Thank you Brave Rock Games for sending us this game to review!

Never in my life have I written a review that took longer to make than the entire timespan of the game, and I don’t think I ever will again. BRG’s Red Riding Hood only took fifteen minutes to clear both routes, and as a result, earn all three achievements. One of the achievements was for the good ending, the next for the bad ending, and the last one for starting the game in the first place.

The story itself is based around the original Red Riding Hood fairy tale, and is written in an older style. It may have been taken out of the public domain, as there are many variants of the story there. However, there is one choice in the “novel,” and it concerns the wolf. One choice leads to the wolf being hunted down, and the other choice leads to the girl and her grandmother being gobbled right up.

The voice acting is a little hypnotizing in the sense that it may make the reader fall asleep, and when they reach the bad end, the voice acting (which is a narrator) switches to that of another person. Nothing is exaggerated or dulled down for effect. There is music, but it’s very ambient and only changes occasionally. Once when I was playing through, I found it glitching, playing two tracks at once. However, it never ended up crashing.

The art style is rather cartoony and is easy on the eye. While it is very original, the lack of detail clashes with the photographic backgrounds, as the amount of detail in the respective elements is so different. However, as this is a game geared for younger children, they probably would not care as much toward the visuals, as long as they aren’t grotesque or scary (which they’re not).

The controls for the novel are very similar to that of traditional visual novels, making them very simple. The interface, as a result, is very standard, where the reader is clicking around to get what is desired.

Morally, this game doesn’t cross any lines, except for the implied violent deaths that are experienced in the bad ending. This makes sense considering the audience, but it’s certainly worth mentioning.

It was honestly challenging to write this up, as it’s hard to create a lengthy review on a game that took only fifteen minutes to thoroughly play. The price is certainly very reasonable for a game of this length, as a hardcover book version would probably cost significantly more. While the motives are clearly positive, it would certainly be ideal if this was a game that could be enjoyed for an extended period of time.

--Kittycathead