Venaitura is fresh off the presses and it looked pretty interesting so I grabbed it and gave it a spin.

Visually, the game is very colourful and most definitely retro-inspired. The tiles are, I believe, fully custom and they look great with the sprites used. One weird but interesting part of the game is that all the sprites are deliberately used multiple times to show the various classes and heroes, and it ties into the story a bit. That said, I do feel like special characters like Morgan and Merlin should probably have their own sprites (or even recolours) to set them a bit apart from the NPCs.



One thing I appreciated a lot were the monster sprites. They were cute and creepy - just as they should be - and wonderfully designed. I really liked them and thought they looked great.



The music can get a little repetitive at times but overall does a good job of capturing the feel of old school games. The sound effects also did a great job of recreating the nostalgic feel of ye olde retro games, though I could have done without the bumping-into-walls sound, which was pretty aggravating.

The gameplay was very much old jRPG-esque. You chose a group of unlikely heroes to save the world with, picking from a few classes, then learn skills over the course of levelling up (and sometimes via scrolls) that help you in battle.



There weren't really any puzzles in the game, though there were some optional areas you could go to get some extra treasures, and there were hazards scattered around to stop you from taking shortcuts (or to dissuade you from doing so, at least.)



I do have a few things I didn't like about the gameplay - the slow walk speed, while very much a part of the nostalgic effect that the game aims for, was aggravating as all hell, as was the constant banging sound when you hit walls and doors and random NPCs. Just because something was a way it was in the past doesn't mean you can't update it a bit to be more fun to play, guys. Faithful is all well and good, but giving a bit more speed isn't going to break the bank, and removing the god-awful 'I'm a moron who just threw myself into a wall' sound effect won't kill the immersive feel and nostalgia trip, I promise.

That aside, let's talk writing, easily my favourite part of the game.

The plot is pretty interesting despite being the old cliche 'save the world' - Venaitura is a world that is recreated over and over and each time it is created new heroes are sent forth to find and destroy the six whosits working for the BBEG. Now, it might sound like a pretty small twist to add, but honestly, it works out well - you can talk to the previous heroes before you begin your journey to get tips and the down-low about the world being remade over and over.

You pop out in a cavern and make your way through, learning the ropes from a wandering adventurer before heading to the closest town and meeting the various NPCs there who all have to talk about the latest worst love story since Twilight was published. Everyone is downing on the great mystical mage Merlin's current bf choice and you, as heroes who have nothing better to do, decide to stick your nose where it isn't wanted and ruin a perfectly good relationship. Nice going guys!

But seriously, though, I was very surprised by some of the very dark turns that the story took at times. There's plenty of death and sad stories to go around and I ended the game feeling kinda bummed out over the experience - not because the game was bad, but because the story up to that point was a goddamned downer.

But despite that, I really liked it. It felt like something fresh and new thrown in with something old and retro. Don't get me wrong, I know that DQ tended to have some darker storylines at times (Ruby Tears anyone? That whole game was a crapshoot, I tell you what.) but somehow this went a little further.


I will say, however, that the game could have done better with leading you where you needed to go. You never really knew what your next task was supposed to be. I went back and forth through some of the dungeons before realising I needed to trigger x or y plot point before I was supposed to be there. The last dialogue with Merlin, for example, was really annoying as there was no indication that you needed to talk with her 4-5 times, and this is something the game suffered from a fair bit - lack of clear direction. A lot of times I just stumbled onto the places I was supposed to go by accident. It got a bit annoying, tbh.

That said, the best thing about the game is the story and I heartily recommend that people play it if only for that reason.

And to make a team of dogs to destroy evil with. I hope that's possible. That should be possible, right? If not, what's your problem, dev?!




In this section is a few things I think the dev might need to look at. Contains story spoilers because fuck you <3.