Released Corpse Party: Returning Nightmare

Tomix9tomix · Jan 15, 2018

I played this recently, and I've got to say, it is something special. It might just be because this was my first Corpse Party game, but it is sure to be an experience I remember for a long time. Some of the scenes just send chills up your back. Obviously, as the thread says, this game isn't for everyone, but for me, I found it to be an interesting experience, and I would recommend it to anyone considering it.

I can't wait for the other chapters to come out and see where the story goes. Should be lots of fun, keep it up!

SmokedPaprika · Feb 9, 2018

Alright, so, as you know, I played your game about a week ago, and I thought it was pretty good! The character designs were great, the maps weren't too bad, and the writing seemed like it was decently emulating what I remember of older Corpse Party games.

I'll go through a few points in spoilers, now.

The Visuals:

I still think your maps could benefit from a graphical upgrade - the RPGMaker feeling of the game does come off almost immediately, and takes a while to get used to. As far as the general map structure goes, everything felt sound. Although, it was a little weird to open a door, move upwards in a map, walk out up top, and then appear to the right of the initial door.

The art is really good, and some of the characters have unique and memorable designs. You should give a lot of credit to whoever did those character pieces - they clearly care about your project and did their best to help make it succeed.

The Writing:

I did like the characters and thought that they were nice and varied. I get why you outright told us their individual personalities (because iirc, that's the way Corpse Party tends to actually do its characters), but I think it's better to let the characters speak for themselves and to let us get a firmer grasp on who they are from their actions, rather than just telling us who they are and strongly hinting at why they might be like that.

I think one thing you were trying to do was simply refresh the basic rules of Corpse Party - ie, if you die, your soul gets trapped in Sachiko's dimension, and you suffer the pain of your death for all eternity. The problem is, you do it so fast, and in such a lackadaisical fashion, that I don't really feel the horror of what should be a terrifying concept. And it doesn't come off like it dawns on any of the main protagonists, either.

And to be honest, it feels like it should. But our protagonist almost seems very emotionally detached to the situations overall. I wasn't sure if that was his personality or not, but I don't think any of the other characters seemed like they were that invested in the situation, either. This took me out of the story a bit.

Thankfully, you brought me back into the story by doing the thing I think Corpse Party does best - bringing the characters' personal lives and insecurities into the picture. This is where I think you did best, and I think that you did a good job giving us a sense of what it was like to be the protagonist before the game started.

I think this is because you're putting yourself in the character, here, and I think that the character feels detached to the actual situation because you're not as capable at relating to the protagonist's newfound situation. It's such a bizarre "what-if" concept that it WOULD be harder to portray it in an equally compelling light. But I do think you should work on better blending the horror of Sachiko's world with the horror/anxieties of the protagonists' lives.

Take the time to really imagine what this situation would be like. This is not a situation you would want to be in. It's a situation the brain resists thinking too hard about. I can't tell you how to make the scenario more investing, all I can tell you is to really dig deep down and try to feel it. That's probably vague, but the more you do this, the more you'll make it easier for the players to get invested in the game they're playing, and not just the backstories of the characters.

The Gameplay:

I wouldn't mind being given a little more time to let my character run. There's a lot of backtracking towards the end of the chapter involving finding (a little too well) hidden items and areas necessary to progress the game. The vomit in particular was a stretch. I wouldn't have known where to look if I hadn't directly asked you where I needed to go. Not sure if other people feel the same way.

I also thought that the encounter with the creature towards the end was a little unfair - I often found myself in specific situations where the beast would always be close to me as I interacted with certain items, and it would basically be impossible not to be caught by the creature.

Other than that, I thought it was simple enough that the gameplay was totally acceptable, and relatively easy to go through. Looking forward to the next few chapters!

Good luck with the rest of the game!

Released Corpse Party: Returning Nightmare

Tomix9tomix

The beetle is waking up

SmokedPaprika

Stinky Person