Today, it's november 24, 2024. it's cold and it's the first anniversary of Lake's Funland. a uninspired fnaf fan game with actually pretty decent ideas. created by Heisenmorg (which is now called Sir Memphisto. (...how disgusting the new name is).

I could go straight and say that the game is boring but i decided to talk about my personal opinions no one asked for.

but understanding that this thing will not be appreciated... I continued with this post anyway.

if I say I didn't like it, it means I have shitty taste.

If I say I liked it, it means I didn't understand it.

with what courage people continue to make reviews on the internet. It's a minefield of pain in the ass.

Now let's see if it was worth it or if it was a disappointment.

The Wait

it appears that this game was in development since 2020 or more back. (i found out that the idea comes from 2015)

the game had a lot of ideas, a different office, different name but Heisenmorg: must fit everything into 104 hours at a certain point we must stop developing.

yes. lake's funlad was very different from what it's now.

if you ask me, i found this game when it was called those nights at lake. some times I visited the game page. like a tired producer.

I didn't go into too much detail because the wiki explains it as a more knowledgeable and experienced person than me (and you): https://together-again-a-lakes-funland-encyclopedia.fandom.com/wiki/Together_Again:_A_%22Lake%27s_Funland%22_Story_(Game)

Reception

according to the fnaf fan game wiki, the game went largely unnoticed at first, having most of its coverage come from game testers and dedicated fangame enthusiasts. It wouldn't be on Twitter where FNaF Fangame News conducted a poll for the top fangames of 2023. While Playtime with Percy took this title, with a whopping 35.3% of votes directed towards it, Together Again found itself in fourth place with 5.4% of the votes, closely trailing Chica's Party World: REBAKED. Because of this poll, numerous YouTubers such as Dawko begun to cover the game, truly giving the game more notice.

Despite initial impressions of being uninspired, the game surprised players with its engaging features such as the Panic mechanic and the Exposure meter. The game created a balanced and immersive gameplay experience, drawing players in with its detailed story that explored characters, settings, and motivations. The animatronics stood out for their unique personalities and death lines. The mini-game segments seamlessly integrated into Ashley Water's journey, uncovering the dark truth behind the mysterious disappearances at Lake's Funland.

The ending twist, which calls back to Ashley's mother Rachel Waters, was a surprising yet subtly hinted twist that became more apparent upon reflection. The game allowed players to immerse themselves as they worked to investigate the three main victims of the recent disappearance of three children closely tied to Lake's Funland. The game's clear objective of obtaining the True Ending, completing all collectibles, and delving deep into the story encouraged players to fully explore the game, all resulted in an engaging and immersing experience due to Heisenmorg's storytelling skills (that I have to question it though). In short, Together Again is a well-crafted narrative that was captivating to unravel.

but it also has some flaws.

Audio and Music

let's say that the music is great. well let's say there's little music. 90% of the time you just hear the ambience.

It doesn't make sense that it has approximately 15 soundtracks while other awesome stuff like cabin fever 2 has approximately 35.

but if you exclude soundtracks created by other people (such the Brazilian Music we're forced to hear to keep alice at bay (that's just a lazy solution)) the original soundtracks are... I do not know. the research was confusing and i stopped immediately.

also, if you haven't notice, there's a sound that plays everytime Alex and Jon Kun comes.

for the rest I have nothing else to say.

Drawings and Graphics

so... the renders were made with Autodesk 3ds Max a software that nobody uses because it costs a lot (unlike blender which is free) but it's also the software scott cawthon used which gives the game the accuracy of a scott game.

not to mention that the illustrations are made with Photoshop CS6.

the sprtites are fair more accurate to fnaf 4 if you ask me.

it also have some sources from the Ultimate FNAF Mega Pack (which it has been cancelled 2 years ago)

Blender is used here too, but Cinema 4D and Autodesk 3ds Max are also used for modeling.

ok that it's based on fnaf's classics (2014-2015). but It looks like a semi-decent fan game.

Animations and Cutscenes

you can see they spent more money on cutscenes.

there are literally videos inside the game. the intro is more cinematic than the cutscenes you could do inside clickteam fusion. (FMVs is my solution to cut corners BTW)

I have nothing else to say here either.

