Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Hey there,
and welcome to a preview of a new title that’s now wormed it’s way into my
wishlist. Maliki: Poison of the Past is a really neat looking title that draws
from the graphic novel series Maliki. A very interesting turn-based combat RPG
with a sort of farm management aspect, let’s take a look at what we can look
forward to!
Maliki, the
graphic novel series, is a series of French books by an author/illustrator
going by the same name. I’ll admit I hadn’t heard of them prior to trying out
this demo, but now I really want to see if I can find a copy of them in
English. Maliki: Poison of the Past tells a tale about Maliki and some of the interesting
characters around her. A story of fighting against a plant-like lifeform that
can travel through time in order to keep humanity from being wiped out.
While the
Maliki demo isn’t very long, between an hour or two to complete, I can say with
full honesty that what I did get to try out certainly hooked me. You play as
Sand, a person dragged through a temporal gate by Maliki in order to help her
gang fend off Poison. You start rather strong on this recruitment
drive. After a very brief combat tutorial, you’re shunted through another time
gate into a more peaceful period in the past, where you get to learn more about
the Domaine, an area outside the usual effects of time.
Within the
Domaine you will meet the cast of characters who are helping Maliki to fend off
Poison and to keep the Domaine up and running. A sort of slice cut out from
nature, presided over by a Thousand-Root Tree, which is what keeps the Domaine
outside the natural flow of time. The Domaine itself gives some pretty heavy
Harvest Moon type feelings, as you can plant and harvest food, cook, craft, as
well as feed nature essence to the Thousand-Root tree to take care of it.
Once you’ve
settled into the Domaine, you are now ready to face the dangers of the world
outside the boundary! The fearsome creatures created by Poison will attempt to
stop you, so you need to be ready to fight back. Off you are sent into worlds
unknown so that you may fight back against Poison’s influence. You
explore and gather or help people out everywhere you go. In a very interesting case of
in-universe justification, battle takes place in a mostly turn-based system
once you get into a fight. Basically, since you are using the time-power from
the Thousand-Root Tree, you would normally be able to turn fights into a
one-sided beating. However, because Poison can affect time as well, the enemies
aren’t stuck there. Hence they “move” too.
You get a
turn order in battle, and you have multiple commands such as attack, technique,
block, focus, temporal actions, and inventory. Maybe a little more than you may
be used to, but it all makes sense. There are different element types to
attacks, and enemies can be strong or weak to them. As you perform actions, or
use focus, you build up a temporal action gauge. Once it’s high enough, you can
affect the turn order. Most notably, you can “rollback” your time, healing you
and restoring some points you need to use your techniques. Seriously
though, the amount this gives is bigger than you’d expect and, at least in the
demo, is pretty much your main method of survival if required. There are a lot
of traditional turn-based RPG elements here, but also enough little additions
and tweaks to make it feel fresh, which is always appreciated.
I did
notice that enemies can be somewhat more healthy and strong than I was
expecting, which is tied more closely to that healing from the temporal action.
Not only does it keep your health up, but also returns technique points so you
can keep using the big moves. In another note, if you slide the turn order and
your turn matches with a teammate, you both act at the same time. If you match
with an enemy however, you both take action together as well, but you have a
time limit to determine what you want to do before the enemy acts. A really
cool aspect to the battle strategy that I quite enjoyed.
It would be
remiss of me to talk about Maliki and not mention the art. Overworld art is
done in a sort of 3D Japanese chibi style, while character portraits, very
animated ones I’d like to note, are done in a very beautiful 2D art style. No
seriously, I really love the art style. So much I actually went out to go check
out the webcomic strips that started the whole deal. The aesthetic of Maliki
just really all comes together nicely and it looks really good. A sort of weird
cross between old-school Final Fantasy and Harvest Moon style vibes.
I’m super
excited to see the full release of Maliki: Poison of the Past and so should
you! Go put this awesome looking title on your wishlist, or check out the webcomic strips/graphic novels if you can and it’s your thing! I know I’m
certainly looking forward to what Maliki has to offer!
Score: N/A
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