Ib

I've binged on these RPGmaker horror games in the past, and I think Ib was hands down just better in every way than all of the similar titles I've played. I would still recommend some of the others, such as Paranormal Syndrome which was had some legitimately great qualities, but I would much sooner point to Ib than any of its contemporaries that I've played. I'm not counting Yume Nikki-likes or Toilet in Wonderland as contemporaries, BTW.

In Ib you play as a little girl who gets lost in an art museum which turns into a living nightmare. The art museum and story is certainly a rabbit hole. You will probably move fairly effortlessly through the world, which is pretty linear, solving easy (but not completely trivial) puzzles along the way. I wouldn't go into it expecting much challenge to get in the way or much depth to the gameplay and puzzles, but there's just barely enough there to have you use your brain every once in a while. The contents aren't too scary. It's short, but there's a good variety in the areas & NPCs you find along the way, and the story is very good for what it is. It's fairly subtle and relies well on both atmosphere and the narrative.

Ib doesn't have much in the way of gimmicky deaths and jump scares like some of the other RPGmaker games do, like Witch's House. I'm not really against that approach necessarily, I think it worked well in Witch's House and in Toilet in Wonderland particularly, but the thing is that just throwing surprise deaths at you all the time isn't usually scary, it's actually just comical. I can think of many games that use this kind of thing with the clear intention of being silly or parodying something else, but what place does it have in an atmospheric horror game? In Ib, more or less forced deaths like this would undermine the story and the atmosphere. Like a good horror game, Ib is more reserved, and the dread and unease is sometimes very subtle. My favorite ending in the game is the best example of this. Ib doesn't often threaten to kill the player, it gives you more room to breathe rather, and I think this was a good choice. Ib is perhaps arguably more surrealistic than horror, but I'd say it's a mixture of both and while playing it, you do get more interested in the characters, due to their placement in their surroundings. You don't really know to which extent you can trust them, there are many reasons to be wary of them, and that makes the experience all the more immersive. The museum itself is even a strong character.

Although I called it a surrealistic horror game, the game is actually quite touching and the author has here attempted to display genuine humanity and bonding, something which I find to be rare in videogames. Ib is one of the first games I would point to when searching for sympathetic characterization and storytelling. The overall direction is quite artistic, as well, though the visuals are so-so. I very much enjoy the warmth of the story within the nightmarish setting, and that makes the actual horrible parts that much more effective. I would highly recommend Ib if you think anything I've said so far sounds interesting, because although I won't guarantee an amazing game, I find it hard to imagine that anyone interested in Ib's contents wouldn't enjoy it on some level. To me, it's a great game, but I'm on the fence on calling it fantastic. Perhaps a replay is in order to decide that. For a silly little RPGmaker game, I also must compliment some of the music, which can be either genuinely evocative (olddoll is splendid, and NoOneInSight wouldn't be out of place in Yume Nikki) or comfortable... humanistic even (HideAndSeek is probably the track that I bonded with most.)

Ib has quite a lot of endings for such a short game, much care went into these, and it would be a chore to play through the game multiple times just to see them all, but I think it's important to experience all these endings as they're a big part of the game. If you played through the game once and only saw 1 ending then go back to it at some point because you missed out. Make sure to watch videos of all the endings, at least, if you don't want to bother getting them all legitimately (I didn't). Really. My favorite is A Painting's Demise, easily one of the best endings to any game I've played. Thinking about this game some more, Ima have to raise my rating, but I have yet to replay it.

Its an RPG maker game, in which you play as a girl lost in a museum, when creepy things start to happen.

As much as this one is praised it left me cold actually. The music and atmosphere are generally good, but the writing and visuals make it hard to take it seriously as a horror game.

Gameplaywise it consists of some very little puzzles and exploration, as well as trying to avoid the cheap deaths the game likes to throw at you.

It takes about 2 hours to complete, and i was hooked pretty much all the way, but after it was done i was left a bit unsatisfied. Having multiple endings did not increase the replayability, because the gameplay is so shallow.