Brave Hero Yuusha EX

I'm slowly working my way through all of Torch60's games, and this one is pure comfort food. This is some buttery mashed potatoes, or maybe a big helping of homemade mac and cheese. If you're a fan of classic 8, 16, or 32 bit RPGs, do yourself a favor and download this. It's free, you literally can't go wrong.

Full disclosure: this game was made by a friend, but my opinions are as honest as possible. A Delightfully Wholesome Fairy Tale Frankly, there aren't many games of this caliber on Steam for such a shockingly low price. Yuusha is undeniably polished, crafted with love, and loaded with useful lessons for both kids and adults. My only nitpicks are its slightly undercooked level design, occasional heavy-handed moments, and lack of challenge on hard mode. Even if it's not up your alley, you should still gift it to your child or younger sibling: it may just become their gateway drug into the joyous escapism of JRPGs! PRESENTATION: 8/10 Pitch-perfect in execution, Yuusha’s presentation is a charming concoction of Dragon Quest’s majesty, Kirby’s whimsy, and Earthbound’s surrealism. The developer's passion for these franchises just seeps through the screen without ever feeling derivative. Of particular note are the bright color choices, zany monster creations, and nostalgic character designs that serve the dreamy setting and are never jarring or bland. The music is equally lively, with the inclusion of a few somber pieces for the more serious moments. STORY: 8/10 Yuusha is a simple fairy tale of two worlds with plenty of meta overtones: inhabiting worlds of realism and “dark playfulness”, most of the main characters are childish by design. Their naivety pays off because the story centers on forging one's own path and breaking free of debilitating habits and cliches. I found it quite touching to watch these individuals struggle and learn important life lessons. The subversion trope does become a little heavy-handed near the end, and the setting could have been developed further, but the spirited dialogue and lovable cast make up for these gripes. GAMEPLAY: 8/10 The turn-based combat is equal parts easy and engaging, much like Final Fantasy. Characters have a ton of moves suited to their personality, including AoE skills, status ailments, poison/DoT abilities, physical attacks, buffs, debuffs, and much more. Some of these will devastate weak enemies, making fights a breeze for those who play optimally. Boss monsters have well-telegraphed and intuitive mechanics - such as evade-and-counter patterns and elemental shifts - that serve as simple attention and adaptability checks. These frequent twists never become chores, perhaps to a fault: the combat is almost TOO safe. I was disappointed by the lack of challenge, especially on hard mode. Those new to the genre will likely fumble with the trickier bosses and suffer occasional defeats, but they will figure things out eventually and feel accomplished for doing so. For these reasons, the combat feels perfectly balanced for casual players and never seems unfair. The dungeons, towns, and puzzles are clever and well made - with lots of nooks and crannies along the way - but they are mostly straightforward and aren't as fleshed out as everything else. My favorite part was reconstituting a village full of missing locations and NPCs - a creative take on Dark Cloud that is mercifully streamlined to fit this game's tone and fast pace. After all, the creator’s goal is clearly not to anger or even challenge players, but to leave them feeling happy and engrossed: it’s here where the gameplay succeeds. Nothing becomes frustrating, and Yuusha is always enjoyable in at least the most basic sense. The relatively short playtime, clocking in at 5 hours (plus an hour or two of side content), is more succinct than brief. I never felt like I was being pushed along, and both the story and the dungeons resolved themselves in fulfilling ways. THE PACKAGE: 9/10 Yuusha’s parts combine brilliantly into a unified theme of that “dark playfulness” I mentioned earlier. The combat, environments, and visuals serve the story above all else; nothing - not even the puzzles - feels out of place. Characters and monsters have mechanics that are relevant both to their identities and the story at large. The post-game is a truly compelling coda, with lots of creative fights and bonus lore to consume. Too many RPGs - especially on the indie scene - lack cohesion or thematic connections between each element. Yuusha, thankfully, is not one of them. OVERALL: 8.5/10

Another fantastic RPG entry by Torch60. Much love to the creators SgtM and SpecialAgentApe! Much like my experiences with Astra Hunter Zosma and Soma Spirits: Rebalance, this game is another fun turn-based RPG that can be fully completed (including achievement hunting) in less than 15 hours. There are so many references here from Torch60's other games that it will bring a big smile to your face if you know the lore and gives players more reasons to check out the Torch60 library. If you love RPGs with a retro style, then you have no reason not to play this game on Steam or Itch as it is absolutely free! Please support smaller indie developers as I would happily purchase this awesome game even if it had a price tag on it.

Bom

I once reviewed a game from this dev. Playing this one, I thought it was made AFTER the one i reviewed and I thought "well damn, he improved A LOT", but no, this is an earlier game (the stories are not related... but there are common elements). Why is this one so much better? To name a few instances, in this game, the maps are not boringly linear, playable characters are far more distinct, the color palette is far richer, the writting is more interesting and the music is way more enjoyable, and the story is far more relevant and relatable. I wanted to hate this game, i could see from the very begining it had some elements of the woke mind virus, it being free and aimed at kids didnt help either, but having finished the game, I was gladly surprised by the little he pushed those elements and how tastefully he toyed with what would otherwise be a copy of a copy of a game. So, what is this game? an RPG (JRPG?) game much in the vein of classic final fantasy/Dragon Quest games. Smaller in size and complexety but still good. So where does the game shine? 1- in minor details and 2- precisely on its original way of story telling and character treatment, making this a fun game for kids (7-10, maybe playing with their parents) which can very well inspire them to be better and create wholesome family moments they will treasure to their last days 3- Cooler Cruzader makes an in game performance At every possible point, the developer makes a point of subverting the expectations (WAIT, dont quit the review yet) in tastefull and interesting ways by breaking the linearity of tired stories and shuffling around character roles. There is however even more to enjoy here as and adult OTHER than the possible memories created, for theres love in the details, from making sprites have a different dominant hand, to the nature revealing aspect of habilities, and from the rich naming of bosses to the simplicity of the naming of npcs (zeehab, z-hab, Ahab? and with that job? loved it). Expectations are also subverted in the map design, players of games in which this one is inspired will recognize patterns only to actually FEEL something is wrong when those patterns are betrayed to a very enjoyable effect. Npcs are written with some sass to the point of breaking the fourth wall to let experienced gamer know that some... habits... will not be tolerated, furthermore some npcs which can become playable add a lot of levels to the world building in this short (12hrs to complete in full, with most achievements) but impactfull story. In short, fire ths game up with your kid, relax and be a back sit driver for a while, discuss the story elements in between sessions, it one of those things they end up remembering with endearment.

AW, really sweet <333333