Lately I feel like an anachronism whenever I think about the RPGs I enjoy most. For me, I grew up on turn based and I still find it one of my favorite types of RPGs. Maybe it’s because those games give you breathing room to think, or maybe I’m just old school, but it looks like I’m not alone in appreciating this outdated genre. A game called Earthlock: Festival of Magic, which is out on PC and XBox One now and headed to PS4 very soon, not only appreciates turn based RPGs, but they turn them on their heads by mixing them with modern elements that somehow don’t sound out of place. Developed by Snowcastle Games, Earthlock honors the past with a few new twists.
For one thing, the game doesn’t force you to grind to win. Instead, it focuses on strategy. By switching up your party members and techniques, you can usually find the way to success. Another very nice aspect of the game is that you can switch character abilities at any time by tweaking their Talent Boards. And like any great classic RPG, your relationships with party members actually matters. The closer you get, the more perks and unique abilities develop between pairs of characters. Lastly, one way that the game looks very different is you can farm your own items and grow your own ammunition by harvesting plants. I’ve never heard of a mechanic like that before, and if implemented well, it could be a real game changer.
If any of that sounds interesting to you PS4 owners, you’ll be able to check out Earthlock as of January 27th. It definitely looks like a great game and I will have to investigate the Steam version myself soon!
