Note: The game is not a fan developed title like Luna or a dot EXE based game on MLP. D'Lirium is a proper title developed by an official game studio. Ever since the NES came out in 1985, pony related games had always sucked and fallen into the crappy license area. Whether it's My Little Pony or a crappy horseback riding SIM, pony theme titles are among the worst. I even reviewed an MLP Gen 3 game on this site and it was one of the worst gaming experience I had the horror of trying. Pony related games are so bad that they are flash games most of the time that has no depth or quality. Then suddenly, one game that came out of the blue and it actually was a quality pony game. D'Lirium developed by B52 Development Team is a top-down 16-bit adventure. In the story, you take control of a unicorn named Aba that has to battle all sorts of horrors through a mansion looking for his friends. In the mansion, Aba finds a mysterious unicorn named Abel and tries to find if he has evil intentions for them. What truly surprised me is that this was a mature rated game, filled with all sorts of gore and horror tropes. I know, a mature rated pony game since when, and how did this randomly appear. D'Lirium is not related at all to MLP as it takes place in its own world. Gameplay The gameplay is an early release beta, meaning it's a system for Steam where developers release a game and get feedback on the product. Its gameplay is an overhead view as you venture through each area fending off demonic ponies using magic. There are no melee attacks as magic is your only defensive whether it be attacking or using it to invade enemies. For once, I am truly amazed that I am playing a pony based game that's actually decent. There will be a time you will need to use magic to reach a level's secret area. I did find these challenging as one screw up like teleporting into a pit or a wall will kill the player. Along these levels, you will find items such as keys to open areas and to progress even further to the next stage. You will also find herbs that can heal Aba's panic state in moderation, but be careful some are poisonous. I also love the way the developers would place results at the end of the levels. I diffidently got a Doom vibe from this because even Id had a similar concept by showing the player's results. It also lets me know if there were any secrets along these levels that I might have missed something. The life system was unique and a little hard to understand at first until I read the instructions found inside the directory. The studio obviously went old school as back then there was no tutorials nor any hand-holding that you see in most games today. To me, this custom is nothing new when you consider I am among those Golden Age Gamers. The character has three life status of health, sanity, and status alignment. The developers differently took notes from horror PC games of Amnesia and System Shock because your sanity at times when high will get you killed. The sanity meter affects the gameplay when Aba sees too much horror. Even killing too many enemies will make Aba go into a maniac state causing him to have the need to kill. There is a catch and by taking the maniac route, the player must constantly kill so as to not get killed by the lack of spilling blood. Another thing when using magic is that depending on the HUD style you choose will appear different for the sanity meter. It will either come in the form of a heart, or the life bar will increase its number to 100 in status. Rating: 7.8/10 Graphics/Presentation The theme for a pony related game like this is actually surprising when most of its kind is your basic license from MLP. You play as a unicorn named Aba who his friends Claudia a white female Pegasus and two other ponies on the eve of New Years arrive at a mansion. It is here a mysterious unicorn named Abel invites them to his mansion to celebrate. After receiving a dark power from a box that fuses with his soul, the party suddenly turns into a living nightmare as in a blink of an eye his friends are horribly mutilated. It, of course, sends Aba on a quest to stop this mysterious unicorn from releasing a dark power on to the world and to find his friends that despite being dead, their bodies disappeared. The story isn't the best compared to other indie games but unlike the other ponies games, this is at least decent. Its plot is simple, gets to the point without lengthy dialogue while having many mysteries. The graphics use a 16-bit style that a cross between Super NES and Sega Genesis. The environments have a creepy theme to every level because the additional you progress that grimmer it'll be for the amount. Another thing that stands out is how isolated you will feel in the game. It will be like you are the last one left alive in the world with all sorts of horror waiting the more you progressed. It gets even weirder when the game over screen has a unicorn's face up close with its mouth screaming as one empty eye socket is glowing red. I also love how this comes off like those gaming Creepypastas when things suddenly become eerie for the player. It's funny because this is the kind of game that would appear in an original gaming Creepypasta with it being completely fake like The Theater. Of course, there's the gore as I can't fathom that a pony game like this exists and isn't some joke with graphic content. Never would I have thought a Brony (it's obvious this was made from a team of them) could produce a game related to its theme. Sure, it's not the first time the Brony community produced gory content from fan fictions to fan art showing a darker side. The fact that an original game based on ponies (not MLP) that has a mature rating blows my mind. The soundtrack only adds to the creepy horror in many ways and had a lot of tension to each one. It only adds to the creepiness when you're thrown into the world of isolation where no pony can help you. That is why the soundtrack stands out so much as everything you see in most horror theme story is all here. It certainly reminds me of those Grimdark MLP fan fictions that I love to read so much. I also could tell that the developers took notes from a German pianist known by his internet name of Myujii from YouTube. If you are not familiar with his name, he produces a dark version of certain established piano songs like Halloween. The guy even writes his own original songs that capture the right emotions during each one. It's awesome how these developers took notes from Myujii's music style. Rating: 8.5/10 Features/Content I can safely say this is the best content I ever saw from any pony game out there. The developers diffidently put thought into the content something these other studios just don't care. The results on every level added replay value to each play through. One of the optional challenges is finding secret areas and at times will be tricky finding them. Another thing the studio did well is giving the player options in two ways to complete the adventure. You can play like a maniac as you need to constantly kill in order to stay sane. Then there is the righteous path which has the player attempt at going through the game by not killing any monster. Depending on what route you take will offer a different ending where Aba's friends die or he saves them. Then we have the Achievements which was the latest update to the beta. I am not sure if the other ports on different platforms have this feature as this version is on Steam. All it does is add replay value in many ways, something earlier pony theme games were a far cry. I will give it B52 for taking the time to not sell this game off a novelty with gore but rather with good features. Final Rating For an indie title, it was very good and a pleasant surprise for once to play a quality pony theme game. The gameplay was presented well with decent level design and solid challenges to overcome. The only thing I could suggest B52 should do if they make a sequel is to develop puzzles in the levels. They also should design boss battles and improve their magic system with more spells. It is still surprising to find a pony game rated M for once, as usual, it is always a cutesy licensed game based on MLP. One of the few things that are handled well is the studio did not make it dark only to sell a novelty. The environments invoked a dark and horrify theme that the player feels like they were the only ones left in a hellish world. The presentation was another thing handled so well, especially the music and on the game over screen. I loved how it would show a dead pony's face with blood all over him as it screamed with glowing red eyes. It's like this game came straight out of a Creepypasta and is actually real. The content was surprisingly solid as there is a different way for each play through with plenty of Achievements to obtain. D'Lirium isn't the best Indy game out there, but compared to every pony game I have seen, its hands down the best one ever. Gameplay: 7.8/10 Graphics/Presentation: 8.5/10 Features/Content: 7.8/10 Rating: 8.2/10 Very Good
0 Comments
|
RETRO GAMER
|