Old-school RPGs and JRPGs hold a special place in gamers’ hearts. While countless tools now simplify development for the genre, only a handful of titles truly shine among the dozens released. Spirit Valor, developed by Exe Create Inc. and published by KEMCO, now strides onto this crowded stage. Originally being a mobile game, Spirit Valor now seeks to claim its rightful place in the spotlight of PC gaming. With extensive experience crafting classic RPGs, the team promises players an authentic nostalgic journey—but does it deliver? Let’s discover this together.
The game’s premise immediately captivates—a classic hero’s journey with a brilliant twist. Our protagonist isn’t the legendary champion everyone believes them to be, but rather a displaced spirit from another realm, now trapped in the hero’s body. This setup forces the otherworldly entity into an impossible dilemma: maintain the charade of heroism while deceiving the real champion’s loved ones. Such a clever conceit unlocks boundless potential for both narrative depth and character growth, leaving players desperate to see how this delicate masquerade might unravel.
With a classical set of mechanics and barely noticeable differences from other games in this genre, the story and characters should have been the game’s strongest elements. There are many examples where a compelling narrative sells even the simplest game—whether it’s made from assets or essentially serves as fan work for a larger title, like Eternal Senia. Spirit of Valor reminded me of the Vampire Down RPG from decades ago.
Despite its odd visuals and use of stock images, that game won players’ hearts through its engaging story and characters. However, as Spirit Valor progresses, the hope for something unexpected or interesting fades like a melting candle.
The game charms with its simplicity and classical RPG essence, yet struggles to rise above these foundations. While world-saving narratives can be told from countless fresh perspectives—with deep, compelling characters to anchor them—Spirit of Valor falls short on both counts. Its plot strings together a series of deus ex machina moments, connected only by generic fetch quests. Even the characters, despite their distinct personalities and intriguing designs, fail to elevate the story when key figures like the main antagonist are reduced to cartoonish motives (“rule the world… just because”).
While opinions on the narrative will always be subjective—many may find the light, straightforward plot engaging and satisfying—what else does Spirit Valor bring to the table? The combat system follows the classic RPG blueprint: random encounters, enemy varieties that demand tactical adjustments, and turn-based strategy. The game executes this competently, but without noticeable innovation to distinguish it from decades of predecessors.
The developers tout a deep magic system, where players can steal enemy skills via the “Empty Spellstone”—a device that absorbs demonic powers. On paper, this sounds thrillingly innovative. In practice, after hours of gameplay, it proves entirely unnecessary. Whether due to poor balancing or other flaws, strategic play never becomes essential. Early battles are simplistic (especially with auto-battle enabled), and characters rapidly out-level enemies, reducing combat to mindless pressing of the auto-battle button. This approach might work for mobile games—perfect for casual time-killing during the day—but for a PC RPG, it feels disappointingly shallow.
The maps feature special beacons that endlessly spawn monsters—grind for just ten minutes at these, and your party becomes overpowered enough to steamroll the game on autobattle. Any thrill from random encounters evaporates when your party one-shots nearly every foe. “Just play on hard mode!” some might argue. I did. The changes proved superficial: marginally reduced EXP gains and barely noticeable tweaks to enemy durability.
The “solution”? Simply linger longer at those beacons. Hard mode doesn’t fix the broken progression—it just makes the mindless grinding slightly more tedious.
Spirit Valor leaves a very controversial impression, stirring a tempest of mixed emotions. What works for mobile gaming doesn’t always shine when ported to a different platform—and perhaps this is the case here. Visually pleasant, charmingly simple in its narrative, yet questionable in its battle system, the game may still find devoted fans among RPG enthusiasts. One might fall in love with it at first sight, another may learn to enjoy it the hard way, while some players won’t give it a chance at all. Which path you choose is yours to decide.
