The Reject Demon: Toko Review

So, do I strike anyone who can enjoy a dumb, guilty pleasure for what it is?

…Yeah, I didn’t think so either. Look, I’m not going to go full Snob and say there is no place for that type of entertainment (trust me, there is). It would shock people to find what lurks in the back of my movie collection (yes Michael Bay has a home there). Guilty pleasures are a release valve for the human mind, allowing it to shut down and just enjoy something that appeals to the basics instincts. Without it, we’d be in a world full of neurotic intellectuals; although Christopher Nolan would’ve won an Oscar by now in that world…okay that world of neurotics doesn’t sound too bad after all.

That said, The Reject Demon: Toko is yet another installment in EVN guilty pleasures. But, even with that, it has to fit into the lines it set for itself in order for the reader to fully enjoy the absurdity of it all. So the question isn’t whether or not this game is good by my definition of ‘good’, but rather by its definition of good. What are those definitions? ‘Are the characters fun and entertaining enough to distract from the absurdity of the story?’, ‘Is the threat a viable one?’, ‘Do we want Toko to succeed in her fulfilling her destiny?’, and the most important one, ‘Is the relationship between Toko and Nadia appealing?’

Well, these are interesting questions to answer. So, let’s do our best to answer them together!

The Dolls’ Story Review

Despite public perception of me, I try very hard not to be an ass.

That isn’t to say I don’t enjoy being an ass when someone deserves the treatment, but I don’t go out of my way to be an ass or overly negative. It’s one of the reason why there are so few free EVNs reviewed here. It isn’t because I only review ‘high-quality’ EVNs, but rather I do my best to focus on projects I think can handle critique and use my reviews to get better and not drop the medium entirely. It isn’t a perfect approach (as I’ve been repeatedly told) but it is the truth of how things have happened here.

So, last year, when this project was launched with a note was attached with the creator kicking themselves a bit for the outcome, I decided to leave well enough alone. After all, if you release something you say you can’t be proud of, what on Earth can I add to change your mind or confirm your diagnosis? It seems to have gained a pretty good following on Lemmasoft, so it was added to the list of games I had to review. And while this project is far from the high pedestal the creator was looking to sit it on, I disagree that it isn’t something to be proud of. Let’s take a look at The Dolls’ Story and you’ll see what I mean.