Save Your Mother

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RPG Maker strikes again!

Save Your Mother is one of hundreds of low effort retro-pixel RPG Maker asset/construction kit flips spamming the Steam catalog, made with the RPG Maker video game construction kit... in their own words, "Our easy to use tools are simple enough for a child." Like all RPG Maker "games", this is essentially a bunch of low quality/canned assets from RPG Maker coupled with a cringeworthy high school anime club fan fiction. There is some custom artwork to go along with the flipped RPG Maker assets that the developer is tacitly trying to claim credit for.

As with all RPG Maker games, the poor quality engine displays badly in fullscreen and doesn't have full HD support or any graphics tweaking options, making this unacceptable for any dedicated modern PC gamer. The point can be made that the intention of RPG Maker is to make demos and small games to pass around friends, and shouldn't be used for "professional" game development.

Like most RPG Maker shovelware and asset flips, the game features extremely low quality copy + pasted 2D retro pixel art, looks awful, and has even worse gameplay. RPG Maker is an absolutely terrible construction kit, and never results in games of any reasonable quality or value to gamers.

This is a particularly badly made RPG Maker asset flip, with only one character, thankfully it's short. There's some puzzles and things to go along with the bad writing, but as always content has no value if it's wrapped in garbage. It was originally churned out of RPG Maker as part of a "one month challenge", which is fascinating because even a child can dump out an RPG Maker asset flip in the space of an afternoon, so taking a month to do it and still coming out with something as disastrous as this is a true achievement.

The custom artwork plastered lazily on top of the RPG Maker asset flipped assets is terrible, it's a hodge-podge of amateurish "My First Wacom Tablet" style drawings used instead professional looking game assets. It's unclear if this is due to lack of budget to arrange someone who can create graphical assets properly, or lack of talent, regardless, the overall visual quality of the game is extremely low, enough on its own to deter gamers.

Save Your Mother didn't appeal much to the people who own a copy of the game, either. It has achievements, and they show us a very clear picture that the game didn't really capture any interest from gamers. The most commonly and easily attained achievement is for beating the first mini-boss, trivial to get, but less than 16 percent of players bothered to get that far before uninstalling the game. Hardly a success story, gamers just weren't all that interested in the game.

Reviewing SteamDB to check how popular this game was with players reveals a surprise... there's a modest spike in player counts for the game. But this only happened once, and isn't consistent with the achievement stats, that show less than 16 percent of players bothered playing the game for any reasonable amount of time. How is it possible for this game to have so many concurrent players who didn't bother engaging with this game? Trading cards. People will use card idling software to collect the cards and sell them, but this won't trigger any achievements in-game.

That tells us people only really bought this game for trading cards, and that's a damning indictment of the woeful quality. A closer look at the numbers shows the game just has a couple of players every week running up the game and idling it for cards, then deleting it. We must ask how it benefits gamers for there to be so many games like this, with little merit as a serious game, that only generate sales from people idling and selling the trading cards.

So, should you buy this game?

Save Your Mother is relatively cheap at $3 USD, but it's not worth it. Given the defects and quality issues with the game, coupled with the unrealistic price, this is impossible to recommend. Gamers who want a good retro JRPG experience would be better off playing the originals, like Final Fantasy, Star Ocean or Chrono Trigger. This is also competing with over 11,000 free games available on Steam, many of them far better than this paid product.

I got this game deeply discounted and because I'm stubborn played it to completion. The combat is annoying at best and impossible at worst. The scripting (and art) feels like it was done by a pubescent teen who recently discovered boobs, although the art style isn't awful. If I have to dig deep, there's maybe... one good puzzle in it? RPG Maker. Sigh. Removing barriers to entry for game development is a double edged sword.

