I went to this year E3 with no expectations with my appointment for Cris Tales at all. That was because first there wasn't much info about the game aside from a very vague trailer a couple of years back. On the other hand, it had trouble standing out and seems that it was just another indie RPG titles. So I didn't know what to expect. However, after the official unveiling of the game at PC Gaming Show, I got more excited about it. I like the stunning visual and special mechanic that this game offers.
After attending the developers' presentation at this year E3 and got to try the game's Steam demo, I found out that Cris Tales is an indie combination of amazing RPG ideas. Moreover, it also features a special Colombian flair and mechanics of time shifting, which shows off the uniqueness and creativity of this game, that it has developed upon its inspiration.
More than just a combination
With that mentioned, Cris Tales doesn't hide its inspirations very well. It has Final Fantasy 2D battles where your characters have magic points and health to combat the enemies. There is also an overworld where you could travel to essential destinations. On the other hand, the menu design clearly takes from Persona 5. While the combat system is similar to those Mario RPGs where you use timed hit mechanic to attack or block hit. One more thing that I have to mention is about Kira Buckland, the voice actress who takes on the role of Crisbell (his voice is also in Nier: Automata.)
Cris Tales is not like other RPGs game when they just stop at that, the game goes further and adds in its spice to the mix. The Cris Tales' world is unique, with architecture and character designs rooted in Colombian culture. While indie pixel-art RPGs are pretty great, this style could get quite repetitive. However, that is not the case of Cris Tales, especially when it also has that time mechanics.
Crisbell and her abilities
In this game, players will put on the shoes of a young girl who comes with the name of Crisbell. She follows Matias ( a frog who wears a top hat) to a church because he stole a rose of her. Similar to a tale, Crisbell then got abilities of time-bending thanks to her resemblance with the goddess in the cathedral's windows. After that, she becomes a mage of time that can see into the future, present, and past. That gives tons of work to the artists of this game who have to draw the majority of areas in the game in three ways.
Admittedly, that opens lots of story paths and puzzle opportunities where Matias can go to the past like a tadpole or go the future as an older frog under your command. And with the information that Crisbell could get with her abilities, you can make decisions that change the whole story. If it like that what demo's writing has shown, then these moments would be pretty amazing. And in the demo, all the characters are voiced, and Kira Buckland handled the voice of Crisbell.
The turn-based fights
But the place where the time mechanics of this game get most interesting is the turn-based combats. While we could clearly identify the inspirations from Mario RPGs, Persona, and Final Fantasy in Cris Tales. The time manipulation mechanism adds another strategy level that makes the whole things more in-depth and enjoyable. Other from the usual magic and health bar that your character would have, she also has an additional bar for her time manipulation ability. She could use that to send her enemies to the future or the past. However, be noticed that it could result in various ways as some enemies could get stronger when young and weaker when old or the opposite. Personally, I think that it is really fun to experiment with.
Status effect
My favourite usage of time manipulation is with the status effects, you could see some of them by yourself in the demo. Once you use fire skill, it would leave a burn like in any other games. And if you don't combine time manipulation with that, that fire skill will do your enemy damage a certain of time. But if you keen to combine it with sending the enemy to the future then you could deliver all those burn damages in one shot.
Another good tip for the boss fight is to dousing your enemy in the water then send them to the future, which will cause rust and make the boss vulnerable. I will get the full game after its official release to try out those status effects and to find the most efficient way to fight.
Amazing first day
Just in its first day, on Steam, 24,000 people added Cris Tale to their wishlist while 20,000 others downloaded the game's demo. That is thanks to the stunning visuals and exciting time mechanics that makes the game stands out from all those indie RPGs with inspiration from JRPG classics. If you are a fan of RPG or JPRG genre, or you are intrigued by the time mechanic, then I highly recommend you to try out its demo.
Dreams Unincorperated, SYCK, and Modus Games will release Cris Tales on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PS4, and PC next year with a price tag of 29.99 USD. For now, if you want to check it own then head to the Steam page of the game here.