Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark is a golden tribute to classic-style turn-based RPG. Think along such TRPG classics as Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre. It’s an impressive looking game by Florida based 6 Eyes Studio – that had a very successful run on Kickstarter.
The Story
Like all classic RPG games, Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark tells the story of a fight between good and evil. There’s a good amount of twists and turns that keep the story from becoming predictable though. Which we all appreciate. Our story begins in the land of Teora, where a giant beast has come to destroy everything. Seven heroes step in and defeat the beast, becoming the first Immortals. These Immortals started the Council who are there to prevent and take out any other world-ending monsters from happening. The Council, in turn, have their own force known as the Arbiters. These mortals help to maintain law and order and protect the land from any danger.
Kyrie, one such Arbiter is happy to be of service. That is until one day she discovers some suspicious behaviour in the ranks. Together with her friends Reiner and Anadine, they investigate the internal corruption that’s happening within the Council.
Gameplay
The gameplay, of course, is the reason to play this game. Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark is well-crafted, customisation friendly and all in all delivers what was promised.
You’ll fight your battles in the familiar multi-terrain isometric maps, of the classics. It’s all been well designed and there are even environmental hazards on the map for you to watch out for. As usual, each class will have its own strengths and weaknesses, be able to move certain ways and attack their enemies from different areas. The strategy here is all about timing each of your turns. There are over 40 story encounters that follow the story of Kyrie, with some challenging end-game content.
Customise, Customise, Customise
As long as you gots the money we gots the honey. New combatants can be added into your party during the game. Which is important because of Fell Seal’s injury mechanics. If a party member dies in battle, they are returned to camp to await their next assignment. For each injury they’ve incurred, the less effective their stats become. The nerfing of abilities will continue to stack, should a soldier fall in consecutive missions. Sitting out a battle will help reduce their defeat ranking, so it’s important to keep fresh units on hand.
There are a total of 20 classes in the game, from the traditional knight class to an interesting plague doctor class, and mixing and matching classes will, in turn, make up for a better party that best fits your playstyle.
You’ll be able to create and get customisable characters for specific classes. All of the classes each have unique abilities, which there are over 300 in total. The class system for most turn-based RPGs can get pretty complex, aka frustrating but Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark was just complex enough.
Conclusion
Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark is a great, nostalgic tactical RPG that fans of classic TRPGs will enjoy. While it may not be quite as excellent as those classics, Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark is worth playing through from beginning to end due to its well-crafted gameplay. It is a slow paced game, like most tactical titles but it’ll go by quick and once you finished the story you’ll be looking for more. Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark seems to only have scratched the surface of a bigger universe and I hope we’ll be seeing more games in this series.
You can get Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark on Steam, GOG, Xbox One and PS4.