Philna Fantasy Review: Reliable, But Way Too Ordinary Action RPG

1 week ago 5

Murillo Zerbinatto is a contributor from Brazil. He's an RPG enthusiast (with a focus on JRPGs) who has been around the world of games and content creation for more than five years now. He has a particular love for Final Fantasy and has absorbed all the content this long-running series offers, including its obscure spinoffs such as Dimension I & II, Explorers, and My Life as a King. While playing RPGs is already a time-sinking endeavor, Murillo doubles down by being a platinum hunter as well.

Occasionally, I like to sandwich an indie cozy game between those 80-hour JRPGs, sort of like a palate cleanser before I char my brain again with world-ending plot twists. When the chance to review Philna Fantasy came up, with a memo saying it was a 15-hour journey, I jumped at it.

I'd seen the game's trailer previously but knew next to nothing about it, other than it was the debut of an indie team called Sailike Game and featured gorgeous, charming pixel art. What lay in store for me was an action RPG with a very familiar gameplay loop and progression system, packed with enough repetitive collectibles to keep completionists busy.

Indie Games With Infinite Replayability Thumbnail, Featurign Stardew Valley, Risk of Rain 2, and Rivals of Aether 2.

10 Best Indie Games With Infinite Replayability

You won't see me for a week after Terraria updates.

I clocked out at 16 hours after clearing every sidequest, snagging all the unique items, and maxing out my crafting skills. Philna Fantasy potentially has high replay value — or at least it thinks it does — but while I had my fair share of fun, the moment the credits rolled, I didn't want to spend one more second on it.

Run of the Mill Story

I'll keep this brief because there's nothing to write home about regarding Philna Fantasy's narrative. At first, I was intrigued: our character literally falls from a spaceship onto another planet, and since we're both silent and amnesiac, it keeps our backstory under wraps. Before long, we join the adventurers' guild and start assisting the Kingdom of Votland with whatever ails them.

The writing and dialogue weren't exactly Earth-shattering, but they were passable, supporting each story beat to keep the plot moving. However, as the game unfolded, the writing started to go south. The script quality had gotten subpar, and typos began cropping up, like double spaces or even untranslated text (which was extremely jarring during a late-game lore dump that explained a pivotal plot point I completely missed). Soon, I was paying more attention to the sloppiness than the plot itself.

Philna Fantasy tries its hand at a few plot twists, but they all fall flat. There isn't a single memorable or charismatic character in the bunch, and even the endearing bubble emotes weren't enough to make me care. Long story short, I was left totally cold by the narrative. Fortunately, I was actually quite hooked on the gameplay.

A Tried-and-True Gameplay Loop

This action RPG features four classes: Berserker, Ranger, Chrono Mage, and Assassin, each with its own skill tree and specialties. I started as a Berserker, swinging my massive two-handed axe around, but I also took the Chrono Mage for a spin to see if they felt different. They do. Each class’ playstyle and approach is quite unique, ranging from regular basic attacks to special gauges.

The gameplay loop felt familiar from the get-go. I entered a dungeon, slayed enemies, collected random loot and crafting materials until my backpack was full, then portaled back to the game's only city to sell my junk or craft new gear before heading back into the fray. If it smells and looks like déjà vu, that's because it is.

The game design is very Diablo-esque, but set against delicious pixel art whose every sprite's movement evokes warm nostalgia. Every enemy has a chance to drop gear with varying rarities and affixes. If you don't want to grind for gear, you can craft your own, unlocking better pieces as your crafting skill levels up. Enemies and materials don't respawn until you finish or reset the dungeon.

Each class’ playstyle and approach is quite unique, ranging from regular basic attacks to special gauges.

Furthermore, defeating enemies earns experience, which nets you more levels and, consequently, skill points. You only have four hotkeys, so from a pool of eight or so skills per character, you have to pick your favorites. As you spend more points in the skill tree, you can unlock new passives, opening the possibilities for different builds. The Berserker has a Whirlwind move, which was a given to me. Who doesn't love a warrior spinning like a top with a massive axe? My enemies, that's who. They hated it.

So far, so good. Philna Fantasy offers a reliable loop that works as intended. However, when the story forced me to backtrack to older dungeons (and it does so ad nauseam), it hit me that there are no procedurally generated tricks here. The area layouts, enemy spawns, and materials are always in the exact same spot. For a single playthrough, that's par for the course.

