Pillars of Dust

Decent short RPG that doesn’t waste much time. RPG mechanics are bit undercooked (difficulty is pretty low) and the self-aware humor wasn’t my cup of tea, but if you want a nice, cozy and simple time, go ahead. It deserves more attention.

Pillars of Dust is a game which never takes itself very seriously, and I love it. Plot twists; predictable. Villains; hokey and unconvincing. Wells; always looking for another victim. Early on the gameplay is very simple and enemies die with no strategy, but as the game goes on it gets more challenging, with some later bosses being pretty tough. You'll want to use your items often rather than horde them in this game, as they are VERY helpful and generally not too difficult to replace. Enemies and bosses get stronger the longer a battle goes on, so you'll want to devise strategies to deal damage as quickly as possible. Or my favorite thing: bring out the Bobby, slow the bosses down with an agility debuff, and speed yourself up with an agility buff! Story and interactions in-game are silly, funny, and super cheesy. If you don't like cheese, you might not like this game, but if you do it's a lot of fun. And at less than 10 hours average play-time, it doesn't really lose it's charm before the end. Just don't go in expecting a Final Fantasy story! There's some slight bugs such as a few certain story achievements not being awarded for me even though I did the thing, and the screen having small cracks in it appear briefly from time to time, (maybe a resolution bug of some sort?) but nothing game-breaking from what I can tell. It's got a nice soundtrack too, which brings back the big nostalgias. Overall, a nice game I recommend to anyone who wants to play a fun short RPG game which has a fun fast-paced combat system which respects their time, doesn't take itself seriously, and comes topped with a lot of extra cheese, the kind that stretches when you pull the pizza slices apart. Maybe pass and play something else if you know you can't handle the cheese or if you want something more serious. But for me, it was a nice short and entertaining excursion into something that truly feels like it could have came from the 90's. P.S. Bobby is best ally. Bobby's World is best achievement.

Received the key for free from a friend of mine and I must say this game is far better than expected! Excellent soundtrack, smooth gameplay and a great story. There are no random encounters all enemies appear on the screen which is nice as I'm not a fan of random battles. If you are a fan of old NES/SNES RPG's look no further!

Pillars of dust is a great retro-inspired RPG. It has monsters to fight, bosses to battle, and secrets to find. It's all wrapped into a nice little retro-themed package. It features some fun quests with a nice sense of humour. Overall a very enjoyable game! Game length is about 7-8 hours casually.

Decent retro adventure, neither amazing nor awful but deserve to be played more. A short 8 hours or so adventure, separated between two intertwined protagonists. More humorous than serious, easier than harder. Difficulty scale pretty well, early on you can blindy attack, beside the bosses, late game regular enemies could defeat you. The game does have many secrets and, because it's separated in chapters, easily missables. Beside one collectables, the game tell you how many secrets in each chapter at least. It is usally breaking pots, bookcases and barrels but sometimes a fake wall or a shiny sparkle on an object. No random battles, enemies are visible on the map so you can evade them but as far as I could tell you also can always run from regular battles. No need to grind, you don't gain experience, you sometimes gain stats from fighting enemies and also from collectables. There is also some minor replayability with the secrets but also because you can pick the order you play. Sometimes there are some minor differences in some chapter depending on the character that play first. Some unique areas, some both might visit and affect each others.

Fun little retro JRPG with a humorous script and simplified systems. I would've preferred it if they kept a normal XP based leveling system instead of a simplified Final Fantasy 2-esque mechanic where your stats can randomly go up after a battle, but other than that it was pretty entertaining.

Decently interesting story/design, OK gameplay with a shallow level of depth, and rather amateur sound, art & music. Quite a departure from Shadows of Adam or Dragon Warrior, but still an OK game. There is a very annoying, sudden decrease in music volume every time a sound effect occurs, which can be lessened by decreasing the music volume to ~20%. ~5/10 - Neutral rating

A good game for getting into that old school JRPG groove - easy-playing, so to speak. Great chiptune soundtrack also!

This is a fun, simple, unpretentious JRPG romp. It's worth the price in every way, especially if you're looking to get a quick 8-bit fix. Story-wise, the characters are hilarious - especially the NPCs. I was particularly fond of Gregg's opening chapter and the final town - lots of great flavor there, as well as plenty of dorky easter eggs along the way. The combat is straightforward and balanced to be mostly breezy and smooth, with the exception of a few nasty boss fights where you can really flex your mastery over the game's mechanics. There's a particularly fun boss fight where you can feed it a special item and deal a ton of damage - discovering this on my own felt very satisfying. The dungeons are well made and don't overstay their welcome. I'd say I preferred the dungeons on Carlton's side, but Gregg's side more than made up for it with its colorful characters. Each chapter has a slate of bonus objects to achieve. The more of these you complete, the better your MP economy will be in the final chapter. Complete 'em all and you'll have enough MP to spam the nastiest of the AOE spells! Visually, the game received a nice overhaul recently and the textures look great. The map design is very barebones and no-nonsense, which isn't my cup of tea, but it doesn't detract from the game massively especially due to the genre and tone of the project. Perhaps my favorite element of the game, though, is the soundtrack in all its chiptune glory. These are catchy themes that toe the line between classic NES scifi and fantasy, much like Retreaux's other project (For a Vast Future). Much like the rest of the game, nothing sounds grating or annoying, and no song overstays its welcome or makes me want to mute the project. Definitely pick this up if you have 5-10 hours to spare and have a NES/GB-era JRPG craving. The speedrunner achievement is more than attainable on a second run, and you could even get it on your first run if you're quick and repeat some slow segments.

A small JRPG, with a fair amount of secrets searching: Follow the interwined story of two completely different character, a rather unlucky and mocked prince, and a man from the slums looking for his own destiny, as they develop in different paths, and yet into the same endgame. The overall mood is silly, funny, although it follow a semi-serious plot. A game well worth its price: easy enough for everyone to get into, but with some enjoyable little dialogues, and plenty of corner to check and doublecheck.