Astlibra no es ni de cerca perfecto pero aun así no impidió que me maravillara la ambición de su relato. Acompañado de un combate sencillo y una construcción de personaje satisfactoria y adictiva. Su historia es emocional y bella todo bajo la clara mano de un escritor amateur pero con una enorme pasión y amor a los jrpgs que lo inspiraron.

Experiencias como estas son de admirar, imperfectas pero al mismo tiempo igual de cautivadoras.

Keizo esta sin duda es la prueba de tu existencia.

Astlibra Revision is one man's labor of love, the magnum opus of hobbyist game designer Keizo Morishige. This is a polished version of his browser game Astlibra (labeled accordingly!), completed over the course of a decade and a half, which shows - there's a LOT of game here. Combat is tight, nail-bitingly precise down to a matter of frames, and near-infinitely customizable with a bevy of buffs (or debuffs, if you wish), weapons, and special abilities. There's ample room to play this game with nearly any build or strategy you like.

While mostly cobbled together from free assets (though very well-chosen ones - the soundtrack is killer), Vanillaware artist Takehiro Shiga (better known as Shigatake) worked on refined character art for Revision, paired with breathtakingly detailed boss designs by artist Haku Tatsufuchi. As a Vanillaware diehard, I was first drawn to this game because Shigatake worked on it, but the rest of the game is far too solid for that to be the only thing worth mentioning.

The story plays out in an episodic fashion, down to an anime-like opening sequence (complete with theme song!) before each chapter. You play as Popular McJRPG Guy and his personal Crow of Judgment on a sprawling journey that comes further off its hinges as the game progresses - there is heartache and fanservice in spades, predictable in spots and utterly blindsiding in others. It's best to experience it blind! The English translation, originally fraught with grammatical errors, has been significantly improved with a patch, but the old one is currently still available through a beta channel should you wish to use it.

The MSRP is a steal for the sheer size and quality of this game. Of all the Games By One Guy out there, this is as good as it gets! To all aspiring game designers - this game is proof positive that if you are truly passionate about your creations, it can be seen and felt from a mile away.

A job very well done by KEIZO and collaborators - warmly and enthusiastically recommended.

Truly one of the best Action RPGs ever made. Beautiful 2D graphics, awesome soundtrack, batshit crazy anime story with tons of dialogue (easy to skip if you don’t care) and super responsive gameplay. The game is crammed to the ceiling with content. There are so many levels, monsters, bosses, more monsters, more bosses, items, gear, hidden treasures, puzzles, likable characters, vast amounts of difficulty options, arena challenges and more. And don’t get me started on all the RPG systems that are put into this game. It can sound overwhelming when reading about all the systems before starting the game, but Astlibra manages to introduce the systems step by step over dozens of hours of gameplay. The player character can level up, distribute attribute points, do magic, add items to a magic Libra, distribute points on a giant Sphere Grid, find and craft dozens and dozens of weapons, shields, armors and accessories and unlock boards for every single weapon, armor and accessories to improve it even more. Seriously, if you like to become the baddest of badass RPG characters with endless grinding, optimization and build options, this is your game. But it is also your game if you like crazy anime stories. Or just a laid back, relaxed Hack’n’Slay with nice graphics. You know what? If you like videogames even a bit, you have to get this game. Period. It’s a masterpiece. Some of the best 20€ you can spend on Steam. Get it and spread the gospel. Don’t believe me? Try the demo. And oh, this is the PERFECT Steam Deck game as well.