ATTENTION PLEASE!Like for Boutalles, the download links here MAY be outdated. So if you want to play this nice game, go here: https://latenightstudio.itch.io/avarice

Avarice is an action roleplaying game created with RPG Maker VX in two weeks for the 2009 Game Chill Competition. The theme of the contest was "Opposing Forces", and that is represented by the forces of Magic and Technology in the world of Arvera, and by the two playable protagonists of this game: the mage Vandeli and Lexi the scavenger. During the prologue and tutorial we learn that Vandeli is searching for something, then he meets by chance the adventurous Lexi that decides to join him in his quest that will bring the unlikely duo to explore different dungeons...

That's the plot, nothing really original or new (and even a bit weird since they are a pompous wizard and a renegade engineer working together for little to no reason, but uhm... ok!) but this simple story is useful to introduce a game about exploration and real time combat against wandering monsters and deadly bosses!


Well, I hope not! Anyway get ready Lexi, a boss fights will soon start!

The action system designed by Anaryu not only let us move our characters with the directional keys and shoot using the mouse, but it's also possible to hotkey three different consumables to 1,2 and 3! Nice. For the rest the game plays as a third person shooter in which we can use one of the two characters, each one with each abilities: Vandeli uses spells that cost him Mana points, recovered with time, while Lexi has an arsenal of different weapons, firearms require bullets, but she can also rely on traps and melee attacks (well not a wise idea since most opponents possess ranged attacks).
And trust me, there are lots of weapons available, some have the same costs of others but are different and the choice depends on your playstile. For example do you prefer a more damaging sword or a whip that has a weaker attack but a longer range? Your choice!

But customization does not end here! Defeating enemies lets our character earn experience points that are used to learn Talents, some are useful to overcome obstacles (for example to reach a loot chest), others unlock secret items not normally available, other Talents instead make our characters stronger and more powerful. Clearly you can grind and maximize both characters if you want, but the best feature is the possibility to choose the difficulty level (well for me it's important since I often suck at action games)! This means not only that you can have stronger opponents, but they also may have more attack patterns, this if you like challenges of course, if not play safe and enjoy the easy difficulty level! Again, it's your choice!


You may shoot tornadoes, but I've an assault rifle and lots of hot lead for you!

Now, the graphics. Do you remember Boutalles? The game with a good use of Rtps, and protagonists with not only original charsets and facesets, but also large colorful portraits in the menu section? Well here it's more or lesse the same: npcs do not have facesets (even if their charsets are nice) nor personality, but the stars of the game are clearly Vandeli and Lexi, and they get a special attention and treatment, visually speaking. While I am not a great fan of VX Rtps, because like most other players we already saw them one thousand times, I think they are used reasonably well from the outdoor areas and populated zones, to the dangerous dungeons filled with hostile beings. The various menus are also well made and all uses a coherent, detailed visual style. And that's good of course.

Music is ok, nothing special, but still well chosen, for example the musics of the various boss encounters are appropriately dramatic, even if may be I expected something different for the last, final combat! But uhm ok, also this aspect of the game is pretty good too.


Probably the most important upgrade of the game! Seriously!

Final Verdict
This game took me about 2 hours and 30 minutes to complete, but it will be time well spent and if you want to see every single part of it you will have to spend 3 hours. I like how there is so much customization, two different endings, a nonlinear story since you can explore the dungeons in the order you prefer, and a cool action gameplay that is something I did not expect from a RPGMaker VX game. The custom art is also very pretty and merges perfectly with the rest, an excellent work by Anaryu and Solitayre, that made me overlook some little flaws like some typos or the lack of balance between the characters... BUT considering that this game was made in a really short time, the result is impressive.

Really, it's a personal opinion, but I even liked this game slightly more than Boutalles. So, if you want to spend a couple of hours with something different from the usual party-based jrpg, try Avarice, you can't go wrong!