Summary:
The Arcane Raise franchise is a series of short RPGs developed by Arcane Raise with RPG Maker
VX Ace. Costing $2,99, all the graphics and music used in these games are part the default assets that come with the engine and the franchise features multiple DLCs, some of them more expensive than the games themselves, that include additional characters, in game money and experience, it is worth mentioning this "additional content" can be generated with the engine in literal seconds.
The game may be classified as cash machine or "shovelware" for its tactics, being more an application to farm cards and achievements than a game.
Gameplay:
The formula for all the games is more or less the same, it's a standard RPG with swords, magic and ghosts, collect items from chests, level up, standard stuff.
As soon as you start the game you're dropped in some weird room with awkward mapping, with no context or intro, no explanation or hints of what is going on, and you're given the choice of playing the tutorial, which is just the same thing as the regular game but with awkward overexplanation lines like "you can use doors to transport to other areas" or "you can use ships to travel" as if the player couldn't learn that instantly by interacting with them.
I wonder if I can do the same in my dialy life, something like "use your legs to walk" or "inhale air to breath".
After your extreme tutorial experience you are spammed by a thousand achievements, then you come back to the game, again with no plot explanation or context, you just move ahead and beat your enemies until you win the game just to realize there was no story nor character development, CONGLAMURATION !1 now buy the pay to win DLC for the same content, except faster.
Graphics and sound:
All of it is part of the default RPG Maker assets, there are no original sounds or graphics, the mapping is horrendous.
PROs:
- Easy to uninstall
- Steam allows refunds
- Achievement Simulator 2017
CONs:
AR's "about"
- No story
- No character development
- Ridiculously easy
- Third party assets compilation
- Redundant tutorials
- Forced dialogue
- Misleading features
- Misleading DLCs
- Misleading and arrogant "About"
Conclusion:
A very standard RPG, except it lacks everything that makes a RPG good, using stock assets is fine if you're making a free game, this is commercial, and very commercial considering the sequel and DLC tactics, this is the reason RPG Maker games have some bad reputation on Steam.
I give Arcane Raise 1 wallet digging shovel out of 5
Score: 1/5