Gamespot Score:n/a
My Score:8.5
(+)Pros: - Bleak and dark atmosphere, - Interesting and likable characters that make you choose between them, - Some genuinely scary moments, - Multiple endings featuring each character, - Great story and experience overall, - Puzzles are well thought out, - Its free, dammit.
(-)Cons: - Short, - There is no "PERFECT" ending.
Gameplay time:Less than 5 hours
Anime Festival Asia aka AFA post coming soon, though I must say I took a pathetic amount of pictures this time round.
"Ib" is probably a game I would have never heard of. I saw this game on a YouTube channel known as "PewdiePie" (I'm sure you all know who he is, bro fist to all you fellow bros) and well, I instantly fell in love because of the similarities it bore to "Corpse Party", one my favorite PSP games. After watching 1 part of the lets play I went to download the game and I finished it in one day. It was an epic game, with so much to like. It's free, and you shouldn't refuse a free game, one that's so damn enjoyable at that. Here's what made "Ib" one of the best experiences I had.
First off, the story. Its simple, but it works, and it works pretty damn well at that. You play as a little girl known as Ib (Eve), as she goes to a museum with her parents to attend an exhibition by a popular artist. Of course everything is nice and well as Ib spends her day with her parents admiring the various artworks, until Ib herself went to inspect a piece of artwork known as "The world". Immediately after that, things started to go terribly wrong. The entire museum went empty, and Ib found herself all alone. A pathway to an unknown area of the museum opened up, and with no other choice, she ventured into the great unknown.....
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| The game has a nice 8-bit style going on that reminds me of "Corpse Party". |
"Ib" is a game similar to "Corpse Party", not just in the visual style, most of the elements of the game share a lot of similarities with "Corpse Party". For one, its an adventure/horror game hybrid, which means you will spend most of your time running around exploring the unknown areas of the museum, whilst encountering jump scares and well, generally just things that scare you and want a piece of your throat. The game portrays the atmosphere PERFECTLY. For a haunted museum, the lack of people, obscure paintings hanging on the side, and exhibits that stare at you as you walk by just makes everything creepy.
The atmosphere is definitely present, you feel like you're being watched by the paintings and walls themselves all the time. Every time you walk past a painting you fear that it might spring to life and jump at you to take a bite off your head. You constantly feel that way throughout the game, and well, its great. Additionally, Ib isn't alone throughout the game, there are other characters which you meet later on. A gentleman trying to act brave called Gary, and an cheerful yet enigmatic girl named Mary. These 2 are full of personality and make up for Ib's silent treatment throughout the whole game. They are both likable, and how you respond to them will determine your ending.
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| Yeah! Better stay away from that chair..... |
Speaking of endings, there are quite a few of them, and as I mentioned, how you react to your other friends will determine which ending you get. The endings are mostly good, and it pays to replay the game to get new endings, since the game is so short anyways, it helps with re playability. And getting each different ending for each character just further connects you with the story and background of the characters, showing off how well the story is done. At that point its no longer just getting out of the museum alive, its the connection you have with the characters. That's just beautiful, considering how there are only 2 major characters.
Other than that, I can say that the puzzles are also very well done. You will be traversing through this accursed museum for the entire game, and its only fitting that the game provides us with some great puzzles. While most aren't particularly TOO hard, the later ones can have you backtracking and walking around quite a fair bit to figure out what to do. None of the game feels like annoying busywork, as each new puzzle feels fresh, whether its navigating through short mazes, solving short mathematical equations or playing a game of deductions (the liar's game was one of my personal favorite puzzles).
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| Run Gary! Also notice how Ib doesn't give a f**k. |
There isn't much to complain about in the game, other than its relatively short length (you can finish it in a good couple of hours or so if you're good with these kinds of games). Still, for a free game this is already too much to ask for. Also, little bit of spoilers here, but the game's many endings are rather bittersweet. There is no PERFECT ending. I don't want to dive too deep into this, but it kind of lacks an ending where everybody just lives happily ever after. A man can dream, I actually liked all the characters.
Bullshit. If you ever turn down this game, you're either a fool or a fool. "Ib", despite being free, is worthy of countless praises. Its great atmosphere, awesome story, likable characters and well thought out puzzles make it a complete STEAL for a free game. You'd be dumb not to get it, its free anyway. Plus, its so short, just play it once and you'll see the brilliant content the game has to offer. Just be prepared to be left off with a bittersweet ending, not that its a bad thing.
Happy gaming! Yandere Mary FTW!
