Granser - Act 1

Full disclosure I'm friends with the developer and have tested and given feedback during the production of the game! After finishing the 5 game skautfold series Pugware/Steve has now moved onto making his dream RPG, A story that's been written for many years and in many ways his magnum opus. Using all the skills he's developed over the years has led to making a pretty unique combat system based around his original focus/guard mechanism from the skautfold series which keeps combat interesting and engaging relying on QTE's and A sort of Rock paper scissors system for Increased damage. It can seem slightly overwhelming at first but after a few battles it all clicks into place and feels very rewarding. This is also the first game to feature voice acting and I think the majority of the cast do a really great job, the music is also really good The story has been pretty great so far A lot of Anime inspiration for sure which sort of goes hand and hand with rpgs so it works very well and I really can't wait to see where the rest of it goes with the next part. All in all its a great unique jrpg inspired game that definitely deserves more attention in a scene flooded with rpgmaker games.

I waited this game for setting and story and its worth it! Other parts also good - art, music, voices, battle system - all in place. Reminds JRPG of golden era, but with many QoL features. Story just begins, but feels very promising. Feel like it will be my favorite game along with Skautfold series and Astlibra

What really impresses me about Granser is the presentation. The characters look very good when they are walking around, the environments are very detailed, and the cutscenes continue to raise the bar for what I expect from this kind of project. The soundtrack matches well with what is happening on screen, and the delivery of the voice actors and their mixing is on par with what I expect from larger projects. The magitec setting is interesting, the combat mechanics are very enjoyable, and the developer is very responsive. There are occasional hiccups in the form of typos or bugs. I like the writing overall, and the glossary is well implemented and a great feature, but some of the glossary entries themselves could use an editing pass. The presentation alone makes this worth the purchase price for me.

[b][i][h1]Grand epic adventure... [/h1] [h2]STORY[/h2] A charming little story, follow Saragat as he discoveries the truth about the world and those within it. Meeting comrades in arms who will help you navigate the chaos that unfolded by the Core. First act is a lovely start to the story and hopefully act 2 and 3 will have the same kick as this one. [h2]COMBAT[/h2] Combat is unique in it own way, each character has melee, magic and range attacks. Everyone can do it but some are better at it, Like Saragat is pretty good at melee, but also can do some nice magic. Also two type of combat systems in play, the normal standard attack turn order and then you have Saragat needs to input right left, right, up or down to block attack then sometimes counter attack. Also good way level up Saragat abilities when in camp. If you get the timing right. Also combat can be little hard in places if ya don't watch your energy to use abilities, that is also your shield that blocks some of incoming damage, once it gone you'll break and stop fighting for a bit and enemies can then damage you hp and if hp hits 0 that person out of combat but after a few times you'll get energy back so you can fight again. But dot damage kinda ignores it and does straight hp damage which can be rough if your hp is low. [h2]WORLD/EXPLORATION[/h2] World is pretty big, not too much exploration of the world You either auto move to key point in story and then do whatever objective or tasks is for that place/story. Or a box will appear of a area which you can walk around in and find some small lore pieces around the area and sometimes enemy will spawn if ya feel like you need to grind up a little on the enemy. Overall pretty cool world to look at. [h2]FINAL THOUGHTS[/h2] Overall a great experience I am having with the game, still trying to finish it up and so far I cannot wait for ACT 2 and 3 to see where the story takes me.

Does enough to stand out from other turn based games, Combat has a nice flow to it. Well voiced and written. I havent played much so will update the reivew as I spend more time with it.

[Beta Tested the game] Granser Act 1 is a fun Action JRPG-esque game with A LOT of lore and worldbuilding. The combat might seem simple at first and theres no weapons or armour to collect, however the game makes up for it by having synergies between character skills and a passive buff system you can customize outside of combat Story starts of with standard conspiracy stuff but theres a bunch of twists. The characters are an interesting bunch all with their own messed up backstories, its also nice to see the small interactions they have with eachother. The four main characters along with a few notable ones are voice acted and the VA's did great! Even with this being the dev's sixth game theres really no need to know the previous games' story (tho I do recommend checking them out too) and the references is well hidden Overall the only complaint I have is that the game might be a bit short (6ish hours) but post story content is planned for the new future

Quick note if you're reading this and don't know who Pugware is and love Lovecraftian horror/amazing world building/great pixel art/unique fantasy worlds, please don't skip this game and checkout the devs previous games you will not regret it. Now let me gush about my most anticipated game of 2026 please. After years and years and years it's finally here, the culmination of all the experience gained from working on the Skaultfold series and boy does it show. Aside from a few bugs and some stuttering this game is by far the most polished Pugware game yet, Top-notch voice acting (aside from Len, although that was probably intended due to her nature), a truely great turn-based combat system, a gripping story, and as always the amazing pixel art, while Skautfold holds a special place in my heart and Shrouded in Sanity will always be my favorite I have to admit, Granser is on a whole other level when it comes to quality. My only issue with the game is that I WANT ACT 2 RIGHT NOW PLEASE GIVE ME MOOOOOOOOOORE (thank you for floor 2 I need more [spoiler] Elanor [/spoiler] in my life) Also Steve [spoiler] Are we gonna see Waltham later on please I need to see my favorite immortal godlike man again he has to have survived the replica was originally his idea ;-; (I am assuming Venir is the planet they ended up moving to with the new capital?) [/spoiler].

Hidden ties to other entries from the same dev

I love how lived in the world instantly feels, there's a lot of attention to detail. The music choices and the voice acting are both high quality. I am not a very skilled player but gameplay feels rewarding.

Beta Tester Review If your looking for a game similar to Pugwares previous games this game will come as a shock it changes a lot from the previous entries. The tone has switched from lovecraftian horror to a more fantasy JRPG setting. The style of the game still remains the same with it being done in pixel art but this time with a few add in 3D rendered cutscenes. One of the biggest major includes in this compared to previous games is its voice acted. Most the characters have an American accent apart from I noticed a couple of times there are some British sounding ones it didn't take me out it to much when suddenly there was a British voice. Overall I liked Gray's voice acting which is good because apart from Saragat the main character his voice is the one you hear the most. Overall the quality of voice actors is consistent. The combat is similar to previous games but improved on with a lot of quality of life features. It is now completely turned based. The music is just as good if not better able to stand on par with the soundtrack of my personal favourite SiS. The game focus much more heavily on its characters and story this time around. There is still a lot of environmental storytelling if you really want to dig deep and uncover the secrets of this world. Overall if your a fan of the previous games I would recommend you try it out, if you did play the skautfold series and liked the horror and tone of those preivous games I wouldn't recommond it. if your new and this is your first pugware I would highly recommend it as I think its the better way to first experince this setting.