RPG #13: Artifission RPG Review

Artifission RPG is an interesting new sci-fi RPG series from Swedish game designer Johan Teleman (a.k.a. "Fickludd"). The story takes place in a parallel universe during the second Cold War, and presumably it's in the relatively near future as well. Artifission RPG features combat remarkably similar to that you'd find in most Final Fantasy games, but with some minor differences. To name two: you can get attacked while standing still, and you can't run from combat. On the plus side, however, this game features a sophisticated leveling system that allots experience to your stats depending on which ones you use during combat, and how much you use them. (Amusingly, you level up your hit points simply by getting beaten up a lot by enemies.)

So far, two chapters of Artifission RPG have been released--and unlike most flash RPG series out right now, this one seems to hold some promise of continuing with further chapters:

Artifission RPG Chapter 0 is, by the designer's own admission, more of a prologue than a proper chapter. It lacks a save feature, items, or a level-up function, and yet it is still worth playing for the mood, the nice hand-drawn artwork, the well-produced music, and the introduction to the story that it gives you.

Artifission RPG Chapter 1, however, is where things really start to pick up. For one thing, this chapter features such niceties as items, save points, and the ability to improve your character. You start this chapter off with an entirely new character, which explains certain events in the prior chapter. Chapter 1 makes a little more sense of the plot, which is hard to discern from Chapter 0, and features more interesting combat with a greater variety of enemies (including a rather strange boss early on).

Ultimately, if you lose patience with Artifission RPG Chapter 0, you may like Artifission RPG Chapter 1 better. My advice: definitely give this series a chance. It's worth it.