This Way Madness Lies

I do not say this lightly when I say that this game is one of the most enjoyable I have played in a long time. Even if you aren't a fan of Shakespeare and his works, you should give this game a try. The story kept me engaged, and every character had their own archetype that they played into really well. The combat system is something unique, where instead of relying on mana you have single use abilities that recharge after you defend. I feel like this promotes actual strategizing rather than mindlessly pressing the same button over and over again. Zeboyd has also made sure grinding is no issue. Enemies are visible in the over world, and you can also start combat simply by using the fight command in your menu. The game maintains a reasonable difficulty all the way through. There's no drastic spike in difficulty, and while there were instances where I felt the game was getting too easy, it would blend enemies together in ways that prompted quick thinking and strategizing. The music, as with all other Zeboyd games, is top notch. I'm not normally one that enjoys game Posts that have lyrics, but the singer for most, if not all of the soundtracks in this game has a great voice, and not once did I feel like the music was setting the wrong tone. Also in typical fashion with Zeboyd games, the humor is there. The ability to switch between Shakespearean English and modern slang is one of the features I most appreciated. Overall, while I'm not much of a fan of Shakespeare or magical girls, this game was a blast to play through. Zeboyd is a diamond in the rough when it comes to game studios, and I truly hope one day they get the recognition they deserve.

The Zeboyd games all have great combat mechanisms, very simple, but filled with nuances and tons of room for optimizing. This one is the best of the bunch in that regard. Also has great music. The story and structure are... ehhh, not for me. Some of the jokes were funny, but I just have a really hard time taking any of the characters or stakes seriously--no real investment from me, basically

This Way Madness Lies is a short and comedic turn-based RPG which has two sets of scripts that add an element of comedy to the otherwise mundane story and characters. Otherwise, the game does nothing special but also does nothing poorly and is fairly generic as far as turn-based RPGs go, though there is a major bug that can corrupt your save slots which the developer was never able, and didn't care, to fix. Overall, I'd prefer to give this game a neutral review because the dialogue frankly carries the game and is almost worth playing through it to completion but I don't think this alone is worth recommending it. In fact, once the novelty wore off and the dialogue had lost its luster after the first few hours, the rest of the game was so generic that I didn't end up coming back to complete it until a few months later. Note: this review is current as of v1.24 released on 8 Feb 2023 (the latest patch). S U M M A R Y - The gameplay is linear and typical for the genre but with the developer's signature spin and focus on status ailments which both help shift it away from the damage-centric arms race that this genre often defaults to; - The replay value is practically non-existent as you see almost everything there is to see in one playthrough and it's not worth going through a second time; - The graphics are composed of colorful pixel art but the visual effects and animations are lackluster and dull; - The soundtrack is good and has a few stand-out songs (particularly the vocal songs) but is otherwise forgettable background noise; - The story is a unimaginative magical girl adventure where they save the world but is carried by the Shakespearean English script and the hilarious "New English" script which is a modern-day translation of the Shakespearean that adds plenty of humor to the game; - The game is missing a few quality-of-life features that would make the intricacies of the game easier to keep track of and understand but has a major bug that can corrupt your save slots which the developer doesn't know how, let alone care to, fix. A C H I E V E M E N T S The game has 16 achievements which can all be acquired throughout one casual playthrough (with one being missable) that should take around eight hours on the easiest difficulty setting. R E V I E W Gameplay The gameplay is emblematic of the classic, linear, turn-based RPGs of ye olden days but with the developer's signature spin on the formula: - Each character has eight slots for actions that they can take during battle (other than using items) and each action may only be used once before needing to be recharged by taking the Defend action (meanwhile items can only be used once per battle); - Each action becomes more powerful, or has its properties changed, if the character is in Hyper Mode which occurs automatically every few turns based on the character; and - Status ailments and the enemies' resistances to them play a large part in controlling the flow of the battle and help shift the game away from a damage-centric arms race, though damage still reins supreme even on the harder difficulties since status ailments are not permanent, don't last long, and are hard to set up given that the turn order isn't displayed and you have to learn the turn order based on each character and enemy's speed stat. The above points help to expand the otherwise mundane combat system but the battles inevitably become a bit of a chore once you figure out the optimal team composition to counter the specific enemies in each area. The replay value is extremely low as the only unique things to see are a few (less than five) different dialogue options depending on the choices you make during certain scenes; however, these don't alter the story in any shape or form and are purely superficial. There is also no "New Game Plus" feature despite the fact that you only reach level 45-50 throughout a casual playthrough but the level cap is 99 which is a missed opportunity as this could have be…