I beat Small Saga in a single day. Now that will mean different things to different people. Some may be disappointed its so short, while others may be relieved that it isn’t a huge time sink. Especially for the genre of turn based story focused rpgs, length is a major factor in the experience of a game. A lot of players will never finish longer games like a star ocean of a final fantasy, not because they're not good, but because they are long as ♥♥♥♥ and life happens. One thing modern turn based rpgs have been doing lately is cutting the fat from the typical formula. Sea of Stars, Chained Echos, And now Small Saga are among some of the most accessible games in the genre right now because it is part of their design philosophy to not require grinding. In fact all 3 avoid the inclusion at all. Thats not to say there's not some form of leveling but these are tight, meticulously crafted experiences. Not only that but a little went a long way. The production value that was able to be squeezed from limited assets really shows clear vision and purpose. Theres not a ton of attack animations for example, but what is there has love and time baked into it.
Small Saga feels nostalgic, not just because of its retro art style and very worn on sleeve inspirations (Berserk,Final Fantasy 9 & 7, The Secret of NIMH and i’m sure others i didn’t even notice) , but in its humor,combat and Story. If you have positive associations with ps1 or hell super nintendo era Rpgs you’ll feel right at home here. But don’t get it twisted, the game may be a love letter to a romanticized era in gaming and animation but it has plenty to say that is not lifted from its predecessors, particularly the politics of its world. But before I get to that I should probably tell you about the gameplay.
Small Saga’s Combat is simple and clean. MP is represented by little diamonds below your Hp, Which is a nice change of pace from rpgs with MP numbers that require a lot of math tetris to measure what you can do before you have to start bleeding ethers. This is not something i even had frustration with in the genre but the simplicity allows for much less of a headache. And it gives off a certain childish vibe to assessing your resources (“woah that skill costs 3 MP? It must be really strong!”). Leveling is mostly determined by how far in the game you are. You level up from side quests, few as they are, and story progress. Which means the developer pretty much knows what you have access to at any point in the game and was able to build encounters around it.
If you are a jrpg veteran you will not struggle with this game. I don’t particularly think thats a bad thing, but you may hunger for a new game plus or harder difficulty level by the time you roll credits. I know I did. However the journey is worth taking. Not just in the story but the set pieces for the fights. There are a lot of boss encounters, with 3 (that i’ve found) pretty satisfying optional ones. The fights are a blast, with the gimmicks of the bosses, and the presentation. One fight literally hypnotized me. The combat presentation is pretty stellar I must say.
You get four permanent party members that all specialize in different things. Verm; your Berserker, is a high damage dealer. Siobhan; your Pyromancer,is can hit multiple targets and can charge up attacks for big hits if you’re patient. Bruce;your bard, is great at support thru healing and bonus turns. And Gwen;your Iconoclast (she’s a dragoon), is for crippling your enemies with defense and attack breaks. When your whole party is together you feel nigh unstoppable. Because of this the game’s story does a good job at separating the party often, or having certain fights only include certain members of the party. When the latter happens it feels like a shonen anime (“this is my fight. You all stay back”) and its satisfying as hell.
There aren’t that many stats. There’s attack,defense,HP,MP, (and level up points). The simplicity means you won't be constantly in your menus worrying if you have a bad build. Thats not to say that builds don’t matter. I think that your combat experience is gonna be determined a LOT by how you choose to develop your characters. There are certain passives along your skill tree that make certain characters a force to be reckoned with, even when fighting alone. But don’t worry, it doesn’t seem like you’ll reach a point where not going an optimal path of development will mean you can’t beat the game. That being said, proactive play is rewarded. Playing defensively certainly has its place, but if you do it too much you will suffer. You have to equip restorative items and each character only has two slots to hold those kind of items. However every battle restores your HP/MP and your restorative items. Which means you won’t be buying 99 high potions at any point. Its a nice quality of life and an anti grinding measure that I appreciated. But that also means you can’t spam healing indefinitely. That may sound scary for some, but despite the ease of play i mentioned before i had more than a few close calls where if the next hit didn’t end the fight i would perish. Which really pumps up the tension. That tension is exacerbated by the fact that there are no revival items. If someone falls in battle, then they aren’t getting back up till its over.
There are side quests in the final hours of the game that reward you with a final extra cool and effective skill for each character but even taking those into consideration there aren’t very many skills for each character. That means there's less player expression, but it does make one really consider the role each character holds in battle.
I don’t wanna go into the story too much because the meat of this game is its story. I love the combat but the combat is in service to its story so I don’t want to spoil it. There is a nice amount of ludonarrative harmony in it though (which is felt a lot when after a character grows or overcomes a challenge in the story and unlocks a new skill to reflect how they’ve changed). What I will say is it tackles themes of loss, trauma, self acceptance, doomerisim ,queer identity, bigotry, state power ,dismantling hierarchy and the value of beating up fascists. For as much as this game feels like a throwback to what some would think back to as a rose tinted childhood with media containing themes that are easy to approach, this game has heavy themes in spades. For me it reached a happy medium between easy to approach themes and hard to swallow ones. This game does not only keep its themes in subtext. At first it seems like it is but eventually its in bold print as you’re kicking someone through a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ window. Its a sight to behold to be sure. If you are marginalized and struggling in the world we live in today, I have little doubt you’ll find characters, even ones outside the main cast, that you identify with.
There is something freeing in a game so concise and well spoken and knowing what it wants to be. It certainly won’t be for everyone but Small Saga is a tiny love letter to outcasts and vagabonds. It contains a little hope for those crushed by the weight of society's expectations, and it does it with a length perfect for a weekend blockbuster rental. Give it a chance.
-Drizzlebyte