"Zhuancuo" is a Hokkien dubbing, comic storyboard, real historical background (Japanese occupation of Taiwan?). Chinese horror game. This time the release is a demo version, and the official version is expected to be launched at the end of this year or early next year.
Let's start with the overall feeling. The Hokkien dubbing of the game is excellent (that is, the speed of speech is slow), the cutscene substitution sense of the comic storyboard is great, and the gameplay experience is acceptable. But one thing I am a little uncomfortable with, the game's operating system is a 2D horizontal reel similar to "The Next Day" and "Back to the Door", the picture is more fine (there are many details), but the overall style is more realistic, and the cutscenes of the comic storyboard are a little incompatible, which will make players feel like a play. Personally, I think it would be better to use a cartoon style like "Fireworks" or "Three Volts"?
In addition, some people say that the decryption of this work is a bit too simple and boring, which is true. A good decryption link needs to be carefully designed in combination with the game plot and story background, and the cost is very high. Similar games more or less have this problem, which will be discussed later. Personally, it is not that they do not value the decryption link, but boring decryption is better than not.
As for some people, there are also critics that this jumpscare is not of high quality and scary enough. In fact, how scary are there for similar gameplay games? Maybe "The Next Day" is a little scary, but "Back Door", "Fireworks", and "Dirty Us" can hardly do any harm to veteran horror gamers, so personal requirements for this piece are not high. Players are probably not playing this game to be scared, and the story experience is always the most important.
(1) The highlights of "Zhuancuo"
1. Hokkien dubbing creates an atmosphere
The taste of this dubbing is relatively positive, and the tone and speed of speech of different ages have been well displayed (those who can't understand must always keep an eye on the subtitles), and the sense of substitution is particularly good. Especially when combined with the Minnan cultural setting in the game, it is very infectious. But there is a small drawback, some radio or TV scenes in the game do not have subtitles, which the author does not understand at all anyway.
Surely someone will say that dialect dubbing is necessary? People in other regions don't understand.
Personally, I believe that dubbing serves the atmosphere of the game, and the horror games in the early years basically did not have dubbing, and even were simple to the extreme, but it did not prevent works such as "Horror Museum" and "House of the Witch" from becoming classics. The price of dialect dubbing is several times higher than that of Mandarin, and voice actors are not easy to find, and the producers must have deliberately chosen Hokkien in order to enhance the appeal of dubbing.
Admittedly, this did cause me some problems with playing, but the improvement in the gaming experience was also obvious. I personally approve of using dialects in games and movies that enhance the appeal of the story.
2. Comic storyboards promote the plot
First of all, the drawing is in place, the overall quality is very high, and with BGM and dubbing, the expression of the game can be greatly improved (and even more than the animation). This artist is even much stronger than works such as "Mystery Record" and "Chinese Mystery Record" of puppet comics; Secondly, there are a lot of them, not just publicity gimmicks. The story background explanation, screen transitions, and important dialogue of this work will be presented in the form of storyboard comics. In the end, the comic storyboard is indeed unique, similar to the Barbara chapter in "Memories of Eddie Finch" (I love it!). ), there is a refreshing feeling of watching anime, which is a very prominent selling point compared with similar domestic games.
3. The soundtrack is full of sincerity
The soundtrack of this work has put a lot of effort, whether it is the ambient sound or the sound effect substitution, the sense of substitution is very strong, and the details are well depicted. For example, the sound of drama on the radio, the broken glass bottle on the street corner, and the crow chirping on the branch can be clearly heard. This is rare in a domestic 2D horror game.
4. The plot is currently acceptable
The plot of the demo version actually has very little unfolding, it should be the story of the period of Japan's occupation of Taiwan, the historical background is very strong, and some surreal settings are integrated. Japanese ninjas who can perform spells, native cults in Taiwan, and witch mages and the like in various traditional cultures have appeared, and the richness of the plot can be guaranteed. I foresee that the plot will unfold with these points, national hatred, robbery of magic weapons, cult worship, it seems that it will not be bad.
(2) What else do domestic horror games need?
