The Amber Throne

A true hidden gem as far as turn-based JRPG-style RPG Maker games go. Some of the best art of an indie game I've seen, even from games with much greater budgets, with an extremely interesting world. Is this a masterpiece? Unfortunately not. The combat is fun and fairly engaging, but rather simple and not too difficult. The story is grand and the broad strokes are interesting, but the characters are largely a bit one-note, and there were a few instances where I found myself coming across plot beats out of order and getting confused. A bit of tightening up with the world map and the skill system (especially for the final party member, who becomes sort of obsolete with how late they join) would have made this even better. As it stands, though, I would put this as a very fun and charming game with a world and atmosphere I fell in love with. An easy recommend for the price, even with its flaws.

I've had this game in my library for years and I just got around to play it. I am very saddened that I haven't experienced this gem of a game any sooner. I really adored this passion project and I hope you would get to experience it too. Also artwork shows main character holding a rifle but she only uses a sword so that was a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ lie

It's an RPG in the loosest sense. Positives: - Art is great - Music is good - Overarching story and concepts good Negatives: * Not challenging at all for experienced gamers. * Not much content. * Pacing is a through line and there is little to no character building. * Exploration is not rewarding. * Side quests result in nothing of benefit. * Story writing is not fleshed out and often confusing and/or missing plot points. * Characters help with nothing in narration or moving the story along in any meaningful way. Maybe focusing on the art and a solid story would have been a route to go, because all the RPG elements are just that, elements. Overall this is just not a very rewarding RPG and utterly forgetable. Skills feel like a burden and strategies are so basic you can run through this from beginning to end doing nothing but fight what they throw in front of you. After playing you'll feel like you have accomplished nothing but wasted however many hours you've played, which was ~24 hours total play time for me :/ I felt far more annoyed playing this game than any sense of satisfactory outcome or story payoff. After finished playthrough I felt zero emotional connection to an…

This game is very beautiful and atmospheric. The hand drawn animation definitely shines through. I played it in a few days and it was easy to get lost in it. It can be a bit glitchy, so make sure to save often (which you can at any time). I also enjoyed the side quests and exploring portion of the game. However if you get lost or want to find a specific thing for a quest, I haven't been able to find a decent written guide for it. So keep that in mind when completing.

The Amber Throne falls somewhere between Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass and Fear and Hunger: two other games I both love and highly recommend. There's still some jank to the thing, for instance, I got to the part where you were supposed to jump between airships but a layer didn't load so it was just the background and the npcs and who knows. And then there was the time I completed a chapter...2? boss fight and got a completely black screen and could not proceed no matter what. Some jank to work out. But even so, the thing is worth. I was surprised how gripping the story was, how deep the combat system, how much I ended up really caring about it. This one sneaks up on you, but, it strikes home. Play it; you will not regret it.

Great game, but really grindy