I wished for more of it is a testament to its gameplay quality more than anything.
The biggest issue with the game comes down to its story feeling... messy. I came out of the main story more or less understanding the character dynamics, which were nothing special but ultimately workable. Then the "Truth" epilogue was unlocked, a 20 or so minute anthology backfilling the character relations more. The information expounded there not only felt wholly unnecessary but left me more confused on what the relationships between some of the characters were. In particular, Misao and the player character felt like they kinda changed on a whim... which is the two characters that are the most important for that not to happen to!
There was one spoilery scene there that, while optional, left me completely confused at what this game was really supposed to be about, and not in a good way. You can read this incredibly succinct review that sums it up beautifully (again, spoilers): https://www.backloggd.com/u/thespanglemaker/review/906231/
Despite all that, Misao is a funny and competent adventure game worth the two hours and change it takes to finish. Just maybe skip the Truth section! It's totally fine if you do, you're not missing anything! Also choose to play as the female protagonist because they did the Persona 3 Portable thing of making her a bit more unhinged than the male protagonist, and why wouldn't you want that in a comedy game?
It took me until finding the list chronicling every single unique death you've occurred in the game for it all to click in. Misao may put on the guise of a typical RPG Maker adventure horror game at first, but this one is FUNNY AS HELL. While yes, you are wandering around solving fairly solid puzzles and collecting items--this is by the same developer of Mad Father and has a similar quality in that regard--the main perverse incentive is finding out how you'll get brutally murdered at every step. It's the most effective set-up/punchline repeated to great effect: you perform an action you probably shouldn't be doing and then you find out what the punishment is. Several deaths had me giggling by the intentional absurdity of them.
While I've played several incredibly brief RPG Maker games during this journey, this is the one that particularly stands out for one that gave me the greatest sense of "oh, it's almost over already?" when I realized I already acquired most of the key items required to complete the game. Not to say the game feels incomplete, but I feel the game would've benefited from having just a biiiit more area to explore. Its basement suggests the idea of there being something more to the game, akin to Mad Father's slow treck downward through each floor, but that was ultimately an area that took less than 5 minutes to go through. Again though, what's provided was a greatly enjoyable time, and the fact I wished for more of it is a testament to its gameplay quality more than anything.
The biggest issue with the game comes down to its story feeling... messy. I came out of the main story more or less understanding the character dynamics, which were nothing special but ultimately workable. Then the "Truth" epilogue was unlocked, a 20 or so minute anthology backfilling the character relations more. The information expounded there not only felt wholly unnecessary but left me more confused on what the relationships between some of the characters were. In particular, Misao and the player character felt like they kinda changed on a whim... which is the two characters that are the most important for that not to happen to!
There was one spoilery scene there that, while optional, left me completely confused at what this game was really supposed to be about, and not in a good way. You can read this incredibly succinct review that sums it up beautifully (again, spoilers): https://www.backloggd.com/u/thespanglemaker/review/906231/
Despite all that, Misao is a funny and competent adventure game worth the two hours and change it takes to finish. Just maybe skip the Truth section! It's totally fine if you do, you're not missing anything! Also choose to play as the female protagonist because they did the Persona 3 Portable thing of making her a bit more unhinged than the male protagonist, and why wouldn't you want that in a comedy game?