For a Vast Future

A Gameboy style RPG that hits the right balance between nostalgia and modern pacing conveniences (quick movement and auto-saves with every notable action both feel great). . While 8-Bit graphics may feel like an odd choice in 2022, the pixel work in For A Vast Future will make a believer out of anyone who gives it a try. The chipset music is at least on par with the best Game Boy era beats, and the combat is fun and tense, with resource management and tactical decisions feeling weighty and meaningful. The story doesn’t feel padded but still has some nice twists and turns despite being relatively focussed and concise. The description suggests a 6-8 hour long story but I think for my first play through I’m looking more at 12-15 hours. I like to explore every little corner though, so maybe I’m an outlier there. While I haven’t finished the story yet myself, I can’t wait to get back into it when I have a few hours after work tonight. Seralia needs me!

This game is a really good retro styled RPG, if you're looking for a short game that will keep you interested and adds a bit of nostalgia this may be the game for you. I have a few things that i didn't like but they were so minor that most may over look them and not care. Cons: lack of a borderless fullscreen lack of a manual item/ammo sort option you can't access settings until you get into the game Pros: EVERYTHING ELSE, the characters are really good lots of personality the story has a somewhat realistic feel the color palettes were really nice i loved that there was an originalGB color palette and then a GBpocket palette (which i used) and so on, this was a nifty little feature the combat mechanics were really interesting relying on all sorts of different bullets and war gear allowing for all sorts of strategy overworld movement was real quick i would go vroom vroom everywhere! music was really good at fitting the tone/mood of what was currently going on and actually pretty memorable which i feel may actually be kinda hard to do for such a short game overall i give it a 9/10! its a very enjoyable game i had lots of fun playing it and i hope others do aswell and just know, this is not a fake ficus plant.

Post-apocalypse? Check. Bullets as currency? Check. Doomsday cults? Check. A good plot? Check. Really enjoyed the story and the worldbuilding. The main character is fairly well-written as well. The other characters... are there mostly. Not a lot of change happening with them, but the main character has some growth and that's nice. It deals with items (Wargears) really well in it's super simple crafting system, find a schematic to learn how to craft a new item and make it at a crafting... machine. - It deals less well with items in combat where it always goes back to the first item (so if you want to use the final items you need to press right 10 - 15 times.) - There also aren't any shops for items. The only shops are for exchanging regular bullets for specialized bullets. Speaking of combat... it's very easy. It starts out looking like it could get tough later on, but after you find a few upgrades and upgrade your skills a bit it becomes a cakewalk. Which is fine because the story is what we're here for. Also means there's no need to grind unless you're going for the level 30 achievement. All in all, there are some very minor things I don't like - items in battle, fast travel always starting on the starting town - but it's still an amazing game and everyone should play it. 9/10

Fun little JRPG with some weak writing. Considering the constraints of the retro aesthetics, the visuals and audio are top notch, with fairly standard turn based JRPG gameplay built around item management rather than skills. Your party members don't have mana pools, or unique moves to use in combat. Instead, everyone shares a pool of different items and ammo types, and experience is used to increase stats which make your character hit harder, take less damage, or use items more effectively. The game is, however, pretty easy. I'm not particularly good at JRPGs, and even I finished the game with only one game over at the very final boss, when I unwittingly used an item that stopped my designated support character from doing anything except attacking for as long as it took my party to get wiped. Collecting items and optimising their use was satisfying, but most of the challenge was from trying to optimise fights rather than simply beat them. You also have the option to re-allocate your stats and upgrades basically whenever you want at no cost, which may or may not be an upside depending on how you like your RPGs. Now, the narrative. I didn't like it. It tried to tackle some lofty high concept stuff - war, geopolitics, nuclear armageddon, cultism, social stratification, artificial consciousness - but it's let down by flat characters and some rather uninventive writing, each of those aforementioned lofty concepts [i]referenced[/i] rather than analysed or developed in any meaningful way. The character writing is particularly weak - the characters are all archetypes, and dialogue is mostly just people taking turns to summarise their motivations and reactions to events in the narrative. Character development by cliffnotes. I wouldn't recommend the game [i]for[/i] the narrative, but as something to give context to the battling and exploration gameplay, it's fine. Maybe it's just me, but I felt like the store page and the reviews alluded to a level of narrative depth that isn't actually there.

