Realms of Antiquity: The Shattered Crown
A good game that captures the spirit of games like Ultima 4 / Questron / Magic Candle… if you can afford to spend the time it requires to play it.
My gripe with it is that’s It’s sometimes slow paced, with only a few keyboard commands that don’t make party management user friendly.
It would be nice to have some kind of option since it’s emulated (like a key combo to speed up things as featured in some emulators) to speed up the game when the user wishes it so. Crossing large plains or fighting weak monsters is sometimes a chore.
– Real player with 151.7 hrs in game
Read More: Best CRPG Old School Games.
This game is very interesting in a lot of ways.
It is very lateral, in that you can essentially go through out the world and explore wherever and not feel completely powerless even at level 1.
The leveling curve feels somehow both extremely important and powerful but utterly unimportant.
This is a game where you have to pay attention to what you read, and everything leads to something. I still haven’t beaten it and im 74 hours in. Average play through is 110 hours.
I learn new stuff constantly, and exploring is delightful. The story is more complex than expected too, every trope you think is going to pop up.. just somehow doesn’t.
– Real player with 127.9 hrs in game
Legend of Utorepia
A feature-length retro RPG developed by imayui , in Japan. (First released in 2014)
It is a work that respects the RPG of NES and pursues NES-like.
You can experience a new adventure that is not just nostalgic such as walking on the field of the world map, capturing various dungeons, getting a ship, and crossing the sea of the world, with a mysterious story and world view that goes beyond nostalgia.
story
As the Last Hero, you will be ordered by the King and set out.
You ask, “Where should go?”, The King just says, “Well … isn’t it the Evil King’s Castle? Go to the Evil King’s Castle.”
With an ambiguous purpose, you will travel around towns and dungeons, solving various incidents , and gradually step into the core of the story.
Cannibalistic otters, a great floodgate, bizarre monster swarms, mysterious night theater, a ship traveling in the desert, deep tropical caves, three jinn, secret elixir, sleeping sick daughter … Let’s go to the world of Utorepia!
feature
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Play time 5-10 hours
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Retro pixel art graphics, BGM, and system are all made by one person.
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You can enjoy the world of retro games at a comfortable playing speed.
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2D screen, top view field, side view battle, random encounter
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Warrior / Sumo wrestler / Thief / Hunter / Cotton mage / Mottled mage / Maron mage …… Choose from 7 jobs to make a character (a team of maximum 4 people, 1 to 3 people is also possible)
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Weapon proficiency and magic proficiency are available, and parameters increase according to how you fight. You are free to equip any weapon, learn any magic, and grow it.
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With the prey system, you can sell monsters defeated in battle as prey and exchange them for money, or make weapons and armor.
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I plan to implement early access to improve usability and adjust the balance.
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The English version is currently a tentative translation by the author and is in the process of being translated.
Read More: Best CRPG Top-Down Games.
Vulgord’s Tower
I was a tester for this game, and let me tell you I would pay every penny and more to play this game. It is totally worth the purchase and it is a favorite pastime for me with my friends!
– Real player with 47.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best CRPG Strategy Games.
This game is so much fun to play with friends. It plays like a real board game - the random events, the challenge of racing your opponents around the board, and the joy of wickedly sabotaging your opponents via spells cast from the wizard tower leads to a lot of chaos and fun. It’s really nostalgic. I think anyone who has played Dark Tower or other vintage fantasy board games would definitely get a kick out of playing this, especially in multiplayer.
– Real player with 44.1 hrs in game
Astrobase Command
Salvage the remnants of your civilization by starting anew in uncharted space, with a small crew and the beginnings of an Astrobase. Grow your base by constructing modules on all three axes, put out fires both literal and metaphorical, and send characters with real personalities and emotions on non-linear text-based adventures across a procedural galaxy.
The only mode is ironman and every section, module, deck and crew member added to your Astrobase comes with implicit risks and reward, so choices matter. How long can you keep from succumbing to the dangers of space?
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Grow - Expand your Astrobase in all three directions.
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Nurture - Build a home for your crew and their daily lives
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Design - Layout the Astrobase to counter crises such conduit leaks, compartment failures, explosions, fires, personnel issues, and more
The Astrobase can be constructed along three axes. Your crew can expand the base by building modules or contract it by salvaging them. They can add or remove functionality by building up or tearing down sections in the modules. They can even build ships that lets you explore the galaxy.
