RWBY: Vale of Darkness

Anime is a pretty widespread phenomenon nowadays, even if it’s not exactly mainstream yet in the western hemisphere. Granted, there are some shows that managed to enjoy a huge audience all over the world, such Dragon Ball Z or Attack on Titan, but they are rare exceptions. On the other hand, video games are easier to design nowadays, which is why so many of them feature anime influences.

Save the world from evil and fight all sorts of monsters

RWBY: Vale of Darkness is a top-down RPG based on the popular web series RWBY in which you have to fight terrible monsters and save the world from evil. In case you are not familiar with the show, the whole thing takes place in a fictional world named Remnant, where creatures known as Grimm terrorize the people and must be kept under control by fighters known as hunters.
Naturally, you play one of these hunters, but you have the liberty to choose your own name and not worry about knowing any details about the show. In essence, the story is about a huge Grimm invasion that has your hometown burned to the ground, which is how your adventure starts. You get to visit a variety of interesting locations along the way, as well as battle hundreds of monsters.

Classic tile-based graphics and nice soundtrack

The gameplay is pretty engaging, although you have to be wary of random encounters that can get very repetitive after a while. In addition, the combat system is more or less active, which means that you can lose your turn if you do not act quickly enough. It’s still a turn-based system at its core, just a bit more demanding. Naturally, you can either attack or cast a special ability, which is where the Dust comes in.
As for the technical details, the game was created using RPG Maker, so it shouldn’t be surprising if it looks like every other game designed with the same tool. On the other hand, there are plenty of original assets as well, including the monsters and some characters. Naturally, the artwork isn’t very memorable, but at least if tries to get as close to the original RWBY as possible.

A neat hack & slash that can help you fight boredom

In the end, RWBY: Vale of Darkness has the tendency to become repetitive and annoying, at least if you have the bad luck to stumble onto many random encounters. On the other hand, the grinding can also be rewarding if you enjoy getting better weapons and more experience for your character.