Philna Fantasy Review - Chrono Mage Battle

But if you want to replay it with another class or are completing the mundane sidequests the game has, you'll likely get bored to tears the moment you hit those older dungeons again. The game features some collectibles that get increasingly powerful the more you get them, like monster exclusive drops that can be converted into cards with different passives. Yet, I was still just treading old ground, which killed my enthusiasm since enemies don't grow in power, minimizing experience gain and any threat.

Another buzzkill was the gear progression. Getting a gear upgrade felt great until I noticed a pattern. Every few dungeons, everything evolved to a better tier. The problem? A rusted version of a new tier of equipment was vastly stronger than the best version of my old one. It made me wonder: what's the point of toiling away for better affixes if the crappiest item in the next area will double my stats? So, I stopped farming and caring altogether for builds or min-max and just bulldozed ahead.

That's why I'd say only my first run was actually enjoyable. It had its ups and downs, primarily due to the script and backtracking, but the combat remained solid, especially the boss fights.

All In on Boss Fights

Throughout the dungeons, you'll face common mobs and elite ones. Once your gear is up to snuff, these enemies become more of a formality than a real danger. The bosses, however, are not only tough but ingeniously designed.

Every boss fight in Philna Fantasy is top-tier. The early ones are a walk in the park, but the late-game ones go utterly bonkers, to the point where I couldn't even tell what was happening on screen with all the projectiles flying my way or imminent area-of-effect attacks. While I never died to regular enemies, I was getting one-shotted by bosses if I didn't learn their mechanics.

The soundtracks during these fights deserve a massive shout-out. During stages, the music is just okay, atmospherically appropriate. But the moment I stepped into a boss arena, the music pulled a complete 180. A guitar is summoned from DragonForce heaven, and the metal starts cranking to the nth degree. It's mesmerizing and energetic, a perfect match for the bullet-hell chaos on screen. You can tell the composer really went all out here and was having the time of their life.

Puzzles Galore

Before reaching those bosses, you have to navigate the dungeons, which requires a bit of brain power. Philna Fantasy is packed with puzzles, sometimes to the point of overkill. Most are creative and use the game's systems to create intricate, clever challenges, while some are inspired by real-world games like Tic-Tac-Toe or that stupid sliding puzzle (which I hate because I'm terrible at them).

Every boss fight in Philna Fantasy is top-tier.

You unlock three traversal abilities that add a tiny Metroidvania layer to the exploration and puzzle-solving, further enriching their variety. One puzzle I simply gave up on because its solution was beyond my intelligence, and luckily, it was optional. There are quite a few side rooms spread in dungeons, whose exploration can be rewarding to completionists, but not recommended to casuals because most rewards only promote the grind side of business.

Puzzles and exploration did offer a necessary downtime from all the repeated combat, but while the action has four difficulty settings, the puzzles don't. So if you get stuck, you'd better call your smart family member or look up a guide. Otherwise, you'll be left in the lurch until Sony releases an AI that plays the game for you.

50 Best Indie Games of All Time

Forget blockbuster AAA games! We want some plucky little indies!

Way Too Ordinary

At the end of the day, Philna Fantasy is a simple, reliable experience. It's cozy because you know exactly what you're getting from the word go. However, while tried-and-true is great for science and mathematics, is it suitable for art and gaming? From start to finish, the RPG never surprised me.

It gave me systems I'd seen a thousand times, only clothed differently. It's dependable, sure, but I don't think it's worthwhile. We have been drowning in games lately, so we have to be picky about where we spend our money, and more importantly, our time, which is the most precious currency of all.

No doubt Philna Fantasy will appeal to some players. More often than not, I also like to turn my brain off and just watch a horde of monsters surrounding my Vampire Survivor. Though if I were making a calculated purchase for a new Action RPG to get lost in, Philna Fantasy would definitely be at the back of the line.

With a forgettable story and not one memorable character, Philna Fantasy sticks to the basics of an action RPG, offering a gameplay loop that feels all too familiar for anyone who has ever played a dungeon crawler. While playing with the different characters is amusing at first, the game soon runs out of steam because it doesn't bring anything new to the table. The puzzles are creative, and the boss fights are a blast, but they're one-and-done deals. After the credits rolled on my 16-hour playthrough, I didn't want to spend another second with the game.