damn best game ever with the best graphics, black screen > any AAA game

Save Your Mother, First of all, let's start with the dungeons. The dungeons are designed lazy and no dungeon is different from the other, only the interior is different. The mechanics are just annoying, even the walking mechanics are not smooth. As for the fast battle mechanics, it annoys you more than fast, and because of these mechanics, the boss battles make it unbearable and boring. There are mini-games but it is torture because of the mechanics. Only 1 minigame isn't bad. He also faints after a while. They put fishing and mining or something, but it's boring. It's a waste of time. And of course, there are duties to make us experience fishing and mining. And if you don't do these quests, you won't be able to progress in the game because the enemies ahead will defeat you immediately. It would be better if these items were given in a more fun way rather than mining and fishing. The story and the ending are predictable. It's like the dialogues were written for you to fall asleep. No NPC is impressive or funny. They are completely empty, they just fill the dungeon while playing. There are also annoying bugs in hordcore mode. For example, while fighting the last boss of the game, the game suddenly closes and causes you to do everything from the beginning. This causes a terrible waste of time. Because of this bug, the game ate my 3 days. As for the positive aspects of the game, the publisher still answers your questions, but if you're stuck in the episode, he answers it, otherwise I haven't seen him answer other questions. The music is not bad, but while there are hundreds of games with good music and both, it is just a waste of money and time to buy this.

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My Playthrough

The Review

To be fair, I'm only about 45 minutes or so into the game. Very impressed. If you think you have seen everything indie RPG games have to offer, check this one out. :)

B++

I must confess, I had this game in my Steam Library when it came out and after having trouble with that lava minigame and those ghost in the snow level keep killing me, I left it to one side for a while. Since them, the game has receive a good few patches and I decided to give it another try.

Story:

A long, the gods made a very powerful cube and it’s kept in a dangerous dungeon. This brings us to Alice, a scholar who’s mother falls ill and after exhausting all her option, now must find the cube in hopes of saving her.

That’s it for the most part. I actually don’t have anything to commit on this plot. Sure there’s a few characters besides Alice but I have nothing to say.

Gameplay:

I would call this an RPG, but while there is some combat, that’s not the only thing going on in the game. The combat might seems confusing at first but you start out with some slow mushrooms to start with to get use to the combat but unless it’s a boss, you usually just use attack, and a healing item after a while. And speaking of bosses, while the second boss gave me some trouble at first, the first was the only challenge fight I faced on my playthough and it felt harder than my first time fighting it. And the main reason why it was the only challenge is that I learned a move in one level and it was so OP It killed every one in a few hits. Except Mungo. He’s immune to magic.

But while the combat wasn’t a highlight, everything is alt least worth mentioning. For example, every level is different. And by that it that your usually doing something new in every level. For example, the first level has a few enemies, then a puzzle. And in the next level, you have to deal with environment hazards before entering a plot of saving a princess. and then there’s minigames which work and are surprisingly fun. you can find a fishing hole where you can fish when you find a rod and it’s pretty straightforward. And there’s a secret minigame that’s a decent space shooter type game.

I want to mention about some of the later things that happen but I don’t want to spoil them. I will say that I didn’t enjoy the lava ride minigame but I didn’t know if that game just sucked or was because the bad lag I was having. I had several lag issues, mainly in level 2, especially at the end.It could be my laptop that’s issue but I should list this issue.

And finally I want to offer a tip. Whenever you get an item that says it boosts stats, use it. Alice is the only character you play with so using them on her can help a lot.

Presentation:

The first thing you’ll probably notice is the art for the character portraits and their pretty good. Good enough to get my interest. Though I’m disappointed we don’t fight many enemies that are as big as the giant spider. Music is fine. Nothing terrible, but the good songs aren’t that memorable

Edit: Forgot to mention that I thought the ice cave floor and the ice blend togther too much.
Verdict:

I’m actually torn on what to give this. I know it’a above average but how is up to interpretation. It can be better in some places but what’s here is a decent game.

6/10

Can't really say I was a fan. (Ver 1.42)

This was quite an enjoyable adventure with a loveable main character, good story telling and actually pretty good quick turn based combat. I received the game with a discount using a coupon but after beating it would have definitely paid the full price. Plenty of boss fights, difficult but definitely decernable puzzles and certainly humorus moments.