You choose what to build and when to build it. The crew needs to rest and they need to breathe, do you rush the construction of the Enlisted Quarters or the Air Pump first? What’s the optimal placement of the new module? Is it better to have the Plasma Reactor closer to storage or to the crew’s quarters? Keep the station well maintained and stocked with supplies or disastrous consequences may result.
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Characters - Your crew make their own decisions as they interact with each other and the world around them.
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Full AI lifecycle - They work, eat, sleep, use the bathroom, relax, and socialize all as part of their daily lives.
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Morale - Your crew can get exhausted, or suffer from low morale which affects the quality of their lives and how they perform tasks.
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Relationships - Your crew form personal, professional, and romantic relationships. The relationships can be either positive or negative based on how their personalities and actions align.
Your crew live their own lives on the Astrobase. They have things to do and people to meet. Exactly how well they perform depends on how good they fit into their job, what adventures they’ve had, and what horrors they have survived; even how well matched they are with their peers matters, some will become romantic partners while others become bitter work rivals.
You will run into stumbling blocks, maybe your crew is exhausted because you’ve pushed them too hard, or low morale makes slacking off more enticing, or maybe Jenkins and Rodriguez spend too much time arguing while the Fission Reactor goes critical. Figure out your problems and fix them!
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Explore - Build and dispatch ships across the galaxy to explore planets, fight killbots, extract resources, and interact with other civilizations.
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Delegate - The ranking officer of each ship will make decisions based on their personality, and take recommendations from their team.
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Overrule - Change the decisions in the logs they send back, or let them make their own mistakes.
The procedural adventures of the crew assigned to your ships can be read and interacted with in the logs they send back. Carefully handpick the crew for each ship you send out. Monitor their progress or leave them to their own fate. Whatever you choose to do, the outcomes of their adventures will be felt in what resources they get, what injuries they suffer, and in how it changes their emotional state.
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Assign - Choose the best person for each job based on their stats, personalities, and over 50 different skills.
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Manage - Prioritize tasks, clear task blockers, optimize the routes that the crew take during their day.
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Observe - Calculate resource depletion and stay on top of tasks to prevent the reactors from exploding, the conduits leaking, and compartments failing,
The desk is where you design the Astrobase into a functioning home for your crew, promote leaders, manage tasks, monitor resource consumption, read reports from your ships and give them your input.
Running the station means manning your desk. Be efficient, and use your time wisely or take a break and play some Asteroid Shooter.
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Individuality - Characters maintain emotional memory, and experience psychological growth over time depending on how results align with expectations.
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Expression - Each character’s personality is expressed in their conversations, thoughts, and ship log entries
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Story - Over 100 personality traits and 42 intertwined emotions combine to author narratives that reflect how the crew are actually thinking and feeling.
The Astrobase’s crew will have conversations with each other, or insights about their lives. Crew members join the Astrobase with revealed personality traits that drive the emotions that effect their job suitability, choices and actions. More traits become unlocked as they experience emotional growth.
Ensure that your crew’s psychological needs are met and they have the ability to grow as people. When you’re processing recruit applications you’ll want to keep an eye out for personalities that might clash with your existing crew, or will be compatible and create lasting friendships.
Rythenia
Once upon a time in an ancient and distant land, an emperor had four children. From the separation of the empire, four realms would be devised to each one.
Despite this, an old threat must be erased from the heart of the empire by the means of a party of legendary heroes.
You are Phi, a powerful wizard that aids the emperor in a myriad of matters. You know that the intrigues and strife among the cohorts may be appeased with the light of the Chalice of Aurora. Its location is unknown though, even for the master of the wizards. Thus you must travel through the lands of Rythenia in the important quest to recover it. Three other heroes have joined forces with the wizard: Rick, the paladin from the lands of snow; Lisa, the high priestess of the temple of the desert lands and Dave, the legendary bard from the marshlands.
Bit Orchard
This game is great. It is so therapeutic! I enjoy the chill nature of planting and cultivating my own orchard, and the additional challenges and tasks the game provides. It gives you the feel of playing an old Gameboy game, and brings back the nostalgia of a Tamagotchi pet as you have to care for your orchard each day.
I feel like the game is paced well, and grows along with the player. I would highly recommend, and it’s a great price.
