Stone Story RPG Review

Dark but Not Brooding

Stone Story RPG is an auto-RPG entirely in ASCII-art animation. It features a deep crafting system and strategic combat. The stones in this story belong in a dark world, lighted by the soothing ASCII art. ASCII art is a graphic design technique that uses computer characters. Remember the old-school emojis? No?

-_-‘

How about now? This is one of the basic ASCII art. Since Stone Story RPG uses ASCII art, it offers a visual experience different from the hyperactive, vivid and almost intense visuals of many modern Android games. You might feel as if you have gone back to the Stone Age. Get it? The 9 magic soul stones define the main quest in the RPG, where the ‘light’ can only be restored once you have all the stones.

Even though Stone Story RPG has RPG in its name, it combines and explores features of many genres. Interestingly, even the RPG element isn’t fully controlled by the player. It is the AI that does many of the non-combative tasks. These include exploring and looting. While the indie studio features auto-RPG elements within Stone Story RPG for a portion of the gameplay, it isn’t entirely an idle game.

Black and White, Narrow and Deep

Stone Story RPG is as much about quests, combat and adventure, as it is about hidden treasures under simple surfaces and inside caves. There is a lot to be found if you just keep exploring. There are 8 unique locations that are filled to the brim with engaging lore and interesting NPCs to encounter.

Stone Story RPG doesn’t feature any microtransactions required to unlock levels or content. Neither are there any weapons that you need to buy to overpower the bosses. One of the interesting things is that you can code custom minigames! Also, players can make their clothes and pets, which increases the personalization quota within Stone Story RPG. However, it’s not exactly smooth sailing or playing. The bosses that you end up fighting require intense focus and timing. Since these bosses tend to change patterns, you will have to be quick and swap items to attack more efficiently. You can search and catalog items, and then combine them to enable new strategies during your fights.

Treasure Is Everywhere!

Stone Story RPG starts with hints of an idle game where you go to a location to collect resources. There are some fights which are easy to deal with. However, once the crafting system is introduced, Stone Story RPG becomes even more engaging. The techniques are simple enough, but the possibilities are endless. You can create a lot of equipment which can be chained together for a higher attack power. As the story evolves, it eventually gives way to strategy and combat. It sometimes gets complicated, especially during the fusing of equipment, but that’s where the fun lies! It’s easy enough to understand but not simple to execute, and that’s what makes it engaging.

There are deep combat systems to break down and the upgrades and features unlocked elevate the progression of the gameplay, with almost an uncanny and precise timing to it. This ends up making Stone Story RPG a well-planned adventure RPG. What’s best? There is no energy or life bar, so you don’t have to worry about dying! And the art! It’s so mesmerizing and beautiful and yet so soothing and lends an aura of mystery. You’ll think that the ASCII-art animation would render it simple, but it’s the exact opposite. It becomes more engaging and the unusual visuals impact the gameplay through catchy visual aesthetics.

In the spirit of the game, here’s one of my favorite emoji.  (⌐■_■)

And link for other ASCII emojis: https://asciimoji.com/

Go all out. And if someone else doesn’t like Stone Story RPG, feel free to do as below:

ʕノ•ᴥ•ʔノ ︵ ┻━┻