Bloomtown: A Different Story Review
A Loose-Fitting Comfortable Shoe
Combining popular concepts has long been considered a potential recipe for success. However, actually getting the finished product to contain as much depth and nuance as the beloved titles that focused on those initial concepts, is a lot more difficult. In this case, the inspiring ingredients of the Persona franchise and Stranger Things ensure high expectations. In Lazy Bear Games and Different Sense Games’ pixel turn-based RPG Bloomtown: A Different Story there are a lot of aspects done well, but when drawing upon such powerhouses there’s a lingering expectation of greatness that is never quite reached.
Emily and her brother Chester are dealing with some family turmoil in Chicago so their mother ships them to Bloomtown, Illinois to spend the summer with their grandpa. On the surface, it is a typical sleepy town in 1960s America. However, they soon find that the town has been dealing with the disappearances of townspeople for months now. Emily then finds one of the multiple gateways to a darker world called the Underside. Once there, she signs a contract with Lucifer to gain the ability to tame and use demons as a way to defend herself from the evils of the Underside. What starts as a dark adventure with some comedy slowly gets more creepy undertones as Emily is forced to grow up too fast dealing with the three powerful demonic entities that are threatening the residents of Bloomtown. Emily never loses her intelligence or childlike whimsy, which leads to some endearing and comedic one-liners.
Bloomtown: A Different Story does a great job of grounding its characters despite the insanity that keeps occurring around them. As preteens, Emily, Chester, and Emily’s Bloomtown bestie Ramona are pretty quick to adapt to their surroundings. When they come across Hugo, a talking corgi who’s lived hundreds of years and is able to turn into a two-legged beefcake with muscles that would make a strongman blush in the Underside, their reaction is mild amusement and sarcastic banter. Emily has the chance to bond with these party members and other colourful characters in Bloomtown, which is worthwhile since their stories are deeper than they first appear.
The stylized presentation of Bloomtown: A Different Story is its greatest strength. The colourful palate used throughout adds a sense of eerieness and vibrancy that adds to the whimsicalness of the world. Enemies range from weird to grotesque, but again in a way that’s downplayed based on the colour choices so it never feels scary. The little quirks added to every room in the Underside mean every dungeon feels handcrafted, complete with debris that feels more like the clutter of a demonic teenager’s room rather than anything horrific. This is aided by the music, with the combat offering cheery and catchy vocalized tracks that keep bopping long after a game session is done for the day. The traditional ambient tracks are less memorable but do a serviceable job of creating whimsy or dread depending on if the player is in Bloomtown or the Underside.
There’s a day and night cycle, though any trip into the Underside lasts until 9:30 pm, no matter when it was entered. Unlike titles that use such cycles to apply urgency, in Bloomtown: A Different Story there’s none at all. The only reason there are days is to make entering shops or meeting with people mildly frustrating due to restrictions. Nothing is holding the player back from turning Emily into a workout machine, spending day after day exercising to boost her health little by little while ignoring everything else. This lack of urgency isn’t inherently a bad thing as the title is short enough that it is easy to max out the four attributes; Guts, Proficiency, Charm, and Smart by just fooling around the town. However, it strikes as odd when characters speak as though there is a time limit, giving a false sense of stress that disappears when players realize it’s purely for flavour. In addition, one of the tasks around town is a part-time job that gives a decent amount of money. As damage and defence capabilities are entirely tied to equipment, it is pretty easy to become overpowered early on. These exploits can make the modest difficulty barely noticeable, though having the patience to grind through these mechanics, particularly with the occasional lengthy load time on the Switch, is another thing entirely.
Thus, the only barriers to reaching end game readiness are artificial ones that prevent Emily from exploring sections of Bloomtown until the story allows it. Bonding quests with other party members or Ruth, the sole non-playable companion, also reach these artificial walls in which the story must progress to unlock the part of town to continue them in. Bonding quests are important because they unlock perks in combat. These perks are potentially game changing abilities that can, for example, double debuff chances or get a second dice roll to capture a demon.
