Lesbians

Guys, I think this game is woke.

SLARPG is a truly wonderful experience that encapsulates the very best of what indie RPGmaker devs can do with the tool.

The main caracters are all masterfully writen. Melody and Allison are, understandably, the standout characters with powerful character development. The two's relationship is explored thoroughly in a heartwarming tale. Claire too is well-written, gripping with the consequences of her actions and her own insecurities. Jodie receives the least amount of development, but still gets a decent chunk of attention through side quests. Besides the main four, I find the villain characters to be a bit lacking (besides the Queen). Very traditional bad guys who do bad guy things. NPCs are hit-or-miss, with some having more attention put towards them than others. The story itself is straightforward, with most of the emotion being drawn from the main characters' own problems. It very clearly focuses on exploring their relationships, which I think is the right call given the name of the game.

The combat is something I expected to be OK at best, as the engine tends to introduce constraints. And yeah, I think I came away with that opinion. There's interesting mechanics and diversity presented with all the buffs/debuffs, but that's about it. Nothing astounding. The four superbosses were the most enjoyable, as their fights went beyond me just buffing Allison with everything until the enemy died. I had minor issues with aggro system (Jodie's taunt ended up not mattering a lot) and weakness system (Allison's U/D/L/R skills were trial and error at times).

I really enjoyed the environment. Despite the length of the game, there are different biomes you visit that introduce different themes of enemies. Such as a forest with animals, desert with robots, and mountain with snow creatures. It's a great showcase of the talent of the art team in both the environment and enemy design. The music is also great too, with some tunes being a total earworm for me.

Overall, SLARPG presents an experience like no other. Behind the overtly LGBTQIA+ nature of this game is a genuinely charming game that can appeal to anyone willing to give this game a shot. This game is so well made. Hats off to ponett, for real.

4.5/5

A really lovely SNES-style JRPG.

+Well-paced story + gameplay structure
+Endearing, cute characters with believable relationships
+Gorgeous sprites and portraits
+A fantastic soundtrack

-Pretty damn easy, I only had more than one death in a battle once and never Game Over'd.