“I had imaginary friends and even they were mean to me.” –Oliva Wilde
Source: Itch.io Page
Imaginary Friends is a retro style horror RPG created by mannytsu using
RPG Maker software. You play as 14-year-old Hailey, who has spent her entire
summer vacation alone in her room. Her mother wants her to go outside and get
together with her friends, but she doesn’t have any. When Hailey accompanies
her mother and brother to the store, something strange begins to happen… Before
she knows it, she finds herself in a strange world. To get home, Hailey will
have to confront her childhood, and look deep inside herself so that she can
move forward and grow.
I don’t play a lot of horror games, and I don’t know what made me
decide to play this game to begin with, but I am glad that I did. For good
portions of the game, I was just waiting for the jumpscares—but they didn’t
come. No, the horror aspect of this game comes from the atmosphere of uncertainty
and unease that are created. I use a headset with one ear piece because having
both of my ears covered makes me anxious(I might miss something important, like
if my daughter needs me), but I imagine the atmosphere would have been
intensified if you used both. Particularly in the school towards the end of the
game, the shuffling and whispers were pretty unnerving for me.
Source: Screen Capture from Game
I also died a lot in my playthrough, and I mean a lot. Everything and
everyone is out to kill you, so save often. Make extra trips back to save
points to save again. I must have saved 50 times by the end of my game. I came
to think that everything was going to kill me, even inanimate objects—who knows
what could happen.
The game is in a charming top down retro style, which I love. In
addition to the sprites, drawn images appear of each character next to their
dialogue boxes. The artwork for the characters is well done, and the environments
are wonderfully made as well, able to be either dark and foreboding, or light
and whimsical. The NPCs in the Cloud Kingdom are varied and interesting, as are
the dolls in the doll house. All around the style of this game was great. The
music and sound effects did a great job of complimenting the environments as
well.
One particular thing that I liked was that during some parts of the game, you would traverse though crayon dawn areas that would flow into the normal game backgrounds. This is something unique that I haven't seen in many games before, so I really liked that.
Source: Screen Capture from Game
In addition to the horror aspect of the game, the game also has some
great puzzles to solve. I did always enjoy a good puzzler. The puzzles aren’t
overly difficult, but enough to make you think. I did get help up a little bit
in the school because I wasn’t being thorough enough in my search for what I
needed. There were puzzles I did not complete. There is a safe in the school
that requires two different keys and a combination to open, but I only managed
to find one of the keys.
The story is about loneliness, the difficulty of making new friends,
and moving on. Hailey will need to reconcile her past friendships and move
forward to make new friends. For as unsettling and tense as the game was, the
ending was oddly uplifting. I appreciated the entire ride. Kudos to mannytsu
for putting together such an amazing game.
Source: Screen Capture from Game
You can try this game for yourself by downloading the game for free on
Itch.io *here*. As always, I hope that you’ll also leave your words of
encouragement and helpful criticism(if you have it), that way the creators and
continue to develop their skills.
Happy Gaming, Friends!
Bell
See the Gaming in Pajamas Compendium *HERE*
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Email: bellannmae@gmail.com
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