– Real player with 12.5 hrs in game
I enjoy the simplistic nature of the game and would definently recommend it to anyone who is looking for a relaxing game to play in order to kill time. The art style is great as well and I enjoy the gameplay loop.
I have a few recommendations to make this game better:
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add a settings menu where you can set the musics volume and change the pallete to different white tones
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add more interactions in order to keep the game engaging as it does get boring because there is not much to do at certain times in the game
– Real player with 9.4 hrs in game
Martial Law
Martial Law is a game about difficulties that came with Communism in Poland. Game is meant to visualize the realities of Polish families back then, their ways of thinking and understanding the world. The story is shown from the perspective of a man who is abandoned because of his low social status. He tries his best to be there for his daughter despite the difficulties. Game is also meant to be educational. There are many places you can stop to learn more about Polish culture from the communist era.
Martial Law features!
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Many endings!
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Visual Novel
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Learn more about polish culture from the communist era
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Solve family issue
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Get beat up by a “comrade for debating”
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Talk to a grumpy old man!
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Make your kid happy. :)
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Make right choices, or don’t. It’s up to you.
Game originally developed during GameJam Pokamedulski.PL 2021
PRODUCER (2021)
Producer (2021) is a weird visual novel.
You can
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Be Productive!
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Explore Superbia with your car!
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Hunt down freelancers!
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Take a walk in the Forest!
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Deliver prototypes!
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Use a keyboard!
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Break into the Factories!
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Snitch on people!
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Read some books!
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Discuss creative processes!
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Explore the Canalisation, the Archive and yourself!
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See the patterns that make up the fabric of reality!
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Maybe even finish your job!
Producer (2021) will only available in english. I believe that it is impossible to localise for technical reasons.
Soul for two
It’s bad
– Real player with 11.8 hrs in game
I wish liked it more than i actually did. I like rpg maker games and i dont mind grinding that much. Though i still have to say this game is not really good. Especially with ending that shows ya big “To be continued” in the middle of the story. I wont dwell into plot too much.
Game starts with you and your mighty party fighting a dragon. I’ve fought it over 10 minutes until i’ve died only to realize that ya should die to progress with story. Later you’ll be fighting swarm of enemies in groups of 5 that will deal ya 0 dmg after ya level two or three times and they only take your time away. Also npcs will not really react to almost anything ya do in the world. Visiting the other dimension was simply boring. Especially “video game” ya had to endure there. Eh. I cant say it’s all bad but in the end it fell short. Unpolished and unfinished. (Unless there is more than one ending and i took some wrong path). Yes.
– Real player with 5.0 hrs in game
Wasteland 1 - The Original Classic
NOTE: The nolstagia factor doesn’t apply to me since I wasn’t around during the 80’s, nor did I own any kind of PC until the mid 2000’s.
tl;dr it’s fucking awesome, what are you waiting for!?
If you’re like me and haven’t been around for these types of RPGs (I was born 1998), then there’s going to be a difficult learning curve ahead, but it’s a game well worth learning.
This game caters to my every need when it comes to that post-apocalyptic itch. Wasteland surprisingly has a good atmosphere and sometimes I can actually imagine the rangers fighting off hoardes of robots or leather jerks; I can really immerse myself in this game despite how “dated” it may be. You have a wide variety of skills and attributes to use at your disposal for any situation you may find yourself in, and this being an Interplay game, there are some weird spots you’ll find yourself in. The variety / diversity helps make the world and your characters feel more immersive and more in-control. An example is at the bar in Quartz. You can hop onto a stage and get into a battle sequence, only to be forced to preform for the audience afterwards. So you have your charisma attribute and some skills like knife throw to entertain the audience before they let you back down, but if your skills are too low or if you’re just unlucky, you’re going to find yourself being pelted with tomatos and beer bottles.
– Real player with 77.4 hrs in game
::UPDATE: I have found out that you must use your keyboard when assembling Max the android, in the Vegas sewers. Hopefully this saves one person from grief…
This is a fantastic game and should be played by everyone that has dedicated gaming to their PC, it is an experiance and made me buy an actual boxed copy of Wasteland. Bugs and all, it is so awesome. My tip for those who are new is to play with a guide, just to make sure you dont run into any game breaking bugs! Thanks for reading!::
Wasteland!
– Real player with 44.9 hrs in game