I fondly recall playing Final Fantasy 1 on my grandma’s Nintendo. Years later, I was greatly impressed by the GBA version of it, after seeing all of the fixes, balance changes, and added QOL features. Ever since, if there was one thing I’ve always been on the lookout for, it would be “Final Fantasy 1, but improved upon”. With Scarmonde, I’ve finally found that game, and it’s amazing.


Like FF1, you start by choosing 4 heroes to make your party. Compared to FF1’s 6 classes, Scarmonde boasts 12 classes. Of course, this includes analogues to the classes you already know and love, but goes a few steps further by not only adding in more class concepts, but even giving some additional depth to the classics. For example, the Thief has some lower-tier offensive and debuff spells. Similarly, even physical classes like Warrior & Knight possess abilities which utilize mana, so no class is left feeling vanilla. Which class you choose to start with actually makes a large difference, since there’s so many properties baked into the classes.

What’s included in the class you choose at the beginning:

• Base stat growths
  
  
• Weapon & armor proficiencies
  
  
• 8 equipment slots which vary based on class, as some cannot wield a shield, but instead get something else in return (second glove slot on Monk, or third relic slot on Sage)
  
  
• Innate passive properties which make the world of difference (bonus gold gains with Bard, increased first strike chance with Dancer, etc)
  
  
• A list of active & passive skills that can be learned. There is also a large list of generic passives which are available to everyone.

As you adventure, your heroes will gain experience, level up, and increase their stats. Skills, however, are not granted upon level up, and are instead acquired in a non-conventional manner via Magic Orbs. Essentially, all of your skills have a magic orb cost to learn. Simpler abilities will require smaller amounts and only level 1 magic orbs, while more-complex skills will ask for larger amounts alongside level 2 & 3 orbs (with 3 being the highest tier). Obtaining orbs is done primarily through finding treasure chests, though small amounts will drop from fights as well. This system is well-designed, in my opinion, for these reasons:

• Gates abilities to appropriate sections of the game, so as to not allow the player to obtain stronger abilities in the earlier parts.
  
  
• Low battle drop rates on orbs compared to larger amounts being found in chests help incentivize the player to not grind, and make exploration feel rewarding.
  
  
• Allows the player to develop their team in a 100% customizable fashion. You want to invest most of your orbs on your favorite hero? Go for it!

While there is no class changing in this game (like FF3),one of the ways Scarmonde improves upon the FF1 formula is by allowing you to obtain subclasses for your heroes. Part way through the game, you’ll encounter 4 shrines which enable you to add a subclass to a hero of your choice.

• The subclasses available are the same 12 classes you can choose at the beginning.
  
  
• You can give multiple subclasses to a single hero, but that comes at the cost of one or more heroes not having any subclass.
  
  
• Subclasses grant you the active & passive skills of that class, along with the opportunity to learn some of the equipment proficiencies.
  
  
• Subclasses do not grant that hero anything that is an innate bonus of the class (like Dancer’s increased first strike chance)

These subclasses are a great opportunity to either shore-up some weaknesses, or to double-down on increasing the strength of your hero’s main function. Also, the fact that classes don’t have their innate bonuses when selected as a subclass gives that much more meaning to the choices you make at the beginning of the game – a Paladin / Warrior will feel a bit different than a Warrior / Paladin, and increases the replay value of the game.


Another way Scarmonde shines is in its equipment. The developer put in extra effort to be creative with the items in so many ways. Some examples of equipment properties:

• Mana / HP Regen
  
  
• On-hit Effects (debuffs / lifesteal / autocasting spells / etc)
  
  
• Granting the ability to cast spells without learning them
  
  
• Increased / decreased aggro (there’s a simple aggro system in this game)
  
  
• Damage type resistances / bonuses
  
  
• Chance for bonus actions
  
  
• Bonus EXP gains
  
  
• Extra healing received
  
  
• Extra consumable item potency
  
  
• So much more

To get through the game’s content takes an average of 20 hours. In terms of pacing, I found the game quite smooth throughout its entirety, save for a small section near the very end which was a bit tedious.On the store page, it says “This game is being made for anyone who just wants to jump right into a classical RPG experience without any of the thick layers of story and dialogue bogging them down. If you're here, you're here for the gameplay!” This is true, as there aren’t cutscenes (save for intro / ending), and the dialogues are generally short. Ironically, Scarmonde surprised me with an actually compelling storyline. The developer crafted a narrative which starts off light and generic, then evolves into something dark and eerie.I found this approach refreshing, and appreciated its focus on keeping the player in the gameplay.

Exploration is pretty straightforward for the most part, since there aren’t “invisible items” (mash A on every pot you see). Instead, items are contained in chests. Some of these chests are pretty tricky to find and may be obscured behind other visuals or found in secret areas. Knowing how to find these can sometimes be a bit tough, as the game’s oldschool interface won’t spoonfeed you with a quest log or map markers. Your main tools are key item descriptions and your own memory. At times, I decided to utilize a guide to help me not get lost, as I’d rather not wander around for hours while fighting random encounters.

In the early parts of the game, I would go back to home base pretty often to heal up, since you can take a good bit of attrition while delving into dungeons and traveling to new places. Thankfully, the game gives you ways to deal with this through equipment, skills, and even the basic defend action, which recovers some MP. Traversal is also quite convenient, since you find a handful of shortcuts and teleporters. All the same, the world feels large and gives you that oldschool JRPG adventuring feel.

• FF1-like game with modern twists.
  
  
• Decent replay value.
  
  
• Support for 1-hero runs.
  
  
• Good skills, classes, and equipment.
  
  
• Surprisingly good story

• Lots of hidden information not listed in tooltips. I only found out through the community that there’s so many hidden properties on certain classes, skills, equipment, etc. This is apparently a purposeful design decision to emulate an oldschool style of finding secrets, but I personally prefer when games give players the full info on everything. Despite this, I still think the game is great.
  
  
• Some of the UI is a little inconvenient, but not the end of the world.
  
  
• Ending portions of the game can feel slow.
  
  
• If you play smart and build a strong crew, the game can become easy.
  
  
• Easy to get lost and not know where to go next.

Great game, cheap price, and I very much recommend it for anyone who enjoys the idea of a classic JRPG with modern additions.