Coming Soon: Wooden Ocean
Added 2024-03-03 20:33:18 +0000 UTCThe next big video essay is on Wooden Ocean. If you'd like to check it out before the video drops, you can find here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/684000/Wooden_Ocean/
Wooden Ocean is a completely buck wild RPG Maker VX Ace game that feels a bit like finding the Voynich Manuscript. It is a surreal, trippy adventure full of snappy comedic writing and an unexpectedly strong story about what it means to be an artist. The graphics are largely taken from free asset libraries, but the developer has run everything through all kinds of filters, coming up with an utterly unique visual aesthetic that somehow all hangs together.
The real draw is the combat system. It's turn-based, with way too many status effects to count, a stamina bar in addition to mana and HP, a combat psychology system, and a heavy focus on struggling to gain the upper hand over enemies that statistically overwhelm your party. This heavy combat focus leads me to compare it most to games like Shin Megami Tensei or the classic Ultima titles, but it really stands on its own more than anything.
Thumbnail art is by M0rb1dspade, find 'em here: https://twitter.com/m0rb1dspade