The game is a bit short but satisfying...though I couldn't help but want more. Now I am off to try hardcore mode and figure out where all the stuff I missed is. Looking forward to see what else the developer pops out.

(UPDATE)
Hardcore mode is a bit beyond me which (as someone who loves achievement hunting) is a bit sad. Made it to the last boss. but said boss on hardcore has a speed buff I can't see how to beat. You don't get your turn for a full minute and may or not be alive.

It's a charming effort with really cool artwork, an earnest story, and variation in the puzzles and mini-games (fishing!). I actually enjoyed the short time i've spent with it, and plan on diving more into it later on. Nice work!

*I edited this game review*

I love the game. If you love Undertale, youll love this one.

Do I recommend? Yep. Take it if you got a coupon or if theres sales.

This game has a nice story. You go in as a scholar to fight monsters (yeah pretty fancy). Sadly, the story is short and you can finish the game in around 2-3 hours. More importantly, the dev cares about the game (which is surprising these days). I found some bugs, gave the log to him and he got them fixed like right away. Yep no kidding. He also considered my suggestions - nerfing lightning even more (sorry lads).

To achievement hunters: good luck. You might need a few saves tho. (Some secrets suck tbh)
To people who want the game only for the badge: dont! The game cards are expensive lol.
*edit* the game cards are no more that expensive. They were $0.40 when i played...
Get the game for the story, the experience. Its totally worth it.

*The reply from the dev was for when i mentioned getting more melee weapons and spells in hardcore*

Oh and if you need hints, ask the dev. You wont find anything on google (I tried)

And... the paladin is dead!

Before it gets patched, play the game at 30% sound. Get into a fight. Premium experience. Headphones recommended. (No its not creepy noises or shouts whatever)

This game made me laugh plenty of times, and was an overall enjoyable experience. I enjoyed the writing and jokes (even though a few times they seemed to be worded strange or need better grammar, which is okay, since the developer is not a native english speaker).

Pros:

Story and writing were
Hand drawn art
Music
Nice diversity of dungeon types, puzzles, and hazards.
Deadly Doves
Laughed alot and had a good time playing it.


Cons:

Game balance is rather off. You're either way too strong or weak, depending if you got certain spells or leveled up enough
Not enough to use money on, like more equipment or pictures.
Found some bugs, but reported them to the developer.
Secrets were hard to find, even when specifically looking for them.
Could have used more documentation
Some enemy attacks take too long. The last bos has an attack that was roughly 12 seconds long, and she would do it multiple times while your attack charges.


Neutral:

Short, but did not cost so much that this was a problem.


It only says roughly two hours played, but I beat this game while streaming to the TV with my BF's account.

Judging by how it looks and plays, I can't say that its one of the most ambitious RPG maker games out there, but it's not half-a**ed either. There's definitely plenty of interesting and customized features here that puts it above the more generic titles, so if you're into RPG Maker games but are tired of playing the same thing over and over again, then this is definitely worth a try.

It has puzzles, challenging side bosses, interesting lore, mini games and secrets to discover. Although these are no doubt great to have in games, I think the game's overall length is what kept these individual features, especially the mini games and the lore from standing out on their own since there's simply a little too much to feature in such a short game. The length also hurts what I think is an ambitious in-game lore, seeing as there are plenty of explanations given in the game but the player is given little-to-no opportunities to explore it even further through gameplay.

That's not to say that a short game is bad. It's short enough for a rainy afternoon or a lazy week end that I think none of what the game throws at the player will ever get old(besides the mining "mini game"). It's short, charming and fun, and if it were a tad longer, then I think I'll appreciate it even more.