Had a good feeling about this one from the screenshots and trailer video, and sure enough it was just a wonderful little romp. Practically a love letter to 90s era handheld RPGs like Final Fantasy Legend or Pokemon, but with modern day sensibilities like faster movement & freedom to experiment. Being able to choose from a variety of palette choices was really nice, even if I never figured out how Custom was supposed to work. The gameplay is smooth and simple. You have basic ammunition, which doubles as a sort of currency to obtain other kinds of bullets in exchange, and you have your war gear which is really just your healing items, bombs, and other stuff. Every time you finish a battle, the enemy drops a handful of different ammo along with some more basic bullets. Or sometimes it'll be scrap, which is great cause you use that stuff to craft more bombs, first aid kits, and other handy items. The game is [i]very[/i] generous with scrap and bullets, which allows for you to play how you want. Many enemies have weaknesses like explode, ice, or shock that you can capitalize on via grenades or special ammo. Personally I found myself abusing the hell out of Molotov cocktails since they'll hit every enemy and can be a good opening move. Combat items like grenades will also damage enemies that are largely unaffected by your guns, too, so it's important to always have some on hand either way. Both the upgrades for your guns and the skill parameters you can increase can be reset [i]for free[/i] at any time if you're not happy with how it turned out. I'd suggest putting plenty into Luck since it affects the drops after battle. The game's level cap is only 30, as well, which is fine cause this isn't the longest game to begin with. I found the length very agreeable, it never wore out its welcome. Don't want to spoil anything related to the story, but I enjoyed it a lot. Honestly a lot better written than anything that actually came [i]out[/i] in that contemporary 90s era. I sincerely doubt this will get a sequel, just from how it all plays out, but I would love to see another game [i]like it[/i] since the developers have clearly got the look, feel, and pacing down.

I rarely write reviews, but this was the best old school Gameboy RPG since Mystic Quest. The story was great, the fights fast, all in all a great overall package. Thank you for this journey back in time to my childhood days, Retreaux Games.

ESP: For a Vast Future es un exquisito retro RPG situado en un mundo devastado por la guerra, tiene una estética de Gameboy que le da ese toque nostálgico, pero la historia distopica / futurista y el hecho de que su combate este basado completamente en el uso de ítems / municiones le da esa distinción que hace que se sienta un juego fresco. Muy recomendable. ENG: For a Vast Future is an exquisite retro RPG set in a world devastated by war, it has a Gameboy aesthetic that gives a nostalgic touch, but the dystopian / futuristic story and the combat being based entirely on the use of items / ammunition gives this game a distinction that makes it feel fresh. Highly recommended.

Fun retro post-apoc RPG, focused on items which is quite rare. Even the normal attack use items ( different ammo ) and there are quite a lot of different items. You level up your character like you want, they have some small difference and have different upgrades but nothing force you to use them a specific way even if some upgrades are way stronger. The world is contained pretty well, a lot of chests laying around with some minor exploration, they are never really far. The one thing I did not like is that there are no shops, no currency, you can only craft and find items. There is a "Luck" stat that can give you more loot and a chance not to use items which is almost mandatory. I did not invest in it until the middle of the game and I was running out of items the whole game. The bosses are also huge bullet sponges, especially if they don't have a weakness or you run out of items for it. I was enjoying the game until the last boss. I don't want to spoil anything but unlike every other enemies you don't see its health bar so you have no idea if you are wasting your time and need to level up or have a chance. I spent at least two hour trying and trying again, going back to fight some enemies, trying again. Every other bosses before I was able to fight and defeat with a couple tries but this one uses all the tricks available.

A great little turn based RPG The art style and colour choices reminds me a lot of old Game Boy games and the game still looking good regardless of the colour palette you choose really speaks to the thought that went into the art. The store page describes the game as "A brief RPG that you can replay" and I completely agree with this statement. I played through the game multiple times and had the game been another long RPG I probably wouldn't have even thought about playing it more than once.

Feels like what you would get if Fallout was crossed with Mother 3 and then demade into a gameboy game. Gameplay was addictive and fun, although not particularly difficult and rapidly became less compelling as the party levelled up. I loved the setting, but thought there was too much writing for the amount of actual story present. I took my sweet time and it clocked 10 hours. Music is incredible, as others have noted. This is the sort of game that feels much more than the sum of its parts. It was just the right length, the game system was cleverly designed around its brevity, and I just generally loved it. If you are a gameboy aesthetic enjoyed, this will likely be a good buy for you.