played oct 9th for rpgmaker october (also played some on oct 10th but atm dnf)
this game technically is pay what you want on itch.io, but the version on steam for $5 usd is the final version, w bugfixes n a bit of bonus stuff. im trying to play freeware this month mostly but this is one of a few exceptions, i saw some screenshots and decided this was a lock for my october list. its really striking n it makes sense that, if the "printmaking rpg" tagline didnt tip you off, this is another of what feels like precious few rpgmakers w visuals brought to us by a comics artist w a fresh n unconventional (by game standards at least) eye
what wound up being the most interesting thing abt the game tho were its design sensibilities. areas branching from the hub world and their bosses can be tackled in any order you want technically, and while the game is not /hard/, it is not afraid to subject you to a somewhat steep learning curve, in keeping w its open-ended nature. you have to feel out which areas are more challenging than others, even low level enemies can knock out party members very quickly, and the way elemental weaknesses/strengths work is not obvious from the jump (unless you have experience in printmaking to know the terminology maybe lol) and will have to experiment with to get the idea. but some of this won't break you as long as you aren't just treating this as a straightforward rpg to battle through; copper odyssey VERY MUCH encourages exploration, to such a degree that not only are there cool secrets to find but, if you are thorough enough, it will allow you to jump over much of the grinding hoops. following certain quests will even allow you to overcome bosses in different ways that wouldn't be clear if you just treated their areas exclusively as a dungeon to beeline thru to get to their fights. plenty of surprise warps all over the place too, which fits with the chaotic ethos that its jumbled tilesets and walk-thru-walls geometry intentionally instills.
i couldnt finish this in time before i had to move on unfortunately ;_; but its cool enough that i plan to come back! been cursed to have the boss theme stuck in my head until i do
this game technically is pay what you want on itch.io, but the version on steam for $5 usd is the final version, w bugfixes n a bit of bonus stuff. im trying to play freeware this month mostly but this is one of a few exceptions, i saw some screenshots and decided this was a lock for my october list. its really striking n it makes sense that, if the "printmaking rpg" tagline didnt tip you off, this is another of what feels like precious few rpgmakers w visuals brought to us by a comics artist w a fresh n unconventional (by game standards at least) eye
what wound up being the most interesting thing abt the game tho were its design sensibilities. areas branching from the hub world and their bosses can be tackled in any order you want technically, and while the game is not /hard/, it is not afraid to subject you to a somewhat steep learning curve, in keeping w its open-ended nature. you have to feel out which areas are more challenging than others, even low level enemies can knock out party members very quickly, and the way elemental weaknesses/strengths work is not obvious from the jump (unless you have experience in printmaking to know the terminology maybe lol) and will have to experiment with to get the idea. but some of this won't break you as long as you aren't just treating this as a straightforward rpg to battle through; copper odyssey VERY MUCH encourages exploration, to such a degree that not only are there cool secrets to find but, if you are thorough enough, it will allow you to jump over much of the grinding hoops. following certain quests will even allow you to overcome bosses in different ways that wouldn't be clear if you just treated their areas exclusively as a dungeon to beeline thru to get to their fights. plenty of surprise warps all over the place too, which fits with the chaotic ethos that its jumbled tilesets and walk-thru-walls geometry intentionally instills.
i couldnt finish this in time before i had to move on unfortunately ;_; but its cool enough that i plan to come back! been cursed to have the boss theme stuck in my head until i do