Raging Bytes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYTff0FlyPQ&ab_channel=aarcadee If you were alive during the 2000’s, you may remember just how prevalent zombies were in the media at the time. It seemed like there was a new movie or show centered around the undead every day of the week. And every school in the world had that one kid who was obsessed with them. It was a simpler time. Though that era has come and gone, zombies still maintain quite a cult following. Personally, I’m reminded of this every time I see a video game starring the lil flesh feasters. Based on recent memory alone, we’ve had: Dying Light 2, Dead Island 2, the Resident Evil remakes, and many, many more. That’s a lot of zimzams. That’s also a lot of zimzams in premium priced packages. What about the more cost-friendly indie offerings? What about games like Raging Bytes? This 2023 entry into the ever-growing library of scramble-brained spooky guys sees us taking on the role of Ben. Ben’s a cop who awakens in a hospital one night to find the world in a state of decay. Naturally, Ben decides to get the hell out of hell, with the goal of finding other survivors. What ensues is a roughly six hour journey across a parody of the eastern United States. Sadly, those six hours will carry you through some serious peaks and valleys. This is highlighted the most by Raging Bytes main narrative. The game starts off strong, with a unique premise that genuinely caught my attention. That strength begins to falter the longer Raging Bytes goes on, however, and I ultimately found myself detached from the narrative by the end. In the end, Raging Bytes’ narrative left me feeling both confused and disappointed. The gameplay in Raging Bytes doesn’t fare much better, either. While I do feel there are some solid mechanics here, it didn’t do enough to keep my attention the entire game. Choosing a turn-based combat system for a zombie survival game seemed like an odd choice, and initially helped pique my interest in the title. Sadly, this format of combat really slows down Raging Bytes’ pace. It also doesn’t help that enemies are serious bullet sponges. Specifically bosses. They all felt like they took an insane amount of damage before falling. Imagining those fights on any difficulty besides the default one is genuinely scary to me. There’s also such little variety in regards to gameplay. Practically the entire adventure boils down to reading dialogue, exploring your surroundings for gear or lore, battling some undead while moving from point A to B, repeat. Granted, there’s a couple side quests for you to do. Though they, too, ultimately boil down to the same process of rinse and repeat. On a much brighter note, Raging Bytes does a much better job with its presentation. I’m not generally one to be wowed by what I’m assuming is a game made in RPG Maker. I’ve played a fair share of them over the years, and they almost all look or play the same. Raging Bytes is a surprising exception. Though a few environments do repeat, most of the locations you visit feel varied and at least somewhat inspired. Excellent use of lighting makes for gorgeous, atmospheric environments. And solid pixel art helps to bring both the main cast and the walking zombollinis to life with plenty of detail as well. The game’s soundtrack also helps to set the tone in a few ways. Crunchy and retro, Raging Bytes soundtrack does a great job emulating the gritty feel of both the setting and the aesthetic itself. Rockin, boppin, sloppin MIDI guitars eat away at your ears as prickly, pruney percussion follows close behind to clean up the crumbs. It’s a bit on the small side in regards to actual tracks and track variety, but overall, I think Raging Bytes has a solid soundtrack. So what are my thoughts on Raging Bytes? I think the game has a unique charm that can’t be denied. The environmental designs, retro-inspired soundtrack, and wide cast of characters all standout as highlights here. Unfortunately, many of these aspects are overshadowed by poor pacing, shallow combat, and a confusing story. Would I recommend Raging Bytes? That really depends on what you’re looking for in a game. If you want a flashy and fast-paced indie to sink your teeth into, this won’t do much to satiate your appetite. But if you’re in the market for the equivalent of a B-movie in video game form, Raging Bytes may be worth checking out.

セーブはオートセーブが一つだけなのに自動イベント発生で戻れない場所が多すぎる 結果またステージの最初からやり直すハメになりストレス あとほぼ一本道だしなんか求めていたRPGと違うなと

Fairly straightforward and easy to grasp mechanics, loads of Z movie references, good music and spritework. Production value pretty high here, definitely recommended.

