Slimes

Unironically one of the best RPGs I've ever played

[i]Slimes[/i] is an engaging and cruel shortform RPG narrative. It's a story about religious extremism, xenophobia, and identity -- as told by slimes, in a sense. It comes together to both an inevitable and darkly amusing head, fully evolving into a piercing satire at the very end. The two-person battles are built around a damage dealer and a healing support. Battles are often tense but have a unique flow as you swap guns for each situation and try to manage each distinct type of slime. The different mixes of slimes are meaningful and make for an enjoyable (if horrid, in-setting) time. This review is a positive recommendation. However, I will say that I grew a bit tired of the battles by the last quarter of the game. Stun attacks become much more prevalent on the final few floors, making progression feel much more random and unfun. The game is fairly brutal throughout but in a manageable way, where you have some odd skills you have to use to finagle a win out of a losing situation. But... three enemies with area-of-effect stuns and a highly evasive buffer is a truly nasty combo. Should you play [i]Slimes[/i], I highly recommend not using the "you can only heal a limited number of times" difficulty toggle for two reasons. One, there are scenes at rest areas! I did not realize until a good way in, when I finally felt the need to rest and walked up 5-6 floors only to discover this. Two, my issue above with the stunlocking would have been greatly alleviated if I had been able to enter the final handful of encounters with more health. The most annoying part of the game is that you need to enter the menu and do a Full Reload after each fight so that your main damage dealer can indeed deal damage. In a different game I could see the tedium or monotony of this being used to add flavor to a methodical character, but here it just felt annoying since it was not narrativized (kind of surprisingly, given how many skills actually are tied to story or character progression in various ways). Overall, if you play without rest room restrictions, I think this is an easy recommendation if you are into dark, scathing stories and don't mind some crunchy RPG battles. The writing is clever, using an ensemble to tell a compelling story. And, if that's all you want, there's an easy mode too! Extremely mild disclaimer: I am in the credits of this game for a small bit of code used. This did not color my review in any way, lol!

good, dark RPG.

This game is awesome. I love the story and the characters. The combat system is very unique and intuitive and can be challenging depending on the options you choose for your playthrough.

A good RPG that ended up being way better than I expected initially going into it. The evolving nature of story kept me hooked. Some of the party skill mechanics got a bit old and I think I didn't use about a 1/3 of them, but enemy composition remained interesting to deal with.

Really stunning game. Playing it in 2025, the underlying feeling of helplessness that motivates the characters' anger really hits home. The mechanics are wonderfully integrated with the story, so that the experience of fighting enemies and managing your party helps you understand the characters better. The visuals are incredibly effective, the use of music and sound effects along with visuals made me gasp in some places because of how stunning it is. In terms of difficulty, I'm kind of a noob when it comes to RPGs and this wasn't an easy game for me, but in a way it was a great learning experience. I feel like I understand how RPGs work a little better than I did before! You can also experience the story and set battles to easy mode if you don't want to deal with any of that. It's a very grim game, but not in a doomer way, which I really appreciate. There's an underlying belief that people are capable of being kind and creating a better world. I know it's easy to get into an escapist mentality in times like this, but engaging with the way society is going and how it puts us in danger is important, and this game does that very very well. Highly recommended for anyone with 4-6 hours of free time and an appreciation for good storytelling and hope in the face of overwhelming hatred.

A great classic turn-based rpg with super challenging combat and some seriously raw and important things to say. The art style was what drew me in first, but the world and story it spun kept me for 10+ hours (some of that was achievement hunting tbf, but still). It's a seriously timely and cathartic story for those who hate the government, are tired of all the cruelty in this world, or just really sick of hearing that you're going to hell! You play as Julius, a modern day crusader on a mission to clear out a slime den. Contracted with him is a healer, who he refuses to learn the name of because he hates that the healer uses magic. The game does a great job of exploring this hatred he has for the healer character, and ties it very well to the types of real world discrimination this game talks about. The game is at first glance very edgy, and in many ways it is, but it's edge done with clarity and purpose. It isn't just a game full of hatred and anger, it's a game about hatred and anger from the perspective of someone who knows those two emotions deeply and has a message for all of us who experience them. ONE OTHER THING! This game has a companion PDF you can find in the local files. It goes through the game's areas and explains some of the dev's thoughts, previous iterations, and some cool extra lore details. It's also needed for some secret stuff you can find on your second playthrough (no spoilers!). It's not hidden or anything, it's just something that you may have to go out of your way to find. If this game even mildly interests you, I highly suggest you dive in. If you get lost or get stuck, the developer scitydreamer has answered near every question left on this game's community page, even years after its release, and even goes as far to give hints for those who want a little nudge in the right direction rather than the outright answer. Slimes is a hidden gem that I am absolutely going to be recommending to people, and I think that you will very much enjoy it.

A very crisp short (3-5 hours for a full playthrough) JRPG. Key takeaways: -Battles stay fresh throughout the run due to clever enemy design, encounter setups and bosses. The two party members are unique in their skillsets which does a lot for the gameplay's longevity. -Simple but expressive hand-drawn aesthetic -Banging soundtrack -Heavy+dark story with strong themes of religion, politics, and mental health/illness. Lots of focus on character building with some really cool world development as a backdrop -Developer's commentary PDF in the source files <3 Really enjoyed this game!