A 2D exploratory adventure game inside an art gallery full of exotic artworks
When it comes to "Horror Museum (IB)", I think all players may be "familiar and unfamiliar" with it.
To say familiar, it is because it occupies a certain place in Japanese horror games.
As one of the "Four Great Japanese Horror RPGs", "Horror Art Museum" developed by individual developer Kouri has set off a phenomenal craze for horror puzzle RPGs after its release in 2012.
The other three are "The Witch's House", "Dream Diary" and "Mad Father"
At a time when game live was still the mainstream video in the game area, not only in Japan, but also on the bilibili platform in China, there were also a large number of game UP owners who released their game live information.
But now, ten years have passed since the game's release, and I think most players have a vague memory of the game over time.
On March 9, the remake of "Museum of Horrors" landed on the NS platform, and the game also had a 20% off discount during the Spring Festival on the steam platform.
So I also want to take this opportunity to talk to you about this Japanese horror RPG classic that has a mysterious atmosphere, both in terms of the content of the game and itself.
A little scary, but not completely scary
First of all, for players who have not played this game, let's introduce the background of the game.
As the name of the game suggests, the story takes place in a slightly eerie art museum.
Our protagonist is a little girl named Ibrahimovic (IB) who travels with her parents to the museum to participate in a solo exhibition of the artist's work called "Grutner".
Perhaps out of curiosity, the innocent little girl wants to go shopping by herself first when her parents go through the formalities.
In the process of browsing the exhibition, Ibrahimovic found that I don't know when the museum became empty. Immediately, the painting style suddenly changed, and the inexplicable blood stains outside the window and the strange sound of the paintings made the whole game instantly terrifying.
Under the guidance of unknown creatures, Eevee stepped into the "inner world" of the art museum and embarked on an extremely difficult adventure.
Some people may say, "How scary can a pixel-style RPG be?" ”
That's right, compared to 3D games like Escape or the Zero series, games made with RPG Maker like Horror Museum don't have the immersive horror effect of the former.
But in my opinion, "Museum of Horror" has created a "scary" horror game atmosphere within the conditions it can create.
One of the main horror elements is the art works in the museum.
Perhaps Grunat himself was a genius madman, and under his hand, these works of art were either delicate and unusual, and some were abstractions that ordinary people could not understand.
As the process progresses and the sound effects are further rendered, when the artworks either act on their own or replicate infinitely, the whole picture becomes more tense and hysterical.
In addition to the "spiritual pollution" of artworks, the game occasionally makes a "one-hit kill" in an unexpected place, which can also scare you into a stirring spirit, and your heart almost pops out.
However, the above situation is actually rare in the game, so many times the horror felt is only caused by their own psychological hints and atmosphere rendering.
Of course, there are chase battles in the game, and there are even quite a few.
But to be honest, these "enemies" inside are really slow, and some of them can't even catch up with us walking, and there is no sense of nervousness when we encounter more.
Finally know why the game can't run fast
Not to mention that as the team grows, when the characters change from one person to two people or three people, this terrifying atmosphere has gradually decreased under my feelings, and it is not even so terrifying.
I haven't had such a refreshing puzzle in a long time
In "Horror Museum", the puzzle solving part accounts for a very large proportion. Or to put it another way, almost all of the game includes puzzle solving elements.
After my experience, my feelings about the puzzle solving part of the game are only two words - refreshing.
The puzzles in the game are not difficult, but you can see that each puzzle is carefully designed, and all the puzzles are intertwined, so that the player will not be disoriented at all.
For example, in one level of the game, when the protagonist and companion act separately, both parties need to solve puzzles on their own maps and affect each other's maps.
On the side, the companion found a red umbrella. Then we immediately thought that on a portrait on our side, a lady was missing an umbrella.
And as for how to get the umbrella from the opposite side to us, the portrait at the door also points the way well - on the opposite side, a fish hook is drawn. And on our side, it's a little fishing man.
Through the fishing rod, the umbrella was easily teleported to us.
Another thing I admire is that in the game's puzzles, it seems that every step is carefully designed and never makes you feel that these roads are taken for nothing.
For example, in this "sketchbook" world, another link is to find the key to the toy room in the middle of the map and enter the room.
In the meantime, you'll have to go through the map and carefully search for ways to keep your eyes open on the door in the upper left corner.
Once you've searched every corner, looking for a particular item and noticing what is drawn in each place on the map, the next step is to remind you of where each portrait is located on the map based on your memories.
With the impression I just made, I cleared the level in this link at once. And this puzzle solving session that does not need to repeat memories also made me feel a great sense of achievement in the game.
