• Price: $14.99
• Developer: Grounding, Inc.
• Publisher: Cygames
• Release Date: June 28, 2022

A review code was kindly provided by Cygames on behalf of Grounding, Inc. We thank them for being able to cover something they’ve worked so hard on.

Little Noah: Scion of Paradise is a cute…little… 😉 roguelite action game in which you play as the titular Noah, an alchemist who crash-lands her airship into some ruins. Noah requires parts to repair her airship, and she wants to know more about the ruins she found, so into the ruins we go!

The game offers multiple difficulty options, and you can change the difficulty level while you play – but, you can’t change it in the middle of a battle, and you can’t switch to or from hard mode after selecting a difficulty level. I chose easy mode for my adventure.

When you enter the ruins, you’ll meet a talking kitty who has lost his memories, and Noah names him Zipper for the time being. Zipper doesn’t go into battle with you; instead, you use Champions (created using alchemy) against your foes in the ruins. Noah is capable of creating and using “Lilliputs,” which are special Champions. (Perhaps this is in reference to Lilliput in Gulliver’s Travels? 🤔)

You get to choose 1 Lilliput from 3 options when you reach a cauldron in the ruins and “create” them, but some chests will also provide you with a random Lilliput. I did find it odd that a game that emphasizes alchemy does not have you gather ingredients to create the Lilliputs, but I was okay with just choosing one because of the convenience. Some Lilliput designs felt too similar, with some that were the same but with different color palettes and elemental affinities. I thought the designs overall were cute and colorful, though.

Battling with Lilliputs involves placing 5 of them in your main team, plus 2 more in skill slots. When you fight, pressing the attack button results in your Lilliputs coming out in the order you placed them in in the lineup. Adding the skill slot Lilliputs to the mix does some extra damage to your enemies. The skill slot Lilliputs require a cooldown before you can use them again.

Noah also has an Avatar form, which makes you invincible for a time and does massive amounts of damage. You can earn additional Avatars and swap between them (outside of the ruins), which lets you change her appearance as well as her abilities. An Avatar form can also boost your Lilliputs’ attacks – where you place a Lilliput will impact which one gets the boost.

If you are defeated, you will lose all of your Lilliputs and your accessories. However, those lost items will be converted into mana, which is used to repair the airship and also gives Noah some permanent benefits for the next runs through the ruins. I really like it when games allow you to make some progress even when you lose!

Even though you lose your Lilliputs after failed runs, there are permanent upgrades for them as well for when you acquire them again. You’ll find gift items in the ruins that you can give to the Lilliputs to strengthen your bonds with them. There are 5 friendship levels, and each tier will provide an increase in skill levels. It might have been interesting if different gifts had different increases/decreases in friendship levels for a Lilliput. For example, a stuffed bear could make the bear Lilliput really happy, but wouldn’t work as well for another Lilliput. But in the game, the gifts are all generic little boxes with different colors and embellishments. Each type of gift provides a set amount of friendship levels for all Lilliputs.

You can also give Zipper some gifts in order to gain additional benefits in combat. Zipper’s support rank will reset after each trip to the ruins, but he’ll give you some gold, an extra Lilliput, and/or an extra accessory to help you out during that one trip. These perks are certainly useful, but the main method of upgrading Noah would be the airship repair function. Airship repairs are permanent upgrades, which include attack and HP bonuses, potion unlocks, bonus gold and accessories, and additional pedestal facilities. You get to choose which upgrades you’d like to unlock first, which I liked because you can customize Noah’s stats based on your preferences.

The pedestal facilities allow you to place statues on a pedestal, which gives you additional benefits like more gold, mana, attack damage, a decrease in shop prices, and more. You unlock more statues by earning badges for tasks such as exploring the dungeon X amount of times, defeating X amount of enemies, earning a certain amount of gold, etc.

Be sure to make all of the above preparations at your “home base,” because the ruins are full of danger. You will be defeated many times as you get the hang of the action-based combat. There are 3 sections with 5 levels each for you to go through; 3 of those levels involve exploring areas with regular enemies, and 2 levels in each section involve boss battles. In total, there are 9 exploratory levels and 6 boss levels for you to complete.

The layout of the ruins changes every time you go in, and you will always start from the very first section and level. The enemies and available rewards will also vary. Although you only go through five levels per section, two of those levels allow you to choose between two options for your next exploration. Choosing between the two options will determine what benefits you receive after a boss fight; you earn gate pieces for defeating bosses, which unlock additional perks for the next level.

Each level has a shop, a treasure room, and cauldrons to obtain Lilliputs, accessories, and stat-improving crystals. There are Monster Lairs in some levels, which have stronger opponents that provide you with rewards for defeating them. And some rooms in a level include challenges (i.e. defeating enemies within a time limit, defeating enemies without getting hit, etc.). I really liked the convenient map feature that allows you to warp to rooms you’ve been to before in that run. The loading times were also pretty quick and smooth when warping.

Once you’ve gotten used to the combat and are able to pass through to the next section of the ruins, you’ll get to view the story scenes (mainly between Noah and Zipper). There is a main enemy for you to defeat, but for me the plot wasn’t as detailed as it could have been. I did like the dialogue, and perhaps we’ll see more Little Noah content in the future according to the credits? Paid DLC is also set to release in August and September, which includes new Lilliputs, accessories, and Avatar forms. The special edition (out in August) will include both DLCs.

Switch it ON or Switch it OFF? Little Noah: Scion of Paradise is an adorable game with fun ideas. I wanted a more detailed plot and a more expansive system to synthesize Lilliputs (as well as a more varied gift system to strengthen them). But I really appreciated how the game gives you a sense of accomplishment when you get further than your last time in the ruins. Putting your team of Lilliputs together and repairing your airship for perks is a satisfying experience that allows you to take more control in combat. 8/10