Tearscape

“Overall I give the game an 80%, detracting mainly because the soundtrack is not my favorite. I appreciate the author included music which a lot of games don't bother these days, but there is nothing memorable about the tracks and some of them are just downright boring, repetitive, and rudimentary.”

“Let me explain: large parts of the game feel like they were half done, like the music being incredibly samey and looping so fast that it gets on your nerves after a while, or the same enemies showing up in every single area over and over again, or the puzzles being either the 3-4 boxes with glowing eyes or the 3-4 colors you need to find throughout the level.”

“It's a step back from those now-ancient games in several departments; awful, repetitive music, a highly controllable jump replaced with a dash which covers a difficult-to-judge distance, a terrible map which makes navigation a chore, random massive spikes in difficulty.”

“The graphics are pretty bland.”

“Other times, one of our deceased bodies randomly glitched and moved off the screen, which caused the overall graphics to become unplayable.”

“I encountered multiple other minor bugs, including situations where enemy sound effects did not play, graphics would flicker in unintended ways, and enemy and player animations appeared to take differing amounts of time without an overall slowdown or speed-up of the game's functions.”

“The plot adds nothing; barely more than a rough gesture to push you towards the next area, culminating in an offensively anticlimactic ending.”

“The story and worldbuilding are half-hearted, without even a wrap-up text crawl or scene at the end.”

“It has an enigmatic plot that is barely explained in notes and characters, with random interactions where you are expected to be a jerk, and it has an abrupt ending that doesn't really tell you anything.”

“Firstly, it is difficult to convey a gothic brooding atmosphere with a Game Boy palette.”

“The overall atmosphere is pretty grim and there's a bit of background story that slowly reveals itself as you progress through the game.”

“I always preferred the original 1991 Game Boy version of Sword of Mana (Final Fantasy Adventure) to Link's Awakening, and this felt like FFA with a more mature atmosphere (not that slaves dying for the entertainment of the empire isn't dark) and a more refined inventory.”

“These games excel in their challenge when they test my skill and tactics, not when they ask me to perform the same tedious actions over and over again, punishing me for slip-ups.”

“Now that I finally completed the game, I can truly say that this is a masterpiece and a must-play. However, getting the 100% achievement requires an honest 10-14 hours of pure suffering and grinding, which may feel tedious.”

“What may be frustrating is how it doesn’t really separate itself from its influences and might be too simple or tedious.”

“This game is $15 dabloons, honestly a bit much for a 7 hour game with not a lot of replay value. I feel like a developer can spend a few minutes programming a tiny slideshow or a sprite dancing with a "thank you for playing" subtitle.”