Story

the story is uninspired but also pretty decent.

to give you an idea of ​​the commitment to writing, the current story of the game exists because of one of Alex's game over dialogues that was written when the story was a rip-off of TRTF. AKA more uninspired. Yes, the idea of the story you know came from a simple 5 second voice line.

Well… That’s just lazy writing

Apparently Heisenmorg has this obsession (like me) of explaining the story with cutscenes and minigames and for someone who wants to play it quick (like me because usually fan games come out in the evening or during the night on italy) sometimes minigames can be a forcing.

the only merit I attribute to Heisenmorg is having the courage to write a story that it's not a hodgepodge of clichés and banalities.

I admit that this time I was surprised, since I had assumed that the killer could be Ashley's father (because from the premises I believed that the killer was predictable).

i didn't see that Rachel was a important part.

but I had the feeling that the story was forcing it into your head. not to mention the "forced" and final minigame where we see her life.

Rachel is NOT a good mother, she sugested her daughter to work on a place where she killed 4 children like she was william afton. (I should consider it as nepotism but it was the 90s, there were no nepotism scandals yet)

but then listening to her tapes, we understand that she convinced ashley to work at lake's funland in the hope of freeing the spirits. which means that at least on this occasion the forced script is felt. In fact, a bit of realism is lost in the fact that ashley working in that place is actually an incredible plan by rachel with 3000 parts that move to free these spirits. demonstrating the importance of having someone who can pull the handbrake when necessary.

i get it, you need someone pure who they could "connect" with the children's souls. Then don't send ashley to the slaughter, find someone random. it's always worked that way! Jeremy Fitzgerald works because he's a random person and not because he's the cousin of the nephew of the brother of william afton's father.

you know that I am "strongly" against nepotism.

and then NO ONE is pure nowadays.

and if you allow me Come on, how stupid is it to justify the historical inaccuracy of the foundation of eBay by saying that eBay has existed since 1990 and not 1995 in this universe. You won't save yourself like that Eh!

but it's not all bad.

like i said, the ending twist, was a surprising yet subtly hinted twist that became more apparent upon reflection.

however come on Oscar Magwood, find William Afton and ask him to kill those children instead of Rachel. what did she do to you, she didn't sleep with your son-

no wait... that thing is canon.

So did I like it or not the story? I would say no given the forcing I have highlighted. and instead i'd say yes.

Conclusions

I'm more or less satisfied.

the story overall works and offers a lot of ideas and a wonderful narrative arc for the protagonist but it falls prey too often to forcing and honestly I'm a bit torn about the length.

Yes because at times the game seems endless. (if you throw in the minigames) for example they could have shortened a bit all the things on oscar magwood and the minigames because after a while I can't take it anymore.

Now I'll try to explain the point of the matter otherwise this review will remain up to itself and is useless.

As you may have understood, for me, lake's funland and the recent fnaf fan games share the exact same problem; adding unnecessary details.

because (let me explain) adding information does not mean making a character deeper. the information is useful to you to write the character but then you can also not specify even one. I do not need to know every time that god does not exist. (which is true)

I do not need all this stuff. I do not need it.

Rachel's back story is useful to me only from the moment I can recognize him in Rachel in every single appearance.

these characteristics concern many fnaf fan games. adding stuff to me making me believe that the character is all-round for the information you give me about him is useless means giving me information about the character without the character actually having it.

In short, this problem is the mistake of the boy who is trying to write something for the first time and is convinced that he can improve the story by adding details.

NOW THE VOTE

the vote is... *insert drum roll* 8.5/10! the plot is phenomenal despite falling back on forced script and the references to "a christmas journey" (there are only two) would attract PhilLeBrave on twitter. But everything else is missing

Now we'll see with The Magic Hour (which for simplicity I'll call lake's funland 2: sunshine's) if things will change but I don't know. I have a bad sign because I saw a bit of forced script with Regan launching a firework into the principal's office. I hope it doesn't fall back into forcing and it balance story and gameplay because Five Nights at Wario's was the great demonstration that story and gameplay must be balanced to have a perfect game.

Not going to lie. This review was really just a complain about the game's story.