RPG Maker Let's Play - Gargantuan - Game Critique
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Hey everyone! In this RPG Maker Let's Play, we look at Gargantuan by Kemsyn. Kemsyn, thank you so much for your support!
This game won Second Place in HawkZombie's Annual Hawktober Game Jam, so we went in with rather high expectations. For the most part, we were not disappointed. The visual effects are amazing, the use of graphics and graphical queues is on point, and the music and sound is just perfect. From a presentation stand-point, the game is A+.
The character of Decker, while good, needs a stronger impetus to go into what is obviously a very dangerous situation. There just wasn't quite enough there to make us believe that he would go into a place so risky without proper equipment. The character of Mai is a fun callback to a non-murderous HAL. The twist with the monster, while broadcasted to the player minutes before the character realized it, pays off regardless.
There are a few minor issues with the game that need to be tweaked: The auto-messages go way, way, way too slow, the maps are way, way too big, and the battles at the end of Decker's story are way too frequent.
However, there are some pretty major issues. The first is that this is effectively two games, and it's not only jarring, it feels like deliberate padding. The only other option we can think of is that the second part of the game, Zero's "story" (we use that term loosely, as it's just a bunch of fights) is an interactive commercial for another game by this developer. If that is the case, and Gargantuan is the prequel to Zero's story (Zero Sum as the title, anyone), then the entire Zero part just needs to be removed from the main application. It straight up doesn't belong.
Second, in that vein, the ending with the asteroid feels flat, and raises a huge problem in that neither Decker nor the Monster are ever mentioned again. They disappear from the story, which is weak writing. Regardless of what happens with Zero Sum (that's what we're calling it now), both Decker and the Monster must have closure.
Third, the opening of the game makes it sound like Decker is out somewhere in the Milky Way Galaxy (the comment about Mankind going "throughout the Universe") when he's purportedly in the Solar System. The physical space-scale is very wonky.
Finally, the science in this game has problems. The developer goes out of their way to push this as Hard Science Fiction, and it breaks a bunch of science rules. There are no sound waves in space. Mass produces a gravitational effect, not size. If the Monster generates anything even close to the gravitation of even a planetoid, Decker would be crushed that close to it. There are no sound waves in space. Chemically propelled bullets (like what Decker had) don't work too good in a non-atmosphere. Something the size of that particular asteroid would not cause a mass extinction. There are no sound waves in space. Light from the stars would attenuate to pure darkness within the asteroid very, very quickly. Anything capable of generating a death laser (presumably through its cells) would create a ton of heat, ergo when Decker is within the Monster, at the very least his thermograph goes ape-shit, and that the most he cooks. And finally, there are no sound waves in space.
On the plus side, however, the balancing is truly top rate, some of the best we've ever seen. Seriously, A+ job there.
Our final analysis is this: If this is meant to just be the Game Jam entry and never anything more, the developer can leave it. If, however, they want to do something with the Gargantuan and Zero Sum stories, then they're going to need more work. Also, this game would be an amazing 3D First Person Survival Horror game, like Alien Isolation... so... food for thought.
What do you all think? How can this game be made into the best it can be? Let us know in the comments below!
HawkZombie's Game Jam (Part One): https://youtu.be/cgd2kKTbces
HawkZombie's Game Jam (Part Two): https://youtu.be/RTKH7AAX8kE
Gargantuan Download: https://kemsyn.itch.io/gargantuan
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