Fuga: Melodies of Steel

Normally I'm not too big into RPG games but I got this on discount and the artstyle stood out a lot, plus the main gameplay concept revolved around a giant tank and I like tanks. (Also I guess its criminally underrated given how little people seem to own this game? At the time of writing this its on sale, won't go lower than that!) I'm not gonna go into the story since I think its better to just experience it yourself and plus the short summary in the store page and trailer already provide enough of a starting point and initially it looks as simple as group of kids finding a secret weapon (the Taranis, which is the giant tank you take control of) to take on the invading country to rescue their parents. (But it's not) Gameplay wise, you take turns picking moves or actions with certain ones moving you further down the timeline bar seen at the top of the screen, typically the more potent moves will push you back in the turn order meaning the enemy gets to take more actions. Of course spamming high damage and long delay moves can work, if used in conjunction with other buffs (Boron is a big favourite if you can nullify his huge accuracy penalties with moves like Overload or Shell Festival to guarantee all his hits combined with huge damage, which can make bosses pretty easy). There are other mechanics in play but its not something you won't be surprised by given the game teaches you these things as you progress or you look up a guide. Weaponry on the tank is tied to a character, machine gun/grenade/cannon which have different attacks/delay and effects. Enemies are weak to one type, so abusing this weakness mechanic is key to battles along with using attacks that quickly strip away armor, which of course reduce the damage you deal to enemies. Once their armor is stripped away is when you unleash all your heavy hitting/high SP attacks. Of course there is the titular 'Soul Cannon' that shown off that requires feeding one of the party members into it to fire it... but if you can play semi-competently and take the hard paths when travelling/progressing through the story you basically will have no reason to fire it (aside from curiosity). Additionally if you want the good ending, don't use a kid as ammo. (The Deluxe Edition does give you one free 'shell' or Dummy Soul so I guess feel free to one shot a boss if its annoying without any consequence. No idea if you can get another one, since if it drops I haven't seen it happen). You get the option to use it if your HP drops to critical levels, but they don't force you to. Travelling through the world is somewhat linear and you have VERY limited chances to grind EXP and obtain materials. There is no concept of random battles when moving around, you are given a set path with some branching options determining whether you want less battles and more recovery (at the expense of less EXP) or more fights and harder battles (making it risky if you can't handle back to back battles or lack a lot of recovery items but more EXP). Highly suggest you just go the harder/risker routes all the time since it will make the boss fights later on a lot more easier. Skipping too many fights because you took the easy routes all the time will probably ensure you are forced to use the Soul Cannon if you want to progress past bosses. At certain intervals you get to explore around the giant tank and talk to your other party members. Even for just an intermission section this is still an important part of gameplay (and partially your survival in battles). You get a limited amount of AP to spend in these sections, you spend them on talking to characters or performing actions on the tank (farming or laundry etc), whether healing up injuries sustained in battle by sleeping it off or if you're lucky.... the potty.... (yes, its just a toilet, but the way its done is entirely comedic but it does give the character that used it full mood which gives them Hero Mode, greatly boosting their stats and triple speed but it only lasts about 5 turns, you can't exactly control when it happens, so better to move that character to the backline to "reserve" it for a boss). There are also very tiny (and I do mean tiny) dungeon exploration sequences which just involve basic trap avoidance and killing enemes (though you have a limited amount of these bullets for enemies and obstacle destruction). This is where you will get a lot of your materials alongside scrap fishing on the Taranis. You'll need it in order to upgrade the stats of the Taranis, simple as more HP or higher damage for the weapon types. The aethestics of the game I'd say are the big part of drawing people in and the idea of kids piloting a giant building sized tank. The store images say it all really. Music is pretty good too. (To the point where I am considering buying the CDs) Also one of the few games I played on the Steam deck, it runs fine from what I could tell. There isn't any important DLC to get, its either cosmetics or non-game related material (manga). The deluxe edition does give the Dummy soul, if you play well, you will never use it. [quote][i] its a guest review for [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44230955-Narmaya-Onee-chan]Narmaya Onee-chan.[/url][/i][/quote]

WHY DOES NO ONE TALK ABOUT THIS GAME?! This is a modern turn-based masterpiece! It's rare for a turn-based game to keep me thoroughly engaged in the gameplay from start to finish but this managed to do it! Feels like a streamlined take on the Fire Emblem formula: you lose the grid but you keep a version of the weapon triangle, friendship mechanics/special attacks, between-battle-management-time, and of course a terrible and devastating war. The character link events are just okay, but I can write that off because they're mostly children; they aren't really gonna be waxing poetic at 7. The overarching story is great though, and engaging throughout. The ending was solid, and the bonus features to assist in replaying for the true ending got me to bite for the extra few hours it took and it was well worth it! If you like turn-based, strategy games, or RPGs, I think you'd like it! Plus, there's 2 sequels so if you enjoy it there's plenty to follow :) EDIT: I didn't even talk about all the polish...this game is AA in size but AAA in quality, there's a ton of love put into it!

When I first started playing the demo for this game, I was completely unaware of the Soul Cannon mechanic (somehow), so you can imagine the immense emotional damage afflicted upon me during that first chapter. Needless to say, this game had me hooked from the very start, and it quickly became one of my favorites!