Years ago, when listening to a review series of mainline Final Fantasy games, I remember thinking “Final Fantasy 1, for all its issues, had a very interesting concept for its starting class system.” In the years since, I have never seen an RPG of any kind do what it did. To some degree, I get why. Final Fantasy 3 made it so that any character could change their class to any other class at any time (within NES limits) and other RPGs started moving in that direction. Plus, when storytelling in RPGs became more important, linear narratives with defined characters became more common. So I understand why the Final Fantasy 1 design was dropped.

When Scarmonde came out, I thought it was more like Final Fantasy 3 than 1.The marketing for this game did not do a good job showing it off and the visual design of the game made it hard to tell. I’m not saying the graphics are bad, but I think the limited color choices made it look unappealing to me. So wishlisted it for a while and didn’t buy it until recently. When I found out it was more like Final Fantasy 1, but with more classes, I bought it the moment it went on sale.

I have only started playing it, so I can’t say how good it is. I’m only leaving this review to support dev since I know reviews are important to steam. The point of this slightly long story is: I think the concept is neat, and I hope the game fully lives up.

When I saw this game suggested to me, I thought "cool, but why would I pay $14 for a dressed-up version of Final Fantasy 1 when that game already exists?" But this game is not that. Sure, you start off choosing fixed character classes and exploring dungeons. But there are major differences.

Gear: As you progress, more of the gear you find will be sidegrades that sometimes come with radical changes. You can tailor individual characters with certain priorities in mind (turn priority, raw power, status protection, inflicting status effects, etc.). Not every piece of gear is worthwhile, but the fact that most gear entails decision-making beyond "which numbers are bigger" is a fresh feature.

Status ailments: They actually work. The vast majority of bosses have some status vulnerabilities. Utilizing them is not required, but the game will reward you for using them.

Grind: None needed! You still gain levels in this game, and those levels can help, but the bulk of the power you attain comes from finding treasure and magic orbs in the areas you explore.

Sub-classes: You eventually can give each character a sub-class, which grants you the ability to learn all the skills and most equipment proficiencies from that class.

Character growth: Between your class, sub-class, and common passives, you can use magic orbs to tailor your character's development. You will naturally find enough orbs to unlock lots of features, but it's very prohibitive to get enough orbs to unlock everything, so you have to set priorities and make difficult choices.

Story: The overall story progression is simple, but the NPCs have some depth to them. Of course, there's nothing stopping you from ignoring them and focusing on exploration and combat.

Exploration: There's places to explore, with lots of optional and hidden areas that can help you on your journey and give personality to the world.

Taken together, you get a game that's a lot of fun with a lot of replay value. If you'd like a game that invites you to think more but gives you enough freedom to play the way you want and to make "mistakes," Scarmonde does that for you. Heck, if you're the sort of player who isn't satisfied with all this potential and wants to push themselves by running meme parties (like 4 Clerics) or challenge runs, you can still rock with weird party compositions or even not select a full party of 4 characters.

Seriously, it's great. If you're not sold yet, play the demo.

All those other reviews will tell you that this is like a classic console JRPG but better, updated with modern design sensibilities. And they're correct. The only thing I have to add is that the storytelling is understated but very well-executed. One of the best CRPGs of 2024.