Cris Tales Hype!

Many months ago, I stumbled upon a game called Cris Tales on my YouTube feed. It was a teaser trailer for an indie game to announce that a demo had been released on Steam. After checking the video out, I promptly tried out the demo. Fast forward to the present, during Gamescom 2020, their gameplay trailer was revealed to the world and before you read further, I urge you to watch the video.

Righto! Some quick info regarding this particular game. This is the product of two indie studios' collaboration. It's an homage to classic JRPGs. Immediately, you can tell that I'm intrigued but wary. I don't want another Tokyo RPG Factory. While they put out good games, they aren't exactly games I prefer. Cris Tales on the other hand checks a lot of the right boxes for me.

The demo I tried way back when was the first iteration (the demo out right now is expanded with more content to try out) but it was enough for me to make a decision. Now that we have a release date for the end of the year, I can say with certainty I will definitely buy this game. Which platform though I'm not sure.

I'm not going to deny the game looks very 'indie'. It's definitely built at a miniscule scale as compared to the AAA behemoths I'm used to playing. The design feels unnaturally flawless where every character, building and object exists for a reason. The combat is immediately accessible and the UI is clean. The art pops with bright colours and strong, sharp edges. It's beautiful and stunning. As you can tell, looking 'indie' isn't a bad thing. It's just a noticeable 'look'.

Crisbell (the main character) exudes incredible charm. She prances around the over world like a cute, dainty little girl but swings a sword like an anime protagonist. The environment she inhabits is filled with diverse characters with varied characteristics owing to the time travel mechanic. The three split view may seem jarring but it's actually well thought out. It doesn't feel out of place especially because you'd be heavily abusing it during combat, at least at the later stages. When it comes to indie games, the soundtracks usually always land for the audience and this is no different. It's great.

While the demo did elude to a bigger world with more characters (two new party members were revealed in this trailer), I'm still holding my breath with regards to the length of the game. Classic JRPGs are usually long but much of that is owed to the once beloved grind. However this game is functioning on an indie budget and assuming they don't buy into the grinding fiesta of bygone days, the game length shouldn't even come near a typical JRPG. I personally do not want it to be that long either but I would at least like it to be longer than most indie titles.

So yeah, out of everything announced at Gamescon so far, this is probably the one I'm looking forward to the most. I was already onboard with it back when I first saw the teaser but it's proving to be a heavy hitting indie when it releases this November 17th.

Bowtie frog!!