Preview: Saint Kotar: The Yellow Mask (PC – Steam) ~ It’s A Holy Sin.

Developers’ site – Full game website – Kickstarter – Steam page for the prologue

Ah, point-and-click adventure games. One of the best game genres that there is in my opinion. I do love myself a good point-and-click game. Now, you could start a debate if games like Ace Attorney, Corpse Party, Zero Escape series are also point-and-click games. I know that they are visual novels but I find that there is a lot of overlap between both genres. But that might be an interesting topic for a gamer’s thoughts article. Now, today I want to talk about a game that Red Martyr Entertainment is developing called Saint Kotar. They have launched a Kickstarter to raise more money to develop this game even further, you can find the link to the Kickstarter at the start of this article and it’s ending this Friday, July 24th, 2020. So, if this game seems interesting to you, feel free to take a look at that page. But, how would you know if this game is interesting? Well, by playing the free prologue on Steam of course. In this article, you will find my 100% honest opinion on this prologue, as per request of the developer. So, let’s dive right into it. And per usual, feel free to leave a comment with your opinion on the game and/or the article in the comment section down below. 

Reviewed version: v1.3.

It’s A Holy Sin

When you start a new game in this prologue, you get introduced to the main character of this game. Just by the opening quote, you know which themes this game will tackle. The game is advertised as a dark psychological horror adventure game talking about religion. The story starts in what looks like a hellscape or limbo. The main character feels that he is being punished for something is he is unable to remember.

I don’t want to give a more in depth explanation of the story in this game since the demo is 2 hours long and otherwise I might easily get into spoiler territory. But, if you are interested in games about the exploration of trauma and sins, I think that this game won’t dissapoint you.

The whole prologue is completely voice acted in English and only English. Now, the game got translated to German, Russian, Polish, Turkish, Brazilian, Czech, Spanish, and Chinese. Anything but the voice acting is translated and localized. Since I understand a small bit of German, I replayed the first section with German subtitles and I have to say that I’m quite impressed with the quality of it.

Before I continue to talk about writing, I want to talk about the voice acting. The voice acting is quite well done but it’s on the edge of overacting in my opinion. I can’t really put my finger on it but I felt that some lines weren’t natural enough. But, the fact that I have played in several theatre productions might have something to do with it, since I can get quite nitpicky in details when it comes to delivering lines.

The writing in this game is quite impressive. It strikes that fine balance of creepy and being realistic. Now, something that destroys the immersion a bit for me is the animations, but I’ll talk more about that in a later part of the article. To avoid spoilers, I don’t think it’s a good idea to talk more about the writing. But before we go on to the next section, I do want to talk about this. The pacing is sometimes a bit off. Sometimes there is some downtime where the game looks like it’s soft locked and doing nothing. Most likely, it’s loading the next voice line in the background, but it feels a bit off.

Where is my Bible?

The artwork in this game is amazing. The enviroments this game takes place in are amazingly detailed and feel realistic. The only complaint I have about the visuals is that it’s clear that somethings stick out a bit. The best example I can give are the charater models. Now, they aren’t bad but 3D characters on heavily detailed 2D image? It somehow doesn’t fit in my mind.

One advise I can give you is to set the brightness to max. There are some sections of the game I thought the game froze but it was playing an animation. That reminds me, I found it quite strange that when the screen went black to load the next scene in, there was no animation on the screen. It was just black with the sound and music where playing in the background. Anyhow, when I set the brightness to the maximum, I was able to see more of the game and some parts didn’t felt too hidden anymore.

When talking about the visuals, we also have to talk about the animations. Now, remember that I said earlier that it broke the immersion for me? Well, let me explain why. In the prologue, the animations feel unfinished and they are inconsistent. Let me give an example of them being inconsistent. In this prologue, you play as different characters. During the game, you meet Nikolay. Nikolay’s mouth moves when he speaks yet for some strange reason, the mouth of the main character doesn’t move while he is speaking. Maybe I’m overanalysing this since it’s quite possible that most of it are inner thoughts, then again, the mouth doesn’t move during dialogue…

What do I mean by unfinished animations? Well, it feels like there is so much more that can be done by adding more animations to the characters while interacting with things. The characters feel a bit to static, locked in their idle frames of animation. Now, I’m not saying that the animations are horrible or bad. Far from it. But, when I’m saying is that they aren’t there quite yet. Just let the character move a bit more and the game will feel a lot better.

It’s getting there

There is some minor pixel hunting in this game. This could have been avoided when sometimes hotspots just sprakled or something in that nature. Maybe this could be a difficulty option like a lot of hidden object games do. This could help people when they feel stuck. And then I looked at the “Help” section of the pause menu. This feature is in the game, but it gets never explained. Just press the space bar.

Also, I found it quite strange that when you started the credits from the main menu, you get a message as if you had beaten the game. This is quite strange, since I just wanted to check out how big the team as research for this article.

Overall, this game is really getting there. There are a lot of detailing and polishing work to be done. Thankfully, the developers are quite responisive and open for feedback so I think the full game will be a lot better compared to the prologue. But don’t misunderstand me here, I’m not saying that the prologue isn’t good. I had an amazing time while playing this game.

I’m very impressed by the quality of this game and I’m crossing my fingers for the Kickstarter to reach it’s goal. Since I honestly believe in this team and from what I can see in this prologue, I think this game is going to become quite interesting. So, that’s why I might come over quite harsh in this article in certain sections. I just want to see the game get even better then it currently is. Sometimes, it are just some small details that need to be changed.

