Indie publisher Modus Games and developers Dreams Uncorporated and SYCK have announced Cris Tales, a new RPG which harks back to classic JRPGs. The game was revealed during yesterday's PC Gaming Show at E3.
The game follows its heroine’s quest through past and future visions of her world where she hopes to fight against a merciless Empress’ rule and prevent a cataclysm. A demo for the game has become available from now until 24th June on Steam, but a full Switch release is planned to release next year.
Here's some more info for you courtesy of the game's press release:
Cris Tales’ combat calls for a calculated strategy as players guide protagonist Crisbell and her allies through turn-based battles where a unique time magic mechanic can alter her foes’ timelines. Attributes and advantages change depending on an enemy’s placement in time, making each encounter an engaging dance of coordinating team strikes, defense possibilities, and warping timetables.
Crisbell’s journey leads her through a fantastical and exquisitely detailed world where she’ll meet incredible allies and witness stunning vistas across five varied regions, like the pristine towers of the kingdom of Crystallis and the grimy slums of Saint Clarity. Her party’s actions leave a profound influence across time in and out of battle, meaningfully impacting gameplay. Witness the results of your choices in real time through traditionally animated graphics and experience a branching ending while braving a visually dynamic land in need of saving.
Will you be keeping an eye on this one, ready for when it launches next year? Share your early impressions with us below.
Comments 25
An "Indie Love Letter To Classic JRPGs" that is NOT relying on pixel art or janky PS2-era 3D models?!
SIGN ME UP
Something about that UI makes me think that it's trying way too hard to be like Persona 5's and not quite capturing its essence.
That being said, this game looks pretty interesting and I might have to keep an eye on it.
Ok I love this website mostly for the people commenting here. But I have to close it today; don't get me wrong, I understand they want to inform us on the latest releases but praising more of the same "junk" copy paste games or flat mobile / Flash player looking art is just ridiculous. So now everything that has turn-based RPG and a bit of 2D art is a love letter to old-school JRPGs? No, just BIG f'in no. Today has been news about more shovelware crap, I'm just gonna wait for the Direct as the quality here is going downhill....
Looks pretty cool! Excited to see some reviews before I decide to get it or not.
@Pod Pixel art is a lot of peoples favorite style and especially developers, 3D takes far too long for small scale indie teams and is unrealistic for teams of less than 5 that is why it is preferred, this style is ok too though and require much less effort than 3D.
kind of intrigued but also not sure about the graphics style
@Jokerwolf
Oh I know, I'm a 3D artist for games myself, so I'm always impressed when people come up with a dashing style executed in a non-traditional manner.
Looks good. For a game based on classic RPGs, it seems like they're trying to do a lot more with the concept than just pixel art & turn based battles and calling it a day. I'll be keeping an eye on how this one turns out
@Yorumi Vector art, if done well, looks very good. All about how you animate it.
If done poorly it looks like someone just moving pieces of paper around. They could have added more shading.
@ricardosteve might want to direct that to @ryancraddock. They are the one who wrote the article. I'm not understanding the praise either. The game looks like a flash port.
@dartmonkey wrote the one night stand article
@Yorumi Yeah, it all depends. Me, personally, I like to mix vector art with kind of the fuzzy shading so everything doesn't look so flat, and I do that WITH vectors.
I think the problem comes when you just crisp lines. Makes everything look very flat.
The game looks gorgeous. I'm sold, and I can't wait to hear and see more.
An ACTUAL, INTERESTING ART DIRECTION(!) rather than 16 bit Sprite recycling. They have my immediate attention.
@ricardosteve As pointed out by the quotation marks, the "love letter" description came from the game's press release - it's not our words.
We're simply passing on the message that that is how it's being described. 🙂
Looks stunning! Buying at launch.
@ricardosteve That is literally how it was described, dropped names like Chrono trigger, FF VI and Bravely default.
Way to raise a stink for something so trivial and harmless.
Looks promising, may get this if the price is right.
@Starcakes just my opinion and I'm free to share it. Way to be offended by everything you read on the Internet.
Fantastic. Sold!
Tons of little animations in the art, a world map, clever battle menu, attack time line, voice acting, great theme, fresh "time hop" puzzle mechanics... love it all! (dialogue portraits need a bit of work)
Walking left and right just to see how the art changes in each triangle was as fun as playing the actual demo plot
Stop, after the 2nd tutorial on Steam... Not spoiling it, Keeping an eye on this for Switch.
@ricardosteve It's a shame you don't like the art style, but just because you don't like it doesn't mean it's "shovelware crap". It's astoundingly clear that the developers of this game put a lot of effort in it. It may not be a love letter to old rpgs, but that doesn't mean the game isn't good.
@ricardosteve way to stretch the meaning of offended.
As much as I love 16bit style "love letters to classic JRPG's" I'm glad someone does things differently. Still, I don't like this artstyle so I think it's a pass for me.
@Yorumi Fair enough, actually, the art style isn't as a great as i first thought. But idk, people who have played the free PC demo seemed to like the game. Maybe i should try it out later, but it definitely doesn't seem like "shovelware crap" to me at least.
Nice and colorful, but the art direction isn't for me.
Hmm, I am not that sure about the art-style...
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