Any hidden gems from this community? Im curious about some compelling stories or intersting mechanics that were explored using games made by RPG Maker!
we have some Fear & Hunger fans on the forum yeah. Real heavy and unnerving atmosphere and the structure (of 2 especially) winds up feeling more like an esoteric puzzle than a jrpg despite the engine. I'll add the usual disclaimer that the games have some especially gnarly and graphic content and anyone under 30 should stay away
In case someone else is digging around here like me, don’t miss: https://www.rpgmmag.com/rmvault
I‘ve recently been playing through Demon King Chronicle. It seems like the only thing anyone online is interested in talking about with this game is its difficulty – it isn’t really that hard, it just requires a lot of time investment! The passage of time is like, The Main Conceit of its narrative. It utilizes the time spent grinding to quietly shift the world in the background, things will change without you looking because you were busy with other stuff. Instead of story beats pressing forward the state of the world, the world simply changes during play. If you, like me, love grinding in RPGs, no other game has rewarded me for that behavior the way this one does. While I love the way the story is told, both mechanically and in its prose, the story itself becomes a little less interesting the more I learn about it, but that hasn't stopped it from quickly become one of my favorite RPG Maker games ever.
My absolute favorite RPG Maker game (that plays like a proper RPG, at least) is _[Facets](https://farawaytimes.itch.io/facets)_. It's much more approachable than _Demon King Chronicle_ but no less full of unique mechanical ideas – though this one I would say is flatly difficult. It's essentially a series of narratively- and thematically-charged boss battles, which means no fodder to grind levels on. You can either beat the boss or you can't. It's one of a select few games I've given a perfect rating to on [backloggd.com](https://www.backloggd.com/u/Funbil/games/added:desc/rating:10/), so I won't say much beyond the fact that I truly believe this deserves to become one of culture's canon indie darlings.
Since I love _Facets_ so much, I started following its developer across a couple social media sites, and to my surprise he followed me back each time. We've been interacting with each other for a while now, and recently [he recommended to me](https://cohost.org/funbil/post/3901670-i-ll-check-it-out) the game [_Helen's Mysterious Castle_](https://store.steampowered.com/app/418190/Helens_Mysterious_Castle/). I haven't played it myself yet, but it's the favorite RPG Maker game of the guy who made my favorite RPG Maker game, so I have to assume it's probably the best.
I don’t have too much experience with RPG Maker games but I recently stumbled upon this Dragon Quest 1 remake I’d like to play when I’m back from holiday:
https://rpgmaker.net/games/4058/