Escape from a strange museum! Review of "Ib," a remake of the "legendary horror game" revived after 10 years

How are you doing, Akiba Research Institute readers? This is Nero Hyakkabe, a writer who buys too many games. I don't mean to be abrupt, but have you been to an art museum recently?　I am quite fond of art museums, and when there is an exhibition that interests me, I visit it frequently. For this reason, I would like to introduce "Ib," a work set in an art museum.

Welcome to the "Gertena" exhibition! The story of a young girl, Eve, and her escape from a spooky museum

Ib" is a 2D horror exploration adventure game set in an eerie museum.
This is a remake of the 2012 free game "Ib" developed by Japanese indie game developer kouri, using the RPG creation software "RPG2000", The original version of "Ib" was created using RPG production software "RPG2000," and is known as a "legendary horror game" among gamers, due to its carefully crafted horror, puzzle, and action elements, intertwined with a unique worldview and story that cannot be forgotten once experienced.

Ib" has been remade and revived after a 10-year absence, and even before its release, the Steam version of the game has been the focus of much attention from those who played the original version and from gamers who knew the rumors of the original version. I have not played the original version, so this review will be written from the perspective of a player who is experiencing "Ib" for the first time in the remake version, while avoiding spoilers as much as possible.

Let's start with the story of "Ib.
The protagonist of this work is a young girl named Eve. One afternoon, her parents take her to a museum for the first time in her life. The museum is holding an exhibition of a man named "Wise Gertena," and Eve, away from her parents, looks around the museum's art works by herself.

Paintings of giant deep-sea fish, a giant rose, three headless female figures in red, blue, and yellow one-piece dresses, and many other works of art are on display in the museum. Eve looked around at the works of art, even though she could not read the words on the plates, but when she came to, all the people around her were gone and she was left all alone. While Eve is looking around for someone, something strange happens to the museum, and she wanders into a mysterious world. Although there are paintings and sculptures on display, it is a strange and eerie museum, completely different from the one she had just been in. ......

Ib" has a fairy-tale-like introduction reminiscent of "Alice in Wonderland" or "The Wizard of Oz," but the unique setting of the museum gives the story a quiet and eerie atmosphere. Many of you may have experienced the indescribable fear you felt as a child when you imagined pictures and statues displayed in the art room of your school moving unseen. In this work, too, as you play the introductory part of the story and look around the strange artworks in the museum with Eve, you will feel a mixture of excitement and fear, thinking, "Oh, something is definitely going to happen here. I was excited and scared at the same time.

What adds to this feeling of excitement and fear is the elaborate graphics. The more you look at the finely drawn dots, which are reminiscent of retro games with a nostalgic feel, the more beautiful and attractive they become. The main character, Eve, her appearance, the many works of art displayed in the museum, and even the strange things that attack her are all drawn with 2D dots, yet they give the player a strange sense of reality, as if they really existed there.

In addition to the graphics, the music is another attraction that adds to the world of this work. The music is set in an art museum, so the overall atmosphere is quiet, but the music is full of haunting tunes that convey a sense of unease and loneliness amidst the tranquility. We encourage you to play and listen to the background music of "Ib".

The game combines eerie and fascinating horror elements with a rich variety of puzzle elements! A wealth of challenging elements are also noteworthy!

Now, let me introduce the game content of this title.
This title is an adventure game with a 2D downward-looking perspective. The original version of the game was created using RPG2000, and it has the look and feel of an old-fashioned RPG. The objective of the game is to escape from a "strange museum" in which you have wandered. To achieve this goal, players control Eve as she investigates objects placed in the museum, sometimes through conversation, and solves various riddles that have been set up in the museum.

There are two basic operations to advance the exploration: "move" and "search (talk)". There are also buttons for opening the menu screen and executing the zoom function (to be described later), but these are the only two operations that are essential to the progress of the game. The reason for this easy-to-play design is that the original "Ib" was created based on the concept of "making it possible to play even if you are not good at games. The Steam version, a remake of the original, retains the concept of the original version and is designed with easy controls that even beginners can enjoy.

Some horror games and movies are what we call "surprise horror," in which a loud sound suddenly rings out or a frightening image suddenly fills the screen. This "Ib" is a horror game, but the "surprise" elements are quite modest. If anything, the game is more of a "slow and steady" type of horror game where the player is immersed in the atmosphere of a strange and frightening museum and experiences the unexplained events that occur as they come into contact with unidentifiable artifacts and eerie words written on postings. ...... The horror element of this game is characterized by a "slowly but surely" type of fear, which is the best part of the game.

The game's horror elements are characterized by a "slowly building" type of fear, which is the real thrill of the game. The game's frightening nature, which requires players to advance fearlessly, always with the unpleasant feeling that something terrible is about to happen, gives players an experience similar to walking through a haunted house at an amusement park.

The puzzle element is the twin of the horror element in this title. There are many situations in the game that require players to solve puzzles in order to advance. There is a wide variety of puzzles, including those that involve moving gimmicks, mazes, logic puzzles, and deducing the correct answer from clues given to the player.

The puzzles are also unique in that they are intertwined with the strange artwork placed on the map. The artwork is not only a horror element, but also a key to the puzzles, creating a dilemma of "I'm afraid to approach, but I have to investigate to solve the puzzle".

