My name is Ashimus Ketchumus Palletemus…
The allure of the sea-green GameBoy screen is difficult to resist.
But you won’t be doing the fighting yourself, God no.
Leave that to the squad of Roman gladiators hiding in your back pocket.
It’s not exactly like the Pokemon battles of yore, to be fair.
Fights involve up to three battlers at a time, feeling a bit more like classic Final Fantasy.
And their moves are determined mostly by whatever weapons they’re holding.
A shield will let them block and lower the damage of an incoming attack, for example.
Some weapons slash multiple opponents in a single swing.
Others cause enemies to steadily bleed health, or become dazed and miss a turn.
All fairly classic stuff then.
How the Japanese warrior ended up in a world of ancient Roman arenas, I don’t know.
But it’s no more outlandish than a yellow rat that shoots electricity from its cheeks.
There are other subtleties fitting of turn-based biffing.
Using the same attack twice in a row will result in half the usual damage.
There is one more blood-soaked difference.
Your fighters can die outright.
But your fighters also regenerate health if you put them on the bench for a fight.
All in all, a neat injection of nostalgia.
I will say it feels weird as hell to play GameBoy style games on a giant PC screen.
If you have a SteamDeck though, you’re sorted.
This is another little treat we’ve found in our recent trawls through the great Steam Next Fest lagoon.
Not sure when the full game is coming out, but you canplay the demo now.
