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For Games Ranked 9–6
9.
Birdcaged
by
Kefyrra
Release Type:
Original Release
Fuzzy Description:
A bird-girl with a smoking problem tries to leave her studio apartment through the front door, but the door is locked, and all of the creatures in her ventilation system—the only path out of the apartment—want to harass her with psychological warfare, and perhaps some physical warfare, too. Can she suppress the bullies and get some fresh air before they knock her unconscious?
Average Score:
Total Voters:
Highest Rating:
9
Lowest Rating:
3
Achievements
Achievement
One-Room Crossover
–Birdcaged was originally made for the 2018 One-Room Contest. It was submitted to Heart of the OHR late in the contest window.
Achievement
Role Model
-The protagonist is a smoker with issues.
Achievement
Color-coding Champion
-One of the charms to Birdcaged is how it handles ramping up battle difficulty. The main road out of the apartment has colored sections that delineate where stronger enemies live, which is clever given that the entire game takes place in a single room.
Achievement
The Most Obvious Escape Room
-The point of the game is to leave the room, but the whole thing takes place on a single screen and offers no surprises on where to go or how to escape.
Achievement
The Unknown Good Samaritan Award
-Every time the protagonist falls in battle, she’s transported back to her bed where she begins again. Who’s taking her to her bed?
Achievement
Ant Fryer
–Birdcaged is so tightly focused in its presentation that it may as well resemble a magnifying glass focusing sunrays onto an unfortunate ant (or leaf).
Achievement
Weirdest Battle Score
-The battle theme used for non-boss battles starts off sounding circus-like and then mutates into something weird and kinda twisted with haunting vocals.
Achievement
One-Room Crossover
–Birdcaged was originally made for the 2018 One-Room Contest. It was submitted to Heart of the OHR late in the contest window.
Achievement
Color-coding Champion
-One of the charms to Birdcaged is how it handles ramping up battle difficulty. The main road out of the apartment has colored sections that delineate where stronger enemies live, which is clever given that the entire game takes place in a single room.
Achievement
Ant Fryer
–Birdcaged is so tightly focused in its presentation that it may as well resemble a magnifying glass focusing sunrays onto an unfortunate ant (or leaf).
Achievement
Role Model
-The protagonist is a smoker with issues.
Achievement
The Most Obvious Escape Room
-The point of the game is to leave the room, but the whole thing takes place on a single screen and offers no surprises on where to go or how to escape.
Achievement
Weirdest Battle Score
-The battle theme used for non-boss battles starts off sounding circus-like and then mutates into something weird and kinda twisted with haunting vocals.
Achievement
The Unknown Good Samaritan Award
-Every time the protagonist falls in battle, she’s transported back to her bed where she begins again. Who’s taking her to her bed?
Audience Consensus:
Short and straightforward, this game puts most of its focus on the theme, and it works well. Battles are dull and repetitive, and getting sent back to the beginning after every failure may feel grind-y in time, but the simplistic design keeps the story and theme at the forefront, and for a game that doesn’t try to get too fancy, keeping an eye on the goal pays off. It’s also nice that the goal is clear and easy to spot, and that battle difficulty can be charted by the color-coding of the ventilation system. All-in-all, very tightly and effectively designed.
8.
really hard game
by
TheMan
Release Type:
Original Release
Fuzzy Description:
In a time when the demons return to terrorize really hard land (no caps), one real wizard and three fake ones are called into adventure to slay them. But can they survive the dangers of tutorial forest, the glen, and even *gasp* the highway in their pursuit of justice?
In really hard land, surviving even the searching of a bookshelf can be really hard.
Average Score:
Total Voters:
Highest Rating:
8
Lowest Rating:
5
Achievements
Achievement
Adult Swimmer
–really hard game has a distinct cartoonish art style that separates it from other entries in the contest. One reviewer called it “Newgrounds comic-esque.” It also hovers closely to the fringe art styles one might find in a cartoon on Adult Swim. This award was previously given to Sour City (2016).
Achievement
You Sure You Want to Search That?
-Checking for flavor text can be a dicey affair in really hard game. In one room, you may be searching a chair to buy items that previously belonged to a defeated boss. In another room, you may be searching a bookshelf that contains a trio of deadly grapes that will destroy you and turn you to juice before you can step away. Just another mechanic that makes this title a “really hard game.”
Achievement
In the Pines
–really hard game begins in a town called IN-THE-PINES. That name is not only on-the-nose, but it is also indicative of how often the player may spend searching for pathways “in the pines.” Just another mechanic that makes this title a “really hard game.”
Achievement
Pay for Level-up
-There is no experience given in really hard game. Just money. To level-up a hero, the player must defeat a boss and then visit a well to receive his upgrade. To make the system even stingier, the game allows for only one upgrade per level-up. Just another mechanic that makes this title a “really hard game.”
