Resette’s Prescription ~Book of memory, Swaying scale~ PC Review by Eivmoe – Edited by kytten – Developer: Liz-Arts – Publisher: Sekai Project – Genre: Adventure
An aquarelle painting made to look like a picture book, only to be brought forth as a point and click adventure game, is beautiful and stunningly put together in a overall package that will make your eyes water from laughing, sadness, or just very pretty colours. No matter how you want to look at this, the developers, Liz-Arts, has outdone themselves in a beautiful world with the publisher Sekai Project right there pushing it further. Many thanks to Sekai Project for the review key!
Many older gamers will remember 2D adventures like Grim Fandango which was recently remastered for a newer crowd, or A Boy and His Blob, both a large influence over gaming as a whole. Resette’s Prescription takes what those games have done well and masters it in a mix of comedy, exploration, puzzles and a character duo that you can quickly get behind.
Resette, the main character who may seem like a tiny child, stands out compared to A Boy and His Blob where the character was rather childlike and helpless, by being a strong lead character who will do most of the thinking, handy work and puzzle solving. However, even with such a strong front character, it does not outshine the more fun, outgoing and at times loud Gaede, who so happens to be a cat.
Artwork, I’ve only ever seen one a game as beautiful as this, Bastion. While one is is a more isometric game, and the other is a 2D point and click adventure, they share the same colourful, bright and rather joyful expression of color. It’s art style is complete watercolour paintings, and while the character themselves are simple, they do not feel out of place in a the artwork.
Dialogue does not disappoint either, while stiff at times, the lines and responses feel natural with a touch of a character’s personality. They all speak in a way that is a bit different from each other, which also brings out their personality, depth, and also gives an overall picture of a well designed character. When topped off with facial expression and body language, there is very little left to be desired in a character except their story which comes forth in the game.
Soundtrack, while at first I was unsure of how well it would fit with the art, as I progressed further I could not think of any other soundtrack I would rather have. It fits with the different scenes, it fit with the dialogue, and responds appropriately when things happen. Even hearing a song five or six times in a row because you took your time to read, observe, or just watch the scenery, it does not feel repetitive.
The story is quick to draw you in, by chapter 2 or 3 you will start gaining an understanding of how things really work. From there, the adventure starts. It teaches you that to reach your goal, you will have to solve puzzles to get to your next destination. Without spoiling anything, the game will question your sense of justice, and does so in a brilliant way, though at times it may feel a bit spoon fed. Overall story-wise it is paced well.
The aforementioned puzzles will challenge you with math, a chess-like game, a scavenger hunt, or remembering numbers. The longer you go into the game, the tougher the puzzles get. However the biggest troubles may not be how to solve a puzzle, but how to get to the puzzle, which may cause some annoyance as you play through the game.
All in all, Resette’s Prescription is a well executed game that quickly draws in anyone that enjoys a story-rich game with pretty colours, art, and a good humour to boot. It gives you the fulfilling story answering it’s own questions, while also dealing with tough questions such as abuse. I would definitely recommend it for anyone!
Eivmoe gives Resette’s Prescription a Drastik Measure 9.7 out of 10 (97).
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Pros and Cons:
+Colourful, bright, beautiful background.
+Watercolor art
+Rich and deep characters.
+Fun dialogue
+Well paced
+Surprisingly dark story
+Many puzzles that makes you think.
+Many different kind of puzzles.
+Beautiful soundtrack
~Rather short finished in 3 hours.
~Minimal settings to change.
~Close to no backstory on main characters.
-One bug which required me to use the manual skip button which also skipped dialogue.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/463460/
This has been a We Touch Games review.
