Fear & Hunger 2: Termina

[Dead]

https://mirohaver.itch.io/fear-hunger-termina

F&H 2: Termina is oppressive, relentless and hopeless. A mix of jRPG and Survival Horror. Turn-based combat meets resource management. 3 days to explore the wicked town of Prehevil and find out about its dark secrets. 3 days until the pale and sickly green moon rises at its apex. Termina is upon us!

SYNOPSIS
You are only given 3 days to uncover the sercrets this wicked land holds within its darkest corners. Among 14 strangers, you find yourself at the outskirts of a backwaters town of Prehevil. A town that still holds tight onto its ancient rites and macabre traditions. You are forced to partake in the Festival of Termina, an ominous event that only occurs once in every pale and sickly green moon. A moon that happens to be grinning and watching your every step... There is only one that walks away once the three days are over.

FEATURES

• jRPG x Survival Horror hybrid - A turn-based dismemberment combat system mixed with strategic planning and saving of precious resources.

• Oppressive and ruthless atmosphere - Fair game design won't save you here for better and for worse. It is up to the player to survive.

• Open-ended world - You are given freedom to approach the horrors from the direction you'd best prefer.

• 3 days to explore - The world changes around you and other characters have their own agendas to pursue depending on the time of day.

• 8 playable characters to choose from each with their own distinct playstyle and story.

• Pixel Art x Digital Painting - An unique art style that tries to give at least hints of tranquil beauty in the midst of relentless darkness.

• Original Soundtrack with a number of atmospheric tracks from Chilly Makes Music along with my ear piercing tracks.

[Dead]

I've been playing this a bit. Spooky atmosphere and story, but the combat is, so far, too simple, and exploring the map is tedious. Enemies appear in unforeseeable situations and gradually kill you, which would be fine if the combat and movement weren't so boring, and if you didn't need to start from the last save point, where saving is limited to specific places. I like the art style and the atmosphere, so I will continue for now.

[WhiteShark]

I get the impression the game is really reliant on knowing beforehand what can/will happen, i.e. trial by error. Is that correct?

[Dead]

I get the impression the game is really reliant on knowing beforehand what can/will happen, i.e. trial by error. Is that correct?

I've only played a few hours. So far, there have been very few opportunities to anticipate enemies or maneuver away from them. You will eventually die and need to restart. There doesn't seem to be much tactical depth; it feels like I should play this game for the story, and the repetition is part of the narrative.

[Ratcatcher]

F&H and Termina are both very good games. Excellent atmosphere and worldbuilding, the first one HEAVILY takes inspiration from the end of the Band of the Hawk story arc in Berserk, the liberation of Griffith but it's more a thematic thing than a 1 to 1 replica so you can easily get into it without knowing.

Both titles have incredible reactivity, for how simplistic they are. There's a bajillion different game states you can be in and a dozen or so different endings. Piecing together the story of the world requires multiple playthrough, which also espouses what you say here:

I get the impression the game is really reliant on knowing beforehand what can/will happen, i.e. trial by error. Is that correct?

Yes. Unless you heavily spoil yourself, it's basically impossible to stumble upon some specific paths/endings, the games are hard and the hints very subtle. But it's fine, I swear. I haven't replayed termina as much as I went in depth with the first chapter (It's always on my top list of things to replay but it actually requires my brain to function) and the second chapter is even more vast and sprawling than the first.

It's one of those very rare games that manages to make sexuality, corruption and depravity an integral part of the narrative. Yes, even if written by a Millennial with a Millennial's ambiguous understanding of sexuality, I found it very refreshing.

[Nammu Archag]

This is a game I will probably never play but am glad exists

[Vergil]

I get the impression the game is really reliant on knowing beforehand what can/will happen, i.e. trial by error. Is that correct?

I know that the first game is definitely like that. A friend of mine likes it but there's a lot of moments they've described that basically sound like artificial ball stomps for the sake of the game's atmosphere you can only really anticipate on repeat playthroughs.

[Dead]

The trial and error is getting quite annoying, mainly because of the awkward controls. NPCs move around the map and change activities as time passes and in response to your actions, revealing new aspects of the setting and story. If I were a story-faggot, I might find this interesting and feel motivated to experiment with different sequences of actions, trying one route, then dying, then trying another route, etc. The art style is evocative and original, my favorite among the games I've played over the past few years. I read that the sole developer created most of the drawings, which contributes to the game's thematic and visual cohesion.

[Ratcatcher]

Yes, unfortunately the difficulty here is tailored like an old school survival horror, it's all about finding efficient routes, avoiding dangers until you can trivialize them (or forevah) and interpreting very subtle hints in the plot. I personally enjoyed piecing it all together, and altho I don't consider myself a storyfag, it's definitely a central element here, well put together (not rly well written, alas) and interesting enough to carry my motivation, at least for me.

What the first title does exceedingly well imho is it gradually eases you into its darkest and most well kept mysteries. Follow the initial goal of most characters and you'll get a glimpse of what happened or what's at stake. From there, you can go in a number of different directions, trying to piece together the past, achieving personal goals of various characters or getting a glimpse of what the future you helped create will look like. It's more about the worldbuilding at large and the implications on a cosmic scale than real storyfaggotry imho. It's the same style I use for most of my pnp campaigns and adventures, maybe that's the reason why I had fun decontructing it completely, I think I more or less explored each possible route and ending for F&H.

Termina is gud. And big. But it lacks the tight design of the first title. You can pretty much stumble upon some of its biggest secrets during your first run. Great atmosphere and worldbuilding, don't get me wrong, still a bit of a bummer for me. I lost most of my drive after finishing it a couple times. Still a very good game tho. He even managed to make playing a cripple on a wheelchair something that legit adds to the gameplay and isn't your usual leftist platitude. Impressive.

[Dead]

I managed to get to the orphanage without sleeping once, which was a bad idea. I wonder when would be a good time to save. I might be able to push farther if I skip the orphanage. But it seemed like the only path forward without a certain enemy in the way was to the orphanage.