Revenant Dogma Review

Strange as it may seem, I found Revenant Dogma’s strict adherence to JRPG staples—turn based battles, world map, mysterious female heroine—a welcome change of pace. The fact is that the JRPG is in the midst of a transition where the classical Chrono Trigger, Suikoden and Secret of Mana paradigms have been largely abandoned by big-name developers in favor of more ‘dynamic’ battle systems (I’m looking at you, FF VII remake). Although it’s hard to ignore both the bold strides the genre has made in recent years and the fact that barely a month goes by without Kemco releasing yet another classically conventional JRPG, a game such as Revenant Dogma feels like coming home.

We enter the world of Revenant Dogma as Caine and Julie stumble upon a divine artifact belonging to the beastly therians. It turns out that the therians’ gods simply like them more and have given them divine power, while humans are sadly left to their own meager abilities. The two sides have largely stayed out of each other’s way, however. After Caine comes into contact with one of these artifacts, the duo quickly becomes a trio as the aforementioned mysterious girl, Lilith, joins their ranks. If this all sounds a bit familiar—the Biblical names, making the acquaintance of a young mysterious girl while searching for an ancient artifact—it may be because RD borrows rather unapologetically from numerous genre staples. But if you’re a fan of JRPGs in general, particularly those of the old school variety, you’ll inevitably be a fan of RD.

Despite the derivative story (and let’s be honest, what were you expecting), I was impressed with the execution of Revenant Dogma. There are numerous quests, a crafting system where new weapons can be forged and a pretty neat battle mechanic called Transformation. As the name suggests, the main characters’ exposure to divine relics gives them the ability to transform. These transformations are somewhat similar to Vincent’s from FF VII, but instead of losing control right off the bat, the character is given three turns in battle before they go berserk for the remainder of the battle. It’s possible to transform back before the three turns, but once the Limiter gauge is full, it’s too late and you lose the ability to control the character for some time. More forms are gained as throughout the game, each giving a stat boost and a unique skill set. I was surprised at the level of depth that such a simple idea added to boss battles, which could get pretty challenging if one foregoes grinding.

The crafting system is pretty straightforward, but if you’re a complete-every-sidequest, collect-every-rare-weapon type of gamer like me, your inner collector will be rewarded with this game. Certain items have stat modifiers attached and by taking these weapons to a weapon shop one can break them apart for the ore, letting you carry these modifiers to better weapons. Since the end result of the break is random, many save-and-retry attempts might be necessary until the desired ore is received. In addition to crafting, new legs are added to the main quest—which takes roughly 12 hours—via the Ethereal Ests, which are special dungeons containing rare item drops and weapons.

The best JRPGs have at the very least two thing in common: engaging characters and a great soundtrack. As for the former, I can honestly say that I think that the dialogue of Revenant Dogma is some of the most hilarious I’ve seen in the genre. Despite some issues with localization in a few spots, the character interactions are handled very well and without being overwrought or too silly, greatly enhancing the degree to which I cared about the otherwise standard story. Tying together the excellent leveling and battle systems is a fantastic soundtrack. The battle theme is one that you’ll likely find yourself humming in the shower, which is a good thing because the rate of random encounters is rather high.

Revenant Dogma combines solid graphics, a memorable cast, a high degree of replayability and a great soundtrack into a very enjoyable whole. Before beginning this review I thought that I might need to curb my criticism a bit because Revenant Dogma is free to play. While there is a premium version, the core game can be played in its entirety without paying a dime. The premium addition starts you off with 1,000 in-app points to spend, but not much else, making the free version the smarter choice. We’ve reviewed nearly a dozen Kemco JRPGs since we opened a doors a few years back and have often found Kemco’s offerings pretty hit or miss. I’m happy to report that Kemco has hit the mark with this entry; not only for those JRPG enthusiasts looking for a fun, free diversion, but those looking for an excellent JRPG period.