Achievement
really hard game
-The title earns its reputation. Any future Heart of the OHR entry that comes across as exceptionally difficult will receive this newly minted staple award. Remember, this is where it all began.
Achievement
Adult Swimmer
–really hard game has a distinct cartoonish art style that separates it from other entries in the contest. One reviewer called it “Newgrounds comic-esque.” It also hovers closely to the fringe art styles one might find in a cartoon on Adult Swim. This award was previously given to Sour City (2016).
Achievement
In the Pines
–really hard game begins in a town called IN-THE-PINES. That name is not only on-the-nose, but it is also indicative of how often the player may spend searching for pathways “in the pines.” Just another mechanic that makes this title a “really hard game.”
Achievement
Pay for Level-up
-There is no experience given in really hard game. Just money. To level-up a hero, the player must defeat a boss and then visit a well to receive his upgrade. To make the system even stingier, the game allows for only one upgrade per level-up. Just another mechanic that makes this title a “really hard game.”
Achievement
You Sure You Want to Search That?
-Checking for flavor text can be a dicey affair in really hard game. In one room, you may be searching a chair to buy items that previously belonged to a defeated boss. In another room, you may be searching a bookshelf that contains a trio of deadly grapes that will destroy you and turn you to juice before you can step away. Just another mechanic that makes this title a “really hard game.”
Achievement
really hard game
-The title earns its reputation. Any future Heart of the OHR entry that comes across as exceptionally difficult will receive this newly minted staple award. Remember, this is where it all began.
Audience Consensus:
The difficulty is real, the art style is odd, and the humor is sardonic, but these are the very things that make really hard game stand out among the rest. There’s just enough ambiguity to force the player to brave his choices but not so much that he can’t figure out the best path for advancement (and not defeat). The unique class choices at the start of the game also make it replayable. It’s called “The Dark Souls of the OHR” for a reason.
7.
Trytuges
by
Nathan Karr
Release Type:
Original Release
Fuzzy Description:
A ragtag group of the usual adventurers travels throughout the land, talking to townies and taking orders from authorities as they work for the right to visit Skull Island and beat up a new evil overlord who has taken up residence there.
Average Score:
Total Voters:
Highest Rating:
7
Lowest Rating:
5
Achievements
Achievement
Tightly Wound
-The stronger cousin to “Loose Thread,” Trytuges received a highly consistent scoring range from each of its voters, with 7’s going to half of the voters and 6’s going to all but one from the other half. The one detractor gave it a 5, which is close to a 6, which keeps the game from having a “Loose Thread.”
Achievement
Rock Star
–Trytuges features a town with two halves, both separated by a giant rock. The player has two choices: destroy the rock, or go outside town and reenter from the other side. Destroying the rock takes much more time than walking around does, so, like a real rock star, its legend lives on.
Achievement
One Pirate Final Fantasy
–Trytuges is the third pirate-themed RPG* in Heart of the OHR 2018, even though its pirateness is somewhat loosely interpreted. Unlike the One Pirate games, however, Trytuges is modeled closer to Final Fantasy as it keeps to the four-party model and uses sprites that resemble those from the early NES Final Fantasy games. *Three, unless we’re also including Drydocks somehow.
Achievement
The Helpful Landlady Award
-The landlady of the tavern won’t give the heroes access to the boat they need without first extorting them for wares, for which they must also pay.
Achievement
Oh, Drat!
-There’s no cursing in Trytuges, but there are plenty of drats* featured throughout the game. *Drats are actually just large rats.
Achievement
8-Bit Pack Hero
-A variation of previous “8-Bit Hero” awards, this award is given to games that use the 8-bit sprite pack created by FnrrfYgmSchnish.
Achievement
Tightly Wound
-The stronger cousin to “Loose Thread,” Trytuges received a highly consistent scoring range from each of its voters, with 7’s going to half of the voters and 6’s going to all but one from the other half. The one detractor gave it a 5, which is close to a 6, which keeps the game from having a “Loose Thread.”
Achievement
One Pirate Final Fantasy
–Trytuges is the third pirate-themed RPG* in Heart of the OHR 2018, even though its pirateness is somewhat loosely interpreted. Unlike the One Pirate games, however, Trytuges is modeled closer to Final Fantasy as it keeps to the four-party model and uses sprites that resemble those from the early NES Final Fantasy games. *Three, unless we’re also including Drydocks somehow.
Achievement
Oh, Drat!
-There’s no cursing in Trytuges, but there are plenty of drats* featured throughout the game. *Drats are actually just large rats.
Achievement
Rock Star
–Trytuges features a town with two halves, both separated by a giant rock. The player has two choices: destroy the rock, or go outside town and reenter from the other side. Destroying the rock takes much more time than walking around does, so, like a real rock star, its legend lives on.
