Geo Mythica Review

Party Like It’s 199X

Guin Entertainment’s Geo Mythica makes no bones about its inspirations from 8-bit JRPGs. Taking players into a 1990s-inspired version of Earth, it features plenty of quirky characters and locations as players find themselves globetrotting on a mission to stop multiple threats to the world. While its fast-paced combat might hinder itself by trying to be too many things at once, the game still provides a fun adventure worth its time.

The game begins in the California town of San Luis Obispo, where high school football player Gio Zachary’s work on his history project quickly changes to a world-spanning adventure with the future of the world at stake. After falling into the catacombs beneath the town’s mission, Gio discovers an artifact called the Atlas, which only he is able to read. This puts him in the target of the nefarious Sur Nova corporation, which is attempting to use the power of the Atlas and mysterious orb fragments for its own ends. While attempting to stop Sur Nova, and certain other threats, Gio ventures across the globe in search of these orb fragments, picking up some ever more unusual allies in the process.

Seems trustworthy.

Geo Mythica’s story fits in with its inspirations, and many of the game’s story beats and twists are quite standard for the genre. It’s not a game that takes itself especially seriously, with increasingly quirky characters and locations — including a Geordie dragon and race-hosting sloth village — but it plays its serious moments straight and manages to retain an enduring charm. Part of this is thanks to the likeability of Gio, who helps players enjoy the flow. The story never tries to do too much and never gets bogged down for too long, being quite happy to whiz players to the next location, which also helps. It makes for an ultimately enjoyable adventure that satisfyingly fills the hours.

There’s an appreciable amount of depth in what players can do across the game’s ten-to-fifteen-hour run time. The Atlas gives a useful in-game guide on where players should go next, even if that location isn’t necessarily part of the main quest, though players can freely visit other locations should they wish. Each of the optional locations has its own enjoyable self-contained quest or challenge to overcome, offering useful rewards and opportunities to level up. There are a few ongoing collection quests that also require visiting all of these locations to complete. The locations offer a good mix of pathfinding exploration, on-screen combat encounters, and treasure chests to find, with a few containing some additional puzzles to help keep things decently varied. None of the locations outstay their welcome, helping to keep the sense of progress up.

Geo Mythica’s combat is an interesting combination of fast-paced action and strategic real-time-with-pause elements that starts off strongly, but feels like it loses itself to the chaos as more and more threats and options come in. Players control one of the three party members, with the others acting according to very rudimentary orders. Each character has a base attack/combo, a number of unique skills, and assignable spells. AI-controlled characters will simply use their base attack at regular intervals, with players able to instruct them to move or use a skill or spell at any time. Each character has a distinct play style, utilising their own unique resource for skills. For example, Gio builds up Fury by attacking and being attacked, while Lilianna starts with a supply of Herbs. Meanwhile, spells use a standard MP gauge, though many have a short cast time.

Combat is interesting, but feels like it tries to be too many things at once in the latter stages.

There is some good variation between different enemies, with each location offering three to four new enemies or variants, though this variation also generates potential stumbling blocks for players. The necessity of unleashing the correct counters to enemies quickly enough also often means that the action and strategic elements are fighting against each other, and later battles need to be ground down lest players lose control of the encounter. Players can assign a number of skills to the shortcut buttons, saving time from having to dive into menus to use them, though it would be nice if there was a way to reassign these during combat when an otherwise rarely-needed skill becomes vital. Players can at least freely reallocate their talent points and spells between battles. However, the fact that many enemies require specific methods of neutralising their threats or dealing damage to them often warrants different character builds. This will be appreciated by those who enjoy the process of strategically planning for each encounter, but may grate for those hoping to be able to create something that is effective at large. For those who do wish to just enjoy the adventure part of the game, players can switch to an easy mode that prevents characters from being KOed while also ignoring skill and MP resources at any time, with a hard mode also available for those wanting even more of a challenge.

Each level awards a talent point, which can be spent upgrading a skill, spell, or attribute — the latter requiring finding appropriate trainers to unlock. The single point can feel a bit paltry, particularly if players unlock the full set of available potential upgrades. There is a reasonable amount of equipment to obtain; most of the armour and weapons are just standard upgrades upon previously obtained items, but there are plenty of accessories that offer different passive bonuses to complement a planned build or strategy.

Among these more regular towns are places like the sloth village.

The game’s 8-bit art style works well, effectively utilising its bolder colours and sprite work. Cities in the game don’t really exude much character, but the lack of visual distinction is made up for by other little touches — such as different currencies, cuisine-based food items, and a needing to learn languages — that point to the adventure’s globetrotting nature. Much of the same can be said about the music and sound effects, which emulate the 8-bit era nicely and are pleasing to listen to. While not standing out, the lo-fi visuals and music complement each other nicely, never becoming overbearing or grating.

For those looking for an enjoyable retro adventure, Geo Mythica should fit the bill well. The combat ultimately won’t be for everyone, especially as it gets more chaotic to weave around towards the latter portions of the game, but there’s always a fun journey lying underneath it. While the story is fairly predictable, a solid sense of charm permeates everything it does, helped by pacing that ensures it doesn’t outstay its welcome, making for a solid if unspectacular title.

Disclosure: This review is based on a free copy of the game provided by the publisher.

Generally fun adventure

Strong amount of depth for its runtime

Plenty of charm to its characters

Combat ultimately gets in its own way

Predictable story beats