Rising Odds
Rising Odds is amusing to me in that it’s the bare minimum of what you can do with a death game premise. Basic backgrounds that look like royalty free assets, barely any sense of presentation whatsoever, the amateurish writing with many typos, the barebones ui, the “how to draw manga” art style for its characters where the characters literally have same face syndrome, etc. Hell, even the setting is the bare minimum. In a way, I do find charm in that this is like some guy’s Newgrounds project or something. Unfortunately, I don’t think it lands by the end.
Edit: I was told the dev actually paid for the assets, I didn't intend this as an insult. Don't make me deter you from buying the game despite what I say! Indie devs need income!
The core hook comes in two forms: everyone gets a unique “gift” which functionally allows them to have a method of killing others or defending themselves and the existence of the time loops. The time loop twist is a massive cop-out out but it’s probably the only way the narrative could have made leeway with its premise. It’s a novel way to play with the conventions of death game narratives. But man, the logic is so baffingly stupid at times.
In one scene, the narrative insists that showing Shin Ren’s gift wouldn’t have resolved the suspicion he has of Ren and the narrative wants to drag out the scene until… it makes him actually show him the gift. It was such a cheap ass way to build tension, I get the idea is to convey Ren is overthinking shit, but overthinking doesn’t mean you just dismiss the most obvious, easiest solution.
Then there’s the utterly baffling decision for everyone to meet up in one of the small rooms for some reason, which is never properly justified all in order to reveal the gas bomb twist. How in the hell does no one suspect something unusual and weirdly convenient when everyone knows one person has a C4, let alone the possibility that someone else could have a gift that could kill them easily in a small space?
Or the part where Ren ponders if it’s a good idea to use the bear trap in front of Kuro’s door and concludes it isn’t… then decides to do it anyway because…??????????????? I get he wants to kill Kuro, but when the character himself makes a clear argument for why this is a bad idea, why go back on that? Even more laughable is that Ren decides to do this anyway despite telling Shin his gift, why the fuck would you be this fucking stupid after overthinking shit and knowing Shin isn’t above suspecting you for murder? Isn’t he supposed to be ultra paranoid over people suspecting him? What the fuck? It gets worse how the plot contrives itself to make Shin defend Ren’s attempted murder despite the fact that he has no reason to view Kuro as guilty nor do we get any implication that he would be fine with Ren making that attempt. Shin’s arguments in defence of Ren is incredibly stupid. Why the fuck would they make VERY reasonable accusations of Ren’s culpability but refuse to search his room because Shin says “it sets a bad precedent :D ?” In what world would that work on fucking anybody?
The narrative is trying to sell me on this idea that Ren is constantly overthinking shit but I, someone who barely thought about this shit, could tell how much of a disastrously stupid idea this was. Yet the narrative contrives some bullshit to have Ren somehow get away with it.
It gets more aggravating how often the game gives you so many non-choices. In most cases the intent is to convey the thought process of Ren but there are a number of cases where there's a decision that seemingly "matters" but just loops back into the same route regardless. makes these choices feel so pointless and I don't think the slightly different routes add much to the narrative aside from maybe one exception. It makes me wish that with this game's core about trust that there was more decision making relating to that in that it plays into what the player thinks about who is and isn't trustworthy based on their inclinations rather than Ren's. The number of variables to that is probably too much to ask for from a title developed under these circumstances in fairness, but it would absolutely make its conceit more interesting.
With that said, one thing I will credit this with; however, is that it does a decent enough job of conveying how far gone Ren is after a certain point. The Host lampshading how unexpectedly callous he is with his method of “winning” is a great scene, and I do like how he internally justifies killing someone as innocent as Orihime.
But god, the C4 twist afterwards is such a lame twist. This is the point I realized that the narrative refuses to punish Ren for his hubris and always has to find a way to bail him out of being punished for his own awful decisions. This was the point it got particularly irritating to me, especially on the premise that Shin somehow figured it was a good idea to plant a C4 in this room at the most convenient possible time, which actually is made worse with the later ending twist in mind. The interesting part of this narrative is Ren losing his mind and getting consumed by the rules of the game, yet it feels disinterested in giving him any semblance of karma for it.
The 4th time loop is where it gets interesting in terms of Ren’s characterization. He’s reinvigorated to ending the game and save everyone but he’s still deeply paranoid to the point he still views others based on past murders and obtains a fatalistic perspective of every person. I like that the narrative challenges him on this, reinforcing the thematic thrust on trust and the factors that cause these issues. That the trust we have in others is contingent on the conditions they exist in and it's such a fascinating hook. It's why a later scene where Ren learns to trust Celty is great as it exemplifies how the experience has made him come to this realization.
Then comes the mastermind twist.
The way this was introduced is totally out of left field and I can’t wrap my head around how Ren could even come to such a wild conclusion. Frankly, the logic of two time loops existing simultaneously and functioning on independent deaths is convoluted. But I do love how through this Shin becomes a foil and all of the unbelievably absurd things he does in the plot begin to make sense.
But while I was on board for this twist for at least shaking the foundation of the narratve, the game just ends there and the endings are laid out to you in the lamest way. None of the endings seem to be cognizant of the rest of the cast and it doesn't even tell you who the host was or why they agreed to this whole thing. The best parts of the narrative were about Ren's trust issues and to have the one person who he unconditionally trusted be so deceptive was a great paradigm shift. But the ending just throws that away, making all of the interactions Ren had with the rest of the cast feel like it came to nothing and even on a plotting level, it leaves out so much meat of the main cast and even its premise JUST for this ending to exist as it does. It concludes on the note that the only thing that matters is Ren's relationship with Shin and any conclusion the player is given on that is barely even half-assed. I was up and down with this title the whole time but this is where it just lost me and made me put it in "not recommended."
