Rise of the Third Power

Inspired by the RPGs of the 90s, Rise of the Third Power is something that is truly special. Mixing a fantasy story in with real life events/inspiration is very cool. What I think really makes this game cool is that the developers have stated they have taken the best of both Western and Japanese RPGs and fused them together. While it certainly has the look of something you would find on the Super Nintendo, it also has many modern gaming conveniences to make it play more like a modern RPG.

Stopping The Third Power

The story is its own thing, but it is clearly inspired by the rise of the Nazis and WWII during the late 1930s and early 1940s. Rise of the Third Power has a group of eight brave souls who are trying to put a stop to a man called, Dimitri Noraskov who is the Arkadyan emperor and his nation is running rough shot all over the world of Rin.

What I like about the story here is that it is very serious, deals with tragedy, but the characters still have a lot of personality and wit about them so there is some humor in the story as well.

A Battle Like No Other

While Rise of the Third Power will have you doing your usual 16-bit style RPG things. I really wanted to spend some time talking about the combat system the game has as it is quite unique. You have eight characters that you can play as and each character has their own strengths and weaknesses. You do not have to just pick four or three of them for your party, you can use all eight and quickly switch between them instantly so you can use all of their skills. You pick the formation you want your team to have and you get to it, it takes away having to micromanage your party to a frustrating degree!

No Need For Hours In The Menus!

The equipment system that Rise of the Third Power has is as unique and user friendly as the battle system. When you get a new piece of equipment, it is always with you! So if you get a badass helmet, you get an upgrade for it rather than another helmet. Each of the eight characters can have three pieces of equipment and each one of these can have eight upgrades. It takes away the hassle of playing around in an inventory screen for 20 minutes.

Playing With Super Power

Visually, I love what they have done here with Rise of the Third Power. This has the look of a high-end Super Nintendo RPG when you are actually playing the game. The 1930s Europe vibe that the world has is fantastic and the character designs are some of the finest I have seen from a pixel art/sprite-based RPG. You also have some gorgeous artwork too which helps move the story along.

Does 2022 have a more exciting looking retro style RPG than Rise of the Third Power? Actually, while the visuals are retro, this game has a very modern and unique battle and inventory management system that makes it stand out from all the other sprite based RPGs that we have seen in the last couple of years.

Pros:

• The setting and the story of this game is fantastic
• I love the way the game looks
• The battle system is unique and gets the best out of your party
• I like the way you do not have to keep changing equipment, you just upgrade it

Cons:

• I do not think there are any plans for a physical release of this game
• Some voice acting would have really taken the story to the next level