My love of JRPGs began in childhood and remains to this day. There is something about the genre’s anime-style graphics, simplistic tunes, turn-based battles, and quests to save the world that are qualities that I cannot resist. In many ways, Fernz Gate captures the essence of the genre. However, the game is imperfect and it often feels like a shell of what a JRPG could be.

Telling stories of grand adventures should be at the center of any quality JRPG. Fernz Gate makes a solid attempt at crafting an engaging tale. Players follow the main character, a typical high school boy named Alex. One day, Alex awakens to find himself in Fernland, an alternate dimension full of swords and sorcery.

Disoriented by his new surroundings, Alex is fortunate enough to be found by a kind girl named Toril. She provides Alex with all the important knowledge regarding Fernland, a place to which individuals from other worlds are randomly transported. In the past, these lost souls would be guided home by a powerful Goddess. However, at the time of Alex’s arrival in Fernland, this isn’t possible. The Goddess’ magic is being subdued by the evil Overlord Clangorrah, who is attempting to gain power for himself. Consequently, the number of people from other dimensions in Fernland has been steadily increasing. As Alex’s time in Fernland progresses, he meets other displaced people. Alex joins these other lost souls in a resistance group to fight the power-hungry Clangorrah.

This is Toril, a party member and the first friendly face Alex meets in Fernland.

It is very likely that the plot sounds vaguely familiar here, and that’s because this game is chock-full of cliches. A perfect example of this is the Overlord, whose flimsy motivations for committing acts of evil accompany his unsettling green skin, muscular body, and not-quite-human features. To their credit, the writers did attempt to stray away from pure cliche, as the plot throws some curveballs near the end of the story. That said, even these surprises lean on tried-and-true tropes. However, Cliched or not, there is something to be said for a timeless tale of saving the world.

You can tell this is an evil character just by looking at him.

When I’m in the mood for a self-indulgent game, I want the mechanics to be well crafted. Fernz Gate does a decent job of implementing solid gameplay that’s admittedly uninspired. The battles are simple and turn-based, which means they sometimes get repetitive. There is also an upgrade menu to improve your weapons. It is not the most intuitive upgrade system and often felt as if I was randomly fusing weapons together, but it is acceptable. Interestingly enough, the game also includes a mini farm simulator. Players can grow fruit that increases character stats, such as speed or strength. All of these mechanics are decently executed, but they are by no means groundbreaking.

In other areas, Fernz Gate utilizes fresher mechanics. The simple battle system is reinvigorated with the use of “buddies”. Players assign these buddies to members of your party and join you in battle. Specific combinations of party members and buddies unlock unique bonuses, such as increased magic damage. This kept battles entertaining because I was constantly trying out new combinations of characters.

Implemented correctly, the buddy system can make battles a breeze.

Fernz Gate‘s dungeon exploration is well-executed. As someone who has played a lot of JRPGs, random battles can get irritating while exploring dungeons. Fernz Gate addresses this common problem by placing Curios, in the form of purple monuments, in every dungeon. These monuments allow players to choose the rate of random encounters. I loved this feature because it let me explore dungeons quickly without running into an excessive number of enemies.

As evident from the Curios mechanic, this is a game that strives to meet players’ individual needs. Upon starting a new game, players choose a difficulty setting; these range from easy to expert and can be adjusted at any time. As the difficulty increases, so do the in-game rewards. Furthermore, there is a lot of content packed into the game. This includes side quests, battle arenas, and high-level areas full of monsters. There is even an unlockable “true ending” to reward dedicated players. I may have been able to beat the main quest in 13 hours, but Fernz Gate easily contains several more hours of content.

The design of the start menu makes it quite clear that this was originally a mobile game.

Fernz Gate does some things right, but it also disappoints. The games most glaring issues all stem from the fact that this is clearly a mobile port. Some design and technical decisions that work on a phone do not always work on a console, including the option to buy gems to purchase in-game items. This is a mobile game standard, and it doesn’t feel right on the Switch. Likewise, the game’s mobile roots are apparent in its design. The start menu buttons look like they were intended for a touchscreen. On the Switch, they can only be selected with a controller, which is a shame because the system has touchscreen capabilities. These details hurt the overall gameplay experience.

These “Get Item!” buttons would be so satisfying to physically tap using the touch screen.

Beyond the port-related issues, the game also suffers from some clunky controls. Although they are solid in battle, the controls are a real issue when wandering the map. Characters move very quickly and without precision, which ends up looking very silly. This was distracting at times.

One of my biggest grievances with Fernz Gate is with its stylistic choices and character design. I have always enjoyed exploring towns in JRPGs, but this was not the case in Fernz Gate. The level designs felt awkward; houses and items had strange shading and proportions. I might have been able to overlook this if the game had offered unique town designs. However, the towns all look rather similar and this eventually gets boring. The same can be said of the music. Although it never actively hindered my gameplay experience, the music was wholly forgettable. Sadly, the poor world building here makes it nearly impossible to become immersed.

The disappointing level design is in stark contrast to the adorable, anime-style characters. The art is well done and charming. However, many of the characters fall back on cliches while others bear uncanny resemblances to other famous characters. This left me feeling disappointed. Some may consider this a homage to other JRPGs, but it felt like lazy and uninspired character design to me.

This character with an adorable animal that lives in his ‘fro reminds me of a certain AAA JRPG.

In many ways, Fernz Gate feels like the skeleton of a good JRPG. There are elements that I found quite fun. The story has a few surprising moments, the characters are lovable, and the buddy system keeps battles interesting. However, this game fails to do anything truly innovative and some features feel out of place on the Switch. If you’re gaming on a budget and absolutely need to get that JRPG fix, Fernz Gate is a decent game for $12.99. However, personally, I was rather indifferent to the whole experience it offered.

Craving an RPG, but not digging this one? Personally, I enjoyed Earthlock. If sci-fi is more your thing, check out Zeno’s review of Cosmic Star Heroine. I’m always looking for JRPG recommendations, so come join our Discord and ping me @pechorin19 with some suggestions! With that, I’d like to remind our lovely readers that this site is run by passionate, Nindie-loving volunteers. Reaching out to developers, keeping a site running, writing, and editing are all time consuming. If you’d like to keep us ad-free, consider becoming a Patron or buying us a Ko-Fi.