Legend of Shenja - Genesis Innocens

I played Legend of Shenja when it was first made and was the only game submitted to RPG Advocate's game of the year contest. He had promised a cash prize, and withdrew when this was the only game submitted. When I saw that it was added to RMN, it was a nice throwback to my first years of college.

The best way to describe this game is to call it an RPGMaker game. It has some special features that you are not native to the toolset, but none of them are hugely game-altering. For the most part, this is a game made with the assets and features RPG Maker 2003 comes with.

That is not to say it is a bad game - it is pretty good. It is well-balanced. The maze-like dungeons are not terribly frustrating but are not special. You have seen all of these resources used before, but they look good enough out together the way they are here.

Legend of Shenja's progression and scenario are pretty straight-forward. A linear narrative drives you through a fairly straight path through the game, and eventually you overcome a terrible evil. All of your heroes are likeable, noble types with endearing character flaws. Just like everything else about this game, you have seen Legend of Shenja's story, and you have played through it before. That's okay, though, because it isn't obnoxious or badly-written.

There is nothing technically wrong with Legend of Shenja. In fact, it is subversively very good. I invested an entire weekend into the game several years ago, playing well over a dozen hours. I would not enthusiastically recommend the game, but I would never advise against playing it.