Paper Animal RPGis afreshly Kickstarted indie title that wears its disparate influences on its sleeves.Paper Animal RPGis a love letter to the developer’s favorite styles of games: roguelikes, games with a wholesome aesthetic, and Nintendo RPG franchises likePaper Mario,Mario & Luigi,andPokemon Mystery Dungeon. The titleconcluded itsKickstartercampaign today raising €76,084, nearly doubling the creator’s goal.
Game Rant spoke with the sole developer behind Cuddling Raccoon Studios, Azurexis, who also goes by Nick. Azurexis is bridging the gap between the two seemingly disparate types of games withaccessibility options including a casual mode. Fans of cozy games and those who enjoy the variability of roguelikes but find the challenge to be too unforgiving should keep tabs onPaper Animal RPG.
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Dungeon Delving and Camp Crafting in Paper Animal RPG
While it can be hard to conceptualizePaper Animal RPG’s diverse influences, Azurexis breaks down the title’s core loop into two primary phases.
“You’ll spend most of your time on the Dungeon Floors, where you explore the procedurally generated map, find hidden treasures, battle against enemies and do small side quests. The Camp Floors are there for you to catch a break and actually manage, consume, use and spend the stuff you’ve found in the Dungeon.”
Paper Animal RPGis intended to be a comforting and fun experience, so a rhythm of adventure and relaxation is fitting. Camp crafting mostly consists of cooking dishes to buff the party of adorable animals (Azurexis recommends cooking onions with fish bones), though players can also dabble in dinosaur husbandry once theyfind a dinosaur egg. In dungeons, the player’s party will fight enemies and search for treasure with a wide variety of skills.
Each run starts with a single character, and as players progress they can recruit up to three additional members. Combat has nods toPaper Mario and the Thousand-Year Door,including an audience that cheers as characters duke it out. Players can also modify their characters with stickers that act like passive equipment, similar toSuper Mario: Sticker Star.In true roguelike fashion, players will lose all of their skills and stickers when a run concludes.
Paper Animal RPG’s Skills for Thrills
Skills function likejob or class commandsin turn-based JRPGs and tactics games. Azurexis broke down the interactions between skills, classes, and characters with an example using the Brawler.
“Each character and skill have exactly one of those three roles and for a character to use a certain skill, both roles have to match. Pyroblast for example is a Brawler skill, so Peep and Cookie - who are also both Brawlers - can use it, while Kwak - being a Caster - can’t.”
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The classes form a familiar triangle. Brawlers are up-close and personal damage dealers who do deal consistent DPS. Casters have high crit chances, and deal ranged burst damage. Support class characters are typically meaty tanks or nimble dodgers; ideal for snatching treasure and escaping danger.
In terms ofPaper Animal RPG’s roster, players will be able to choose between three protagonists at the beginning of the game, and two more starting characters will become available over time. Depending on who the party encounters, players can also recruit twosecret characters, and Azurexis promises this pool of heroes will expand upon the release of the full game.
While a party loses all of its gear and abilities at the end of a run, the game does feature a persistent collectible system in the form of cards. Players will unlock booster packs that containdigital trading cardswith art and lore of different in-game artifacts, like characters and objects. It is unclear whether these cards will have any effect on gameplay, or if they are just for fun. It’s also important to remember thatPaper Animal RPGis still in the thick of its development, and Azurexis said backer and fan feedback can still impact the game.
Paper Animal RPGis expected to launch in September 2023 for PC, Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.
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