Ok, I finally finished the game after pulling out my hairs at fiendishly difficult puzzles and I swore I could hear Murtaugh behind my back >_> So how the game holds up? After a very long wait that stalled the game for good couple of months, it was worth the wait as the game proven to be far more difficult than we initially suspected, once again proving that Murtaugh still have the creative power to surprise us through sheer difficulty, imaginative locales, and macabre immersion. Is it as good as DayMare Town 2, weaker, or better? I will be detailing out in the review

GRAPHIC

Once again, DayMare Town series never cease to let you go without grounding you into its twisted sense of reality. First DMT have us plodding through theme of abstract isolation while second DMT forced us to explore the disturbing surrealism. This time, we’re forced into warped reality that continues to set the tone of mysterious realm of DayMare. The art direction is still outstanding and I keep finding myself awing at amazingly twisted architecture and warped sense of spaces and the game didn’t seems to be willing to let you go, perfectly reflecting the maddening difficulty of the game. Also, the game is filled to brim with nooks and crannies as expected from this series, providing an excellent thrill of exploration and successes of discoveries. It is about as perfect as one can get from Murtaugh, knowing his ability to craft a believable atmosphere and environment within tiny platform that is Flash.

Score: Perfect 10

SOUND

While the sounds isn’t as strong as Mur’s other series, Submachine and Covert Front, the sets of sound effects and ambients proudly continue the tradition of white-noise immersion in DayMare Town series. I must even say that the set of sounds might be the best yet because each locales and building have their own unique sounds and they’re all emotionally striking and prevalent, setting the tone of warped reality in the game. I can’t really find any faults in this category because the sounds feel perfectly fit and well polished.

Score: Perfect 10

PLOT

DayMare Town series may not have deep plot, but it took huge amount of strength and fascination from abstractness and mystique of the settings in each game as well as their disturbed sense of realism. This time, we see bit more of plot development, though it is concentrated and focused only in this game and I found it to be enjoyable. I was quite surprised to see myself flying through cloud and found myself waking up in bed at hospital and the smallish plot soon took off, having us struggling to find a way out of town while helping and not helping the citizens. Also, the characters finally speak yet they’re very vague toward you, lending more to the atmosphere of DayMare Town than I thought would be possible and that’s huge accomplishment.

Anything that happened in this town is contained in this game and may or may have no heavy bearing in the next game (if there will be next game). I believe that this continues the strengths of mystery of DayMare Town and I believe this system can continue into the next game (if there will be next game) and possibly into new territory of minimal plot development.

If you can’t understand my rambling, I apologize. Simply put… vague plot, character interactions, and weird developments are all excellent and well made and surprisingly enjoyable.

Score: Perfect 10

GAMEPLAY

Get ready for it… the big factor in the game. How does it played?

For DayMare Town game? EXCELLENTLY DIFFICULT <3

For Point-and-Click game? Frustratingly difficult </3

Don’t get me wrong, I love the difficulty in this game and I always expected it to be difficult. However, there are few points where I felt it is overly difficult and sometime required stupid logic that makes no sense in order to get through the certain puzzles that got me stumped and made me felt really… well dumb. Like the sleeping pill + guard captain puzzle. Him not struggling or avoiding the sleeping pill that would knock him out? Suspense of disbelief. Coin on door in Memorial Park. Clock containing gears tucked away in small house. No no no, I am not saying it your faults. Perhaps I should have explored bit more, but few of those puzzles I felt should have better logic or slightly clearer hints.

Otherwise, I had lot and lot and LOT of fun exploring new areas, helping people, collecting coins and load of junks while slowly and surely finding the way to get out of the Town. I must say that the exploration here is one of best ever since Submachine 4and is smartly executed that have us constantly searching for what we missed and it never felt like a chore unless you wanders around for long time without any progress xD Also, I am a huge fan of shopping and selling system and inventory limitation. It helps to increase difficulty and had us making difficult decisions about which items to sell and which to keep. I successfully took advantage of this system on the first go and got out of town and, BOY, it wasn’t easy. I sure felt smart by keeping the right items and selling the junks I don’t need. This monetary system is, by far, a huge improvement over DayMare Town 2’s system and I am eager to see if you will continue this system in next game or head into new direction.

All in all, a successful continuation of devilishly difficult PNC gameplay that will sure bring hardcore players to knee, crying and begging for a way out. Although I am sure this game will proved to be overly difficult to casual players and that they will pull themselves out of the series because of unforgiving gameplay. I know difficulty is DayMare Town series’ biggest signature, but even I struggled few times where I felt it should have been done bit better by… not making it overly difficult at points.

Score: 9.7 / 10

SUMMARY

To be brief, DayMare Town 3 is, in my opinion, the BEST OF SERIES yet, even upping over already-superior DayMare Town 2. The smart and difficult gameplay will pulls in hardcore PNC players looking for great challenges while being immersed into twisted environment filled with abstract plot elements that continue the atmosphere of this classics series. DayMare Town 3 is proudly Mur’s best game since DayMare Town 2, Covert Front 3, and Submachine 4 and is another of his newly crowned masterpieces to fill into his growing list of successes and his artistic portfolio.

Final Score: 9.8 / 10

It rare to hear me giving lot of praises, but I gotta give credits where credits are due. Excellent job, Mur [:D] now let see how you tackle the 50 Rooms Maximum Experiment for your future games.

written by -ak-.