Archlion Saga

KEMCO rpgs are always good. Some of them, in my opinion, are better than others but generally the company puts out good games. I especially like when they do games with retro 8/16 bit graphics. Archlion Saga for Nintendo Switch, out today, is KEMCO’s newest rpg with retro graphics. Is it a good game too?

Archlion Saga is an rpg that harkens back to the NES/SNES rpgs. The graphics are in that style and the battle system is very similar to early Dragon Quest. Even its story will remind you of rpgs from the good ol’ days.

The story in Archlion Saga is not bad. I thought the characters were neat, especially Bram and how you meet him, and the story has a bit of mythology that gives it more depth than expected. I wouldn’t say the story is as good as say Final Fantasy 6 but it will keep you coming back to see what happens next.

Meanwhile, its battle system is a bit simplistic but still fun. It reminds me of Dragon Quest 1 and 2, that first person battle system were you don’t see what your characters are doing. Archlion Saga’s graphics are much better than those early Dragon Quest games thankfully.

Archlion Saga looks like an older game, while also being more detailed and better looking than the games its based on. I really like its retro look! The music and sound effects are not bad either.

There are a couple of things I do wish were better about Archlion Saga though. I wish the game was longer and I also wish that the included “guide system” was better. The guide system, with the press of a button, is supposed to show you were to go in each area.

Unfortunately the guide system doesn’t always do its job. There are some areas where the guide, arrows that point the way on the ground, is turned off and you are supposed to find your own way. Either that or the guide points you to the ultimate area you are supposed to go to without poiting out that there are some detours along the way.

Its not a perfect system. When its works, it works well, when it doesn’t work, well it doesn’t work. If you’ve played an rpg before, you won’t have too much trouble finding your way in this game. If you’re a newbie, the person this system was made for, then you’ll get lost sometimes.

Archlion Saga isn’t a hard game though. Most of the battles can be beaten easily and its not a big game so you won’t get too lost. Its obvious that Archlion Saga was created with the newbie rpg player in mind though. The game works, somewhat, for those players. I think rpg fans who have been playing for awhile will probably get more enjoyment out of this pocket size experience. Archlion Saga is a good game and fans of the genre should check it out.

Archlion Saga gets a 7.5 out of 10.

Thanks to KEMCO for providing a digital code of this game. Archilion Saga is now available on the Nintendo Switch eshop!