After delaying the last review for some time and getting sick two times this month, I decided to pick a short game just to have something in time for this month’s review. As it’s hard to find short mainstream RPGs that don’t fall on the roguelike genre, I started to explore the RPG Maker community and I must say It’s fantastic and it deserves a lot more love. I didn’t go down the RPG Maker horror route as most of the titles I found are adventure games that run on some RPG Maker stance, similar to the cult classic “To the Moon”, and because that’s a bigger and deeper rabbit hole that needs more attention and care when explored. But I still wanted something different.
After searching for a while on Itch.io and google, I encountered Free Spirits, a quirky and inventive game developed by PentagonBuddy and emmych using the RPG Maker VX Ace engine. It was created as a contender for the Indie Game Maker Contest from 2015, having won the Engine RPG Maker prize.
You can download it from the developers Tumblr or from the Indie Gamer Contest.
The game is charming and humorous, but it may have themes that most gamers don’t feel comfortable with or interested in, like dysfunctional families, transsexuality and bigotry. Maybe the game is not for you if these topics aren’t of your interest, or if you just want more standard fantasy themes. Yet, if you don’t mind these subjects or feel adventurous and want to try something different from saving Earth, let’s continue.
The Narrative
The Roaring Twenties’ New York, an era of Jazz music, of the Charleston dance and of Prohibition Laws. The siblings Lana and Nadia Kozmin (who usually goes by Kozmin), a flapper and a tough as nails ghost hunter who try to reconcile their differences while searching for work to pay their bills. The game depicts four cases, each contained in a different chapter in which the siblings must convince the deceased to pass on to the afterlife.
There are many side characters, the most important being the workers of “The Cat’s Meow”, a speakeasy, or a place that sold illegal alcohol during the prohibition era in the United States. The place works as the siblings home base, where you can interact with other characters, buy supplies, recover your health and pick new cases.
As for the ghosts, don’t expect villainous types or evil souls from beyond. All spirits are common people with mundane thoughts and feelings, and are these sentiments that keep them haunting this world. This distinguishes the title from the usual evil or tormented spirit stories.
The exchanges between the ghosts and the siblings are usually well written, and deal with themes like regret, vengeance, possession, intolerance, and responsibility towards family. Most of the dialogues also have an old-timey flavor, what adds to the game’s charm.
The game has a lot of characters who don’t abide by sexual and gender norms, a very positive aspect, in my opinion, as you rarely see this type of representation in games. They don’t feel like tokens, but like characters with distinct personalities, interests and backgrounds. Towards the game’s end it will become an important theme, as it is the source of conflict with the game’s last ghost, and I think parts of that dialogue can bring back some hurtful memories for people who had similar experiences.
Overall, I think the developers dealt with the subject with care and respect, giving a glimpse of its hardest aspects.
Presentation
The graphics are very charming, with most of the character sprites being in different tones of black, white and gray, except for a t-shirt, a hat, a scarf, or another small detail. Their portraits follow the same rules, and have a nice art style. Scenarios also have this aesthetic, while objects of interest are kept in color. Interestingly, depending on which sibling you’re controlling, different objects will be colored.
As for the songs, they are reminiscent of the game’s time period and fit their scenes well. I don’t know if it was a problem in my installation or if the game was made like this, but there are a few moments when there was no music playing during my gameplay.
Mechanics
Just a heads up for people who never played an RPG Maker game. Each of its iterations will need an RTP, or Runtime Package, a file that installs the basic assets needed by the engine, like graphics, music, and even .dll files. If you don’t install it, the game usually will close right after prompting an error. This title will need the installation of RPG MAKER VX Ace RTP if you get it from the Indie Gamer Contest, so get it in the RPG Maker Web page, on its Download section. You can also download a version with the RTP on the developers Tumblr.
Battle System
Free Spirits uses a turn-based battle system that is ingenious and different from what you would expect from an RPG. Instead of beating the poor souls into submission, you must use the siblings’ conversational skills to convince the ghosts to move on, when the encounter ends. Hence, the game only has four encounters and there is no leveling involved.
For every turn your characters have three action points, represented by stars, to spend in actions. The standard action, Talk, takes only one star. Lana has a calmer and gentler tone, being capable of soothing ghosts. Kozmin is harsher and more confrontative, sometimes even making ghosts angrier or scared. Each sibling also has their own special abilities, as Lana can cure status effects on ghosts and humans, while Kozmin can use a gun that scares ghosts or diminish the damage taken.
As you progress on your chatter with those otherworldly presences, you may have to present them with items that help them to pass on. You can also use items to recover HP or cure status effects. After you finish your actions, a ghost will usually talk a bit and attack one of your characters.
When you finally convince the ghost that their time is up and they need to pass on, the encounter ends.
I enjoyed this battle system a lot, as it offers something very unique in terms of gameplay. There are a good number of dialogue options and subtle differences on how Lana and Kozmin deals with the same dialogue tree that makes it worth of trying both their dialogues. I enjoyed the back-and-forth banter of the more humorous fights, and I think the more dramatic encounters were well handled by the developers, especially the last one, which can leave you disheartened depending on your former experiences.
Final Thoughts
Free Spirits is a good game, with a less than common setting and an innovative approach to combat, with interesting dialogues that deal with a few heavy themes, the kind you wouldn’t find on more mainstream titles. It also has a charming look and a handful of good songs. As it’s expected from a game made for a contest, it is short and can be beaten in one sitting, but that doesn’t count as a negative, on the contrary, as the game never feels boring nor that it overstayed its welcome. As I’ve read on the developers’ blog, they were working on an update version of the game, but they canceled the plans. What a downer, but you can still try this little gem.
Final opinion: Very recommended.