➤ Guildlings, the review 🎮

Considering the quality and success of Threes !, the previous production of Sirvo Studios, it is with some interest that we approach the Guildlings review, the new team game. We are nowhere near Threes! which is a pure puzzle game, one of those pertaining to the more classical tradition of mathematics-based puzzles, since in this case we are dealing with anarrative adventure with influences from RPG. What remains constant, from one title to another, is the sure trait of Sirvo both as regards the aesthetic cleanliness given by the particular graphic style of the game, and in the design of its structure, which offers rather original solutions. Guildlings is basically one parody but also a tribute to the world of role-playing games, in particular to the more classic tradition of these in the institutional fantasy setting. The aim is to form a group of adventurers, the "guildlings" of the title, and guide them on a perilous mission to save the whole world, only that the epic tone of such a quest is drastically blunted by the disruptive personality of the protagonist and the various characters, who seem much more interested in solving their small-big daily problems or triggering minor skirmishes rather than dedicating themselves body and soul to the collective good.

The story begins with Coda, the protagonist, who gets a "secondhand smartphone" from her sister, but this turns out to be actually a magical tome that allows the owner to become a Guildmaster and lead his own team of adventurers. Thus, when first turned on, Coda finds herself stuck in a sort of purplish bubble, floating around in the form of a guiding spirit intent on recruiting and guiding the heroes in the daring mission to save the world. The one released last week on Apple Arcade is just the first chapter of what should be a series of adventures for Guildlings, so it should not be taken as a full game, even if it already has all the characteristics of a standalone adventure. Its duration at the moment is therefore limited (it ends in about three hours) but the story is destined to continue in the next period, in any case it is already a substantial beginning with comparable contents and those of other complete narrative adventures.

A strange world

To understand the spirit with which Guildlings tackles the classic themes of the RPG fantasy comes to think of Adventure Time, which could have actually been an inspiration for Sirvo Studios, considering the proximity of the humorous vision of this setting with that of the animated series. But also to Earthbound, with which the title in question shares the parody intent and some more technical features, such as the combat system. The protagonists live in a world that sources the classic characteristics of fantasy with extremely current and decidedly prosaic elements, so for example the great mission to save the world soon becomes saving the appointment of Syb, the sister of Coda, who agrees to do part of the group only after having bent the adventurer's "contract" to her requests, with a quick change to the "terms and conditions of use". Likewise, Chazazz's daring enthusiasm to join the Guildlings group seems more related to trying to get out of his condition as a neglected nerd who has an actual spirit of self-denial. In general, we constantly witness this bizarre combination of juvenile comedy elements immersed in a world that still has the typical characteristics of fantasy that makes everything particularly interesting, thanks also to the excellent writing that supports it all.

The narration takes place mainly through dialogues, displayed as a constant chat between the characters, complete with emoticons, young neologisms, selfies attached and different styles to identify the different personalities of the protagonists. In this continuous exchange of jokes probably lies the greatest strength of Guildlings, which proposes a narration that seems fresh and pressing, with non-trivial dialogues and the possibility of choosing the answers to give in order to influence the development of the story and also to earn experience points. to the group with statements aimed at creating a positive climate. The texts are completely in Spanish, missing something of the word games and language game often present in the original version, but still with an excellent translation job.

I fighting they take place in turns and recall the rhythm and style of classic pen and paper role-playing games, but transfigured into rather absurd situations that lead us to fight against refrigerators, junk crabs and other strange creatures, which somewhat recalls the spirit of Earthbound . The mechanics of the clashes are however very classic, with the subjective shot on the enemy and the possibility of selecting attacks and actions to be carried out with different consequences and influences on the emotional state of the fighters. Among the clashes and dialogues, the game also offers more classic adventure elements: exploring the environments we discover various elements of the scenario or characters to interact with, but the puzzles and game situations are generally simple, which makes the fights and dialogue the two moments in which the story generally evolves.

Comment

Tested version iPad Digital Delivery App Store Resources4Gaming.com

7.8

Readers (4)

8.0

Your vote

Guildlings is a clever parody and heartfelt homage to fantasy RPGs, staged as a kind of dialogue-based narrative adventure. Lively and original writing is the main engine of the whole experience, but there is no lack of elements more properly related to the RPG itself, such as turn-based fights, also bent to the particular vision of rolistic fantasy adopted by Sirvo. The characters are nice and well characterized, which is reflected in funny and never banal dialogues, although sometimes there is the impression that the game takes a little too much pleasure in its being "strange", losing a little the thread of the discourse and a certain global coherence as a real video game. In the end it is clear that Guildlings is more than anything else a story, light and pleasant, about the passion for the classic role-playing game and the desire for adventure that unites childhood to maturity.