ノーマルでクリア。 ホラーテイストをうたっているだけのドットゲー。 ドキッとするほどの仕掛けはないので、夜にプレイしても全く問題ない。 戦闘が厳しく基本は敵を避けるイメージを謳っているが、 主人公は弾数に関係なく攻撃できる手段を持っていることや、 銃より弱いものの弾数無限武器が出てくるため戦闘しまくっても全く問題なし。 また、回復素材である「血清」についても、貴重そうなことをアピールしているが 全く使わない。なぜなら戦闘で苦労しないから。 難易度が上がれば使うことは増えるかもしれないが・・・。 どうやら、敵を交わして進むとスコアが上がり 敵と戦闘するとスコアが下がっていく仕組みになっているようだが、 スコアが下がったところで何に影響するわけでもなさそうなので気にしない。 怖くない上に戦闘に大きな戦略性もないし音楽も怖くない。 2週目はやる気が起きませんでした。 セールで1200円ぐらいで購入したことを考えれば、その価値ぐらいは取り戻したかもしれない。 コンセプトは良さそうだが、うまく昇華できなかったイメージ。

シナリオはよくあるゾンビもの。感染者が増えて避難者コミュニティで起こるトラブル、そんなものにも巻き込まれながら進む主人公たち。弾制限はあるものの頭を使わなくて済んでしまう戦闘と相まって、非常に退屈でした。 7時間くらいと短いゲームでしたが、スコアアタックする気も起きず今後起動したいとは思わないでしょう。

The game is not entirely worth 15 bucks. The story gets very bland and boring after reaching a certain point. some portions are confusing while some portions just don't seem to entirely connect together Game seemed to be a decent concept of its own version of the walking dead added with a bit of an old classic movie "Night of the living dead or the reanimator" The battles felt bland especially the boss battles the amount damage they take and give vs the damage you dish. There was an facebook game that had the same kind of battle mechanic in it but difference it you could aim at the zombies heads. To bad there isn't just a neutral type of recommendation for games like these. There are slight differences in the Port from mobile to PC For one the darts are not available on the PC port. The game would be more fun as a open world style zombie survival. The entire boring and bland Story narrative portion kills the game after a while.

No doubt it goes without saying that the 'Zombies' genre is one that could be argued is oversaturated these days, with so many clones of Call of Duty's iconic secondary game mode based on the Nazis dating back to CoD: World at War from 2008 and having been almost as popular as the main multiplayer sections of said games themselves which, considering the scale of things, is nothing to scoff at! Though it has led to a lot of uninspired zombie-themed games which, for the most part, lack any real identity to them that makes them stand out from the competition visually nor have solid gameplay to back it up in the fun department side of things. Thankfully, the indie that I have been exploring here out of sheer curiosity, Raging Bytes by Hit-Point Co. Ltd, is one that holds up pretty well for at least one of those two points whilst, for lack of better words, falling a little short on the other. No doubt I will explain what I found good about this retro-styled zombie RPG as well as parts of the game that could've been done better in my personal opinion. With that being said, the gameplay focus of Raging Bytes centres around navigating your way from one map to the next, achieving various objectives (whether that be searching for a key to unlock a new area, going to a specific location to trigger the next event or even clearing out enemies) whilst attempting to survive as you have to make considerations when engaging with the feral monsters of this game, seeing how fighting them one by one would make sense normally but, depending on what you prioritize, may not be so ideal whilst taking on bigger groups reduces this problem but risks you taking serious damage or wasting valuable ammunition which could be reserved for much harder battles later on. Getting onto why fighting single zombies (an obvious tactic for anyone looking to mitigate unnecessary risks) is not ideal is largely down to how this game works out the scoring here, seeing as this system seems to prioritize things like finding items and making progress in the story (with mandatory normal/boss fights awarding much more points!) whilst you lose points by... fighting against zombies which are crucial for making your party members stronger for deadlier foes that await later on in the game? Truth be told, it's a rather strange decision to penalize players for engaging zombies in battle, doubly so when it doesn't matter whether it is a solo zombie or the maximum amount of ten zombies at once, which ends up in a weird situation where you are encouraged to take risks not just in evading zombies but also when intentionally engaging them by piling them up in as big a group as possible for larger XP gains whilst minimizing the score penalty impact, however it does offer a unique gameplay perspective for those actually interested in gaining a particular high score for this game! (Sadly I don't believe there is any highscore leaderboard for this indie whatsoever, which is a shame) Now as far as the combat side of things go, it's a typical turn-based battle where you have zombies at different distances (this plays out how you might think it would, with the enemy you touch being fairly close to you whilst other zombies who spotted you with a red exclamation mark prior appearing as well but further in the back) and how you succeed in battles with limited resources primarily depends on your usage of the weapons and each of the four characters' unique skills at hand, seeing as guns are generally reserved for boss battles (or the aforementioned 'tricky' situations with large groups of zombies) at first but slowly change with weaker guns or those that hit multiple enemies being used whilst the guns that use more powerful ammo being kept for the tougher boss battles. As far as my own personal take on the combat system goes, it is a little disappointing at how relatively straightforward it is as this game's RPG mechanics seem to be more tailored towards a casual audience. Even then, there is little done to vary up the tactics used in many of these battles as you start off with plain zombies that are weak, do little damage, can only attack in melee range and don't have any special skills of their own. Later on Raging Bytes gradually introduces enemies that hit much harder melee attacks, those that use different ranged attacks of their own depending on the distance between themselves and the party as well as much more beefy foes and those who have unique skills when paired with a boss to make for a slightly more complex battle, however I feel they could have gone further with making zombies more dangerous in specific situations and giving them resistances where applicable to keep the same strategies from being too commonly used. So it's obvious that I didn't enjoy the combat as much as some other people did, however it goes without saying that this game's visual style is simply gorgeous as it is beautifully presented in a homage to older retro games of it's kind, seeing as it does carry with it a particular anime aesthetic that, on it's own, wouldn't be much to write home about. However it's when you mix in the zombie elements coupled with the dark and foreboding atmosphere that clashes with the introduction scenes being as bright and cheerful as you would expect in any city-based RPG featuring anime characters as I quite liked how well-designed the environments conveyed that sense of chaos and utter destruction that such a zombie apocalypse tends to lay behind in it's wake. Not just that but, contrary to what could be popular opinion here, I actually found the story of Raging Bytes to be somewhat likeable, if a bit lacking in originality, though it's something of a debate as not only do zombie games like these tend to not have well-crafted plots and deep thought-provoking topics be it's main appeal unlike some other RPGs out there, however with the combat lacking it does fall to this game's visuals and storytelling to do the heavy lifting here, hence why I'll be making a point to discuss this here. Without going into anything spoilers-wise, I do quite like how Raging Bytes' narrative starts you off and progressing further into the zombie-infested lands as you come across the other three party members in order whilst encountering other factions during your journey, seeing as it's not aiming to be a cinematic masterpiece like many of triple-A's best-looking titles are, nor is it putting out any experimental ideas as far as telling a 'different' story goes and see what sticks, since the story behind this indie will no doubt tread upon familiar territory for those who have seen their classic zombie horror films and played other video games based on certain intellectual properties as it were, however I will be frank and say that it could've done with some further 'open-ended' storytelling by allowing the player to make bad decisions that could impact the game in ways that affect your gameplay, be it important resources no longer accessible or alternative quests not possible in a 'good' run, (possibly even prematurely killing off a party member and/or having a replacement!) since I would have liked more opportunities for the player to show some form of 'agency' that lets them choose how they want their game to play out, both narratively as well as gameplay-wise. In truth, I am mainly giving this a positive review as, despite being disappointed to some degree, I do respect the studio behind this indie for trying out the zombie genre in a way that isn't a copy-and-paste FPS or a RPG of the more typical 3D kind with assets bought from various stores that deal with them, but I do wish they had done more to make this game stand out more in the gameplay department, however if you prefer a more simplified and easy-going RPG experience then I'd wager that this is a game that's more for you. Overall, I'd wait until it's on sale if you're interested in trying it out for yourself, but at least I had some fun with it anyhow!

