Developer: Fishing Cactus
Publisher: Fishing Cactus, PID Publishing, 2PGames
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
Nanotale – Typing Chronicles – Review
Fishing Cactus put itself on the map in 2016 with the release of its typing adventure, Epistory. The game proved to be a very interesting and engaging experience, and it won over the hearts of many gamers. Now, from the same developer, we get to play Nanotale, which is considered the spiritual successor of Epistory. While we certainly liked the experience, it also felt a bit rough around the edges. In the midst of a fantasy setting, we were eager to see how many WPM we could squeeze out.
Story
Nanotale puts you in the shoes of Rosalind, a young archivist, who is ready and eager to start cataloging the world around her. During her first official outing, she does stray away from the path laid out in front of her, to stumble upon a dying spirit animal. This soon turns into a battle for survival, where Rosalind will use magic skills she never knew she had. You’ll soon learn that the world is being plagued by a corruption that finds its way into the hearts of many. You will have to awaken your dormant magic powers in order to undo the damage that this terrible evil is bringing upon the world.
The overall story flow is pleasant, as you get short dialogues here and there, as well as find a bit of lore about the fauna and flora being presented to you. The lore, however, is something you’ll have to actively search for, as text snippets only pop up when you have interacted with a certain amount of plants, animals, enemies, etc.
Graphics
While Nanotale is arguably a cute-looking game, it’s also not a very polished one. More than often we’d be stuck behind invisible corners, and the overall design of what lives and breathes in this universe feels a bit ‘copy-pasted’ all over the place. You’ll only encounter a handful of enemy models, a small variety of plants and other critters, and that’s about it. The colors used are great for this fairytale-like story, but other than that, it feels a bit dated and underwhelming.
Sound
Nanotale’s sound design is quite on point. The game has a very cinematic feel to it, especially during bigger battles. We do have to say that the music can become a bit overwhelming and loud during the latter. That said, the voice acting also adds a lot of flair to the game, which makes its universe come to life. The sound effects sprinkled in-between are somewhat basic, but they properly convey what is going on.
Gameplay
Nanotale – Typing Chronicles is a fairly classic action RPG, in which all the main mechanics are replaced by typing words. This means that the ‘typing’ gimmick is used for both combat and exploring the world, as well as dialogues with the NPCs you encounter during this adventure. It was a nice change of pace from other titles in the genre, and we did like it, but some things were a bit off at times.
Throughout the game, you’ll level up and have the choice between several abilities. More than often it’s basically a choice between upgrading your magic power, having a bit more mobility or going for items being marked on the map, etc. It’s a fun system that allows you to tailor the experience to your own personal play style, to a certain extent. You’ll always have three items to pick from, thus not giving too much freedom either.
While the overall gameplay loop of Nanotale proves to be original and fun, it does become a chore after a while, and this is mainly by forcing the player to open the spellbook whenever you need to, to type during combat or puzzles. You’ll have to close it again, to move when enemies close in, making it a tedious process. Nonetheless, if you ditch the ESDF keys the game recommends, and start playing with the arrow keys, you’ll have a lot more fun.
There are a few bugs still present in the game. You’ll sometimes get stuck for no apparent reason, quests will not trigger, and most important of all, hitboxes are absolutely horribly designed. More than often you run past an enemy to lose HP for no reason at all. Other times, you kill an enemy, and then still get damaged by running over the spot where it died.
Conclusion
Nanotale – Typing Chronicles is a fairly amusing adventure to undertake, albeit with still some rough edges to polish. We weren’t always convinced by the game’s graphical quality and its controls, but the overall concept and gameplay were engaging enough to finish this reasonably short RPG adventure. We do hope the game does get some extra polish and perhaps even ditch the mechanics to open your spellbook. Nonetheless, those looking for a game in this niche ‘typing’ genre, will have something to sink their teeth into.
Nanotale - Typing Chronicles - Review,
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