Edit: I was told the dev actually paid for the assets, I didn't intend this as an insult. Don't make me deter you from buying the game despite what I say! Indie devs need income!
The core hook comes in two forms: everyone gets a unique “gift” which functionally allows them to have a method of killing others or defending themselves and the existence of the time loops. The time loop twist is a massive cop-out out but it’s probably the only way the narrative could have made leeway with its premise. It’s a novel way to play with the conventions of death game narratives. But man, the logic is so baffingly stupid at times.
In one scene, the narrative insists that showing Shin Ren’s gift wouldn’t have resolved the suspicion he has of Ren and the narrative wants to drag out the scene until… it makes him actually show him the gift. It was such a cheap ass way to build tension, I get the idea is to convey Ren is overthinking shit, but overthinking doesn’t mean you just dismiss the most obvious, easiest solution.
Then there’s the utterly baffling decision for everyone to meet up in one of the small rooms for some reason, which is never properly justified all in order to reveal the gas bomb twist. How in the hell does no one suspect something unusual and weirdly convenient when everyone knows one person has a C4, let alone the possibility that someone else could have a gift that could kill them easily in a small space?
Or the part where Ren ponders if it’s a good idea to use the bear trap in front of Kuro’s door and concludes it isn’t… then decides to do it anyway because…??????????????? I get he wants to kill Kuro, but when the character himself makes a clear argument for why this is a bad idea, why go back on that? Even more laughable is that Ren decides to do this anyway despite telling Shin his gift, why the fuck would you be this fucking stupid after overthinking shit and knowing Shin isn’t above suspecting you for murder? Isn’t he supposed to be ultra paranoid over people suspecting him? What the fuck? It gets worse how the plot contrives itself to make Shin defend Ren’s attempted murder despite the fact that he has no reason to view Kuro as guilty nor do we get any implication that he would be fine with Ren making that attempt. Shin’s arguments in defence of Ren is incredibly stupid. Why the fuck would they make VERY reasonable accusations of Ren’s culpability but refuse to search his room because Shin says “it sets a bad precedent :D ?” In what world would that work on fucking anybody?
The narrative is trying to sell me on this idea that Ren is constantly overthinking shit but I, someone who barely thought about this shit, could tell how much of a disastrously stupid idea this was. Yet the narrative contrives some bullshit to have Ren somehow get away with it.
It gets more aggravating how often the game gives you so many non-choices. In most cases the intent is to convey the thought process of Ren but there are a number of cases where there's a decision that seemingly "matters" but just loops back into the same route regardless. makes these choices feel so pointless and I don't think the slightly different routes add much to the narrative aside from maybe one exception. It makes me wish that with this game's core about trust that there was more decision making relating to that in that it plays into what the player thinks about who is and isn't trustworthy based on their inclinations rather than Ren's. The number of variables to that is probably too much to ask for from a title developed under these circumstances in fairness, but it would absolutely make its conceit more interesting.
With that said, one thing I will credit this with; however, is that it does a decent enough job of conveying how far gone Ren is after a certain point. The Host lampshading how unexpectedly callous he is with his method of “winning” is a great scene, and I do like how he internally justifies killing someone as innocent as Orihime.
But god, the C4 twist afterwards is such a lame twist. This is the point I realized that the narrative refuses to punish Ren for his hubris and always has to find a way to bail him out of being punished for his own awful decisions. This was the point it got particularly irritating to me, especially on the premise that Shin somehow figured it was a good idea to plant a C4 in this room at the most convenient possible time, which actually is made worse with the later ending twist in mind. The interesting part of this narrative is Ren losing his mind and getting consumed by the rules of the game, yet it feels disinterested in giving him any semblance of karma for it.
The 4th time loop is where it gets interesting in terms of Ren’s characterization. He’s reinvigorated to ending the game and save everyone but he’s still deeply paranoid to the point he still views others based on past murders and obtains a fatalistic perspective of every person. I like that the narrative challenges him on this, reinforcing the thematic thrust on trust and the factors that cause these issues. That the trust we have in others is contingent on the conditions they exist in and it's such a fascinating hook. It's why a later scene where Ren learns to trust Celty is great as it exemplifies how the experience has made him come to this realization.
Then comes the mastermind twist.
The way this was introduced is totally out of left field and I can’t wrap my head around how Ren could even come to such a wild conclusion. Frankly, the logic of two time loops existing simultaneously and functioning on independent deaths is convoluted. But I do love how through this Shin becomes a foil and all of the unbelievably absurd things he does in the plot begin to make sense.
But while I was on board for this twist for at least shaking the foundation of the narratve, the game just ends there and the endings are laid out to you in the lamest way. None of the endings seem to be cognizant of the rest of the cast and it doesn't even tell you who the host was or why they agreed to this whole thing. The best parts of the narrative were about Ren's trust issues and to have the one person who he unconditionally trusted be so deceptive was a great paradigm shift. But the ending just throws that away, making all of the interactions Ren had with the rest of the cast feel like it came to nothing and even on a plotting level, it leaves out so much meat of the main cast and even its premise JUST for this ending to exist as it does. It concludes on the note that the only thing that matters is Ren's relationship with Shin and any conclusion the player is given on that is barely even half-assed. I was up and down with this title the whole time but this is where it just lost me and made me put it in "not recommended."
Mini Review: Rising Odds is amusing to me in that it’s the bare minimum of what you can do with a death game premise. Basic backgrounds that look like royalty free assets, barely any sense of presentation whatsoever, the amateurish writing with many typos, the barebones ui, the “how to draw manga” art style for its characters where the characters literally have same face syndrome, etc. Hell, even the setting is the bare minimum. In a way, I do find...
Watch the Trailer