Original and fun to play. There are not many choises to make, but they do have a big impact. I have one ending left to find, but the game is so good I'm going to leave some time before replaying just to enjoy the dialogues again. Violent and bizarre pixelgame (interactive novel) with beautiful compositions, pleasing color scheme and good music.
Higly recommended if you can appreciate a character with the name of Disco Dracula, or simple Drac for the friends.

Whenever I take a gamble and buy a pack of random Steam keys on eBay, I know by and large that I expect to be getting games that range from being so poor in quality they can no longer be purchased or just barely pass the bar where competent design goes. The only positive I can give for such bundles is that they boost up the total number of games in my library and that definitely helps getting total games count badges.

A key for this game was among one such pack I bought . It immediately caught my eye as being one of the more unique looking games I saw amongst the bunch. So I booted it up and was surprised that it's indie games that manages to actually be a surprisingly great experience that's worth playing through from start to finish.

M1: A Death in the Desert is a visual novel set in a post-apocalyptic setting and starts off with your protagonist, M, waking up in an abandoned hotel with no memory of how he got there. Your only clues as to why you are in the state you are in is a magnum with three bullets and a list of three names you are instructed to kill.

From there you engage in a trek filled with intrigue, a bit of existentialist philosophy, some quirky humor and dialogue with the very eccentric residents of this game's post-apocalyptic world. Being that this is a standard visual novel, there's many choices you can pick from that result in branching paths that can lead you to one of five different endings too.

Along with having an engaging little tale that's well written, this game boasts an admittedly good looking pixel-based visual style along with a nicely composed soundtrack by indie composer Falcon Ave. It's one of the most surprising relaxing soundtrack I've heard in a post-apocalyptic definitely worth the extra small fee of 99 cents being asked to download it via a separate DLC.

There are, as with any video game, shortcomings. The chief one being that the game is very, and I do mean very, short. It's possible to get all five of this game's endings within the span of a single day. It also at times suffers from a lack of polish specifically in regards to its text which at times has noticeable grammar errors that could benefit from correction.

Still, this is a definite example of a small yet still very nice gem in rough that's definitely worth its affordable asking price of $2.99 if you are in the mood for a quirky and enjoyably unorthodox post-apocalyptic story.

More impressive though is that this is the first visual novel that the developer Dracula's Cave has ever made. Having played quite a number of visual novels like this one, it's a good though still slightly off the mark initial effort that's executed just well enough it deserves polite little golf clap applause

I hope to see more visual novels in the future from this game's developer. For a first time attempt, this is definitely a good effort and one you definite ought to check out if you're up for a short visual novel.

I have a number of visual novels in my Steam library. This is the first one that I decided to investigate. This does not bode well for the others...


This is an existential story; how our lives are defined by our choices. One decision may set us upon the path down which the rest of our lives will lead. Will we choose good or evil? Will we know the right path to choose in the first place?!

Our amnesiac protagonist awakes in an abandoned hotel. He knows two things:
1) He has a gun with three bullets,
2) He has a list of three names.

So far, so good.

Now here's a rough list of why I didn't like it(!):

This is NOT a game, and there is no action involved. In fact, there is very little interaction involved. You will spend the majority of "playtime" reading dialogue. Your total time will reflect your reading speed. Fortunately for me I read reasonably fast.

The "visual" aspect is very basic. The graphics are very crudely drawn, and are almost entirely static. They are enough to distinguish our characters and our locations, but nothing more.

The use of sound effects is similarly sparse. There are maybe three or four sounds used in the whole game, and they occur very infrequently. I am not sure if visual novels normally have sound effects, but I would imagine they do. Or maybe I'm thinking of an audio book?! Either way, there is very little ambience created.

There is a pretty decent soundtrack playing away in the background. I found however that I was never really on one scene for long enough to get a full taste of the music. Also, the OST does not fade in or out and so a change of scene brings jarring silence. This is my only major gripe with the technical aspects of the game.

I downloaded the music and have been listening to it while I write this review. It's actually quite varied and rather enjoyable, but not enough to elevate the overall experience any.

Gameplay finally arrives when you reach a fork in the narrative. You will be given two choices and depending on your decision the story will continue accordingly. This is best exemplified by picking the result of a coin toss. You are literally given the options "heads" or "tails". Gameplay is NOT deep.

The story is surreal and disjointed. The dialogue does not always flow well and there are a good number of typos for the pedants to pick apart. The characters are trivial and besides our protagonist, have very little chance to develop or for us to build attachments to them. The world that has been created is very disconnected. The developer has a love of science fiction, but has put too many ideas into one very short work for cohesion to occur.

I'm sure some people will enjoy this, but it was not for me. I think I'm actually even beginning to dislike this soundtrack!

I must deliver the thumbs down verdict; I did not enjoy this experience.

The game tags are not accurate, there is no action (at least in the gameplay, there is narrated action in the story). The game is a visual novel with a few decisions and some more or less different endings. While the writing is rather awkward and shallow, it still feels like someone put effort into it. An amateurish passion project basically. Achievements work and are easy to get, so I can recommend it for two hours of light entertainment.

Nice little game. Short and simple, with a decent replay value. Some minor errors here and there (a few mixups with names now and then), but I couldn't care less. If you like choices, and want to play something that won't take up too much of your time, this is the game for you.

• Morlan's shorts:

Omit the tag "Action" and you'll be alright. The only animation consists of some graphical changes when things happen, e.g. some dies. You don't move. You make a few choices that change the ending. The story and delivery are fun to follow and that was enjoyable as was the music! Surprisingly it's quite good for such a title. But the price is definitely off, yep even for 3 coins it's too much. Few grammar errors and quite a short game (in content) that takes longer to finish because of the text delay.. but points for different endings.

Drac's back..

Don't waste more time reading lengthy reviews.. time is of the essence!

The game tags are not accurate, there is no action (at least in the gameplay, there is narrated action in the story). The game is a visual novel with a few decisions and some more or less different endings. While the writing is rather awkward and shallow, it still feels like someone put effort into it. An amateurish passion project basically. Achievements work and are easy to get, so I can recommend it for two hours of light entertainment.

⠀

Easy achievements, 100% / 20min.

coooooooooool