Often the smallest games can leave the biggest impressions, which is perhaps why I was so taken by Virgo Vs The Zodiac when I came across it at this year’s BitSummit. Tucked away in the Degica Games booth, this indie RPG developed by Brazilian studio Moonana was an unexpected highlight of the event. Here’s why this unique astrology-themed RPG should be on your radar.

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I’ll confess I don’t pay much attention to the world of crowdfunded RPGs anymore. After the umpteenth failed Kickstarter project inspired by classic 16-bit JRPGs, it all starts to blur together. But I feel bad about glossing over Virgo Vs The Zodiac, which had a successful crowdfunding campaign on Fig a few years back. While it does do that whole “appealing through a vague resemblance to RPGs you played in your youth thing” (hello Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga), there’s much more to the appeal than that. It’s the unique qualities that make Virgo Vs The Zodiac stand out.

Take the story concept, for example. In the world of Virgo Vs The Zodiac, each star sign is represented by a different character (you’ll never guess Virgo’s inspiration). With the cosmos in chaos, Virgo embarks on a quest for purity by bringing the other constellations in line. She seems like a cute crusader, but the demo I played wasn’t shy about painting Virgo as the bad guy, turning her into a sort of Zodiac killer. That said, the developers teased that there may be different ways to resolve things as Virgo travels to the various Zodiac Realms. Despite the hint of darkness beneath the surface, the game is still lighthearted at first glance, with plenty of quirky dialogue and punny attack names.

What really grabbed me about Virgo Vs The Zodiac was the battle system. Fights are turn-based and make use of timed hits. Players need to quickly press a button to strengthen your attack or guard from incoming damage. It’s far from the first game to use this idea, but it’s executed well. Where similar games like Legend of Dragoon or even the later Mario RPGs falter is the fact that having a sort of minigame for each action takes too long, detracting from the pace of combat. By comparison, battles in Virgo Vs The Zodiac move very quickly. In fact, if you aren’t paying close attention to combat, it’s all too easy to mess up the timing.

The combat mechanics also appear to be a lot more complex than in some of the games that inspired it. Virgo might only wield a set of four skills, but each one has an added effect that kicks in when you successfully pull off a timed hit. One technique removed any buffs from enemies with careful timing, for example. Stronger skills are balanced by making Virgo wait longer before the next action, but it seems like you’ll be able to customise her loadout of skills.

Combat is based around not only managing the battlefield, but keeping track of Virgo’s “purity”. Guarding from attacks will fill up an extra purity gauge that absorbs damage from attacks and leads into even more skills that are used as counterattacks. This creates an interesting dynamic; should Virgo go on the offensive or try to successfully block attacks with her shield? I found I needed to think carefully about each action, especially when facing a fearsome boss that healed its minions. Extra party members add even more complexity to battles, since they can be rearranged to affect who enemies can hit.

I’m worried that it might be a little too much. While the demo did throw me into the deep end without slowly introducing all the mechanics over time, there’s a lot to keep track of. Different skills come with different zodiac quality alignments: there’s fixed, mutable and cardinal, which represent different personality types. Although they’re essentially the same as elements in other RPGs, it’s a more abstract concept that I didn’t pay much attention to as I played. It seems like it’ll be important though, as these three zodiac qualities apparently affect different alignments to the characters in the game. Confusing as they may appear at first, it seems like the battle mechanics and story elements will work together in harmony.

While the slick presentation drew me in, I’m impressed that there was a lot more to the Virgo Vs The Zodiac than just pretty pixel art. Battles in the demo presented unique challenges that encouraged me to make use of all the skills at Virgo’s disposal. And there are no random encounters too! With the original ideas and eye-catching visuals, it’s clearly come a long way from its RPG Maker roots. Despite being the first game I played on the BitSummit show floor, it left a strong impression.

Virgo VS The Zodiacs is due out this Fall on PC, with an Xbox One version also in the works. It’s well worth a look and absolutely not just because my opinion can be bought by cute keychains.