“I see now that the circumstances of one’s birth are irrelevant. It is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are.”
–Mewtwo, Pokemon: The First Movie
8-Bit Adventures 2 is such an unassuming name for a game. The title itself doesn’t reveal much – there’s an adventure, it’s in an 8-bit style and that’s it. But once you delve into its depths, you’ll discover a well-designed turn-based JRPG with interesting characters and a heartfelt story behind it.
Developed and published by Critical Games, 8-Bit Adventures 2 was originally released on Steam back in January 2023. Ratalaika Games handled porting for consoles, with the release on major platforms slated for October 16, 2024. Taking inspiration from classic JRPGs from the NES, SNES and PS1 eras, 8-Bit Adventures 2 explores the theme of how an individual’s choices dictate their actions. This underlying theme is layered on top of an engaging story, easy-to-understand mechanics and a nostalgic graphical and musical style, though it’s not without its issues, minor as they are. We at The Pixels would like to thank Critical Games for providing a review key for us to evaluate the game.
Adventure Calls
After a brief introductory sequence featuring the Warrior from the first game and a mysterious, glitch-like figure, players are introduced to the protagonist, Charlie. A brash, but empathetic young man who grew up in the harsh streets of Pheopolis’ Merchant District, Charlie lives at the castle with his three friends and trains to be a knight. When he overhears a conversation surrounding the Warrior’s disappearance between Queen Elena of Pheopolis and the Thief of the first game – the woman whom Charlie owes his very survival to – the young knight-in-training decides to sneak out and help her. This sets him on an epic journey filled to the brim with hope, friendship, adventure and self-discovery.
The Thief briefly retells the story of the first game to Charlie as they head to Driftwood and the last known sighting of The Warrior. This summary helps new players understand the world and its intricacies without having to play the first game.
A World of Magic, Adventure and.. Computers?
8-Bit Adventures 2 is set in a fantasy world filled with magic and monsters. What makes this truly a unique setting is the fact that the world is overseen by an entity known as The Computer. The Computer resides in a Factory found in another dimension and is responsible for creating and maintaining all aspects of Charlie’s world. This setting greatly reminds me of the one in Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, where the cast break into the 4D world only to discover that they’re NPCs in a MMORPG. Earthbound also comes to my mind as the game features a lot of wacky, bizarre, and at times almost unsettling, visual pieces.
Speaking of, the graphics are comparable with Shovel Knight in terms of quality and detail. Character sprites are small, but their animations give them so much life that they seem bigger than they appear to be. Towns, dungeons and even the world map feature lots of details and embellishments and are charming to look at. 8-Bit Adventures 2 also utilizes cutscenes a la Ninja Gaiden for the NES at crucial parts of the story for emphasis.
The enemy sprites and battle visuals are the most impressive part of the game. Enemies look intimidating and abilities and spell effects are flashy and punchy. The game puts the Ninja Gaiden-esque cutscenes to good use in battles when using powerful abilities and during scripted fights.
Crescendo in Chiptune
Sebastian Cruz composed the music for 8-Bit Adventures 2 using Famitracker. Mr. Cruz used the limited sounds available to him to create a wonderfully memorable soundtrack. I expected more high and tinny-sounding music, but I was thrilled at the tonal diversity presented in the game. I especially enjoyed what he did within the Hall of Melodies. The music changes with each puzzle you solve, the melodies building upon each other until they create an epic bop at the very end.
There was one instance where the music overlapped over each other – between the game over screen and returning to the world map or reloading a save. The game over music would play in its entirety over the world map theme, which I felt was a bit jarring.
8-Bit Cast with 32-Bit Personalities
Joining Charlie on his journey are The Warrior, Thief and Red Mage from the first game. The player can give them names through a written test that Charlie takes at the castle. For the purposes of this review, I’ll use the names I’ve given them on my playthrough: Desch, Nelly and Bosch, respectively.
Later on, players can recruit Robot (who I’ve affectionately named ROB64), a Factory robot built for extermination, Emma, a blind martial artist with latent magical abilities and Kuro, an undead Samurai filled with regret. Each of these characters have their own motivations and character arcs that ebb and flow within the overlying story. Examples include Desch and Nelly’s overarching love story, Emma’s need to be useful and her budding romance with Charlie, and Robot’s desire to become more than what he is.
What’s notable of all the playable cast is their optimism and never-give-up attitude. They never let defeat or setbacks get them down for too long and very rarely do they argue amongst themselves; rather, they focus on the overall goal. While tensions within the party makes for an interesting story, it doesn’t work for 8-Bit Adventures 2. The cohesion between the characters and how they build up and shape each other throughout the story is the game’s greatest strength.
