Recently, I had the opportunity to spend some time with Terra Memoria, a new turn-based RPG from developer La Moutarde and publisher Dear Villagers. Terra Memoria follows a party of six friends as they investigate a number of issues throughout the world of Terra including a shortage of magical crystals that power various aspects of society, and the appearance of ancient bug-like robots called “Carcasses” while getting into a number of turn-based battles along the way. After putting a few hours into the game, I’m surprised to discover that Terra Memoria is a laid-back and cozy style RPG experience that feels very approachable.
The game’s unique combination of 3D objects and 2D-pixel art makes for a strong art style that immediately caught my attention. The environments utilize mostly 3D models where the characters are primarily composed of fairly detailed sprites. The combination works quite well together, combined with the vibrant lighting and the tilt-shift-like camera focus effect provides a similar look to the HD-2D style that games like Octopath Traveller have popularized. The music certainly plays into the cozy laid-back vibes with pretty chilled tracks that loop seamlessly in the background. Presentation-wise, the game looks and sounds great.
The combat system in the game was what intrigued me the most in my early playtime. As I mentioned above, the game is a turn-based RPG, with members that join the party early on filling into one of two roles; combat or support. Combat characters usually have magical abilities that serve as offensive attacks, while support characters will pair with a combat character to augment their abilities in some way like being able to turn an attack that hits a single foe into one that hits multiple. Similar to games like Pokemon or Persona, attacks have elemental statuses applied to them like fire or water, and enemies have specific weaknesses to these elements. Enemies have a shield ranking, when you attack an enemy their shield ranking will drop. Once the shield hits zero, they will be opened up to increased damage from all element types for a turn. Exploiting an enemy’s weakness will deal additional damage to their shield ranking.
One other key element to the combat was also its most interesting aspect, a timeline on the bottom of the screen. Essentially your party members and enemies are placed onto a timeline that determines the order of who gets to attack when in a given turn. After you attack, you are sent later into the timeline. This has an impact on how you strategize during combat in a number of ways. Weaker attacks will only set you back a few spaces on the timeline allowing you to attack more frequently, while stronger attacks will place you further back. I mentioned above that breaking an enemy’s shield opens them up to all damage types. It also has the benefit of sending an enemy all the way to the end of the timeline, which if timed right, can set up some devastating combos where your party members can attack multiple times before your enemies can recover.
The combat is engaging as you make decisions about when to attack certain enemies and with which attacks to use, but at least early on the combat felt very easy. There are no difficulty options upon starting the game, your party is automatically healed once you exit a battle, and there are seemingly no restrictions on the amount of times you can use a certain move during combat. These are a few elements I noticed that seemed to make the game quite a bit easier. The game is described as being a “cozy” RPG, so if these elements were removed in order to strengthen the cozy vibes by not giving the player too much to manage, then it somewhat accomplishes that goal. And I’m not suggesting every RPG needs to have teeth and be tough as nails, I just found myself wishing there was a bit more to be mindful of while playing in the early hours.
Outside of combat, Terra Memoria has you exploring, talking to NPCs, and completing simple quests. These quests usually involved talking to certain people or finding lost items, typical RPG side quest fare. I did enjoy the game’s use of animated text boxes when characters are talking. The text boxes animate in fun ways to emphasize different emotions or feelings, for example, it would slowly shrink if someone was shying away or turn on an angle if they were confused about a topic being discussed. I thought that was a fun way to expand a bit more on the storytelling elements of the game. There is also a part of the game where you gather items to build and place things in the environment like a barricade or train tracks. These were the only two instances I ran into in the opening hours, and they felt a bit rigid in their implementation, only allowing you to place the items at a specific point, so their inclusion feels a bit odd here.
What would a cozy game be without a campsite? This game does indeed have campsites you will come across where you can set up shop. Camps have a couple of functions, the first of which is storing the XP you have earned. Interestingly, your characters won’t directly earn XP after completing a battle, it is totaled up and rewarded to you once you rest at a camp, so when I came across my first camp, my party members gained 5 or 6 levels. It’s unclear if there is a way to lose this XP before it is banked, but it is definitely satisfying seeing your party get a bunch of level-ups all at once. You can find and purchase cooking ingredients that you can use to recipes that will increase your party’s maximum health, you get to play a basic mini-game while cooking as well which was a fun addition. Occasionally there will be discussions between party members at the camp which reveals a bit more background on the characters and the world. There are other functions as well that are seemingly unlocked later in the game.
All in all, Terra Memoria is living up to its cozy RPG claims. It’s on the easier side at least early on and it’s a bit of a slow burn but it is playing with some interesting ideas in the gameplay and the presentation is very nice. If you are looking for a more laid-back RPG experience, give the game a go. Terra Memoria is available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Windows, and Mac. A code was provided by the publisher.
