Break Wolf

By some miraculous act of ingenuity, Break Wolf was developed in RPGMaker 2003, making it technically impressive that this game is even able to exist. It's a solid and decently tactical turn-based RPG; the soundtrack is surprisingly varied with, for instance, jazzy tracks and industrial metal (perhaps the loops are too short); and the writing, despite the somewhat lacking translation, has some wit to it. Above all, though, the game is [i]stylish[/i]: everything ranging from the menus to the enemy designs and the minor cutscenes are wonderfully illustrated, hand-crafted for that specific menu or cutscene or level. Romit's visuals will change depending on his contamination and health levels, while Amoria's change depending on the outfit, even just while levelling up or changing your gene loadout. It's a real marvel to stop and simply enjoy the art and music. The game is a sort of eroge, but the "H-content" is in fact ecchi (there's no actual nudity), and it can be turned off either way. Probably the most offensive content is vulgar language; if you aren't scared by swears then I imagine you won't be scared by the "eroge" parts. As for the gameplay, most of it consists of a loop of fighting a single enemy, scavenging for some resources, and tripping your way into dialogues. The combat's depth relies mainly on the mechanic of Lethal Skills—an attack the enemy will rarely use that often deprives you of an entire life if it hits. The depth comes from the fact that these are dodgeable by hitting a specific timing in a mini-game, and that various buffs / debuffs will make this dodging easier (or harder), forcing the player to make some important choices. There are also enemy weaknesses, but these are not often relevant, so most of your combat choices will stem from the timings of buffs and debuffs along with managing resources. Playing on Hard made the combat acceptably difficult throughout, if a bit on the easy side for most of it; at least until the final gauntlet. My only real negative experience with Break Wolf stems from this gauntlet, which is the part of the game that is unlocked once you have beaten both "routes": the first in regular NG, and the second in NG+. This unlocks the game's "extra content", which is described as something there to give closure to the characters, but in fact is a boss rush gauntlet where one fights a super-powered version of each boss and most (all?) regular enemies almost back-to-back. These fights aren't necessarily too difficult, but they are extremely tedious. They have too many lives (the final two have 20+), they take too long to kill, and failing the fight is too punishing in terms of the time investment. The final fight against Adius was actually a good way to cap it off, but by that time I was so spent from the ~10 previous bosses and minibosses that I could scarcely appreciate it. That, however, does not break the rest of Break Wolf's quality. Ultimately, this game is really impressive, both technically and artistically, with competent gameplay, sound, and writing, and a truly standout, consistent art direction that makes the game instantly recognizable, even at a glance. I can only hope that it is just the first step RE Atelier takes as a studio, as I would be very interested in seeing more in this fascinating direction.

재밌게 플레이 했어요. 나쁘지 않았음. 강간범 세탁기 돌리지마라ㅏㅏㅏㅏ

saw this game on a 'hidden gems' video and they were right. I like the setting, characters are all really good and i like the way they're written. haven't finished it yet but it's still amazing.

huge bnreasts

갓겜

absolute hidden gem of a game!! the artstyle was definitely what grabbed my attention the most, every sprite is super lovely and every character's design is very striking and attractive! the story was surprisingly heartwarming with a lot of funny moments despite the grim setting and it created a nice juxtaposition that i enjoyed thoroughly gameplay is rpg maker so it's not too complex but i appreciate the spins they did put on it and big battles do need genuine strategy definitely worth getting if you think you'd be interested!

An actual hidden gem.