Sorbetta: Gravely in Debt

[h1]At a Glance[/h1] [table] [tr] [td](Adult) Content[/td] [td]No.[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Censorship[/td] [td]Not applicable.[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Hours of Gameplay[/td] [td]Two hours.[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Modding Support?[/td] [td]No.[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Patch Required?[/td] [td]Not applicable.[/td] [/tr] [/table] [b]Sorbetta: Gravely in Debt[/b] is an RPG about a lady who needs to pay her debts, through bartending and necromancy. [h1]Gameplay[/h1] This game can be summed up with one word, "RPGMaker". You follow a story and explore the world, fighting enemies and defeating bosses. Combat is turned based. You attack, guard, and use skills and items. However, this title doesn't use a standard "experience or "level" progression system. Instead, progression is based on gear. You stats will never budge until you find better gear. Most gear is only found via story events, tho...

The intent behind this game was to create a quick, lighthearted, entertaining, and well-written game using mostly default RPG Maker assets. I think it largely succeeded in that goal, which is why I recommend it. The pros are many: -Writing The developer is a talented author, and the writing really shines as the main draw. The story is linear without being dull. There are enough surprises and variations of the general RPG theme to keep the story refreshing and always full of surprises. I found myself looking forward to what the dev would do with each quest, knowing that it would contain something worthwhile.  -Laugh out loud humor Consisting largely of puns, clever innuendo, and general goofiness, I considered the humor quite well done, and worth a few laughs out loud. Certainly subjective, and not for everyone, but such is always the case with humor.  -Immense flavor Each character has personality which comes through in their actions and the dialog. Every item has (sometimes hil...

Sorbetta is a short quirky RPGMaker game that has pros and cons. To me the pros outweigh the cons so I would recommend it. Pros: -Quirky, funny story. That could be a con to some, so make sure you know that you are getting a game that is not meant to be taken too seriously. -Stable. I had no crash bugs at all. -Pretty good balancing. Too many RPGMaker games have poor to non-extant balancing which requires you to read the devs mind, and this game avoids that problem for the most part. -There is a guide made by the dev themselves if you get stuck. Cons: -Maybe too short for some. -You will be forced to stop and grind for money at some point to get the needed cash for the main quest. Overall it is a good first entry by a new dev, and hopefully we'll see more games from them in the future!

For disclosure's sake, I'm a friend of the dev, who's done some work for them. A short and simple RPG Maker game (which doesn't actually contain adult content aside from some comedic book excerpts, despite the tag). PROS: - Easy to get 100% achievements, with a free guide also available - Writing is its strong point, has some cute and funny moments - Hilarious game development backstory, created during a series of Twich streams on a challenge - Good for casual play. Doesn't require any significant grinding or farming. CONS: - Mostly default assets. A lot of non-default assets tend to be lacking. - Relies a lot on community in-jokes and references - Created during a series of Twitch streams. Stream chat had [i]a lot[/i] of input. - Too simple to have really fulfilling gameplay if you're looking for something with more meat to it.

so I'd give this game a 7/10 as far as short games go. That is mostly for how much emotion you put into the character dialogue and how it feels like people actually talking. For combat it was ok, but it went from "Damn why is the forest monsters taking so long to kill, to "man did that monster just die in one hit?" at the last level. As for uniqueness most rpg maker games set their tone so serious it makes the games feel all the same so it was a big refresher to how the game felt. The game would of benefited greatly if it wasn't propped up with the base rpg maker look. Over all it was a decent game. Not amazing but I enjoyed the time that I put into it.