The game also includes action elements, such as running away from the approaching monsters, although there are not many of them. The desperate attempt to escape from a terrifying entity that transcends human understanding is one of the most enjoyable aspects of horror works, regardless of the medium, such as games, manga, or movies, and is also a highlight of the film. In this work, I felt that the skillfully placed action scenes added just the right touch to the game.

Furthermore, this title employs a life system, which is a familiar feature in action games.
Whenever Eve touches an approaching monster or a dangerous trap, the petals of the "red rose," which represents her life, are depleted. I believe that this life-based system, in which the end of life, or the imminent game over, is always visibly displayed, succeeds in amplifying the tension of the horror game. However, since life recovery points are regularly placed in the game, the difficulty level is not as high as in so-called "deadly games," which is a concept of this game that "even those who are not good at games can enjoy playing.
It is also worth mentioning that the life recovery is performed by placing a rose in a vase of water, which makes the rose healthier, matching the beautiful and strange worldview of the game.

I have an image that once you play an adventure or novel game, it is the end of the story, but this game has multiple endings, art collections, and other elements that make it a challenging game to play. This is also one of the major attractions of this title. Even after you have played through to the ending, you will have new motivation to play the game again and again.

The differences from the original "Ib" are introduced! Many new features unique to the remake version have been added!

The Steam version of "Ib," which is labeled as a "remake" rather than a remastered version, features an increased screen size and improved graphics quality, as well as various changes and new features.

One of these is the addition of a "zoom mode. As the name implies, this function allows the user to zoom in on the screen at the touch of a button. This makes it easier to see small items and appreciate works of art at a larger size. The addition of this zoom mode, which allows the beautiful graphics of this work, elaborately rendered with fine dots, to be seen more clearly, is an element that players who have played the original version will especially appreciate.

Another new feature added to this title is the "conversation system.
This is a feature that allows players to talk to accompanying characters they meet during the game at any time they wish. This "conversation system" allows players to get hints for solving riddles and to chat with the characters. For players new to the game, this system is a support element for solving puzzles and exploring the game, and for players who have played the original game, it is a fun element that allows them to fully enjoy conversations with the characters they have fond memories of. This system is a welcome addition to any player's collection.

The variety of text in this conversation system is overwhelming, and it is not just "a little bit of text added," but a tremendous amount of work has gone into it. For example, even in the same location, there are completely different lines of dialogue before and after solving a riddle, and even after solving a riddle in the same area, the dialogue is different depending on the room the player is in. It may be no exaggeration to say that the conversation system, which makes you want to see all the dialogue patterns, is, in a sense, one of the most challenging elements of the game.

This is the best part! My personal recommendation for "Ib

The first point I would like to mention is the "difficulty level design. As mentioned above, there are many puzzles and riddles to solve in order to advance, but the design of the difficulty level is truly exquisite.

In this day and age, if you get stuck in any game, you can find the answer to clear it by searching on the Internet, but the puzzles in this title are of a moderate difficulty level so that you can solve them by thinking on your own and through trial and error.

In addition, the new "conversation system" provides a certain amount of hints, so even those who are not good at puzzles or adventure games can enjoy the fun of solving puzzles. In fact, although I like puzzles, I am proud to say that I am not very good at them, but I was able to complete this game on my own without relying on information on the Internet!　It is a great pleasure to be able to clear a puzzle by oneself. ......

Another point that I would like to mention is the "quality of the artwork. The graphics in this game are drawn with very detailed dots, which can be called artistic. The most eye-catching aspect of this work are the works of art that appear in the game as Gertena's creations. The works of art are small enough to fit on the game screen, yet are so finely detailed that you feel as if you are viewing a real painting or sculpture.

Furthermore, the new "Zoom Mode" function is a great way to get a closer look at the artwork. Although "Ib" is both a horror game and a mystery-solving adventure game, I thought it could also be viewed as a "2D walking simulator game that allows you to appreciate Wise Gertena's strange art exhibition. This game may lead many players to become interested in paintings and sculptures and visit actual museums and exhibitions (rather, I feel that it has already produced many such players between the original release and now).

The "legendary horror game" is no joke! Ib" is a remake that should be played by those who have played the original version and those who have not!

So, that's my introduction of "Ib".

With its high-quality horror and puzzle elements, fascinating storyline and characters, and many beautiful and mysterious artworks, "Ib" is a high-quality game that has earned the nickname of "legendary horror game". I had never played the original "Ib" and this remake was my first experience with the world of "Ib." Within minutes of starting the game, I was hooked on the world of "Ib.
Whether you have played the free game version of "Ib" in the past, if you have never played it before, or even if you do not play games very often, we encourage you to try it out and enjoy the strange "Gertena Exhibition" to the fullest.

Title Information
Ib (kouri)
Genre: Adventure
Release date: April 11, 2022
Price: 1,300 yen (as of April 25, 2022)
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Author: Nero Hyakkabe: Freelance writer who buys too many games. Currently, I have more than 300 games in my game stack. I am also a novelist. His works include "Yubisaki Kaidan: 140 Scary Stories" (PHP Kenkyujo) and "Goa-ken: Unrated Edition" (Kodansha).; Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/KINGakiko; Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/nero100kabe; about.me: https://about.me/nero100kabe/

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