Pocket RPG Hands-On Preview

Today we met up with Crescent Moon to talk about a dungeon crawler they're publishing called Pocket RPG. We did a Q & A about the game with developer Tasty Poison a little while ago, but this time we got our hands on the title and are happy to report our impressions.

When you start Pocket RPG, you can choose to play as a warrior called a Blade Master, an archer called a Dark Ranger, or a spellcaster called a Battle Mage. Each character has a unique fighting style, so playing as the Dark Ranger or Battle Mage feels similar to a dual-stick shooter, while playing as the Blade Master feels more like a beat-'em-up. The characters also have upgradeable abilities that build on one another as you level up, so'll get more powerful spells, arrows, or melee attacks as you progress.

As you slay foes, they drop coins that you can pick up. Coins can be spent whenever you encounter a merchant character, who you'll bump into periodically within the levels. It's kind of funny to find a merchant standing alone in a monster-filled cavern, but the cartoony art style allows for those kinds of small logical leaps.

The levels are randomly generated from hundreds of pre-built pieces, so no two gameplay sessions will be the same. You'll battle in underground dungeons, icy mountains, and lava-filled caves, and you'll tackle a wide variety of enemies. In our time with the game, we killed hordes of yellow slimes, sharp-toothed larvae, and pincer-bearing beetles, as well as bosses like a hulking ogre and an evil tree.

There's a "Full Game" mode that lets you keep playing as long as you want, or you can use a "Quick Game" option for a fast session on the go. Pocket RPG will be a universal app, and it will be released in "the coming weeks."