I recently got a chance to take a look at a forthcoming indie RPG called Revere: A Story of the End. I ran through the demo once or twice and really had to give some thought to what I saw. It’s got a look and a style that’s very reminiscient to the old SNES era, very retro; I like that. The story starts out pretty light-hearted, for at least the first few minutes. You are playing a young man named Troy who fled the Lumerian Army he was working with, not agreeing with their way of life/decision-making skills. Apparently they’re a bunch of evil bastards, and he didn’t feel like being a scoundrel or murderer. The next thing he knows, he’s in a bed with an Anthropomorphic creature, a bunny standing over him. I learned it’s a Soul Beast, but these are intelligent, considerate creatures. This had a kind of. . . Inuyasha feel to me. There are evil Soul Beasts, vile, brainless entities that have to be destroyed [I won’t spoil the tragic circumstances where I learned this. . .] and the more kind, warm, open Soul Beasts. These Soul Beasts live in harmony with humans in their villages. But there’s something hiding behind the eyes of Troy. . .
You go on quests in the demo, learning the basic systems of the game via keyboard/mouse. I do not know if it has controller support, but it did not seem so. At least not yet, this is a demo! My controllers are all charging, so I didn’t get a crack at that, but the controls were just fine. It’s boasting a crafting system, a very cool skill system, and it has a Sphere Grid, which I could not see yet, but I assume it may be similar to Final Fantasy X’s. But I don’t know about that just yet. It has a few systems that are reminiscent of other games, and I don’t think it’s a bad thing. The biggest one has been one that I’ve wanted to see again, anyway. The Overclock system reminds me of the Brave system of Bravely Default. You can “Overclock” to gain extra attacks in combat, but if you do, you’ll have to wait a turn or two before you can fight again, and it can be very dangerous if you don’t use it at the right times.
Verdict: Revere is fun and cute. There are lots of really funny bits of dialogue on signs, and from characters in the game. It’s not a complicated game, and pretty much any PC can run this, making it better. That’s why I like indie games too: Anyone can generally take a swing at them and enjoy the fruits of someone passionate about their work. I think the “special mode” at the end of the demo was explained a bit better. I don’t recall but I don’t think it said you have to use your mouse to deliver the attacks. But this game is a turn-based RPG with real-time elements, and the end of the demo does demonstrate this. If you like gripping stories, and fun retro graphics, you owe it to yourself to keep an eye on this.
