I'm quite upset
Soon I just wanted to rant on here because I don't see any other discourse abt this-
I don't know if you've heard of Mazm games, but they're a company that's released some really impressive games based off of history and classic literature on Google Play and Steam.
Anyways, after Phantom of the Opera and (Thy Creature I think?) I hadn't seen any more new releases from them. Then Metamorphosis came out. I thought the art looked great at the time, but when I played the game, it was GOD AWFUL.
There's no game.
It's just a visual novel that gives you a false sense of choice. That's not to say that the other games like Jekyll and Hyde or POTO didn't have that either, but they brought more to the table. They had those little chibi missions where you could complete minigames and collect items- THAT WAS THE GAME ASPECT.
I didn't even get to find out if Kafka has that because you have to watch like 5 ads to get to the next chapter and there's no saves. Like what???
They introduced a new subscription system- which won't work if you giving your subscribers mediocre content, in my personal opinion.
Then they released Black Cat- same issue, they didn't even try with that one. They're releasing Romeo and Juliet next.
What worries me is the change of artstyle and the lack of passion and theming. That's what drew me to those games in the first place, and I'm sure that's what attracted others too. The original Mazm games took everything into account- music, font, the homescreens, the loading screens, inventory, pausing screens, you name it. Overall UI was great. But now, it's just a list of chapters in like Arial font with these new games.
AND THE ARTSTYLE OH GOD THE BEAUTIFUL ARTSTYLE
Now it's just slowly devolving into generic anime artstyle # 3
LIKE LOOK AT THIS
WHAT DID THEY DO
Like, I understand cutting back a bit, especially because these games are for a certain niche, and may not bring in a lot of money but this IS NOT IT
If they cut back on character design they could at least keep the chibi minigames so it would still be a game????
I hate this. I honestly hate this. They're alienating their target demographic- people who like classic literature and art, as well as puzzle games.
They really had something going, and this new direction is making me really sad.
Because I ADORE classic literature. POTO and Jekyll and Hyde were great games- I loved them because it was rare for me to come across content for books like that. Sure, they had their bugs, but you could tell that there was genuine thought and passion put into them. There's none of that in these new releases.