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Small Saga review: a short, story-heavy RPG that’s light on challengeRat’s entertainment
Rat’s entertainment
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Darya Noghani
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Darya Noghani
Well, I think this is probably the first and only time I’ve ever heard British documentarian Adam Curtis appear as an ominous backing sample in anRPGboss battle theme, but in many ways, I hope it’s not the last. Forget the operatic choral chants ofFinal Fantasybosses. The new rallying cry against peak villainy is now some no-nonsense British commentary about the state of human extinction. It works surprisingly, well, andSmall Sagais a game shot through with these kinds of Britishisms, set in the parks, streets and underbelly of modern-day London.
Only this isn’t an RPG about humans, but the rodents that live beneath their feet - the mice, rats, squirrels and moles who have developed a kind of proto-medieval society of their own built from the trash and discarded objects they’ve scavenged from under our noses. In this world, humans are terrifying ‘gods’, supermarkets with their shelves of seeds and grain are called ‘Heaven’, and your main mode of transportation is a pigeon with a wicker basket. It’s a fascinating world solo developer Darya Noghani has created here, and it would be a thrilling turn-based RPG, too - if only its battles didn’t completely cheese it when it comes to providing any sense of challenge.
Small Saga’s characters aren’t voiced, but you can hear their regional accents in every line. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Darya Noghani
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Darya Noghani
Small Saga’s battles could be brilliant if they had a bit more bite to them. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Darya Noghani
You see, battles are fixed and predetermined in Small Saga, occurring only at set points during the story. It’s a refreshing approach that completely eliminates having to grind or worry about keeping pace with its enemies, and it also helps to keep its runtime to a very brisk six or so hours (and that’s including its small smattering of side-quests, too). It’s very fast-moving, which is a blessing in this day and age, and there’s a compelling rhythm to each encounter. Every attack has its own set of ability points attached to it, for example, and you’ll need to balance the cost of these attacks against defending to help replenish your stock of points on your next turn. It’s a familiar, if simplified version of other systems we’ve seen elsewhere in Japanese RPGs, and early on it’s compelling enough to keep you hooked as you begin to unravel its engrossing story.
The problem, though, is that it’s all just far too easy at time of writing, which completely robs it of any stakes or tension. Even its bosses pose about as much threat as the toads and cockroaches you face very early on, as many of their attacks don’t even break into double digits. Granted, this is an RPG that likes to keep its numbers, well, small, but when regular enemies only ever deal damage in the region of 1-3 HP, and you have a health bar of 30+ that automatically replenishes after every battle, it all starts to feel a bit toothless. It also doesn’t make much use of its animal-based weapon weaknesses, either - a system that gets introduced within the first hour as you tackle a large, foreboding house cat, and is then seemingly forgotten about immediately after. This would have helped apply just a tiny bit more pressure to its ensuing battles, but really, it’s the numbers that need tweaking here more than anything else.
I love Small Saga’s overworld map - I wasn’t kidding about the pigeon airship! |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Darya Noghani
Interior environments are all isometric, and while they may look sparse outside its immediate borders, every space still manages to feel alive with detail. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Darya Noghani
Hopefully, with a bit of rebalancing, Small Saga might yet reach the upper echelons of pint-sized RPGs, joining the likes ofJack Moveas another lively reimagining of their Final Fantasy inspirations in miniature. As things currently stand, though, Small Saga gets a much more tepid recommendation - though I’d be half-tempted to say the Adam Curtis battle music (and its excellent score more generally) is almost worth the very reasonable price of entry alone. It’s certainly a one-off, I’ll give it that, so if you can stomach its lack of challenge, you’ll probably still have quite a good time with it.
