Northwall (v1.0.1)

Hello, adventurers and welcome to Northwall!
What is this? Well, Northwall is a dark fantasy rpgmaker game made by Zevia, and I admit that when I started the game I expected this to be just another orfinary rpgmaker fantasy adventure rpg game. And what happen next? Well, I admit that I was surprised, anyway let's start from the plot!

Northwall is the name of a fort, created by the cleric Galarand as a bastion against the monsters that roam the lands. Anyway for now the monsters have been dormant, except for some small bands, but recently the things changed: a horde of creatures swarmed Northwall and only a small group of survivors escaped death. Among them there is our protagonist Suven (or how will you hìname him), a cleric that with Ben, Rick and Coravis heads to a nearby settlement to find shelter and provisions. But what the group finds there is just death and destruction, and while the land falls into chaos Suven has to face a dangerous demon and some important decisions.


Guess who needs an airship! US, of course! Did you have any doubt?

Hey, the plot is pretty dark isn't it? But of course, I told you this was going to be a dark fantasy adventure!
And here's where the game really surprised me. First the battles: the game uses "limited random encounters" in the sense that there is an Encounter Bar used to limit the usually infinite random battles (only 5 random encounters at most), once the bar is depleted the area is safe (so no grinding to the extreme is possible, but levelling up as much as possible is advised). The enemies fought in these battles are also often unique so you will never face several time the same enemy kind.

Battles are challenging, but the obligatory bosses are also far more dangerous as they often possess particular gimmicks, in one the opponent will change form, in another there are barricades that will hinder our efforts... a good variety is cool isn't it? And variety is also how I'd describe the good number of skills and abilites that our party members possess! All useful, but depending on the situation, so it's always necessary to have a good strategy!


In the name of the moon, I'll punish you!

Northwall also includes some puzzles that luckily are never too complex or long, still you will need to think also outside of combat.For the rest the game is pretty much linear, there are no side-quests or activities, but I didn't mind since the story is good, and so are battles and the various tasks of the game, but now let's speak about the assets.

Music is very good, and it's all original, made by Kevin MacLeod (http://www.incompetech.com). Vistually the game uses RTPs and many edits (like recoloured sprites and assets) and while mapping isn't very special, all locations are competently made and well organizes. Just mind that there are some "gory" scenes of slaughter but nothing beyond some bloodies charsets lying on the ground.

Since I said "gory" let's say that this how I can define the storyline, that's pretty much linear, but interesting, dark and with some twists and surprises. It's not a classic good VS evil thing and there is no black and white but rather shades of grey.


A little puzzle with bridges and boulders that... are used as bridges!

Final Verdict
I'm impressed, and I tell you this: do not let the usual RTP graphics make you think that this is an ordinary and boring rpgmaker adventure like many others you may have played, because it's not! Zevia did an excellent work, and if you are looking for a good story driven fantasy rpg with an enjoyable gameplay and a setting that is different from the usual colorful fantasy jrpg. Also if you have any problem during this dark epic adventure Zevia has released an entire walkthrough on the youtube channel Zevia Games.
Ok, this was all, in a single word: recommended!