A pun a day keeps the Demon Lord away! (featuring Adol from the Ys series)

Average time to finish 20 to 30 hours, depends on time you take to start and then optional content before final boss Difficulty (relative to games in genre) Medium-tier: game expects fast, sustained movement in small areas during combat; bosses are tough and can take up to several attempts at most; some parts of story progression are obscure to figure out (Non)-Linearity and character building Early on, game spreads next most accessible dungeons across multiple areas for some non-linearity; game's mostly linear with side-content to break up pacing; characters grow the same way, but you can use different equipment for variation Repeat playthrough rewards NG+ for games started via clear save: you keep your level (and EXP required for next level), stats based on level and equipment at final boss, as well as progress made with the Item, Character, Monster, and Score books; pet levels and key items do not transfer Controls Newly-coded/-designed gamepad support (works well using Xbox/PlayStation controllers), works well with Joy2Key or similar utility; improved keyboard/mouse controls, better for menus but usually worse for combat/exploration Audiovisual options Hardcoded 856x640 widescreen resolution (Falcom has no high-quality assets to offer for larger resolutions), 30 FPS (again, no reasonable way to fix without remaking the game), DirectX 9 (allows for external shaders); newly-included arranged soundtrack from PSP port Content warnings Some minor profanity and innuendos; plenty of (non-bloody/-gory) fantasy violence; flashy on-screen effects might increase risk of epileptic episodes (no strobe or sustained screen flashing however); game has some (fitting) modern memes, but mainly an onslaught of atrocious puns

Memorable, detailed, and colorful 2D art-style with good animation, a seamless mix of hand-drawn and 3D pre-rendered backgrounds and sprites, and a large variety of special effects





Highly addictive and unique music from Falcom's Sound Team jdk, available in its 2001 form and a 2008 rearranged soundtrack made for the game's PSP port; expect strong Falcom melodies but in diverse acoustic genres and styles, radically different from the company's rock and orchestral sound





Well-paced, hand-designed dungeons with a good mix of traps, stage hazards, basic puzzles, and winding layouts to keep you running





Combat becomes increasingly more fun and complex over time thanks to new magical attacks for Pipiro and Pokkle, as well as charge attacks based on combos and an equipment system to improve (and lower) your stats





Hilarious, charming, and subtle story taking you from the silliest banalities of Puck Village to the hidden depths of a historied floating continent





Nice diversions like the Pet Monitor and three minigames: Zwei Shooting (a bite-sized arcade shooter), Typing of Ys (a typing tutor-style game starring Adol redoing the events of Ys II), and Mona Mona (a block puzzler where you lead a rabbit to the top of the screen instead of clearing all blocks)

Some sound/visual effects and monster designs can blend in too well, making combat a bit unclear and frantic





Dungeons recycle the same art all-throughout (except the final dungeon), leading to repetition





Enemies act quick and only stay stunned briefly, but your duo gets stunned easily...meaning you can get overwhelmed and juggled around before escaping and strategically winning





Combat mechanics are a bit simplistic and lacking in room to improve; relying on critical attacks (to stun and launch enemies) and charge moves = lotsa breathless task-switching, for better or worse





Figuring out where to go at the start can be fun, but also easy to lose track of (unless you pay close attention to one-off lines hinting at the next step); game hides four optional dungeons behind cryptic hints and key items





Certain design choices are archaic and impractical, like not retaining items after reloading a save or not skipping cutscenes when redoing boss fights

Quick-start guide

Talk with NPCs often, even before you go to church at the start. It's a big part of enjoying the script, but also helpful for hints



Get the pet from Hippolyta Hill ASAP. Your pet helps in combat, picks up loot, and can find items (and level up!) via the Pet Monitor



Pay attention to the in-game tutorial graphics.



If you lose a key item, re-buy it from Ramsey by the manor.



After doing the first dungeon in Pavel Gardens, head to the Level 02 dungeon in Klopp Caverns. You'll find the Master below with a minimap upgrade which makes combat a lot easier.



Ensure you have two Venture Wings on you at all times. You never know when it's time to leave a dungeon to exchange food or quickly warp to someplace else.



You'll do dungeons in the first four areas before encountering the first boss in Caiaphas Woods. Look out for the fishing lure in the Woods's Fairy Passage!

You might have heard of this game's release if you're into Nihon Falcom's game library. Way back in 2001, the developer made Zwei!! to break out of making (mostly) remakes of their Japanese PC classics. So right around when they released Ys I & II Complete, which you can buy today on Steam (as Ys I & II Chronicles+), they put out Zwei: The Arges Adventure to mark a return to unique, story-driven, hardcore but accessible ARPG goodness.While most know the company's larger modern franchises—Trails, Ys, and Xanadu—niche series like Brandish and, of course, Zwei deserve to step out into the spotlight and enjoy much-needed attention. As part of their mission to outdo themselves with localizing one Falcom title after another, XSEED's done as great a job of updating Zwei for modern Windows players as is possible.Zwei: The Arges Adventure (formerly Zwei!!, now just Zwei: AA) can't deny its age, nor its roughness as a game, but it's quite enjoyable and an important part of Falcom's history which I encourage Trails and Ys fans to try! You'll find a motley assortment of classic, tricky dungeon-crawling adventure, fast and simple action mechanics, and a richly-produced world full of bonkers characters and secrets galore. The adventure's not too short and not too long, featuring the origins of Falcom's modern approach to dungeon-crawling, boss fight design, and thorough world-building used to revive old tropes.Above all, this game's in love with its sense of humor, its timeless audiovisual style, and its swift but sweet gameplay. It doesn't strive to innovate or break from tradition in key ways, nor does it reach the quality level of Falcom games released afterward. Yet it's earned a special place in my library as something reliable and unpretentious, that odd game with incentive to revisit.For $20, Zwei: AA has a lot to offer fans of old-school game fans seeking an inviting challenge, as well as Falcom fans who want to revisit a milestone in the studio's legacy or finish the series after completing Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection, this game's standalone sequel. And yes, Adol's in this game...as part of one of three minigames you can play later on. I'd say it's a VIP cameo.There are caveats to buying this, of course. You'll see a lot of potential positives and negatives within less than 2 hours, however, meaning you'll know soon enough whether to refund or keep the game. I recommend reading the next two lists and looking at videos and screens before buying, just in case.