While I adore the bleakest and darkest dark fantasy settings, the effort involved in all of them can be a bit tedious at times. Of course, you could use the same argument at the other end of the spectrum. Relaxing games seem locked in a perpetual arms race to knock each other out, chop off their opponents’ dog-patting hands, and blast glittery jangle into their pastel corpses. But hand-drawn RPG Heroes Of The Seven Islands feels more authentic than all that. It’s bedroom antifolk, crafted by a buffalo wizard named Jean-Pierre, via a relaxed dungeon synthesizer.
It's fun, colorful, and has a slightly indifferent tone to its own existence, but I'd bet it definitely took a long time to make. It's made by Rap2h, who's behind The Secret of Darkwoods, a free interactive fiction thing that has 99 very positive reviews. That's not a big number, but it's a good number. Here's the trailer for Heroes Of The Seven Islands:
Watch on YouTube
To me, at least so far, it seems like the kind of project that would make me more interested in exploring hand-drawn renditions of various fantasy monstrosities than actually fighting them. Still, I'm intrigued by the 'reputation' system, which you can see in the top right-hand corner of the screen, and how that affects how people treat your mouse druids and bird knights. Here's the story setup, as told by the titular bard on Steam:
FURAX THE INFINITE, fleshless carcass and soulless body, has come through an interdimensional rift to the colorful, carefree world of Émeyralia to spread SORROW and DESPERATION. Nothing seems to be able to stop him: his influence grows with each passing day, more disciples join him, and NIGHTMARE CREATURES appear on every continent.
According to the prophecy, only THE ORACLE could defeat her, but she retired centuries ago. To find her, the 7 keys in the hands of the 7 rulers of the 7 islands of the Emerald Archipelago must be collected. For this task, FOUR HEROES, the bravest of the brave, are chosen. The future of Emeyralia is in their hands.
The game promises hundreds of hand-drawn animations, which is crazy because my hand cramps up when I try to draw a single cat. I had to fill out a form to adopt my real cat last week and I still think my wrist might be broken. The combat is “turn-based but fast-paced,” there are main and side quests, and it's all composed by “Dungeon Synthesis Artists,” but there's no word on the artists involved. You can find the Steam page here , and it's expected to be out in Q1 of next year.