String Tyrant deserves to become a transfemme cult classic.

It's a gripping, dark little survival-horror game that combines a rogue-like dungeon-crawler that emphasizes stealth, a combat system based on a simple but engaging card game, and an intricately crafted horror story about a group of teens getting trapped in a haunted house and trying to escape before they are all turned into pretty little dolls.

My only critique is that the trio of teens you follow are a pair of 16 year olds and a 13 year old. The game keeps it PG, appropriately, given the characters' ages, but it fees like a game that low-key wants to be horny and that would be easier to navigate with an older cast of characters. On the other hand, having them be teenagers cuts to the heart of trans angst, as it puts them at the point in their lives where identity feels most malleable, where bodies change without one's volition, so it's a thematically appropriate choice.

The premise of String Tyrant is to save your best friend and your brother from the manor or you can transform everyone into an inanimate dolls/claygirls/statues. I was gifted this game through itch.io and I thought to give it an objective review. 

Firstly, the plot of String Tyrant is well constructed, with books scattered around detailing the origins of the lifeforms cohabiting in the manor, as well as some testaments cautioning the dangers of the manor. Most of the stories are tragic as everyone is trapped inside the manor and transformed against their will, but some actually accept their transformation into a statue, doll, claygirl (I believe there are more forms which I left out, but it's mainly these 3 which leave a deep impression). The plot is succinct and direct, following a typical storyline, while getting constantly chased by the inhabitants of the manor, which gets me to the mechanics of the game.

The style of String Tyrant is a familiar mix between House of Pandemonium Adventure Mode and Pandemonium Classic Mode. Briefly, it comprises of the rpg adventure platformer with a clearly defined end goal, with elements of Classic Mode(the enemies spawn indefinitely, sandbox mode) incorporated into it. Combat mechanics are refreshing with the use of randomly generated cards to craft a sequence of elements-based attacks. I am not very sure what the circles around the enemies are for, but maybe you could base the colours to the elemental weaknesses they have. Equipment are diverse though I do appreciate if they can implement some range weapons and even a stun bomb which temporarily stuns the movement of the enemies if you are trapped.

The gist of the transformations is inanimate, forced(against will) possession which I do not prefer. I do like some anthro and mythical creatures, maybe considering exploring a sequel with these in place to cater to a greater community. However, what I do acknowledge is that the transformation sequences are well-illustrated and coloured, and there is no denial that the artists have spent a huge time deliberately designing inanimate characters, so kudos to them. In particular, I actually do like the ending scenes and the transformation scenes placed on a black blackground, thus shifting most of the focus to the transformations themselves, and not on the background. The title screen is ominous too, which foreshadows what the protaganist and her friends predicament if they are not careful.

There isn't any iconic soundtrack that house of pandemonium adventure has, but the absence of any fast paced, upbeat soundtrack fits the mood of String Tyrant. The characters are memorable and endearing, particularly Lauren who can stand up for himself despite appearing fearful throughout most of the game. There isn't any end bosses to the game, but I find that the health of the end game enemies is a tad too much. There isn't any bugs nor typos I have found in the game, except the occasional inseperation of the words for the dialogue between Sarah and the protagonist at the basement. The minigames(guised as traps)are a great respite from the run-or-fight playstyle for String Tyrant. The minigames are creative and logical. I wouldn't spoil the endings for you, hence I do encourage you to check out the demo, or you can hop on to Discord or Salty's blog to find out more.

Overall, great work by the developers of the game who obviously design the game for a particular audience who like inanimate tfs. Yet, there is some charm in discovering the origins of String Tyrant and discovering your inner fetish. Expect the playtime to be around 2.5-3 hours. Thank you to the developers and supporters of the game. Final Score 8/10 (objectively, can't denial that my preference for HoP adventure mode and mythical/anthros tfs pull the score down a little, but 8 is a respectable score nonetheless)

From FloraAsu

Fantastic game, absolutely worth paying for. 

There are a lot of things to like about this game. First off, it's a complete game that isn't in RPG Maker, which is refreshing. The design and build is indie-level professional, which is as good as it gets for TF games. The art is good quality, all custom and very thematic--the visuals of this game do a good job of creating immersion and never get in the way of play. The core gameplay is tightly designed, both the exploration and the card-based combat system.

The fetish material is definitely exactly what is says on the tin--it's a collection of transformations into various inanimate humanoids. If you don't enjoy at all, this game won't suit you. But the game quality makes it worth a buy even if it's not your top fetish pick. The TF descriptions are solid, if nothing to write home about, and the art complements them perfectly.

There are definitely a few design flaws and missteps, but they are all pretty minor. And even though it's fairly short, the threat feeling is consistent almost through the whole game (there was a spot in the middle where I basically couldn't take damage, but this ended the next time I progressed the story), leading to a solid experience. There's no padding here, just tight design. The biggest weakness of the game is, well, it's a text engine--there's only so much you can do with that. But unlike some other text engine based games *coughtrapquestcough* the interface never gets in the way of the gameplay.

9/10, would betray my friends into rubber dolls again.

Overall good game. Good art, good story, good mechanics and good fetish depictions (if the ones listed interest you as they are the bulk of TFs). 

The mechanics of the game were very fun both in and out of combat and honestly had they wanted to, they could have made a much longer game out of it. That brings me to my first compaint though, which is how short it is. It can be beaten in a few hours once you understand the mechanics and what to do. Normally I wouldn't fault a game for its length unless it is extremely short, but since this game has a price tag, naturally the bar gets raised a bit. However, this game is 100% complete which is a nice breath of fresh air on this site where a solid 95% of games are either abandoned or have been in development forever. The theme was also spot on. Fetish horror games are always in a weird niche and I find them quite odd (yet i end up playing them and enjoying them anyways) but everything clicks well.

As far as the fetish content goes, its odd for me to decide. I'm personally not too into dollification or objectification which are the primary fetishes of this game, but they were done well regardless and I really liked the latex clone one. The art is also very good. Very consistant and pleasing to look at. Just a shame that theres so little diversity of it outside of bad ends. The following are complaints based on personal taste. I personally wish there was more TG content and more explicitly sexual themes, but i knew going in that it was a PG game. I woud have enjoyed if there were slow transformations that slowly changed the character models. Maybe as a non bad-end transformation that could give buffs/debuffs as you got them. would have made the art that takes up 1/8 of the screen interesting past the first few minutes outside of bad end paths. I also wished there were monstergirl related content as the setting could easily catered to it. 

Wholisticly, it was a fun game that if it was expanded and it wasn't fetish focused, it could find very good success on a platform like steam as a normal game. If the themes tagged for this game are interesting to you, you will certainly like it.

Your previous work was good enough for me to pitch in $5 for this, and this is like the first game on TFGamessite I've actually paid for I think, so I'd say the demo and the idea for the game was at least good enough for that to happen. :)