Platform: PC/MAC

Developer: Ultra Runaway Games

Publisher: Ultra Runaway Games

# of Players: 1

ESRB Rating: N/A

Official Site

Score: A- (90%)

Five bucks used to not buy so much as far as games went until the indie scene exploded and small developers started churning out way too many games either as free labors of love or inexpensive alternatives to big dollar major label releases. Paper Sorcerer is one of those cool budget-priced games that comes recommended because you’re getting a lot of game for that fiver and fans of classic computer RPG adventures as well as anyone looking for something a wee bit familiar yet a wee bit different will probably find plenty to love here. The striking black and white art style may be the bigger draw than the intriguing story to a few of you out there, but there are some nice plot twists and the ending is a total hoot. A few kinks in the armor keep this one from perfection, but with some player input the game is going through a few updates now that it’s been voted into the Steam Greenlight program…

The title tells you some of what you need to know – you’re a male or female sorcerer imprisoned an a magical book and upon your escape (with the aid of a talking mouse), you’re tasked with making your way through a series of maze-like dungeons, defeating enemies and bosses while uncovering the mystery of the book you’re trapped in. The rest of the pages fall into place as you play and regain the ability to summon a growing assortment of allies to your side and you and your team level up and become a force to be reckoned with. The cast of potential allies includes interesting takes on classic fantasy genre characters and the game doesn’t point you in any directions as to whom to choose (or in fact, how to play through the game once you’re past the tutorial portions).

Unlike many other RPGs, the turn-based battles aren’t random save for some areas later in that game and only in a few specific locations. Enemies are represented by smoke-like black shapes and while some can be avoided if you like, it’s best to fight as you’ll need that experience and any levels gained. While this is great news for those who don’t like grind-fests, it IS in fact, possible to level grind if you want to by hanging around in a area with constantly spawning enemies until you’ve had your fill. Granted, you can probably make it to the endgame without reaching the level cap, but as there are some decent random drops in some spots, don’t be surprised if you get caught in a self-made loop simply because you’re in the mood to build a party that’s unstoppable and collect a lot of loot in the process. Even better, the game gives you an item that lets you warp out of a dungeon at any point and back to town, so you’ll never feel as if you’re trapped in a tough spot even on the hardest difficulty.

As for your party… will you go with the Witch, Werewolf, or Vampire or grab the Ghost, Assassin, and Minotaur? There are a few more options plus a few “hidden” characters to discover, so the game has replay value for those players who like to see what everyone can do. As you adventure and eventually discover a city hub, you and your chosen party can rest up and heal (for free), get bits of story information and chatter from a few NPCs and use earned money to buy new supplies and more importantly, beef up assorted skills at a trainer. There’s also a strange mansion where a man collects the scattered soul orbs you may stumble across in your travels. Some are easy to locate while others take a bit of work. Delivering an orb allows you to access one floor of a secret dungeon packed with some nasty foes (some of which you may be under-prepared for initially).

As combat relies heavily on magic usage, trying to play solo as a “tank” isn’t recommended at all, but can be done if you’re willing to invest in raising levels in that secret dungeon and equipping yourself with the best skill training you can afford and gear you can find from defeated enemies. Each character has different equipment restrictions with some not being able to use weapons or certain types of armor. There’s also an optional character that can’t be trained, but relies on purchased or found body parts that change his skills, attack and defense types. Experimentation is key to success in this game for everything including some of the trickier puzzles. You’ll need to rely on visual as well as text clues plus realize that not every solution to every puzzle is on the same floor. Thankfully, a seemingly endless inventory allows you to carry everything you’ve picked up around until you find a use for it. Much of what you do collect ends up being sellable material, but you’ll want to keep EVERYTHING just in case.

The game will let you know at some doors if you have an item you can use, but it would have been nicer to have a means of sorting items into categories as scrolling down that ever-growing list of stuff can be a pain as the game progresses. Less of a pain (and no pain at all if you did your own cartography back in the days of Wizardry) is the lack of a mapping system. The early maps are all straightforward and easy to navigate, but there are a few floors where you’ll need to follow the “left wall or right wall first” rule where you stick to a direction and note where you are by using certain landmarks. As items you find and enemies you battle vanish, you’ll soon figure out where you need to go. I only got mixed up a bit in one area with some triangle shaped rooms that led in a big circle path past the exit and back upon itself and later, one of the secret dungeons with a lot of small, medium and large rooms that opened into each other and again, led me around in a mostly circular path.

As you can see in those videos, the game’s visuals are simple but lovely and the frame rate is smooth as buttah. Yes, when I saw a video a few months back I immediately thought of The Dark Spire, but that’s only because of the stark use of black and white more than the actual artwork. Some have unfairly criticized the lack of color here, but those folks don’t seem to realize that the look is perfect because you’re in a book and books are generally going to be black ink on white or other lightly toned papers. I loved the different patterns and tints some dungeons used to break up the plainer-looking early maps and there are some simple but welcome blasts of color when magic is used by you or your foes. This deceptively simple style also makes this Unity-based game run on pretty much any computer that can download it without the need to fiddle with the graphics settings (although the resolution is locked in at 1280 x 720). If I had a gripe with the art in any way, it would be with the title and end sequences that look almost too “cute” for the main game.

Then again, there’s humor to be found in the writing, as some NPCs do a bit of joking around that’s fine and keeps the game from being a total brood-fest. The music is also quite good here. It’s not the medieval fantasy tunes you expect at all, but sounds a bit like some of John Carpenter’s keyboard tinkling from back in the day. Yes, that’s a compliment. As noted, completing the game gets you a fun ending sequence that may make some of you want to dive in again on one of the harder difficulties. As there’s no proper “New Game+” here, you’ll be back to Level 1 with your character (or you can make up a new guy or gal) and have to do everything all over again. But that was par for the course back in the 80’s and works just fine today. Of course, you might have missed out on a puzzle or three because you couldn’t piece it all together and didn’t want to go online to poke around for a solution.

Overall, Paper Sorcerer is definitely a great first game from Ultra Runaway and I hope there’s more coming in the near future. Maybe not a sequel (just yet), but I’d absolutely love to see more games pop up whenever possible. I’m sure there’s not a swimming pool full of money in the backyard and a Ferrari in the driveway at UR HQ, but I think they’ve got the beginnings of a pretty fine little indie game company there so far…