This game is pretty much one big homage to the tabletop games that inspired so much of the medium, and while I'm not a big tabletop player myself (i don't have a group of tableplayers to dungeon and/or dragon with, nor do I have the spare time to be doing long campaigns), I definitely see the vision this game goes for. It basically strips the RPG to its absolute bare essence. Cutscenes are told mostly through text over still images, there's pretty much zero animation in the game as every character is a still figure model, there's no level-based stat progression as equipment and skills are your tools to survive enemy encounters, and there are plenty of dice to be rolled for checks. While the overall presentation of everything can certainly feel a bit dry at points, the writing absolutely steals the show. I haven't played any of Yasumi Matsuno's other work, but if the writing in those is as raw as it is here you can consider me very interested to try them out. The cutscenes did a really good job at allowing my mind to fill in the blanks created by the limited visual presentation, and I did enjoy each of the party members even if I still do not know how to properly pronounce "Giauque". Only downsides this game has is there's a random dumb item grind smack dab in the middle of the game that's just doing the same battle over and over in hopes that a progress item gets dropped and that the game kinda has a short length that makes it feel over just as the party starts to get enough skills to make battles comfortably interesting. It certainly ain't a game for everyone, but I enjoyed it surprisingly more than I expected.

Reviewed on May 03, 2024


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