Steam freebies Part 4: Pascal’s Requiem
One of the better free Indie RPGs on Steam.
There are thousands of free games available on Steam, and while it might be tempting to load up on them, time is also valuable, so it’s important to determine if a game is worth spending that time on. Pascal’s Requiem is, at the very least, one of the better traditional JRPG-style games you can find on the platform, but it does come with some flaws.
Immediately after starting, the game gave me Paper Mario vibes. Personally, I think the game should have stayed fully 2D, as the 2.5 world is ugly. Nowhere is this more evident than the forest, where the trees continuously make navigation and seeing your hero too difficult, to the point of sometimes losing him for a moment. The map does the game no favors either; though it’s better than nothing, it took almost the entire game to get used to it and learn how to properly utilize it. Though I’ve been spoiled by the best in the Metroidvania genre.
One thing that tripped me up in the forest was spending 15 minutes looking for a Gray question mark labeled on the map. It took me a little longer to realize that blue are crystals not found, and gray are already found. But why not just get rid of something if it’s already found, to avoid confusion?
With no equippable weapons or armor, these crystals serve as the core customization in the game. The blue crystals are required for progression, while the red ones are optional and harder to find. One can be equipped at a time, and it offers several benefits, like recovering HP after every round, for example.
Levels come fairly quickly in Pascal’s Requiem; I finished at Level 15 by the last boss, about 2.5 hours later. HP, strength, and defense increase, while occasional new attacks become available, but I was able to face enemies 1 to as many as 5 levels higher than my own. Enemies are visible on screen but hard to avoid. Even much lower-level foes chase after Pascal, which is annoying.
Combat is the most interesting, as it demands constant attention and interaction. Each enemy has two different attacks that serve as a mini-game, and with about twenty different types of enemies, there is some surprising variety. Most attacks involve some type of dodging or quick button presses, but compared to even Paper Mario, the number of different enemy attacks was high.
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Pascal’s normal attack and every special attack also involve a short mini-game related to quick reactions or recognizing patterns. If this were more fleshed out and polished in a longer game by the developer, this could be a legit excellent indie experience.
Pascal’s Requiem isn’t very hard, and there are enough healing items that should get anyone all the way to the end; just be aware the final boss for the true ending is a bit of a difficulty spike, comparatively speaking to the rest of the game, and is time-consuming. Anyway, health and mana potions are the only things to be found around the world, but plenty of enemies drop them after defeat too.
I had one issue with the game: towards the end, it crashed, sadly just a few steps before a save point (the final one). Otherwise, the game performs pretty well, though I was shocked that such a short indie title was over 2 GBs!
Pascal’s Requiem isn’t the best free RPG on Steam, but it differentiates itself from the pack in its unique style, and it separates itself enough from the tripe in the dregs of Steam. In the end, it’s worth an evening to breeze through, mainly for the neat battle system.
Steam Freebies Part 1: Grimm’s Hollow
Steam Freebies Part 2: Weird and Unfortunate Things Are Happening
Steam Freebies Part 3: Cat Girl
Steam Freebies Part 5: Friendly Fire
Steam Freebies Part 6: The Ghost Cage