A Glitch in the Matrix
Opposing the seven is an entity known as The Glitch; a child-like digital anomaly capable of causing wanton destruction and corruption. His creation is steeped in mystery for most of the game until the climax, where it’s revealed he’s but a pawn for a Primal version of himself – a literal dark side of The Computer that it sealed away to contain its destructive nature.
For most of the game, The Glitch straddles the line between innocence and chaos. On the one hand, it yearns for friendship and acceptance as a living being. It sees Charlie as a kindred spirit, given that he also had a painful upbringing. On the other, it rages against The Computer and its creations. It often gives into its violent tendencies and gleefully induces utter chaos accentuated with a creepy and glitchy child-like laugh.
From the moment of its accidental birth, The Glitch was destined for deletion; something it could not accept. It desired to create a new world, one that would accept him, consequences and costs be damned. It often makes poor choices due to its chaotic and destructive nature. Despite the atrocities it committed on Charlie, his friends and the world at large, I couldn’t help but pity it.
Deus Ex Machina
Charlie is introduced to The Computer during his first trip through the Factory. Though it is a sentient machine that operates on pure logic, The Computer is prone to making illogical – even careless – decisions. One such example is how it held off on deleting The Glitch and opted to confine it for two years. It often hides its intentions – whether for good or ill – and shares them with the party on a “need-to-know” basis. Essentially, The Computer is a flawed God who puts the world’s best interests at the top of mind. At the same time, he does not fully trust his creations – Programs, as it calls them – due to their erratic nature.
And yes, in true, traditional JRPG fashion, you do get to take on God. In this case, The Computer is corrupted by The Glitch. What I enjoyed about that fight is that the moment you defeat The Computer, it reboots to regain its sanity. It even goes so far as to say that it expected the party to fight it to free it from its corruption, subverting the narrative.
It’s not the first time this subversion occurs; another incredibly hilarious disruption of the narrative occurs when you fight a literal Save Point at the end of the game. Though you can save anywhere, the Save Point is a helpful sort – doling out tips and reviving enemies for extra grinding. But this particular fight completely threw me off guard and had me laughing at my screen for a good five minutes.
Turn-Based Combat Rooted in Antiquity
Combat in 8-Bit Adventures 2 uses a mishmash of various battle systems from classic JRPG titles. Its turn system is similar to Final Fantasy X’s Conditional Turn-Based Battle system, where character and enemy turn order is influenced by their speed. Like in Final Fantasy X, players can swap characters in and out of battle. Swapped characters can act instantly.
Each character has their own special skill which, when used strategically, can turn the tide in battle. Examples include the Thief’s steal, Charlie’s Dual Slash or the Red Mage’s Focus. Furthermore, each party member has a particular passive ability rooted in their characterization. For instance, since she’s blind, Emma uses sound to detect an enemy instead of sight, giving her 100% accuracy. The Red Mage prodigious skills grants him the ability to perform critical hits with his magic. Robot can’t use magic but he can equip up to three Robot-specific commands. This makes him an extremely versatile character.
Characters can spend AP/MP to use spells or abilities. Some of these cause status effects that are key to winning battles, like Poison, Burn or Slow. Taking a cue from Chrono Trigger, certain characters can team up to perform Dual or Trio Abilities. Characters can use Dual Abilities after learning specific moves. Players can earn Trio Abilities by visiting a certain island shrine once they earn access to the Airship.
Borrowing the Limit Break mechanic from Final Fantasy, characters can unleash an Omega Burst once the blue bar at the bottom of the screen is full. Effects of an Omega Burst include but are not limited to dealing extreme damage, inflicting a bevy of status effects or delivering an Instant K.O. to all enemies. The bar accumulates through trading blows, using a rare Omega Boost item or from using the Red Mage’s Focus skill.
The End of the Road
The runtime for 8-Bit Adventures 2 ranges between 30-40 hours, depending on how thoroughly you explore the world. Furthermore, it’s a very lenient game. There are no random encounters and, while enemies can hit fairly hard, the difficulty curve is gradual. There are plenty of secrets, minigames, side-quests and other things to keep players engaged throughout its runtime, each offering valuable rewards for completion. With its story rooted in hope and optimism combined with tight RPG mechanics, 8-Bit Adventures 2 has quickly become one of my favourite titles of 2024. It’s one that I highly recommend for fans of classic JRPGs.
PIXEL PERFECT
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Ryan Cheddi – our friendly, neighbourhood caffeine addict – is a man of many talents: an engineer, a gaming historian, a fiction writer and a streamer. He is also a self-avowed Sonic the Hedgehog fan. You can check out his cool beans at his site – Games with Coffee – or find him on Bluesky as @GameswCoffee, and Instagram as @games_with_coffee. He streams on Twitch, also as GamesWithCoffee.