Domestic horror games have developed rapidly in recent years, and everyone is trying various themes, but most of the picture presentation is mainly based on 2D horizontal scrolls, such as "Over the Yin", "Cave Diary", "Paper Man" and other 3D works are not many. The reason is believed to be understood by everyone, on the one hand, the high cost of 3D game development is more pressure on independent studios, on the other hand, 3D graphics have higher requirements for plot interpretation and gameplay mechanisms, and it is no longer a simple decryption and a little sensational plot can be fooled, and the requirements for game planning are higher. However, the way the picture is presented is not the most critical point, 2D horror games can also be done very exciting, such as "Mountain and Sea Traveler" and other works are great. Personally, I think that the most needed points for domestic horror games are the following:
1. Dig deep into the plot
Horror games are first and foremost story games, as I've said many times in previous articles. And the cost of doing the plot is obviously lower than doing the picture and gameplay. In fact, the material library left for domestic developers is very large, social themes, historical themes, and mythological themes can be adapted, and producers have sufficient creative space for the plot (unlike domestic horror movies). And thanks to the barriers formed by traditional Chinese culture, domestic players have a high acceptance of domestic horror games, and players with slightly flaws in the plot are not very careful. This is also an important reason for the emergence of low-cost domestic horror games in recent years.
Domestic horror games have indeed achieved a hundred flowers in the plot, "Paper Wedding Dress" and "Night Marriage" are traditional folk customs + modern urban background, full of modern people's love and hate; "Hui Gate" and "Hong Kong Mystery Record" build their own world view on the basis of traditional folklore, with many unique settings; "Fireworks" and "Three Volts" are typical social themes, with realistic prototypes and a certain depth; "Filthy Us" and "Black Sheep" have made certain literary interpretations of social contradictions, which are more abstract and obscure. In addition, there is the game in Taiwan, which cannot be said, which reprocesses the real events in history and is full of substitution.
It seems that domestic horror games have made the plot very rich. But in fact, although some games have novel themes, they can't dig deeper, resulting in the game screen is not scary, and the plot is boring.
In fact, these games with different backgrounds will have more or less similar plots, such as paper people blocking doors, compass fortune telling, underworld marriage, and supernatural (sealing) undead. If you can't dig deep into the plot of the game and highly integrate the plot and story background, veteran players will only find it boring. Just simply combine traditional folklore elements and casually set a story background, this is a horror game like a stitching monster.
For example, should a realistic horror game with a school violence theme appear in a traditional glamorous evil? Is it possible to replace fortune-telling with the constellation Tarot? These require careful thinking by the maker.
Just like "Chat Zhai Zhi Wei" is not simply a ghost story, the real memorable point of horror games is not just the ghosts on the surface.
2. Pay attention to art and soundtrack to enhance the sense of substitution
Domestic horror games are generally less complete, the degree of similarity in art is too high, and the music is not so careful. Here is still to praise "Mountain and Sea Traveler", which is indeed very good. If you want to truly win the love of players, you must focus on optimizing the player experience, don't feel that you can win by relying solely on the plot, and pay attention to details and sense of substitution. Without a strong sense of substitution, no matter how good the plot players can't experience, it will be worth the loss. In this regard, I personally think that "Zhuancuo" is not bad, and I am looking forward to the performance of the official launch later.
3. The gameplay mechanism needs to be innovative
As a horror game, the gameplay is always to serve the plot, in order to increase the player's sense of substitution or fear.
The gameplay of domestic horror games is very similar to perfunctory teachers' homework, which is the most criticized place.
No matter what background, what theme, what character, over and over is Huarong Road, puzzle, connection these decryption modes. It's nothing more than changing different skins to get closer to the gaming era, but it's still too boring for veteran players.
Take "Zhuancuo" as an example, there is a decryption of herbs based on Chinese medicine knowledge. It sounds quite interesting, but it is actually the weight weighing in the physics experiment, and I personally feel that it is a bit too pediatric to find unknown weight weight through known weights.
This kind of decryption not only does not promote the plot of the game, but also affects the game experience in many cases, purely for the sake of water time. You say a 2D scrolling game, does it really need QTE when the monster chases the protagonist? Can the character make beautiful dodge moves like in Resident Evil? So what exactly is the purpose of this QTE? Can it be designed to be a player drawing or chanting a spell?
Excellent gameplay mechanics can refer to "Mountain and Sea Traveler", or you can highly bind the gameplay to character settings and world view settings like "Back to the Door" to increase the sense of substitution.
I know that designing gameplay is difficult and requires both gameplay and story, but a good horror game is crucial. After all, the game market is now highly involuted, and it is almost impossible for an RPGMAKER to reach the glory of the predecessor "House of the Witch".
In summary, the development momentum of domestic horror games is not bad, but there are small flaws in all aspects, and I hope that the producers will work harder. As a horror lover, although it is difficult for me to be scared by the content in the game, I am still looking forward to masterpieces such as "Zhuancuo" and "Three Volts" to give me a different plot experience or visual experience.