Heroes of Spyria

There has been a plethora of games released throughout the years that have to some extent outshined games released in those years, and many of such games are left in the shelf only to be found in word of mouth or stumbled by accident. I found this hidden gem just by scrolling down the JRPG section on Steam in a random day. The game is not perfect but I do acknowledge the time and effort put into it by giving the game a try and completing everything that there is to discover in the world of Spyria. The game does not try to be ambitious in its storytelling as it is simple to follow. Without going in much detail, the story revolves around the themes of self-doubt, revenge, and forgiveness that characterizes the three main protagonists: Madilyn, Hiro, and Winter, respectively. There are also side characters along with their own side-quests and some of these characters are playable in certain events in the story. In a world as small as the land of Spyria there is so much to uncover that will take over 20 hours of gameplay. This is a setback to modern gaming in the sense that it incorporates old school content such as turn-based combat mechanics, dungeon exploration with puzzles, and an art style that is reminiscent to NES/SNES games to some extent. Each character works differently, and objectively, some are more useful than others. Just like the games from that time, this one too has its cons: gaining levels and gold is a grind considering that battles do not give much rewards and no reward warrants some of the challenging boss battles. Also, endgame weapons and gear are too expensive. This little gem is worth the time to be invested in as you get some quality of life features that is reminiscent to old school RPGs for as little as 5 dollars. I do hope that whoever reads this little review found it helpful as I do not plan to spoil the story, which is the best part in this game. The developer has remained active on Steam to address whatever concerns there are with performance since its release which is a big plus. Play the game and promote it to any friend or family member who enjoys RPGs. 9/10

AI slop art negates any credibility this game could have had.

This is a very fun rpg! The story is engaging, humorous, and rife with character development. Get lost in the world of Spyria!

Fun game with a solid 30 hours of content. Highly recommend.

Sadly seems to crash every time i boot it up. Wish i could give an honest opinion. Looks super fun for 5 bucks.

This is a new gem for classic RPG gamers. Update - After finishing the game, I can positively comment that this game does embody the rich experience of classic RPG games. This story is compelling, full of twists, and character developments.

What a pleasant surprise this turned out to be. Take elements of FF6, FF4, Chrono Trigger and Lunar and that's what Heroes of Spyria is. Things start off small in the typical JRPG fashion, but escalate pretty fast into problems bigger and badder and our heroes are the ones to stop the world from ending. Sounds like fairly standard stuff, right? Well in some cases it is. The battle system is fast and straightforward, the premise and characters aren't too much of a surprise (at least at first), and everything feels fairly familiar. However, that's where the strengths of this title lay, in working with what's familiar and making it novel and fun again. The characters twist fairly early on in ways you won't expect, the plot diverges into concurrent events, and the depths the story goes to get actually pretty dark and impressive. There were a few cases where I had to stop and absorb what was happening because the tone and concepts did the story justice in a way I wasn't expecting. Kudos to the devs for that. There's a lot of QoL stuff here, between side quests with their own tracker in the menu to a level scaling system that makes grinding an option but not a necessity, an achievement list that can be maxed out in one go, and so on. All small stuff, sure, but there's a lot to be said about small, simple things done right over complex things being done so-so. You'll have a scenario split in a few cases ala FF6, but the experience and gear is carried over for each character so no one falls behind. The decisions you make have impact later on, so nothing's as innocuous as it seems. And there are even 'spare' character to fill the roster so that the story isn't nailed down to the same group and you as the player aren't bottlenecked by losing your healer all of a sudden, for instance. The inspirations for this game are clear, and this is a fitting tribute to those great titles. There are a few shortcomings in this game, however. The tone of the story ramps up pretty fast and borders on melodramatic at times, so if that's not your bag, caveat emptor. The world is well explored but it's rather small for the toys you get later on. What I mean here is that when you get a ship to sail around with, you're only able to get to the next place you were meant to go to, so things haven't really opened up that much. Same with the airship after that, it's there only so you can get to the airship-accessible places, which are few and at the end of the game anyway. Compared to the ship in FF5 or the airship in FF4 and FF6, where you could go to so many new places (often at your own peril) and see how things changed in the locations you'd been to before, and this feels a bit stifling. But the shortcomings are part of the appeal here. Not only is this a title that I think a lot of people will like, it's a title I think a lot of people should pick up and play because the focus and dedication of this team are well on display, and if this is what they can do with the resources they have here, then I'd love to see what they turn out next time. For it being their first release, this is a damn fine offering, and if they can improve on what's already here, then I cannot wait to see it. Buy it. On sale or at full price, it's a steal either way.

it is a lot of fun guessing but new players use the cheat. then play again. I love it

