The Pale City

You know, it's a strange thing, but I actually like it quite a bit. It's obviously not the highest quality game you'll play, but it has solid writing and an intriguing, mystifying world it's creating. Already I've explored an old sorcerer's hideout, fought in an arena, and wandered a building filled with trees and ruins built by long dead creatures. It's haunted and fascinating. The combat is also a high point, highly varied and surprisingly complex. It's not easy to make turn-based combat that goes beyond just using attack or whatever your highest damage skill is over and over, but this game does have that. Each move has a purpose to be employed at the right time for maximum effect, and a lot of times you have to form a strategy or else be overwhelmed. It's really quite engrossing. Even when I die to a fight it just makes me rethink my approach and look for a better strategy. It's cheap and has a lot to recommend it. I'd say it's worth your while so long as you like turn-based RPG's.

Play it in the dark. Get immersed. An incredibly deep and interesting setting with the realest protagonist you will ever play as in a RPG.

Pretty much unheard of game that kinda blew me away. The gritty, grim atmosphere is complemented by a remarkably relatable protagonist and characters that live on and even enjoy themselves - despite all that is wrong with this game's world. Speaking of which, the world of The Pale City is one of the most intriguing and unique settings I've encountered - steeped in mystery and given just the right amount of flesh to keep you thinking about it. The dialogue is justified in being called prose here. The developer being an author is a boon and each piece of dialogue is juicy and something to ponder over. There were some typos here and there, but nothing really to complain about. I liked the story quite a bit too. The gameplay is serviceable - it provides a "story mode" for those who don't want to engage with the game's battle system (some of the late-game battles get quite difficult and kinda tedious, honestly). The graphics aren't exactly well designed, but they convey the atmosphere well enough and I really liked the character designs. The soundtrack is genuinely phenomenal - brooding, melancholic in places, peaceful in others, and unsettling/creepy in others yet. Overall, it's a strong recommendation from me. If you can stomach some RPG Maker jank, this is a rewarding experience that will have you thinking about it for a long time after you've finished it.

What a miserable existence. For fans of Fear & Hunger and Age of Decadence. Don't expect much role-playing, or rich & complex combat, but the writing is what you play for. Highly recommend exploring, interacting with the environment and NPCs, and doing "side quests" for a more complete experience and world-building/characterization. It's also pretty short (for an RPG), would take ~10 hours to beat.

Mantap Bukunya

I think the story makes The Pale City more than worth playing. It's bleak, but it raises interesting questions without feeling like it's too far up its own arse or talking down to you, and I found it very engaging throughout. The gameplay is only ok and there's some roughness around the edges but none of it got in the way, and I would recommend this game to anyone, as long as they're fine with a bit of a depressing story.

Really well written. Prepare to immerse yourself into the shoes of a hardened bastard of a mercenary, whose aimless journey can get surprisingly philosophical, as misery seems to follow everywhere he goes. I had a lot of fun piecing together his backstory and the way this weird world works. The dialogue felt very natural and inspecting even regular items could provide surprising amount of info. Combat was challenging, but manageable once you figure out a few strategies. Not awfully long, but the ending did feel somewhat sudden - no epilogue or anything, it just ends and leaves me wanting more.

If by looking at the images you are thinking that this is another random RPGmaker game with a corny plot, well, I hope you will change idea because this is a really dark and original RPG with an incredible writing. The best thing about the Pale City is definitively the world-building, which has an insane amount of lore. This game has a quantity of deep and interesting lore for several other games. Every room or character is there for a reason and will provide an additional level of information about the world. I don't want to spoil much, but this is a grim world extending on the corpses of dead people, where babies born crawling out of tunnels to then finish in an indifferent city hoping that somebody will adopt them. Of course, the few ones that can crawl out alive. Gods are dumb or insensitive beings far from humans. Then you have a huge variety of weird cults, totally insane characters, and every possible mischievous act. This is not a game for the faints of heart, because some moments could go really dark. The characters are always interesting, reminding me of what Yoko Taro made with Drakengard. There are not good or likable characters, but each of them is interesting in its shades of gray, or of black if it had shades. A lot of choices will really make you feel dirty, and sometime the most mischievous act will reward the player. The gameplay is pretty standard but satisfying. Often you will fight alone against multiple opponents, and a good strategy and balance will be necessary to survive. However, even if the story was the key element driving me while playing, for sure the gameplay was not just an accessory, and some fights were interesting and challenging. The game is quite long, almost 15 hours including the majority of the side quests. It is also full of secrets and really interesting hidden scenes, which will often reward the player with lore and experience. The graphic is the only negative side of the game, but for a long and complex one-man project, surely this is a secondary thing. I really hope that one day will happen something similar to Pathologic 2, and a remake of Pale City will use "the exact same script" but to better portray this amazing and grim world, with all its horrors.

I haven't played a ton yet, and I might update my review later, but so far I'm really liking it. It won't win any beauty pageants, but this game is about storytelling through exploration, and so far it has done a great job. Even the combat helps show what the world is like. As opposed to other games where you can just spam attacks, you need to actually think about how to engage in each battle in order to come out on top. Interesting setting that slowly reveals the lore to you in bits and pieces, and leaves it to you to put the pieces together.

RPGの皮を借りたダークファンタジー小説 「台座」と呼ばれる島のような世界が空虚の中に浮かんでいる。そこでは赤子が地中で生まれる。彼らは地上へと這い出て、「親切な」他者に拾われることによってのみ生き延びる。多くは、その途上で死ぬ。その死体は「生命の家」と呼ばれる教団が回収する。彼らはそれを食らい、若さを保つ。生命の家は他のすべてより善良だ。たとえ赤子の死体を食っているとしてもだ。 生き延びたとしてこの台座はそれに相応しい場所ではない。その逆だ。世界は掃き溜めだ。街にいるNPCの多くはならず者か狂人か、あるいは腐った死体か。このゲームはそのような価値なき世界に生き、死ぬヴァセクという剣士の旅を描く。 世界は陰鬱で悲劇的だ。だが最も悲劇的なのはこの世界を生きる多くのキャラクターはそれを悲劇と思わないことだ。人が無造作に苦しみ、雑に死んでいく。まるで戦争のように。 そしてヴァセクもまた反英雄として、生きる為に悪事はすれど他者を助けはしないし偉業なども成さない。ただ空虚な人生と世界に苦しみ、しかし前に歩く。そこに死が待っているか、別の何かがあるのか。それを見る為だけに820円を払う。それも悪くはない。 補記:RPGとしても単純ながら楽しいものの、人によっては非常に難しいと感じるはずです。 ゲームが難しい場合はメニューからのデバッグ機能を使うと簡単にクリアできます。ただでさえ大量の英文を読むのは大変なのですから、詰まったら是非に利用するが良いでしょう。