ゲームとしての出来はそこまででもなくいわゆるヌルゲーに近いですがことゾンビ映画へのオマージュやリスペクトはそこら中に散らばっているのでその点は評価したいです。今となっては古典でもある映画ゾンビやナイトオブザリビングデッドは当然としてゲーム版のバイオハザード、海外ドラマのウォーキングデッド等々。様々なゾンビあるあるのネタを見るだけでもゾンビ映画好きの身としては非常に楽しめました。やはり立てこもるにはショッピングマート、ギスギスした人間関係による不和、物資を巡って争う人間達。基本的なゾンビ作品のフォーマットは守られていますのでその点は安心できます。ゾンビ映画が好きな方々は是非遊んで欲しい作品です。

ゾンビもののお手本のようなシナリオと、独自性のあるコマンドバトルが面白い 値段に対して若干ボリュームが少ないというのと、エンディングが賛否分かれるところ 個人的にスコア表示はいらない要素ではあった

Wish there was a between rating. This game is like playing an rpg maker game that's a rip-off of 28 Days Later and The Walking Dead, with real bad visuals at times that really made my eyes hurt. Short of that, the game is very linear and very heavy on the story driven side of things so it's more like an interactive walk-a-thon visual novel rather than a true Jrpg, which is only classed as that because of the pointless battles, it just feels like they just don't need to be there. The sound effects.. the walking sound is downright annoying, the music is very gritty and just NOT great at all. The visual pixel art on the buildings, shop signs etc are all great, and the gore.. LOL! I just don't think this game is worth the price it is.. wait for it to go on sale or get it from some online activation code store for half the price 'cos io think that's all it's worth.. especially for a KEMCO game.