199X

Essentially a walking sim in RPGMaker, which is something I never expected to see. At least that's how it feels in the first 20 minutes. The first 20 minutes did absolutely nothing to really pull me in either. I suppose a primary reason for that is the writing lacks a level of maturity I've come to look for in games. The 4th wall breaking stuff is done well, but everything else I saw just didn't make me feel like investing more time. Surely not for me, and I wouldn't recommend it to myself.

Had this game in my backlog damn near a decade. Decided to pick it up and played it for about an hour....and... ...it's honestly fascinating? I couldn't call it refined by any means; this is very clearly some random person's RPG Maker passion project. It's as flawed as that premise would suggest, but it's also strangely heart felt and interesting. It's an interesting game to play if you are pondering how to manage narrative and forth wall breaks in interesting ways, that's for absolute sure. After an hour, I went to see if the dev ever did another game...and I was disappointed. This is a voice that I want to believe kept making stuff...because while it's funky and weird? It's a great kind of funky and weird. It's worth the asking price. It's an odd duck, but I don't regret buying it.

The main character hates Pokemon Mystery Dungeon which ALMOST makes me want to not recommend this game. But I do enjoy pretentious four-wall breaking narratives, even if it was sort of a pain in the ass to navigate the clunky city sections. Still a worthwhile play. RIP, Clara.

In the course of playing and even by the end I can't say I ever "got" it or really grasped any one particular message, so much as a melange of themes? But over time it definitely crept its way into my feelings, more than I expected, notably eliciting a weirdly upsetting sense of... wanting? "This isn't how things are supposed to be"...? The game felt longer than it was in a good way, despite being kind of a chore to play, something about it all and about Clara drew me into its scant little world and left an impression.

[h1]Summary[/h1] A short RPGMaker narrative adventure game more focused on 4th wall breaking story telling. [b]Pros[/b] + Interesting [b]Cons[/b] - Minimal gameplay [h1]Overview[/h1] 199X is a short RPGMaker narrative adventure game with minimal gameplay that is more about the story and heavily plays with the idea of social norms, emotional manipulation, and mental illness, featuring a ton of 4th wall breaking that is basically the premise of the game. For its time it would have been one of those unconventional experimental indie games but it does have an interesting spin to it, where there are also a lot of gaming tropes thrown in that it kind of makes fun of. [b]Story[/b] The game centers on Clara who is suspected to be suffering from schizophrenia, though in reality or maybe even not, you the player are in control of Clara and her decisions and even speak directly into her mind. Although the whole idea is that you are in control of Clara being given multiple dialogue options and decisions you could make along side certain moments where they make a point that you are able to force her to do things. In reality the game is linear and even when you want her to do certain things …

I recommend this game, but only for free or a very low price. I know some people don't like RPG Maker games just because they are made with RPG Maker and they are right in that these games rarely feel like they are different from each other as a result. These opinions are valid. However, short though it may be and lacking in any real sort of gameplay (it plays more like an interactive visual novel), this one kept me engaged by it's above average writing and story quality. As a person who tries to avoid gender politics and the drama that it tends to cause, I appreciate the fact that the lesbian love story was not the central focus of the story, which was both interesting and thought provoking.