Letalis

At first glace you think this is trying to be a Pokemon style creature collector but it isn't! It's a pretty unique twist on the genre. I really enjoy all the secrets and how practically each NPC has something valuable to say. Exploring is beneficial and it's something that is lost with modern Pokemon games. The devs are constantly communicating with the community and making pretty quick changes. If you want to try something new in the genre, pick up Letalis. You won't regret it.

Fantastic Pokemon-like with excellent mecahnics and hidden secrets. A must play!

Very fun. I like that it doesn't hold your hand and makes you learn how to play by simply talking to npcs or reading books. Just like an old school game.

Playing Letalis felt like going back to the games I grew up with. It really captures that old-school adventure vibe without feeling outdated. I had a great time from beginning to end, and it kept putting a smile on my face. Definitely worth playing if you miss classic games.

Good game. Reminds me a lot of early Pokemon, back when the series still had some semblance of difficulty. You play as a Letalis Manager, leading your squads of Letalis (gladiator pokemon), to try and become a Caesar (this world's version of a Gym Leader) of your own Coliseum. It's got the good and the bad parts of old GBA stuff. You essentially learn every mechanic in the game by talking to various NPCs around towns. This means if you forget / overlook something, you have no means of looking it up aside from going back to whatever previous area you were in and trying to find an NPC that tells you the info you're looking for. (For me, it was trying to find out how to break rocks- apparently that's an ability you only unlock after beating the first Coliseum? Maybe?) Also, playing this on a big monitor definitely feels weird. I got used to it over time, but this would be 100x better played on a Steam Deck or some other form of handheld. (I would genuinely recommend the developer post this game up on mobile stores, people would eat this up on mobile) The visual style is really nice, I like the limited colors and the 8-bit style. I know that it's supposed to be reminiscent of GBA, but it also reminds me a lot of the old NES games I used to play. Like the horrible Ultima NES ports that I used to think were great. Lol Music is good. It's got that charm. Nothing that really gets stuck in your head, but nothing annoying or offensive. All in all, it might be just a bit too deep for such a limited visual style (the UI is a bit confusing, especially given that everything is explained via short conversations with individual NPCs scattered across towns), but the game is good and it deserves more eyes on it.

This game feels so authentic that even the odd turns of phrase in English feel like they should be there because that's how a translation team back in 1995 or somesuch would have translated it. Unless they're not deliberate in which case keep them in anyway.

Strength & Honor!