We recently had the chance to try out The RPG, a game developed by Dionysus Acroreites, a mostly one-man development team. The RPG isn't really an RPG, and if I say RPG two more times, it still won't be an RPG. (I know, I'm not funny…to others!)
I honestly have no idea who this game is made for. I see it as an ambitious exercise in game development,
but I can't possibly experience it as a serious game, let alone an RPG. (That's enough, and promise) In short, the introduction to the game world begins with a parody of the now legendary Skyrim intro scene, and your task is to kill a dragon. Yes, all the substance of the humor and its inspiration is quite obvious and the game constantly references other titles, such as "bonfire lit" etc. And that's really all the game has to offer. Meta references and "I'm a gamer" fore.
The gameplay "loop" is terrible, and what confuses me the most is that they even praised the "No loot" system as something positive. Because loot is basically anything you pick up, and then you have to sell it to get gold. You use gold in the most boring way possible, you buy stronger weapons and a stronger piece of armor. That's the whole game, that's it. There's no voice acting, the game looks terrible, though it still has absurdly high hardware requirements for something that looks the way it does. You don't have any dialogue options, you just walk from place to place and hit enemies with the same weapon, while using a very generous parry system for defense. Each enemy seemingly has randomized damage scaling and can one-shot you at any time, regardless of your level or equipment.
To shorten and avoid spoilers:
The game is tedious and looks more like a love project of a guy who is really hot for Skyrim and Dark Souls. But he did what most of us can't: he made a game and people are playing it. Congratulations to him on that and may this criticism come to him in a good mood.