For example, the color of the buttons in the main menu are too similar to the colors in the background. The “Options” and “Exit Game” buttons almost blend in with the background for me. Speaking about the UI, it’s extremely well done but it would be bettter if some sound effects would play and if the “ESC” key also exited you out of menu’s.

Speaking about sound effects, they are pretty good. They set the tone and atmosphere quite well. Including the soundtrack of this game, it sells the whole atmosphere without a lot of issues.

In conclusion, this game is pretty decent. I’m seriously impressed with the quality of the game so far. If this is the baseline level of quality that the team can deliver, I’m very excited to see the full game in the future. The game is scheduled to be released in the summer of next year when you look at the deliverly time on the Kickstarter page.

Thank you Red Martyr for this oppertunity and introducing me to this project. I’m going to follow it for sure and whenever the full game is released, you may be sure that I’m going to write an article about it. So yeah, if you are into point-and-click games, horror games and/or adventure games…. I can recommend this game.

And with that said, I have said everything I wanted to say about this game for now. I want to thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope to be able to welcome you in another article but until then, have a great rest of your day and take care.

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First Impression: Ace Attorney Miles Edgeworth Investigations 2 (DS) * Fan Translation * ~ Finally Finished!

Wikipedia entry

Before I begin, I could link you to the translation patch. But that would involve piracy. While this is the ONLY way to play this game in English, I still don’t want to get my blog into trouble by providing you with links to the patch. For that reason, you will have to look up the patch yourself. You can find it quite easily and the instructions are pretty solid so if you never patched a game before with a translation patch, you won’t be lost! Anyways, I have waited for a long time with writing this article. That’s because the translation has only recently been finished. So, let’s take a look at the game. (All the screenshots are of the translation and the first case.) Feel free to leave a comment with your opinion on the game and or my article. 

Why no English release?

The reason why this game didn’t saw an English release is because the first game didn’t bring enough profit. The first game was pirated too much. Now, we can debate this move. But in the long run, the pirates win here. In order to play the game you either have to learn to read Japanese OR play a rom translated to English.

Now, the patch that’s floating around on the internet is amazingly crafted. It’s more then just a patch to change the text. They went to the length of changing the art and even the sound into English. Now that’s dedication.

I have tested some beta versions of this patch and I have seen the patch progress and evolve. It’s very clear that they handled this with the uttermost care. It’s very clear that they wanted to release a patch without any bugs or mistakes. Seriously guys, my hat goes off to you. My Indy hat!

The story of this game is really interesting. We get a better look at who Miles actually is. That’s something I really missed in the first game. In the first game you only saw Miles in all his glory. Now you can see him from different angles. How he reacts to people from his past.

Because this is an Ace Attorney game, you can bet your law court that this is an amazing game in terms of story. It’s a visual novel adventure after all. The translation brought this game really to life. That’s what I love about the handheld communities, when they team up to help the devs to get their game out.

Now, if this is really helping out the devs in a positive way, that’s a subject for a whole other debate. So, let’s look at the game now. How much fun is this game to play? Was it worth translating? Let’s take a look!

Playing chess

I was blown away by the new chess mechanic in this game. At first I was afraid that this would ruin the game. But it turns out very good. I only finished the first case and I’m halfway through the 2nd one. (I assume) and the mechanic really makes you feel like Egdeworth.

The mechanic is used when you want information out of somebody. And comparing it with chess is an amazing translation in the game. The clues and arguments you find in what the person says can indeed be used to corner him (or her) and get the information you need out of that person.

What I truly like about this mechanic is that it’s timed. This way the questioning doesn’t loose it’s feel of being just that. Don’t worry about running out of time since you get some time back if you break one barrier.

The rest of the gameplay is exactly the same as in the original. You can walk around one area to find clues or progress the story. The logic mechanic makes a great return as well. The game isn’t a boring game to play. I dare to call this game an example to other visual novels. The game has an amazing balance between gameplay and story.

One issue is still present. It’s a problem I have with the whole series. At some moments, you can possibly show more then one piece of evidence. But the game is programmed that only one piece of evidence is the correct piece. While this doesn’t happen very often, I don’t think this is a major issue.

Perfect game?

As a big Nintendo DS fan, I dare to say that this game is one of the best visual novel games that the system has to offer. But it’s not perfect. I have said earlier that this game sets a great example for other visual novel games.

But the game has some minor issues with the controls. The start button won’t always give you the ability to save. Now, that’s an irritant issue. It might possibly get fixed by the translation team but I doubt it myself.

After I have played two Ace Attorney games on the 3DS, I agree with the claims that the 2D games like a bit plain. But, it would be cheap to call this game ugly based on that. Actually this game isn’t ugly at all.

Graphically, this game is pretty well done. I have to admit that some of my favorite character designs of the series are in this very title. In addition with that, the animation is truly top notch! As we are used from Capcom.

And of course, I have to talk about the music. The music of this series is one of my favorite game music of all time. And in this game we find old and new tracks. They are a real joy to listen to and give that extra to the game which makes it even more fun.

Anyways, I think I’ll leave it here for this first impression. I hope you enjoyed reading this article as I enjoyed writing it. I will write a review of this game as soon as I beat beat, you guys may be sure of that. But for now, I hope to see you guys in another article!