Forum Overview :: Mischief Maker's Maker's Mark
 
Here's a more readable version. by MM 05/19/2014, 4:27am PDT
It's a fairly short metroidvania with a moderately deep combo system and an involved RPG stat interface with a level cap. It's built around multiple playthroughs trying different builds emphasizing different play styles. It's a very rough product with many hiccups, but as a complete experience I'd say it's one of the best games I've played in a long time.

The premise is that an apocalyptic war between angels and demons is going on with humanity trapped in the middle. You play a motely crew of renegades searching for a macguffin to save humanity. At the start of the game you get shipwrecked and end up in this setting's Jerusalem; a city in a magic bubble under an arctic sea where the angels and demons are searching for something... It's a game that fleshes out its story in pieces as it goes along ala. cave story.

Let's get the negatives out of the way first:

  • The game is still incomplete. Only 2 out of the 4 characters have been implemented so far (but there are dozens of builds for each), lots of helper NPCs are still listed as "coming soon" and a few secret rooms start empty and stay empty an entire playthrough. There are promising preview videos of the upcoming characters, but the game hasn't updated in months ever since one of the developer's father died.

  • It's running on the gamemaker engine with all the weaknesses that come with that. One particular forehead-slapper is they declined to give the game a logo splash for the 30 seconds or so gamemaker takes to boot, so if you're not sure you double-clicked fast enough you could open multiple instances by accident.

  • The wall-jumping and ledge-surmounting mechanics are very... touchy and the game is crawling with timed jump puzzles.

  • There are events in the game where towns can be abandoned or massacred (along with their local merchants) if you don't fight the bosses in the correct order and there's really no warning it's coming outside of a walkthrough.

  • The default keyboard controls are TERRIBLE and need to be rebound ASAP.

  • This game uses a system where you buy or upgrade equipment using a variety of random drops and you may have to spend some serious time grinding if the RNG isn't feeling generous.

  • There are some great boss battles in this game, but the final boss is not one of them.

On to the positives:

  • You get DMC-style ratings after each boss fight and as long as you rate B or better you get permanent stat boosts. Part of this involves speed-killing the boss so you get this great synergy of stat-managing for maximizing the damage output of your choice, and player-skill for effectively dealing out that pain in a long unbroken chain without getting hit.

  • Equipment consists of dozens of pieces of upgradeable equipment, each built for different styles of builds. I played my low-difficulty run with a neutral barehanded luck build, intentionally thinking this was the most inefficient build to compensate for enemies' low HP only to find an armband toward the end of the game that turned my build into an absolute BEAST.

  • A fun skill tree that enhances all kinds of playstyles. Just on the Wyatt Defensive tree you can be a high-HP and armor damage sponge, you can create an impenetrable force field when blocking, you can be a perfect-timing dodge and parry build, and so on.

  • If you decide you fucked up your build, there's a hypnotist character who will refund all your stat and skill points.

  • The story starts dark and stays dark through the end. It completely refrains from finger-waggling morality lessons.

  • The music is really good for an indie effort.

  • A solid metroidvania exploration experience the first playthrough.

Give the demo a try!
PREVIOUS NEXT REPLY QUOTE
 
I'm very impressed with Valdis Story! by Mischief Maker 05/14/2014, 7:48pm PDT NEW
    Does it have crazy random loot numbers? by Lurker 340924 05/14/2014, 10:06pm PDT NEW
        Why don't I actually write a review? by Mischief Maker 05/18/2014, 2:37pm PDT NEW
            You're scaring the shit out of me by Roop 05/18/2014, 10:51pm PDT NEW
                I meant it as a bullet-point list but forgot the bullets. NT by MM 05/19/2014, 4:19am PDT NEW
                    Forgot the bullets? A mistake you only make once, SON NT by EuroKramer 05/19/2014, 11:55am PDT NEW
                Here's a more readable version. by MM 05/19/2014, 4:27am PDT NEW
                    I liked it too! by Lurker 410942 06/19/2014, 8:53pm PDT NEW
                        Fuck Treu, what a fucking miserable god damn boss. by Worm 06/21/2014, 7:05pm PDT NEW
                            I beat him with a D rating by Lurker 340924 06/21/2014, 10:56pm PDT NEW
                                I actually managed an A and could have had an S if I did it quicker. by Worm 06/21/2014, 11:18pm PDT NEW
                    Frontpage plz NT by Mysterioso 06/22/2014, 4:17am PDT NEW
                    Not great ... just not NOT GREAT? by Worm 06/25/2014, 5:50pm PDT NEW
                        Forget Anenome's regenerating lifebar, just hunt down the crystals. NT by Mischief Maker 06/25/2014, 7:24pm PDT NEW
                            It's just so tedious and the crystals respawn fast as shit. by Worm 06/26/2014, 9:51am PDT NEW
                                Hint for the FINAL final boss *spoiler* by Mischief Maker 06/27/2014, 4:40am PDT NEW
                                Luckily it doesn't really attack very often by Lurker 410942 06/27/2014, 5:56am PDT NEW
    I didn't rescue the magic Corgi in the mines, god damnit! NT by Worm 06/22/2014, 11:45am PDT NEW
    Holy shit! They finally finished it! by Mischief Maker 05/08/2015, 12:16pm PDT NEW
        Still the worst final boss fight in all history. NT by Worm 05/10/2015, 1:12pm PDT NEW
            Fuck it deleted and hidden, what a way to spoil an otherwise fine game. NT by Worm 05/10/2015, 1:26pm PDT NEW
        Double jump is now a passive skill! by Lurker 234315 05/14/2015, 9:59pm PDT NEW
            I forgot the game even had double jump, no wonder Anemone was hard to get over NT by Worm 05/15/2015, 12:14pm PDT NEW
            Re: Double jump is now a passive skill! by Mischief Maker 05/29/2015, 8:59am PDT NEW
                Whoops! Missed a quote tag in there! NT by Mischief Maker 05/29/2015, 8:59am PDT NEW
    I'm trying to like this by fabio 06/14/2015, 6:18pm PDT NEW
 
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