Despite being a small German developer, SideQuest Studios has made a name for itself in the gamers community. Setting out with the mission to create a charming, enjoyable, unapologetically old school JRPG, the studio present the gamers with “Rainbow Moon”. Though the name is quite deceptive and may sound like an ’80s cartoon but it is certainly not so. It is an hardcore role playing experience which combines obsessive grinding and equipment and character upgrading with strategy-based battling.
The plot being simple, involves a protagonist, Baldren who finds himself stranded on a mystical satellite know as Rainbow Moon. He is not alone there as the dimensional rip which transported him to the moon also transported plethora of monsters. His main aim is to eliminate these new unwanted inhabitants from the moon to as to restore the serenity of the moon. He is assisted by other inhabitants in accomplishing this task.
The gameplay includes the battle between your party comprising of three characters at a time and the enemy party which may contain a single enemy, 20 enemies or anywhere in between. The battle system is in the form of a grid and each character has a set of moves, which increase as the player goes higher and higher in the level hierachy.
Characters have a selection of skills (strength, luck and defence) at their disposal, varying speeds at which they move, and even a certain amount of moves they get to execute each turn. Enemy and character strengths and weaknesses also play a huge part in combat.
Attacks can be carried out in two main ways, through either using the normal attack command, or using Skills which are fueled by mana. Skills have to be bought from merchants, though you can discover some in the wild, and these attacks are generally more powerful than standard attacks, with the added bonus of casting negative effects such as bound, which stops an enemy from moving around the grid.
Along with the exquisite plot, this game is accompanied by crisp graphics and vivid colors which prove to be visually appealing. The game has variety of foes. Poison-hurling scorpion, a laser-firing mech or a fast moving zombie are few amongst them. It has a strong sound track comprising of catchy tunes. The limited voice track like “hello” and “goodbye” make the characters live and help to grab player’s immediate attention.
This game not only engages the player with its graphics but also with the turn based combat. It allows the player to think more tactically and strategically. The Rainbow pearls gathered during the game are used for acquiring attributes but whether to trade them to a Savant is purely based on players thinking. It also provides the player with the upgrading options like Rainbow Coins and Rainbow Pearls that keeps him/ her coming back for more. The items like potions and torches found during or after the battle helps the player to upgrade purchaser equipment and give a statistical boosts to the gear that can make the character stronger.
Besides the main game there are series of quests which are helpful is adding the fun to the game. There are straight-forward questing and side-questing that sends the player from character to character for brief conversations or makes him/her do activities like retrieving lost items to killing devious enemies.
