Video Game Fables

It’s always a pleasure to come across a game that has been created as a labour of love, and Video Game fables is very much that. Developed by one-man team Momiji Studios (with music provided by Levc EGM), Video Game Fables is primarily a turn-based RPG with an open-world structure, but is also packed with mini-games and asides – from the website: "Video Game Fables" is a fun, light-hearted RPG adventure set in an abandoned RPG game world that hasn't had a player in decades. The world's script gets completely ruined by someone calling herself "The Forsaken Princess." It's up to Aru (the world's princess), Nate (an NPC aspiring to be a hero), and Tator (the villain's son) to get things back to normal...or maybe change everything forever.” As you make your way through the narrative with our three intrepid adventurers, you’ll be accompanied by some furiously jolly chiptune music that absolutely meshes with the bright and blocky visuals. That’s not to say all is retro pixel action, mind you – there is some impressive 3D design work that comes in mainly through funky enemy design, as well as the environmental puzzles. Yes, whilst the backbone of the game is travelling the kingdom, and getting involved in random battles – the initialisation of which takes the shape of dark clouds following your character in the overworld, these are occasionally easily avoided, so you don’t have to get caught up in every single one – the amount of ‘sideys’ in the game is impressive, from a section in which you proceed through the invented world of a forest pumpkin Lord by progressing through various stages of inverted platforms, to kart racing, and a personal highlight in which you must ascend to a floating birdcage in the sky through a load of physics and switch-based trickery. These sections seem to always appear at the just right time to mix up the gameplay and keep things fresh and fun. Even the turn-based battles have a little slant on how they play out, with a tongue-in-cheek approach to the critical moves, involving clonking a frying pan in someone’s face or forcing them to drink a dodgy potion to slowly poison them. The way in which your party all shares the same XP pool and can teleport back to your base camp to spend various currencies on items and equipment (but only one member of the team can use each weapon) gives the game a sense of cohesion and community. Also, don’t think that this is a breezy kids’ game – if you ♥♥♥♥ around too much during the battles – and especially during the boss fights – you’ll get your fists kicked off, so don’t be slacking in that department! I’ve left my favourite part of the game until the end. The writing. It’s always a gamble when a game takes a comedic approach of any form, as – if that humour doesn’t gel with you, it can make the whole game feel like a slog. Here in Video Game Fables, however, the writing really does hit the right balance of light-hearted commentary in the proceedings and doesn’t rely on pop culture references, in-jokes or lazy smut. All of the humour feels like it belongs in the lore of the game world that is created. Everything from the enemy names and descriptions, to the dialogue and visual gags – they all just work, and feel cohesive and world-building, and flow easily into the story. I’m really glad that I took the time to dive into Video Game Fables. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m primarily a console gamer, but I’ve been extremely lucky in how the few times that I have picked up a PC title to review – I’ve been rewarded with some well-spent hours in worlds created by gifted minds. If you are fan of RPGs with a twist - and like a laugh with your levelling up - please do check out Video Game Fables

Super adorable send up of JRPGs with plenty of quirky humor to go 'round.

Video review: https://youtu.be/5inhjET4naY

I normally don't write reviews, but this game definitely deserves one. Video Game Fables is not the most aesthetically pleasing, and felt pretty crude to play at times, but I'm glad I stuck around. wish there were more polish in the first few hours of the game, but the ending was definitely worth the payoff. I encountered no bugs, but the keyboard control scheme was a bit jank and the game didn't run that well on my RX580 graphics card. However, despite all this, the story and gameplay carried the game and I had a lot of fun playing this game. If you love a game with narrative that doesn't take itself too seriously, you should try out this game

My exposure to Video Game Fables started last holiday season when I was looking for a game to gift to a friend. This seemed right up there alley: A cute, quirky RPG parody game. Watching them play it, it was clear that there is so much more here than just that. I approached the developer to see about receiving a key for myself and was gifted one, so let that color how my review is perceived if that's something you care about. This game has really charming character writing and story telling, using classic tropes of old RPGs and either leaning into them fully or subverting them in ways that are unique. Graphically, this game utilizes art styles from across the spectrum to comedic and charming effect. I personally love this about this game's world. There is no rhyme or reason. It's cute. The music is simplistic but that doesn't stop every track from being an absolute bop. The combat and experience systems in this game have a greater deal of depth than one might expect on a first glance, and indeed deeper than I expected when I originally gifted this game to my friend. As someone who enjoys tactics based games, I enjoyed crafting strategies around the unique critical hit and skill mechanics. The game offers the player a lot of freedom in how they go about crafting such strategies and this was the main draw for me.

Despite being a game made by one person, this game has a lot more to it than it seems. With a hard set of three party members, the game offers options in the form of weapons that have passive effects that give each member their own individual role. While skills are locked their own characters, that doesn't mean the one with the healing skill is any less effective in wielding the axe and becoming the heavy-hitter of the group. Skills themselves can get options of their own over time, allowing you to customize your party set up in any way you see fit. In fact, even resource gathering gives you choices to obtain them. Tired of doing the ore mining minigame? Just get gems by trading fish instead! Don't want to grind monster battles to get a rare drop? Just grow them by planting seeds in the garden! The one down side is there some platforming which in a world where everyone has blocky legs can be pretty stiff sometimes. But with the game always throwing something new around every corner, getting through those sections to see what happens next is a reward in of itself.

What a great game! It has been a long time since I've played an RPG because I feel like I don't have the time to invest. But this is the sweet spot. You can tell a lot of thought was put into balancing the game to prevent the need to grind for hours before continuing the story. So much about the game is unique. The battle system is very fun and I never felt like the enemies were impossible to beat. The mini games built into the storyline were a cool addition. And the story itself was entertaining and made me laugh. I highly recommend playing this game. I would love to see a sequel in the future.

I haven't finished this game yet, but it's so good... had to leave a positive review because it deserves a lot more Edit: Now I've finished it, and I'd like to add a few more thumbs up... I had a blast with this game.

Excellent little RPG. Has some challenging parts but nothing too stupid-hard. Fun story too.

Video Game Fables is an excellent RPG videogame about video games. To be exact it's a self-aware game that takes place in a literal videogame where the hero has gone missing and the world has gone off script. Its lampoons traditional videogame formulas with Hero Villain and Princess in an RPG format. At first glance is invokes visual feelings of NES era Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy but on a 3D Plane. level design is varied and gameplay switch ups and obstacle course-like dungeons, and a monstrous villain in a lava castle invokes something akin to Super Mario, Banjo Kazooie rather than purely classic RPG. It features an interesting battle system take on turn based systems with a timeline and unique and often frantic takes on boss battles which are some of the games highlights. A unique take on RPG mechanics like critical hits that are "banked" and used as a cost for skills in-battle. A unique take on levelling up/gaining EXP. The story is very tounge-in-cheek featuring absurd situations and characters. Entertaining dialogue and very nice use of the camera in 3D made it fun to watch the scenes between characters. It's a solo developed indie game with a lot of obvious love for classic JRPGs but with many modern features to alleviate headaches associated with the early entries of the genre. However so deep the love for the classic JRPGs may be, that to some extent despite the narrative being a game off script and the content of each quest scenario subversive, the structure of the game's quest falls into a very familiar classic formula potentially unconsciously.. Overall, it's a fun but focused experience, it has its flaws but what there is to do is enjoyable and has a hand-crafted charm to it. At 10 hours without filler content it offers great value, being longer than the typical indie RPG that wasn't relying on stock assets or pre-built systems. I greatly enjoy playing Videogame Fables, I look forward to Momji Studios future games!