Introduction
Stones Keeper is a turn-based strategy rpg. It is published by Valkyrie Initiative and developed by SK Team. On behalf of the Handheld Gaming Community, I would like to thank Valkyrie Interactive for the review code. You can purchase Stones Keeper on the Nintendo Switch eShop for $19.99.
Overview
You play as Elizabeth, princess of the kingdom. Once her father passes away, she becomes the new head of the Order of the Screaming Griffin. The setting for the game is a kind of medieval fantasy. You will find yourself fighting against orcs, vampires, amongst many other creatures.
Gameplay
Stones Keeper is a strategy rpg. Each scenario starts with you placing your party leader in a location of your choosing. From there you will move your characters and work to clear the scenario. I was pleased to see that the scenarios differ in what is required of you. In the portion of the game I played, I was treated to scenarios that required me to defeat all enemies, another scenario required me to deactivate explosives to preserve an important resource. Some scenarios will give you options to resolve the objective in different ways.
Your initial party contains three characters. You have a knight who has melee and some ranged abilities, ranger who can use a rifle as well as a melee weapon, and then a paladin who also specializes in melee attacks with a mace. Your characters start at level zero, and the only way to advance is to win scenarios and gain experience points for each character. The character you want to advance must participate in the completion of the scenario.
In addition to leveling up your characters to make them more powerful, you also can add skills to your character once you level up. These skills will add new abilities like allowing your character to heal others or themselves or will enhance your attack abilities. Leveling up and maximizing your skills is essential to moving forward in the game.
Graphics/Performance
This games art style looks like it was drawn. It runs very smooth. The only complaint that I have about the graphics are the character models. They look very well drawn, but they don’t move as much as I think they could. The character models move, but don’t show any action when you attack your enemy. Not a deal breaker, but given how good the art style looks, I would love to see more motion.
Sound
The sound in the game is very good. I like that there are many different tracks that play during battle. The game also tells you the title and the artist of that track. It is well implemented. It rewards you for putting on some headphones and playing the game.
Story
The story in the game is simple but well developed. The setting of the game helps make a simple story rewarding and fun.
Value
Stones Keeper is a game that will keep you busy for a long time. Each scenario forces the player to take their time and make decisions that will impact your success or failure. In between scenarios you will have to be sure to upgrade, and level up your characters. This is essential to your future victories and has a lot of options for you fine tune. Coming in at $19.99 this game is well worth your money if you enjoy strategy rpgs.
Conclusion
I really enjoyed my time with Stones Keeper as it reminds me of my college days of playing Dungeons and Dragons with my friends at university. I don’t think it is an easy game by any standard, but once you pick up on the mechanics of the game, your characters will rise in power, and you will start working through the various scenarios much more easily. The art style of Stones Keeper is very appealing, and it makes it fun to see all of the different types of enemies. You can pick up Stones Keeper on the Nintendo eShop for $19.99. I would like to thank Valkyrie Initiative for the review code.