This game was our childhood, and despite amnesia we still remember the month before Christmas, reading the back of the box in the car, knowing that the next month of not being able to play it would kill us. But it didn't, and when we finally got it? It stuck with us.

As a child, this game had it all: unique designs, loveable characters, repetitive dungeon grinding gameplay, photography, crafting, and even a town builder system that let you Walk Around It in 3D??? That was always the coolest back then. We forgot a lot of details over the years, but we'll always remember crying at a particular mid-game reveal.

But to access the final boss, we needed information we forgot. And we didn't have internet back then. We never finished it.

Playing it two decades later, I don't think we would have ever succeeded as a kid. Without spoilers, the end bosses are Brutal, and if we hadn't ground the whole game for very good weapons it may have been abandoned a third time.

But we did it. And it feels like a weight off our chest, something off the bucket list. It was slower than we remembered, but a child's view of the world is so much more magnificent. Despite that, it was a wonderfully charming game that we would highly recommend to anyone who loves a good retro rpg.

4 stars for the actual game, 1 for how much it impacted our life. ✨

Favourites
Character It's somewhere between Flotsam, Elena, & Mayor Need, but I love them all. 🥹 Bonus shout-out to our childhood love for Monica.
Moment - The motherly discovery. Also Paznos, but that was a lot cooler as a child; as an adult you can't help but realise how clunky the cutscenes are.
Music - Kazarov Stonehenge hits different, and to this day we feel such strong emotions listening to it.