Of course, the puzzles in "Museum of Horrors" may be a bit too simple for players who like to look for clues in difficult puzzles like Sherlock Holmes, but for ordinary players, this intuitive, carefully thought can solve the problem is also a good gaming experience.
Regret and mutilation of "material mourning"
(The following contains spoilers, if you still haven't played the game and want to experience it yourself, you can skip this paragraph)
Although as one of the "four masterpieces of Japanese horror RPG", "Museum of Horror" does not have the horror of "Mad Father" nor the dark depression of "Witch's House".
But I don't think it's just about casting a shadow on people through the "horror element."
House of the Witch
Just like the game "Under the Legend", also made by RPG Maker, although the graphics are simple, it is still a recognized masterpiece by almost all players who have played or passed the game.
The focus of "Horror Museum" is not on horror elements, but on the story it wants to convey and the emotions behind it.
In the game, in addition to the protagonist, there are two other important characters.
Early in the game, we meet Gary, a tall, slender "purple-haired boy".
Although at the beginning, I was a little wary of such a man who suddenly appeared and was a little strange in terms of mouth fetish, but in the process of getting along later, you will find that he is a very caring companion.
Some feminine self-titles
The ubiquitous care will cover us when we faint, and will take the initiative to explain unknown words to us, and in the gloomy art museum, Gary gives us some warmth and comfort.
Another companion is Mary, a girl of the same age as Ibrahimovic trapped in the museum.
Compared to Ibrahimovic's somewhat quiet personality (yes, the protagonist is a mute), May's personality will be much livelier, and her innocent personality can often be felt between conversations.
But the "triangle combination" in the game is not as solid as imagined.
In the game, each character has roses that represent their lives – Eevee is a red rose, Gary is a blue rose, and Mayley is a yellow rose.
In the colors of traditional art, red, yellow and blue are the three primary colors.
In the three primary colors, any two colors can become other colors when they are mixed with each other, but when the three colors are mixed together, they become a cloudy black.
The colors represented by the three people suggest that they are not destined to escape the museum.
Of the three, Aili Mei is the most controversial among players.
In fact, she is not a real person.
She was the last work Grutner created in his life. Doomed to be trapped in the museum for the rest of her life, she saw hope of escaping the museum when she saw Eevee and Gary's arrival.
Some people think that although Mei Aili is pitiful, her escape is actually sacrificing people who should not be sacrificed and obtaining things that should not belong to her.
But some people feel that she is not what everyone thinks, she is a bad boy who does nothing evil, and she should not be overwhelmingly condemned by netizens.
Here, I quote Lan Shao's reply on Weibo:
"It's controversial because she's really the character that the author spends the most time on pen and ink to create."
The character of Mary has been a very controversial character since the birth of the game Ib.
Some people were moved by her life and couldn't help but feel sorry for her situation;
Some people find her pitiful and hateful, and cannot tolerate what she does.
In my opinion, this is the author's strength, bringing such a simple but complex, naïve and cruel, full of contradictions to life.
She can't summarize it with absolute "good" or "evil", but the author's motivation for her actions is traceable in the game, which makes sense.
Because each character has their own charm, plus never being able to Happy Ending, no matter what the outcome is, it will leave regrets in the player's heart.
And this "dilemma" plot development is similar to the "aesthetics of mourning" beloved in Japan, and the sense of regret and incompleteness brought by the game deeply attracts every player.
Perhaps this is the charm of "Museum of Horrors".
Summary:
After landing on Steam, the response to the reset version has been very good, and the game is currently rated very well on Steam, even reaching a 99% positive rating.
In my experience, the optimization of the game on the NS platform is also very smooth, and because of the portability of the handheld, I think it is also very suitable for players who are interested in this game.
The only thing I regret is that the volume is really too small.
Usually, the whole process can be cleared in 2-3 hours. For players who want to continue their decryption expedition, it may have just "gone up" and stopped abruptly, and it is a bit unfinished.
For players who have collected all the endings, the game's setting of up to 7 endings may also cost players more time to repeat operations.
At the same time, because the numerical requirements are relatively strict, it is necessary to decide the final direction according to the favorability of the two supporting characters, and even one ending cannot be achieved if the mortality rate is a little worse, which is somewhat cumbersome and repetitive.
One of the endings
But even so, "Museum of Horrors" depicts a story in a brief process, and it is an adventure worth settling down and experiencing.
So I still want to sigh in the end: even now, "Museum of Horror" is still a good game that people will never forget.
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