Some storyline choices as well as all demon capture attempts are made using dice rolls. The two dice are rolled for every dialogue or skill check as well as any demon capture that the player makes. An example of a skill check is when Emily comes across a spider infested abandoned car, she needs to roll Guts to see if she’s mentally strong enough to search for treasure. Enemy demons that can be captured are broken down into four attributes as a way to differentiate the chance of capturing them. Bloomtown: A Different Story is kind enough to show the chances of meeting the target result, which reaches a maximum of 97% as double-ones are always a failure. If a player fails to capture a demon then the enemies gain a free attack, while failing a dialogue roll tends to just prevent the player from receiving extra items or money without really affecting the story.
Every party member has a guardian demon that levels with the cast and learns one new skill from a choice of four options available. These options tend to follow particular skill types per character so it pegs each party member into archetypes. The way to customize this is to equip any captured demon into the free extra slot for magic. Captured demons grow in strength by fusing other demons into them. This creates a difficult choice to use the more recently fought enemies with fewer abilities and more resistances to boon their partners, or to slowly level early demons for the chance at something special. Earlier demons can become more powerful thanks to a 30% chance to learn a new ability and 10% to gain a new resistance with each level. What is learned is largely random, but depends on the demon’s type, such as fighters only learning attack abilities.
Enemies are shown on screen as two legged shadows that, if not engaged, will chase Emily until she leaves the area. Areas are split up by doorways that take a second to open. Fights can be avoided this way, but many of them don’t respawn upon re-entering the Underside. Meanwhile, dungeons cannot be re-entered after defeating the boss, meaning that potential experience and treasure can easily be left on the table. Engaging the enemy is humorous as either the enemy or Emily will slap the opponent to initiate combat, but this is purely a visual gag that doesn’t change the actual fight.
Turns always begin with the player party — in the order of Emily, Ramona, Chester, and then Hugo — before the enemies get their actions. The only thing that shifts this up would be debuffs, missing party members, or if the player hits an enemy weakness it can occasionally lead to an additional turn. Overall, enemies have large health pools and, depending on how much equipment is purchased, can take some time to get through without losing a lot of magic points dishing out spells. Magic is the easiest way to make enemies go down. Knocking down every enemy in the fight by damaging an enemy’s weakness gives players the choice to subdue one and have them join the player, or do an all out attack that deals heavy damage. Without downing enemies, there’s a reliance on debuffing them so that weapon attacks actually deal decent damage. Furthering the large health pools are enemies that are fond of healing, while ranged attacks come with an ammo counter that resets every encounter, but still means that they’ll run out in a single battle much faster than magic spells.
Spawn points in dungeons are showcased as payphones and work as various starting spots that make hopping back into a dungeon simple, including being conveniently located before bosses so players can head back to Bloomtown to rest up before a tough fight. Bosses are generally quite powerful and if the party comes in whittled down by small fry things can get a bit too difficult. There’s reason to explore with treasure to be found in large abundance. Chest contents appear to be randomized; dying and reloading to open the same chest leads to different results. This leads to the temptation to save-scum, or for different playthroughs to be easier than others thanks to the luck of chest contents.
Bloomtown: A Different Story combines familiar aspects of popular Stranger Things and Persona franchises and twists them to create something different. The narrative does a solid job of blending horror and comedy with colourful visuals and catchy music. However, the gameplay loop just doesn’t quite have the tightness to make things properly tick. Demon fusing, bonding, and time limits are at times refreshingly straightforward, yet also frustrating in their lack of depth. There’s definitely something to be gained from taking a hike in and around Bloomtown, though its quirks prevent it from being a must stay locale.
Disclosure: This review is based on a free copy of the game provided by the publisher.


Visual presentation is a feast for the eyes
Combat music is a pleasant bop
Story always keeps a good balance between enjoyable humour and being deeply unsettling
Differing approaches to well-known mechanics don't quite fit
Inherent lack of urgency matches heavy tones problematically
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