Hello, and welcome to “RPG Maker One-Hour Game Review #3,” where I’m exploring Wayfarers, a visual novel demo available on Itch.io.

Engine: RPG Maker MV

Background: While watching a video on YouTube about RPG Maker games made with default assets, I learned about the comedic visual novel Wayfarers. 

So I wanted to give it a try.

Overview: Released January 2019 as a demo, Wayfarers is a comedic visual novel set in an urban fantasy world. Since it’s still in demo, it understandably has bugs, but the writing is superb; I laughed out loud several times.

Immersion: The dialogue is what defines this game, which is what I expect from the visual novel genre.

But beyond the dialogue, I also loved that the developer chose the RPG Maker MV engine for a visual novel, because it meant mini-games could also be implemented for more interactivity.

For instance: vegetable collecting.

In addition, the NPCs feel dynamic. This is because many of them aren’t just receptacles of text, but moving, responsive figures. The small details integrated into cooks, shopkeepers, and soldiers goes a long way.

Critique: I would’ve liked if it wasn’t as confusing to figure out where to go. At one point, I frustrated myself trying to find the house in the lower right; and since half the doors are locked, I’m not sure if I found the correct building—but didn’t meet the switch requirements to open the door—or if I’m in the wrong map entirely.

This isn’t an unusual problem for me; I get lost in RPG towns relatively easily. So I wouldn’t want to dissuade others from playing Wayfarers. If you have any form of internal compass, you likely won’t run into the same impasse.

Takeaway: The developer posted an update today on Itch.io, and it sounds like Wayfarers will make the leap from demo to complete project—and I’m very excited about that! This is one of the games I intend to play more, once I’ve completed my one-hour reviews. My hope is that I’ll navigate better during my second attempt.