PROS:
- unlockable hardcore mode...
- cool casket race...
- amazing drawings
- cool music
- nice mapping
- nice short story
- sidequests
- cool riddles
- secret mini game

CONS:
- ...with unfair sections
- ...which is hard to control at the beginning
- hardcore mode seems impossible to beat

RESULT:
If you look for a great RPG Maker game, that is fun to play, here it is. :D
But of course not everything is perfect, for the first run everything is fun. If you try to reach all secrets, then you encounter a really unfair boss, which kills you instantly without a chance of winning. To actually beat this one guy, you need to grind your level up to 15 at least!!!
The hardcore mode seems like a bad joke. :/
First problem you can die easily without having any control about it when you're drugged. Because you have to find 5 random spawning events in time, if you don't, game over...
Second problem Ice Lady, if she uses absolute zero it's an instant kill, even with 2k+ HP!!!
*edit*
But you got an item, that protects you from ice and I missed it, shame on me. :'(
*end of edit*
Third problem you've unlock a special equip, that makes many situations easier, but on the final part you're not allowed to use it, else game over!!!
Why even giving this object in hardcore mode, if you're not allowed to use it?
I was so frustrated after that, that I stopped playing that game for that day. >:O

The first run was really fun, even finding all the secrets and finishing the superboss. I also loved the puzzles, they were so outstanding. Oh, how I missed them in modern games. <3
Only question left for me, where the heck can I even find abyss?
Even with finding all secrets, I wasn't be able to find or kill him. :( (\ô/)

I saw this game forever ago on steam greenlight and from then on I had it on my wishlist when it got approved, and though the art and concept art pretty cool the game crashes for me during the first boss restricting me from so much of the game, plus it seemed to run rough and be unresponsive. Maybe after some patching it will be a good purchase, but as is I cannot suggest it

Was a great game, I really love the art and story! I knew I regonized the art when I read the credits!

EDIT: After talking to the developer, yeah, maybe JUST comparing the game to Undertale didn't get my non-recommendation across. So I went back, re-wrote my old script, and put together a full video going into my thoughts on the game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd19092D-KE

I was very disappointed by that game. 2 hours gameplay for 7 € is just too much.

- I was expecting a rpg style game. But it didn't use anything that would justify that. You can't use any rpg style leveling up (not enough monsters), you can't equip different things (only the standard set is available). It's more of a puzzle game than a rpg

- The fights are just annoying. As you can't level up its always just a game of luck. The ice lady for example has one move that kills you immediately. I had to replay her 6 times until she finally stopped using that attack and i beat her.

- Only 4 levels (yep, thats it), and the levels are also short. Basically per level you have about 3 mazes on each floor with random puzzles. And whats worse: the lava level is so frustrating because you HAVE to walk over lava to get anywhere and you get hurt while doing it. And the casket-Lava-Race mini game is also frustrating because the controls just don't work. Sometimes you press right and nothing happens and you crash into something.

- not much to do: there are hardly any people to talk to. Hardly any side quests, and at the end some guy always tells you how many puzzles you have solved. So i replayed the level and still couldn't find anything

The game might have potential, but as it is its not worth 7€.

I take back everything.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NihiothZhEA

I decided to play this game a bit more and ran into this shit. The dev has no idea how to code anything. Look at the fight and tell me if any of my deaths are my fault. This boss has an instant kill attack thats RNG. It can use it whenever... it can open up with a "FUCK YOU" instant kill or it can wait until you get her down to 300 hp and use it. It's basically a rush to kill her before she uses it... and this game is being sold for 10 fucking bucks on steam. It's not worth it...

Mapping is bad
Story is bad
Art is unique and it could work if everything was custom and the dev actually had some literary talent. Instead we get anime tropes the game.
This isn't fun. This isn't worth 10 bucks. This feels like a rip off. I would play this game for free, and hell I may even pay 1 dollar for it... but no... not 10.

Don't pay for this game until the price drops significantly. I cant in good conscience even say anything remotely nice about this game at this price... Look at the video and tell me if you think that looks fun and you would cough up 10 bucks for this game. Fuck this... I'm going to play undertale.

Stumbling upon games is nice,