But appearances are deceiving, as this is not a nostalgic game. This is a dungeon RPG stripped back to just the essentials, then – one where you move across a tiled environment and battles play out with the bare minimum of animation. Its presentation is purposefully basic, allowing lead designer and creator of the famous Active Time Battle system Hiroyuki Ito to re-examine the RPG from its original dungeon-crawling roots. Square Enix’s Dungeon Encounters is the sort of experimental RPG we used to see on the likes of the Nintendo DS, a system where smaller-scale titles from large publishers comfortably found a home. Incidentally, I also recently acquired a bargain-priced copy of the Zelda alike Ary and the Secret of Seasons hoping it may be a 2021 hidden gem candidate, only to discover it came out in 2020. I’m hoping a patch is due, as I haven’t quite got my tenner’s worth of entertainment yet. My medieval lawbreaker is now trapped in a quarry, unable to start the story mission that’ll free them from said pit. The fact that the city’s crass graffiti changes often is neat, too.Īfter making decent progress, unlocking some of the harder/rarer achievements along the way, everything suddenly came to standstill after finding a game-breaking bug. Missions usually feature a twist, forcing the thuggish lead to improvise. While it isn’t much to look at (cel-shaded visuals always look terrible when shrunken down or viewed from above) there is a surprising amount of depth to the combat, requiring you to block with a shield and dodge attacks. Indeed, ‘tis a silly game, also borrowing heavily from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. If you gain a high wanted level, it’s even possible to ‘pimp’ (read: respray) your horse to fool the city’s guards. Horses replace cars, crossbows are used instead of guns, and hireable beatboxing bards stand in for radio personalities. Rustler takes the concept of a medieval GTA – as in, PSone era GTA – and knuckles down on it.
So cheap, in fact, that it was almost certainly a misprice.
After seeing some favourable reviews, following the announcement trailer generating a mild buzz, I took a punt on a cheap copy of Rustler. It’s around this time of year that I sniff out and play some smaller games, ready to compile our annual ‘Games You May Have Missed’ feature. As the nights started to draw in, the team got comfortable on their sofas with a mug of hot Tizer and enjoyed some games.
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