Surprise surprise, Bre got too wordy with the initial throwback for Halloween. For our page designer Arianna’s convenience I split this throwback into two three-game segments. I just couldn’t leave these games out of the conversation!

I tried to use less words with this one too. I know, I know, I’m so benevolent and humble.

If you haven’t read my other RPGMaker throwback article, I highly suggest you read it. The same rules apply here: I won’t spoil the endings of these games and my reviews are based mostly on the plot, the gameplay elements and the endings.

The Crooked Man – 2012: 6/10

“The Crooked Man” is a puzzle, mystery and horror game where you play as a man who just bought a new apartment with the help of his friends Paul and Marion. He quickly finds out his house is haunted, and discovers letters that lead him on a trail through town. Through his adventures, he discovers a man with a horribly bent neck, and does everything he can to avoid him. There are five possible endings to achieve based on your choices — four bad and one good.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the “good” ending. It’s hard to talk about why I didn’t like it with no spoilers, but it was very unsatisfying and felt like everything you’d learned along the way was for nothing. The bad endings, however, I thought were decent!

The gameplay was fun, the puzzles challenging in some parts. I rate it a solid 6/10.

I learned later that this is the first installment of a four game series. Though I’ve never played those ones, I’m sure they have similar charm to “The Crooked Man” and I’m looking forward to giving them a try!

Misao – 2011 + remaster in 2024: 8/10

“Misao” is a puzzle and survival horror game in which you have to find the missing body parts (or possessions, depending on which version you’re playing) of a girl in a cursed school.

The lore to this game is kind of long, but the gist is that a girl named Misao who was often bullied mysteriously disappeared, and she “comes back” to haunt the school. You play as a girl named Aki, and in the original game you find Misao’s body parts throughout the school and uncover how she died.

I will note that I played the remaster of the game on Steam that had some “sensitivity” alterations — such as the swap from finding body parts to finding possessions — these changes made some of the story less gruesome, but no less meaningful.

This game was traumatizing for sure, but I think that’s the point of it. There are some big trigger warnings for this game for obvious reasons, but it’s definitely worth playing and I think everything portrayed was done in a way that makes sense — not just thrown in for shock value.

I personally didn’t achieve it, but I also read about a secret ending that you can unlock after discovering all the bad endings that is nice.

Mad Father – 2012 + remake in 2020: 7/10

Although I really liked this game, I included it here on this list specifically because of my review of the game above.

“Mad Father” is a survival horror puzzle game centered around Aya, an 11-year who broke into her father’s secret lab and uncovers his horrifying research.

The game begins on the anniversary of the death of Aya’s Mother, Monika. At midnight on the anniversary, Aya wakes up and finds herself surrounded by test subjects that escaped from her fathers lab — human test subjects. The gameplay involves the player solving puzzles to uncover the horrible truth about her father’s plans for her.

There are three possible endings for the game, each one violent and full of death and, weirdly enough, taxidermy? The “true ending” is happy though, definitely worth it.

During the cutscene of the true ending, there is a super interesting section that hints to the events of the game “Misao.”

The remake of the game from 2020 has a new epilogue as well that offers some interesting insight into Aya as a character.

This game has a lot of twists and turns, but is overall fun to play! It is gruesome and touches on darker topics, like “Misao,” but is definitely worth it.

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Breanna Hanley is a reporter for The Express.