Fallen Makina and the City of Ruins

Within the adult gaming genre, we have often seen titles claim to be something there simply aren’t. Games that promise to be nuanced narrative masterclasses are actually poor written text adventures. Other titles claim to be raunchy affairs where you can explore your deepest fantasies and kinks, only to find a very conventional and limited set of areas covered. Then, of course, you have the titles that claim to be able to mix mainstream style gaming with X-rated content. Fallen Makina and the City of Ruins claims to be the latter, offering a top-down RPG adventure that promises to give players a comprehensive and diverse experience with plenty of naughty moments.

The game plays rather similarly to top-down RPG's of old such as The Legend Of Zelda, EarthBound, Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy, Pokemon or Chrono Trigger. It delivers its story through text boxes, offers a cute, pixelated art style, aims to give the title ambience through the musical score and tells a story that conceptually has a lot of potential.

Discovering Depravity

The story for this game takes place in the fictional kingdom of Gardona where you take control of the game’s protagonist Makina. The people of Gardona have been acting strange of late and with the help of a few buddies, Makina and her crew will descend into the ruins of Gardona and aim to find out just what has caused all the strange behaviour. While it’s a rather straightforward plot, it’s clear that there is plenty of scope to flesh out the story and make it truly gripping. However, we are sad to report that this never really happens. While the characters that you encounter are generally well written and likeable, there is a real lack of cohesion with the important segment of the story. It feels like a series of unlinked events thoughtlessly thrown together with little effort to tie things together. It’s a serviceable story but certainly not one that is worth much praise.

From Riches To Ruins

When you first begin playing this title, you are treated to the pixel heavy top-down visuals akin to the retro handheld RPGs that many of us have grown up with. These aspects of the game are put together beautifully with a series of detailed assets and items, environments that are varied and unique and character models that are instantly recognizable when compared to their CG overlay counterpart. Sadly though, it’s these CG overlays that really let the presentation of this game down. While each character is unique and has different hairstyles and features to distinguish themselves from say a random NPC, it’s very clear that these characters have been drawn by an amateur manga artist.

A lot of aspects for each character seem out of place with the rest of the model. Take the main. Character Makina for example. While she is a tough fighter and it could be argued that she is manly in a lot of ways characteristically, there is no excuse for the masculine physical traits they assign to her model. The eyes are drawn as if being placed on a young boys face and culminate with a number of other features to give this character the same design issues that Abby from The Last Of Us Part 2 faced by the gaming community. This issue seeps into most character designs and is a real shame.

The gameplay sadly doesn’t do the game any favours either. Again, its another aspect of the game that delivers exactly what it has to with no thrills, no spills and very little overall enjoyment. It’s a replication of classic turn based JRPG combat but done without any of the nuance or flair that you would find in more well-known titles. In short, it ticks all the boxes without adding any excitement or fun to the game as a whole. Admittedly, some of the animations are well done but that’s nowhere near enough to save the combat system on its own.

Fallen To The Wayside

In a genre that is consistently crying out for more standout titles with unique features and standout moments, Fallen: Makina and the City of Ruins has all the potential to offer this but none of the follow-through. The artistic direction is hit and miss, the sound quality is forgettable, the story although full of interesting ideas, fails to capitalize on any of them and the general gameplay is basic at best.

Pros

• Top-down visuals are cute and rendered well
• Combat animations are decent

Cons

• The story fails to capitalize on an interesting concept
• Adult moments are few and far between
• CG overlays are amateurish
• Combat is boring and basic