Nepenthe is a solid indie game. It’s a fun, complicated RPG that has brilliant moments backed up by unique art and music presentation. It does have some bugs to fix, but nothing yet that isn’t manageable or gameplay disruptive.
Indie developer Yitz has brought out a unique game called Nepenthe, which is part RPG and part artistic venture to visual and audible entertainment. The game snags your attention through a bleak storyline and presentation, multiple ways to take the storyline, and replayability caused by gamer decision-making. That is pretty damn complicated for a small development team.
Starting with the story, gamers play as a character that has washed ashore on a monster-ridden island. The main character (you) is struggling through a brutal case of amnesia after the boat you were traveling on was destroyed at sea. The only clue to the character’s voyage was a note that details a cataclysmic event called Nepenthe, which could turn the entire world inside/out, and that the character must stop before it’s too late.
While the gameplay is impressive in Nepenthe, especially its sensitive complication when it comes to decision-making, the first two things you’ll appreciate about the game are the visual style and the Wes Anderson-esque music to push the story along, as well as the moments that accompany each. The visuals look innocent enough, as they are comprised of crayon drawings and non-threatening graphical style. What this means is that this game will appeal to a wide variety of audiences, even when it’s being menacing through dialogue. It’s a gorgeous game and the graphical style used only reinforces the playfulness of the adventure you’re put on and at times its seriousness. As you can see below, there’s nothing too detailed about it, but it fits in when the characters and storyline presented. In short, it’s visually creative and it works.
On the audio side of the equation, the game features a piano-driven musical experience that has a tinge of Moonlight Sonata playing through the majority of the gaming. You also get some shift in music when particular characters go up against you, including some full-fledged vocal songs that remind us not to take the game too seriously (it’s not Night Trap song goofy, but the humor of the song is pushed through character dialogue and sentiment). It’s neatly composed from moment to moment, and it’s well-done as you dive through the adventure. The music was produced by Pipe Choir, who deserve your time and attention to check them out. This isn’t an advertisement for them, as we don’t do ads on this site, rather it’s a recommendation. They did a great job on this game and they deserve some love.
Shifting away from visuals/audio, and bringing things back to the story, the story is a bleak look at a potential dying land. The tale is a bit typical of RPGs from the 90s (always some great force out there set to destroy everything), but that’s what you get with good RPGs. If you think about it, and you pull back from the details, every great Zelda game put forth the same type of design in the story. Link wakes up, Link has to go save (pick something) before the land is brought down, and served on an evil platter. It’s the same type of structure through classic RPGs, so I have no complaints about it, although I do fully understand this is not a Zelda game. Regardless, it’s by the book and it works.
Going along with the story is the game’s dialogue, which is a mixed bag of nuts when it comes to enjoyment. On one hand, I do appreciate the off-beat scri,pt from each character that defines their personality, but on the other, I do wish there were a few more hints of direction within that dialogue that worked closely with the gameplay. For example, there is a moment where you meet a pig person and you need a tool for them to enter another or pick-axthe game. If the pig person could tell me how to acquire their pick-axe, or at least hint at it, instead of me being forced to kill them and take it — that would have been super. It would have helped me avoid being shunned by the rest of the town folk over the pig person’s murder (I was called a murderer for it — and this wasn’t the case when I didn’t murder the pig person). I could give you context to that example, but I don’t want to completely ruin the experience for you. Anyway, more dialogue that worked well with the story, which would work well with the gameplay would have been absolutely appreciated. It would have given some leads to the gamer, if not encouraged a bit more exploration in some areas. Related, the dialogue humor is filled full of dad jokes and ridiculous moments. I dig that completely and have no complaints in that department whatsoever.
Shifting gears just slightly, as for the gameplay design it’s impressive for an indie like Yitz. The game has multiple ways the story can go through the dialogue and reaction chosen by the player. The flowchart for this thing must have been complicated as hell, as you will find out from NPC reaction to choices you have made as you go through the story (see pig person example above for details). How you play the story equals out to how the gameplay plays out. If you decide to ignore some character’s needs, then you may be haunted by that decision at a later date. If you decide to help out another character, then it might open up some opportunities as you cruise through things in Nepenthe. Regardless, the traditional RPG backbone is built on choices players make. The fighting, exploring and discovering is all dictated by how you react to the storyline. Again, it’s incredibly complicated for an indie game. You have to put a lot of thought into the decisions you make, otherwise you’ll have to restart the game at least five times (I did this to get it the way I wanted, but it made more far more conscious of my decision-making).
Coming back to the RPG side of things, there are two ways to play this game. You can go on an adventure or you can focus on story. These are literally choices at the title screen. Starting with the latter, the story mode allows you to focus on dialogue and story progression without much worry about combat. You get straight-up turn-based combat with no additional layer of complication to the game. I found this to be my favorite part of the title, as I love a good story with compelling characters. The combat is easy, the leveling is not necessary, and you can just go concentrate on everything else in the game. I dig this mode very much.
For those Undertale needy gamers out there, the adventure mode is your ‘boi’. The combat still contains that turn-based RPG initiation, but quickly puts in smaller games of skill within the fighting. For example, when fighting the pig person, he threw layers of axes at me, which I had to dodge. It was simple, patterned, but it did offer up a challenge. It’s difficult, folks, and not to be taken lightly when going this route. Well, let me point out, it was difficult for me. Younger gamers could probably hang with this system without a hitch. To help patch up the difficulty a bit, or at least offer itself as a crutch, you can choose to ‘relax’ during a fight to recover HP, though you still have to be good at those mini-games, or you can use items to help you win. There are a lot of ways to handle the adventure side of Nepenthe, so don’t be shy.
Either way you go, you’re still getting a complicated game from Yitz for $4.99, which isn’t bad considering what you get with the title. Now, the game is still being updated, so you will run into bugs, but as it stands it’s a good game with a solid future. Hopefully it expands and we get to know the land that our characters play in a little more.
Overall, Nepenthe is a solid indie game. It’s a fun, complicated RPG that has brilliant moments backed up by unique art and music presentation. It does have some bugs to fix, but nothing yet that isn’t manageable or gameplay disruptive.
