Tears Revolude (PC) Review

Essentially, the goal is to further the story, by running through dungeons, solving puzzles, and then defeating the requisite boss. When they aren't engaging in minor spelunking and slaying monsters, the party is visiting towns for shops and quests. The shops carry all of the essentials such as potions and stat-boosting accessories. The blacksmith strengthens weapons. He can also modify weapons so that they have different stats, and add slots. These slots are filled with gems, which boost stats ever higher. It's an effective, but pretty dry and banal system. There's a constant pleasant sense of satisfaction from gaining levels at least.

The battle system is definitely functional. It's a turn-based setup that tracks when heroes or monsters can make their move. This is helpful in determining which monsters to target first. There is, however, one caveat. This game is extremely easy on the normal difficulty setting. It's laughable, really, because the party will never come close to falling in battle. Michelle is also quite handy with a whip - which probably explains the dominatrix outfit - as she demolishes foes before they get a chance to act. The average battle will play out as such: Michelle uses her "Rose Whip" technique on the enemy party, and then they die.

The bosses certainly look boss-like, but they crumble like crackers thanks to the special ability. Each party member has one, and it's basically a super move that does ludicrous amounts of damage. In order to strengthen it, the attacking hero can call upon their allies, and then draw dozens of magical symbols. This means that players will be mashing the D-pad or keyboard to guarantee a strong attack. While the special ability takes some time to charge up, it can cleave 2/3rd of a boss's HP in a single stroke. Again, this is on normal difficulty, so maybe the specials only take half or 1/4th on the harder settings.

The story is pretty bog standard for the genre. It's typical, but there is a slight bit of charm to the affair. It harkens back to a simpler time when goofy conversations were the norm, and villains spent several minutes explaining overwrought ideologies. This game is also very short. It can be completed in just north of five hours. In other words, players are treated to a cheesy RPG in a compact package. They can shoot through it in a weekend while listening to some music. Not the in-game music, mind. The sound quality in Tears Revolude is pretty bad.

Graphically, the game is really hard on the eyes. The frame rate while exploring dungeons is just awful. Characters aside, everything looks really dull and grey. The variety in monsters is also pitiful. There are snakes, wolves, elementals, evil dolls, birds, gremlins, and bad guys with swords. That's pretty close to the entirety of the bestiary, barring the endless number of reskins. The bosses are a bit more unique, but about half of them are refights. This is probably to be expected, considering the low budget and short length.