Game Review: Miitopia

Who would’ve thought a game where the villain steals people’s faces could be so cute?

Miitopia, a turn-based RPG that originally came out for the 3DS in 2017, was remastered and released for the Switch on May 21st of this year. The main of the game is that you can populate the world of Miitopia with Mii avatars of your own creation. This includes your own party of four, as well as one horse. That party then must venture forth on an epic quest to stop the Dark Lord from stealing everyone’s faces and slapping them on some monsters.

To me, that premise would be a lot more horrifying if it weren’t for the game’s extremely cartoony style. I named the Dark Lord Steve, by the way. Not after anyone I know or anything; I just find the idea of someone with such a grandiose title having such a mundane name extremely amusing.

Anyway, the gameplay is pretty standard for a JRPG: your characters stand in a row and take turns wailing on different critters. As for classes, there are the standard ones you can choose from, like mage, warrior, or cleric. There are, however, some rather wacky ones you can choose from too, like pop star or cat. These really fit the games tone, which is extremely lighthearted and very funny.

In addition to classes, you can choose personality traits that confer different actions that a character can take in battle. You can also do things in inns like have party members go on outings with each other to increase a friendship meter. Increasing the meter gives new actions as well, like cheering someone on to boost their stats or helping out with attacks. The friendship system actually reminds me a lot of the social links mechanic from the Persona series, though this is a bit more simplistic.

Which kind of leads me into my next point: the game isn’t particularly difficult. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but may be a turn off for certain players. This isn’t Dark Souls; the goal here isn’t to challenge the player, but rather to get a chuckle out of them.

While I do generally enjoy the game: there is one criticism that I would definitely give, and that has to do with money. Getting money in the game can be a bit of a chore, because you can’t sell items or equipment for extra cash. The only ways to get money are by defeating monsters or playing mini games at the inn. As for the mini games, the only way that you can play those are by getting game tickets, which can be found in chests or letters from NPCs. They aren’t super rare, but aren’t really the easiest item in the game to obtain.

Movement in this game is also a little bit strange. In towns the player has full control over the character, but that isn’t the case in the world map. Basically, to get from point A to point B you have to select an area from said world map, not unlike choosing levels in an old-school Super Mario game. Once in the area, your character moves automatically from one side of the screen, with movement interrupted occasionally by random battles or little skits. This is something that can get a bit tedious at times.

All in all, I would recommend for those who just want to chill out a little with a fun little game and don’t mind the low difficulty curve. The game is currently available in both physical and digital forms for $49.99, so the price point isn’t too bad, either.

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