I bought Heroes of Spyria on sale last year. A 20+ hour rpg for about the price of a coffee? (my playtime is not a good measure. I am slow at games). That was a steal so I took it. Worth it. I would have been fine paying full price as well. There is nothing groundbreaking about the game; it is a standard RPG Maker game. I was not looking for anything earth shattering anyway. Just a fun adventure with a lot of heart I can sink hours into and enjoy the ride. All in all, that is what I got. HoS followed the whimsy I remember from my childhood. Biggest main story spoiler will be the second to last spoiler tag, and I do my best not to give up the mystery in that section of the game only what I found engaging about the worldbuilding. Rest are context people may rather discover on their own. [b]Story/Characters:[/b] The story is a classic stop a demon incursion plotline. There is more history to it than first presented, which was fun to piece together. Nothing surprised me with the main questline, but I did not need it to. The characters are great and seeing different reactions to scenarios they were placed in. Outside the saving the world, there is a nice throughline of what people will do processing grief and receiving power. If I had a tiny critique, it is on Madilyn. Most of the party have some baggage or connection to the villains. Not everyone has to have a traumatic backstory, and I love a character that does the right thing just because it is the right thing to do. Still, I wish there was more of her interior conflict following orders versus doing what she believes is right. She has a few scenes that showcase her sense of justice (and desire for a family) but I wish there was more. That is a minor nitpick and the character writing for the whole game is amazing. I did not think I would end up loving temporary party members since adding more characters in a short game can stretch the time spent with everyone very thin. The ways all the characters are added and split apart at different points in the game feels seamless. This was my favorite part with the games writing. I ended up being attached to all of them even if the time spent with some was less than the core party. [b]Side Quests:[/b] The little changes that you can cause outside of saving the world adds nice depth. Spyria feels more lived in and you can make an impact outside of being heroes passing through to fight the big bad. It is nothing huge that will change the outcome of the game (though how certain NPCs and kingdoms react to you is a factor), more so it is the small things. The party is not just charging through and can change the fate of some NPCs. [spoiler]For example, if you oust the mayor of Astoria Bay you will find him hanging out at a port in another town.[/spoiler] A couple of the side quests are pretty dark. Not a pro or con, simply an observation. One section, part of an optional side quest, the player is prompted saying it will be uncomfortable for some players and to go with a toned-down version of events. I will say the warnings for those scenes are not far from what you’ll expect from certain context clues beforehand: [spoiler]alcoholism, child abuse, and animal abuse.[/spoiler] Including this in my review because I spent a long time looking up what said triggers were and want to offer it here so people unsure can maybe find it better. [b]Battles/Encounters:[/b] This is the first game in a while where I had to deal with random encounters. I am not a huge fan. That said, the encounter rate was not the worst. I could walk a dozen feet or halfway across the room before hitting another. The size of most maps and dungeons were compact enough that the encounters did not overstay their welcome. There were only a couple locations where I felt annoyed by the end of the section. There’s an option to turn random encounters off (assist mode) and gives the warning to do so means no steam achievements. I trust the balance of a game to match the encounter rate: without running away from battles or grinding for levels, I expect to keep pace with the level curve. The results following this method kept me on equal field. One area did I feel like I was over leveled and the fights felt easier than I think they were meant to be. That could have easily been from experience from an optional boss beforehand though since I have no idea if I fought it at the right time. I appreciate the use of the time progress battle system. It makes speed buffs and debuffs more impactful. Instead of getting first or last in a single turn, it is easier to “lap” slow enemies all together. This helps with squishy hitters in the party. I had a lot of fun figuring out the best strategy for Winter and without the feature I probably would not have. I wished I could gather information on enemies to see what weaknesses they had, in terms of elemental attacks and spells. Some are easy to guess and others I knew or guessed based on common enemy types in other RPGMaker games. It was hard to keep track or notice for ones I did not know so I just cycled through different attacks. I don’t know where to place this, but the white flash for transitioning to the battle screen was almost a dealbreaker. I’m not sure if that is the default for RPG Maker games and my eyes are just more sensitive now or what, so it may not be the fault of the dev. It is random encounters so you cannot prepare or know when you’re going to battle. I tried to look for an option to turn off flashing but there was none. I would recommend for future games to consider a different battle transition if possible. More than random encounters that was what almost made me quit the game early on. I got used to it after a couple hours, but the first session I played was almost headache inducing. [b]Exploration/Puzzles:[/b] The random encounters sometimes caused me to deprioritize searching rooms to make sure I got everything. Exploring dungeons were still fun though exploring towns without that worry was more enjoyable. [spoiler]The flavor text of different characters commenting on their cooking skills and the inopportune time to cook was fun. Collecting apples (or more elusive carrots) was a blast.[/spoiler] I don’t know if not being asked “do you want to steal” is a benefit or hinderance. It is funny a couple times ([spoiler]10/10 will try to steal from the king again[/spoiler]) and others I feel robbed by involuntarily robbing someone I do not want to ([spoiler]like a poor family’s life savings[/spoiler]). The achievements are something that I kind of fell into. If it is something fun, like a side quest or looking at clocks then I will do it. If not, then why should I bother? I looked at all the clocks because they offered an interaction, with sound, not given to almost anything else. It was obvious to me they were meant to be special. The incentive is in the game itself. Big props. Wish practice dummies had a bit more. Practice battles outside of combo practice in aRPGs are a hard sell for me personally, so that’s more of a me thing. Others will like to beat them up more than me, and the comments from various shop owners offer some fun text. [spoiler]The claw marks on the dummy in Birchwood Grove and being told to ignore it was my favorite part of the worldbuilding and context clues in that town. The dummies just standing there in every town is worth it for that alone.[/spoiler] None of the puzzles felt convoluted. I was able to put most of them together with a couple minutes of parsing clues. There was one I had trouble with yet that was more of the obstacle of the room itself than the actual puzzle part of it. [spoiler]I’m talking about bigger light puzzle in the catacombs. I fell down a lot trying to get back to where I left off.[/spoiler] I appreciate the lack of encounters in that room though. I would never remember the path otherwise. Solid first game. Vesper good studio mascot. 8/10