While action RPGs seem to be the big thing right now, Children of Zodiarcs is offering their own take on the strategy RPG genre.
At its core, Children of Zodiarcs isn’t too different from Disgaea or Final Fantasy Tactics. Every character can move a set number of spaces, attack or block and then you can choose which direction they look. What makes it different is the attack system.
Instead of having static moves, characters attack based off cards, which you draw and discard. Every card does something different, like magic, suck blood or just attack, with the affecting different areas too. It’s somewhat chaotic, in a fun way. After choosing an action, you roll dice for additional perks/elements. You can also select a die and reroll it in hopes of getting a better perk.
It’s an interesting system, held back by so so graphics. What stood out about Children of Zodiarcs is that it looked very cheap and generic. The models are the type of thing you’d see in low budget games and I didn’t encounter an attack, be it friendly or hostile, that had an animation.
Despite the low points, the core game is fun enough to enjoy it. One nice touch is you need to move the mouse like you’re going to throw the dice, to actually throw the dice. It also looks to have a fair amount of depth, with a strong emphasis on thinking in the long term, over the here and now.
If this sounds like something you’d be interested in, Children of Zodiarcs releases on July 18, for the PlayStation 4 and Steam.
