Alcarys Complex Demo

An original story can go a long way when it comes to saving a video game from disaster, because people are open to accepting a lot of inconsistencies and annoyances, as long as the tale behind them is worth listening to. That is the main reason why most RPGs do not have to worry about displaying state-of-the-art graphics, or revolutionize the genre every other day.

Alcarys Complex is a retro 2D role-playing game that’s nothing if not original when it comes to the story, as well as the characters that are part of it. Even so, a bit of work went into the environments and the rest of the game features as well, although the title mostly resembles old games like Final Fantasy and The Legend of Zelda, without too many modern elements.

The plot follows a young guy by the name of Corvallis, who’s working for a pharmaceutical distributor and appears to be a normal 20-year-old man. However, things change when he returns home one evening and finds what appears to be a bear attacking his mom. As it turns out, the bear is actually his father, and the condition has been passed on to him as well. Thus, he leaves on a journey with a few other people, all of whom have certain unique traits that make them a good team.

Gameplay-wise, everything is as simple as it can get, since you use the directional keys to move and a few other buttons to perform simple actions. The battles are just as simple, but they are not very emphasized on anyway. In fact, dialog seems to be the main way of advancing through the story, which is a welcomed choice and the much more mature approach.

From a technical point of view, the game looks like it came out two decades ago and would probably fit on a NES cartridge. However, the graphics are not the issue, even if they do actually look good, at least if you pay enough attention to detail. Not too many great things can be said about the sound either, but the music is OK and there are some decent sound effects as well along the way.

In the end, Alcarys Complex is the type of game that needs to be given a try just to hear its story, even if everything else is not at all convincing. Hence, if you are in the mood for a tale and you are not easily discouraged by simple appearances, this can very well provide you with a good time.