4.5/5 ★ – crimson2877's review of An Outcry.

Beaten: Feb 01 2022 Time: 02 Hours Platform: Mac (Via Parallels) It’s wild that I went straight from FF8 to this. An Outcry is an indie horror rpg I found out about when I played the 2021 Haunted PS1 Demo Disc. Even among that stylistically and presentationally varied crop of wonderful bite-sized experiences, this was far and away my favorite. Now it’s finally out, and my god it’s amazing. 

If you don’t know about the game, which, fair I guess but Fix That Now, just calling it an indie horror rpg doesn’t really tell the whole story. The horror is primarily conveyed through this.. foreboding atmosphere, and walls of cryptically written text that I could just read for hours and hours. On top of that, it’s got gorgeously realized full screen pixel-art just, everywhere. Honestly there’s some things in this game that I didn’t think you could do with RPG maker, let alone a version that’s 20 years old. 

One thing that’s very RPG maker is the battle system. It’s based in ATB, with your standard kind of moveset (some defensive, some damaging, some meta/support). It doesn’t have much (if any) of the progression and resource management endemic to these kinds of systems though, which feels very refreshing to me, personally (after coming off of 6[?] final fantasy games in a row lmao). The battles feel thematic, not unlike Undertale, but in a much different way? The game manages to get you into the head of the main character in a way not many RPGs I’ve played, even some all time favorites, ever have. We can talk about the main character and the themes a bit too, but I really don’t wanna get into them too much. I think it’ll be the most effective for you the blinder you go into it. That being said, the way this game deals with issues and themes surrounding politics and trans identity is absolutely top tier, and if you’ve been looking for a game that handles all of that perfectly you cannot pass this by. When I played the demo last year it got me paying more attention to what I say and the way I say it, which is.. not really an affect I expected to feel from a game. Absolutely check this one out. It’s nice and short (but has multiple endings that you’ll be driven to check out!) and just, so so good. It deserves your attention. Also birds :)