Primal Rift Reviews

A fun and engaging RPG Maker game, especially for only a dollar on sale! It's an interesting concept where you shoot dinosaurs in Earthbound-style combat. I like how an animation of your weapon actually pops up on screen. The game isn't too long, an hour on subsequent playthroughs when you know what you're doing, up to 3 hours the first time through when you're learning and experimenting. My biggest complaint is how slow you move and there's no run button. Also no t-rex fight :(. It's difficult in the beginning when you have low health and enemies have moves that do 10x their regular damage. Save often! Also wish there were achievements as they aren't hard to add to RPG Maker. There is new game+ mode which is cool, and if you find a certain item you can unlock a certain electronic device and up the difficulty to the impossible nightmare mode.

EDIT: There's one thing I forgot to mention. The sound effects for walking around are loud as fuck, so I implore people to lower down the SE setting. Especially if you're wearing headphones. [hr][/hr] This game is pretty much an homage to 90's horror games like Resident Evil but it's an RPGMaker game, so it's going to be very janky in its execution. The gameplay is fine. I appreciate that even though the combat is a pure turn-based system and there's random encounters, it incorporates resource management so well that it feels like the horror games it's trying to emulate. While you can level up in this game, it's encouraged to run away if you're running low on ammo. The campy dialogue can be charming at times but I feel it can be eye-rolling for a bunch of people. My only gripe with it is the protag moves like a slug, even when he isn't doing parkour. It's grating because the game expects you to backtrack a lot, especially when solving certain puzzles, and makes getting from point A to B agonizing. Some of the puzzles can also be a pain [spoiler]especially that rat negotiation.[/spoiler] I recommend people go in knowing that this game isn't the most polished game out there, but I am so charmed by everything else it has, that I WANT to see more games like it.

An okay RPGmaker survival game. Basically dinosaurs break through a portal and take over a building, and it's your job to save everyone trapped inside. The exploration is fairly standard with only a couple of puzzles, though there is a contextual climbing system. Combat is turn-based but revolves around weapons with ammo. It's very flawed. Most of the upgrades come far too late into the game to make a meaningful difference in battles. While early on it feels like you either have to grind or hope enemies miss you a bunch so you don't instantly die. Also EVEN IF you do fully upgrade; you can still be one-shot. Otherwise I appreciate the atmosphere and writing, but the game feels like it ends before the story fully reaches a satisfying point. It's abrupt and anticlimactic. I won't be too harsh though, since I got it on sale.