Recent reviews by Zel

I just completed this game, so my review will be somewhat raw.

Small Saga is my current Game of the Year. That doesn't mean that it is without fault, but I think that the developers show uncommon astuteness and consideration to the message that the writing and mechanics are delivering, which stands in stark contrast to the either crassly or mindlessly offer their own.

Narrative:
I say this first because Small Saga stands in that Ursula K. LeGuin heritage of considering what liberation takes and may even begin to look like. While most fantasy games, especially these days, only offer the heavily moderated idealism of "you must save the kingdom, because it's the kingdom," Small Saga has questions about the institutions at play and the people involved with those institutions. For a narrative example of this, most bosses in this game are not slain. They are defeated, and there is a pretty good amount of death and killing, but this ends up giving us a small, focused cast of characters that must reckon with their decisions rather than simply dying and being written off. That is because our heroes are not seeking to just stop a king or kill an evil god: they are trying to make their world a little better and more just.

Graphics:
Like Maus and Bojack Horseman, the games art direction gives a needed levity to the proceedings. Helping a squirrel reckon with the destruction of his people and seeing him proudly don his cultural garb is very cool, and the fact that we are talking about a squirrel helps make the bitter pill of the events in question easier to swallow. It also has the advantage of giving a great deal of structure to most of the environments, as the camera is isometric and fixed. It ends up bringing to mind RPGs of old.

Soundtrack:
Excellent. There is just enough grandiosity laid against the simplicity of the music that it captures a sense of heroism and adventure while leaning into the levity that the art direction invites. There are also two electric guitar covers of one track, and even some acoustic songs with vocals played at a bar similar to the tavern songs in Dragon Age: Inquisition, although without the French counterparts.

Gameplay:
I saved this for last because this is where my criticism comes in. Small Saga is a straightforward, turn-based affair. Each of your 4 heroes has a class that comes with a gimmick, and a skill tree that augments character attributes. For example, there is one character that can be built as a straight-forward healer and buffer, but you can also augment his melee attacks when he has a certain status effect. It's not deep enough for builds, but it is deep enough for the length.

Small Saga will probably take a completionist 8 to 12 hours to complete. It's a short game, and for me, that's both good and bad. The pace remains excellent throughout, and the side quests don't overstay their welcome; in fact, the side quests are so short and sweet that I didn't notice the lack of a journal until the last third of the game.

While I really like what that does or the pacing of the game, I wish that I had more time to spend with the characters in battle and out of it. There are no random battles in this game and you don't gain experience from fighting. Instead, once you win a fight, those baddies are gone, and for the most part, there is no way to avoid a fight, and characters level up at narrative milestones.

On one hand, this is cool: it means that the game has a tighter design. I never felt too weak for an area. Items are one-use-per battle, so there's never a need to hoard any item, and since the design of the game doesn't allow for grinding, I never felt like there wasn't anything I couldn't afford. I was encouraged to explore and speak to the NPCs, and I found this fun and freeing.

However, the devs could take a lesson from Chained Echoes here: if the combat is fun enough, then battles become interesting puzzles rather than annoying roadblocks. I wish the game had a little more confidence in its battle system and allowed me more time with it. That being said, as it currently stands, since there's no reward for fighting, there's also no reason to do it outside of story battles. It's a conundrum for sure: all I can say is that I hope the devs take their good sense of pacing and make another game that lets me have more time and interactions with the characters as characters and units in battle.

Overall:
Small Saga offers a really engaging little package. It boldly espouses a view that we don't normally see in gaming, and that view is offered with nuance. It's setting is used expertly, it's characters lovable and engaging (although Gwen could have used a bit more development), it's battle system charmingly retro while still having engaging wrinkles. It's a game that has something to say and says it expertly. Here's hoping there is more to come.

Very fun, very happy with the purchase. Don't go in expecting a rogue-like or even a rogue-lite. It's a little more like Mega Man in that you choose the level order, but the levels get tougher as you beat each stage. IMO that, the level ups, and the reward system make this super fun. I only wish there was a practice mode and online multiplayer. But I bought this for cough co-op and I'm looking forward to doing that.

I have never been interested in writing a review for a game on Steam. I figure that my satisfaction is my own and the people involved in delivering the product have received their rewards; there is no need for me to proselytize for any company. I support worker's rights, unions, etc., but a game purchase has generally been a pretty discreet transaction for me.

I say this to say that I think Wrath of the Righteous is the apotheosis of the cRPG genre as it currently stands. There are things I dislike (such as the buffing), and I run into bugs from time to time, but this game is so high quality that I keep coming back for more. The only thing that has prevented me from beating the game is that after a certain point, combat feels like a hassle (which is partly related to the buffing!).

All that being said, I think the base game is absolutely worth buying. I have the DLC thanks to gift-givers, but I haven't delved into them yet, either, so I can't speak to their quality, although the rogue-like one definitely has my curiosity.

Fun game, engaging characters, occasionally poor writing (Wenduag recruitment decision is hard to rationalize), cRPG combat struggles and all, I think this game is a gem. Highly recommend, looking forward to more from the studio. Hopefully with slightly tighter writing, quicker, more engaging combat, and less damn pre-buffs.

But to give you an idea of how much I like this game, I was willing to play it without mods on my Steam Deck before I figured out how to do it. Personally, if I'm willing to play something vanilla for this long, it's something special.

Haven't played the game for very long, and historically have not been terribly fond of MOBA or MOBA-esque games, but I find this one to be a blast. The perspective and immediacy of action end up making the game feel much more like a brawler than how stuff like DOTA felt to me, and the speed at which combat happens is engaging and frenetic without feeling rushed.

Although that said, I guess it's not precisely like a MOBA. There's critters to kill, but you don't push them towards an objective. Rather you summon creatures who give you benefits and gain energy. After a certain amount of energy gained either by them or your team killing enemy creatures and players, your team has a chance to score a point. It's a good, quick cycle of gameplay.

The art style is really interesting, and I have yet to get tired of seeing any of the environments or characters. The music is also pretty wonderful.

I see a lot of complaining about the launcher but it's not really a big deal. A minor annoyance once, but with your login info saved, it's just an extra click on the mouse. If it bothers you here, you can also get the game directly through Arc Games (which will have cross-play with Steam) or the Windows 10 store (which will have cross-play with Xbox One).

If there's anything I dislike, I don't care for the rate of currency earned, but this might be common to MOBAs and games similar to them. It does have about six or so heroes for free that cycle each week, so you're not forced to spend real money on anything. I'm also not crazy about how every game with a new player has to take place in a specific arena, because I feel like it ends up over-representing that arena. I also don't like that you can use in-game currency to buy slightly better creatures to summon, but again, since I can earn the currency in-game, I'm not as bothered by it.

Those are relatively small annoyances, though. It's a great game, and worth a shot if only because it's free to play with no pay-to-win aspects that I've seen.