Achievement
The Helpful Landlady Award
-The landlady of the tavern won’t give the heroes access to the boat they need without first extorting them for wares, for which they must also pay.
Achievement
8-Bit Pack Hero
-A variation of previous “8-Bit Hero” awards, this award is given to games that use the 8-bit sprite pack created by FnrrfYgmSchnish.
Audience Consensus:
A satirical and somewhat wacky adventure that uses FnrrfYgmSchnish’s 8-bit graphics set, and somehow makes it work in its favor. Sometimes it borders on the absurd, with characters talking nonsense and battles either taking too long in certain cases, or going very quickly in others, or even proving unnecessary when the player discovers a path around it. But the game still has a vivid personality, and it’s hard not to like how it handles itself.
6.
Drydocks: A Merchant RPG
by
DanteDynamite
Release Type:
Re-release
Fuzzy Description:
In this Uncharted Waters-inspired trading game, the son of a traveling merchant gets into the family business and roams the bustling countryside as he searches for deals and trades that can help the people flourish and his bottom line grow.
It’s medieval capitalism. With horses, resources, guilds, and boats.
Average Score:
Total Voters:
Highest Rating:
9
Lowest Rating:
4
Achievements
Achievement
Explorer’s Paradise
-The world map in Drydocks: A Merchant RPG is so large and diverse that it’s easy to get lost and even easier to discover new things.
Achievement
You Look Familiar
–Drydocks is a faithful interpretation of the SNES classic Uncharted Waters.
Achievement
Mechanical Heart
-A Heart of the OHR staple award given to games that have RPG elements but are not necessarily battle-focused when it comes to stat gains, at least not in the traditional sense. Silhouette (2012) was the only other game to officially receive the award (for its puzzle-based battles), but Surfasaurus (2016) certainly qualified for it (for its surfing-based battles).
Achievement
Guilds and Horses
-Instead of leveling up through battles, the protagonist levels up through guilds. Alternatively, the “horses” is included in the title to make the award sound like a rock band.
Achievement
Okay, Who Wanted What Now?
-One of the challenges to buying low and selling high in Drydocks is to remember who sells low and who buys high. With numerous towns spread out across the vast world map, each with its own specialty resource and demand, it can be challenging to remember where to go next. Fortunately, there’s a map and a series of town charts (accessed via keys 0-9) to guide the player, but solid navigation and memory are still the primary keys to success.
Achievement
Black Friday Award
-In Drydocks, the object of the game is to travel from location to location, seeking the best deals, buying low, and selling high. It’s basically how Black Friday works.
Achievement
Peripheral Vision Needed
-The various HUDs and icons populating the edges of the game screen are essential viewing to understand what’s going on and what’s needed to keep going.
Achievement
Explorer’s Paradise
-The world map in Drydocks: A Merchant RPG is so large and diverse that it’s easy to get lost and even easier to discover new things.
Achievement
Mechanical Heart
-A Heart of the OHR staple award given to games that have RPG elements but are not necessarily battle-focused when it comes to stat gains, at least not in the traditional sense. Silhouette (2012) was the only other game to officially receive the award (for its puzzle-based battles), but Surfasaurus (2016) certainly qualified for it (for its surfing-based battles).
Achievement
Black Friday Award
-In Drydocks, the object of the game is to travel from location to location, seeking the best deals, buying low, and selling high. It’s basically how Black Friday works.
Achievement
You Look Familiar
–Drydocks is a faithful interpretation of the SNES classic Uncharted Waters.
Achievement
Guilds and Horses
-Instead of leveling up through battles, the protagonist levels up through guilds. Alternatively, the “horses” is included in the title to make the award sound like a rock band.
Achievement
Peripheral Vision Needed
-The various HUDs and icons populating the edges of the game screen are essential viewing to understand what’s going on and what’s needed to keep going.
Achievement
Okay, Who Wanted What Now?
-One of the challenges to buying low and selling high in Drydocks is to remember who sells low and who buys high. With numerous towns spread out across the vast world map, each with its own specialty resource and demand, it can be challenging to remember where to go next. Fortunately, there’s a map and a series of town charts (accessed via keys 0-9) to guide the player, but solid navigation and memory are still the primary keys to success.
Audience Consensus:
A great idea that’s executed well on paper, this game does occasionally suffer from awkward bugs, like stepping on a flashing town tile that offers no response or paying for an item when there’s no more room in the player’s inventory. For every two positives, a bug creeps in from behind, but the game is still a lot of fun with plenty of room for exploring, trading, and getting to know each town’s specialty. Even with the bugs at play, it’s a game worth investing time in. Unless you hate commerce games or capitalism, of course.
