Scython Reaper made the scene in July 2006 with the aptly titled Stupid Game. It kind of flew under the radar due to its honest marketing campaign, and having played it once I can tell you the title wasn't lying. There's nothing worthwhile to it, and its fade into obscurity is absolutely deserved. Scython Reaper's made no interaction with the community itself, all indications pointed to him being a fly-by-night, a one hit blunder. The only reason Stupid Game or its creator have become notable again is because it wasn't, that last month the guy released two new gems, and man oh man, are they something.

The first one, The Grim is almost as pointless to review as it is to play. The redundancy of the premise aside (Death tries to get a job as the Grim Reaper), it just doesn't have a lot going for it. It doesn't look horrible, sure, but it's the OHR equivalent to an ultra-light cigarette or powdered coffee creamer. You're smoking air, missing the point, wasting time. You get maybe five minutes that isn't really entertaining or funny or anything. It's just there for no reason at all. And sure, you get a disclaimer that says it's not a serious game at all, but you'd imagine it might at least be entertaining or, you know, a game, with interaction beyond pressing the pressing the enter key. I mean, this thing was just lazy, even if it was fully aware of it. Making jokes about being lazily made is just this game's way of cockslapping you, chuckling under its breath because it knows how much it's just wasting your goddamn time.

As an aside, I have at times had a soft spot for the "we are all named Bob" joke, but this kid needs to learn a thing about showing over telling, narrative over exposition. You can't have a character come right out and say "all of our names are Bob!" I'd put it into the context of sportscasters:

"Hell of a play, eh Bob?"
"That's right, Bob! And we've got Bob down on the sidelines now. How's it down there, Bob?"
"It's quite a scene, Bob!"

It's not particularly clever, but it's at least kind of funny now.
And that's really way more than this game even warrants saying. This game has nothing to offer you. Move along.

And then there's Gauntlets Of The Dragon. It's not quite the comedy of errors I thought it was before I realized I was playing with a pre-Ubersetzung nightly, but I think that could make it even worse. Don't get me wrong, it's still miserable and filled with game-breaking errors, like how your third hero's standard (and only) attack requires MP when the character has none, and the boss at the end of the demo never fucking attacks at all (due to an empty movelist, or perhaps he too has no MP?), but the biggest crime this game commits is in just how goddamn bland it is. It's essentially a game where you walk through hallways and fields that are entirely too big to talk to king's so they'll give you permission to move on to the next area, where a new king waits behind more long hallways and roomy fields to give permission to access new areas. Sure, there's some bland generic plot setting all this up, but it really boils down to just a scripted game of Mother May I where Mother might send you on a bland generic errand before she'll say you may.

There are other things that make this game a total drag, including the fact that, unlike The Grim, it is neither short nor under five minutes, but I think the game can speak for itself here:

This is the first line in the game and it bugs the hell out of me. It's hand-holding, it bad game design, and it's just so goddamn stupid. Why the hell start me with an obsolete sword? Why not at least let me realize that it's obsolete? Why even have a line like this in the game? Why make it the first fucking thing the guy says? This is just more annoying than I have words for.

According to the included walkthrough, you get to cross this bridge in the next update! What a thing to look forward to! Also, unless you bother reading the walkthrough, you won't know this is the end of the demo.

But this is really what it comes down to. Be it subconscious or what, these next guys, to me, are the heart and soul of this game, they are what it's all about.

These first two are a warning. They are the game talking to you. "Don't pay any attention to me" is exactly what people who are playing this game need to hear, so they can get out while they can.

And then the insecurities come out. The game's realized it's not got much going for it, but it's trying, it's trying real hard. It wants you to know that even though it's not going anywhere, it really is trying, guys.

Until complacency sets in and the game can't even bother to care anymore. "I'd be fun, but that's not my job." "So much for being a game." It's a little unsettling to see a game deconstruct itself so successfully, but there it is. And this is really where the game really does stop caring, when you get a character who's useless for anything but drawing fire, a dragon who just sits there as you murder him, and a lack of the basic decency to mention when a demo's over. It all starts right at this point. And you really should listen from the beginning, and just get out while you can.

And yes, it is a demo, but pending a major overhaul on almost every aspect I don't see a lot of hope for this game's future. If you stripped away all the game's problems, you wouldn't really be left with anything to work with. Being able to cross the bridge isn't going to solve all Gauntlets Of The Dragon's ills, it's going to take a lot of work and heart. I'm sorry to say, but Stupid Game might have been largely indicative of the kind of things we can expect from Scython Reaper, which is exactly why it's become notable again. He may be making longer games now, but are they really better? Don't misconstrue, I'd love the guy to prove me wrong, but I'm not holding my breath.

It's no skin off my back.