After a draining day’s reportage upon the thoroughly alien doings of vast corporate publishers, I like nothing better than to flee, blabbing and weeping, into the arms of a micro-RPG. Scumhead’s Franzen - released a few days ago on Steam and Itch - has a couple of big draws, straight off the bat. Firstly and least importantly, it’s free, which it really shouldn’t be. Secondly and more significantly, it’s one of those rare RPG miniatures that is both richly imagined and snappy, with a busy and befuddling world in which you have immediate clear motivations that escalate rapidly and breed Dire Implications. It also looks like a 16-bit Pathologic, so consider me firmly on board.
I’m getting Chrono Trigger / Final Fantasy 3 (6 in Japan) vibes which is amazing! I’ll definitely give it a try.
