The Midnight Saga: The Monster
By C.C. Hill
"It is said that from October 31 to November 2, The Keeper travels to the world of the living and abducts innocent children.”
"So, those of you going trick-or-treating tomorrow with your little cousins, nephews, and nieces, be sure to keep an eye out for The Keeper of Midnight, as you never know who or what is lurking in the dark.”
Ghost stories around a campfire are as ‘October’ as Jewel Staite in ‘Are You Afraid of the Dark?’. Which is odd, because usually fireflies are gone by Fall. This story actually reminds me a lot of those days when you’d finish watching an episode of The Adventures of Pete and Pete, follow it up with Clarissa Explains It All, and end your spooky night (around 830pm) with Are You Afraid of The Dark. I am now realizing I spent a lot of the early 90’s watching people in flannel.
So, submitted for the approval of the Midnight Sag… I mean, Midnight Society, I call this review…
General Story:
You are a young adult who is sent to live with family in the US, bringing seemingly traditional Haitian ghost stories along with you. Turns out, some of those stories might be true and now you have to save those closest to you with powers you didn’t even know you had. You’ll brave the scary stories from your childhood, and try to find your way back to a candy-filled Halloween night.
Honestly, the story works pretty well; especially for a first entry in a series. It’s your semi-standard young adult novel romp, with a chosen one and multiple romance interests… Not a live parent in sight. There are some twists and turns, and everything lends itself to the feeling of a sleepy Halloween in a sparse town, even though I’m not sure it’s supposed to be a small population town. The title honestly cribs a lot of themes from Stranger Things and pairs it with your standard Super Sentai. It’s a super powered team mentored by dead papa Zordon, roaming the Upside Down taking on “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” made sentient.
Format and Typos:
A few typos, grammar, and formatting mistakes. I’ve submitted a few for corrections, and with new release HG titles, this is pretty common as beta testing and proofreading is often crowd-sourced. Nothing egregious, and readability was pretty good.
Game Mechanics and Stats:
Okay, everything really feels like a false front in the stats screen. So often I had trouble figuring out what choices would affect which stat (except romance option selection, those were marked very well) and reviewing the stats screen never really helped. After reviewing the code, it’s because as of right now; the stats don’t do anything but accumulate. I don’t believe I ever saw a check against the stats. You can fail if you choose the least correct option, but it never really matters if you’ve been focusing on using energy blasts or shields, as it depends more on what choice the author decided was correct. It usually goes like this, you choose the best option you get resources (a weapon, some candy, crafting items). Second best option gets you status quo, no losing anything but potential. Worst option usually results in death or damage, which isn’t normally a permanent failstate but an ever increasing death score.
The above isn’t to say that I felt railroaded at any point, but more that I was never really rewarded for focusing on a stat or trying to stay true to the character in my head because there was never any consequence related to the number value of any stat.
Tracked resources are a thing however. How many times have you used that meat cleaver? Weapons can break, but I found the usage very forgiving. So, if you can find a weapon even sporadically, you won’t run into much issue. The majority of your actual game mechanics is just making sure you’ve collected as much as possible during the time given to you.
Replayability:
Replayability is pretty high, and this is because of the romance options. There are quite a few options (some set in stone, others gender variable), and even some polyamory. The title features some (optional) steamy scenes, and they were well written. The majority of your playthroughs will feel the same with only your romance options changing, but there are a few different things you can accomplish in the title that change up major events like whether specific people will survive.
Dislikes:
- Stats are not really used for anything. You can spend your entire time focusing on being an awesome energy blaster, but if you use shields when the author implies you should, it will always succeed.
- Creating the ultimate weapon lacked the fanfare I wanted with it.
- The sense of horror and helplessness does not stay at the forefront long enough before you start getting powers more fitting for spandex warriors.
Likes:
- The romances are the main show here, and work well.
- There is a lot of potential in the main villain, and I am super interested to see how the relationship (non-romantic or otherwise) develops with them. So, for those that like enemy-to-lover, there is a good bullet point for you.
- “However, the real reason is that Mr. Audbawl is a strange one.” Never would have guessed.