Roughly translated, ‘Re:Kuroi‘ means “Regarding:Black.” This is a game in early access by developer ‘ecoddr’ and are currently looking for a publisher to help them put out their game so the game is kind of in hiatus it seems as of now. Unfortunately for English speakers, it is currently only available in Japanese but it is free to play – this goes the same for the original ‘Hibikake no Kiseki.’ So even if you don’t understand it, you still might have some playing it.
This game is actually a continuation of the aforementioned “Hibikakeiro no Kiseki” which again is free to download on steam or as standalone software. I have not yet played the first one but judging by the screenshots and summary, it is a different set of characters that takes place in the original with similar gameplay and possibly different story. Regardless, allow me to roughly translate their steam page while adding some information as well
STORY:
“It is a story about magic users fighting ‘monsters’ that suddenly appear out of nowhere”
“The bullied young man, Kaito, meets various magic users of which they hold different jobs or status positions in life such as a part-time teacher, a waitress, an ex-veteran, and an informer of the unusual. A result of a mixture of their respective feelings and ways of life lie in wait ahead….”
Basically, you play as Kaito. A bullied young man who attends an ex-magic school where magic is not necessarily taught…except he knows how to use magic anyways. From there, you will first meet Mary, a part-time teacher who knows how to use magic too.
GAMEPLAY:
It is a dungeon crawler RPG. It is turn-based yet somewhat real-time because you can guard against attacks (as well as regular defending) if you time the button just right when the enemy attacks you similar yet different to like Paper Mario 64 or Super Mario RPG.
Magic pretty much is the basic command here of attacking the enemy. You can use a spell a turn like you normally would any other RPG. Magic levels up by way of ‘more you use, the stronger it becomes’ system. You are even able to learn new magic via mid-battle. You also level traditionally via experience points as noted below the column ‘Parameters’ which increases your stats.
You keep moving forward or ‘progressing’ by moving the directional button up which will go up a certain percentage while dialogue and battles appear at certain intervals per stage until you reach 100% where you will face a boss, at least for the first stage. Defeating the boss here progresses you to the next chapter. Chapters, after they are completed, can be replayed if the player so chooses. So far in the early access demo, there are a total of five acts or stages to play.
An important part here for English speakers is that you can just skip the dialogue parts if you want to and go right to the battle parts although the option telling you that is in Japanese. However, ‘Skip’ is listed in English on the top when available.
Overall, this game seems like a neat dungeon crawler and probably more so if you are a fan of the anime-style of graphics. The characters are very well drawn and seem interesting. To reiterate once again, it is free to try via steam and the first one is completely free as well as a standalone or on steam as well. So you don’t have to gamble your money on it should you not like it. Hopefully getting more people to try this game out and like it will help land the creators of this game a publisher.
