• Price: $14.99 USD (currently on sale for $12.74 until May 29th)
• Developer: Nico Papalia
• Publisher: Top Hat Studios
• Release Date: May 14, 2024

A review code was kindly provided by Top Hat Studios on behalf of Nico Papalia. We thank them for being able to cover something they’ve worked so hard on.

The colorful, cartoonish characters displayed on the banner for Athenian Rhapsody really caught my eye. Seeing it described as a comedy RPG added to the appeal, as I happen to enjoy both of those elements on their own. I couldn’t wait to Rome roam around and amuse myself in this version of Athens!

When you start up the game, you get to name your character, choose their gender and skin tone, and take a personality test that appears to match you with one of the characters in some way. It also mimics a certain classic game by asking you about your favorite thing (and your favorite food, later on).

After completing the beginning questionnaire, you finally appear in Athens. Right away I thought that the environment was lovely! As I made my way through the first area, I ran into Richard and James, who start you off with the game’s first simple “puzzles.” (None of the game’s puzzles frustrated me.)

They also explain that Athens has changed from the way it used to be; previously its residents were more open and friendly. But now “everyone [is] so EXP crazed and [attacks] each other on sight.” They feel the need to make preemptive strikes and kill other Athenians for their EXP before someone attacks them first.

Athens may be a “dog eat dog” world right now, but you still have a choice in the way you handle situations. Cutesy critters wander around the overworld and attack you on sight. Even after turning on the useful “auto run” feature it’s almost impossible to avoid these battles. (But why would you?)

If you want to fight back, choose the Attack command and press A when the attack meter is as full as possible. You also have access to Burst Skills, which can heal you, affect your stats, or allow you to block a number of hits. (The game indicates that you should use Burst Skills frequently, or you’re likely going to lose a lot.) Combat is technically turn-based, but with more active mini games involved.

You don’t have to choose violence, though. It’s possible to do things the old way and try to befriend your attackers. (Check out our friendship guides for regular and boss enemies!) To get started, choose the React command and click on one of the three options. One reaction could increase the friendship meter value, while another could decrease it or have no effect at all.

When you select a reaction in the first turn, that may change the React prompts for the next turn(s); picking certain reactions in the right order can max out the friendship meter much faster (and you can only befriend someone when it’s full). In between your attacks or overtures of friendship, the enemy continues to attack you.

Taking inspiration from the combat system in Undertale, you must dodge spikes, bowling pins, lasers, and more within the constraints of a box. I’m not always the best at getting out of the way fast enough. However, Athenian Rhapsody does include “Chill Mode,” which gives you a period of invincibility that allows you to recover in between attacks. I really appreciated that feature, although it could have been made a little more accessible with some sort of skip/auto-complete mechanic.

While you can befriend the vast majority of the enemies you encounter, you can “only” recruit 16 of them into your pool of party members. Some of them require more time and effort to recruit. You can take one character with you at a time; check out their Burst Skills to see which ones might be more useful to you. Regardless of who you choose, you can switch out with them in battle.

Each party member has 3 Burst Skills; you share the Burst Meter with them, and must take that into consideration when using your Burst Points. Choosing the better options on the React menu – therefore increasing the enemy’s friendship meter – fills more of your Burst Meter. Attacking adds to the meter to a lesser extent.

It took me a while to get used to the enemies’ attack patterns, but after spending more time with the battle system and learning the patterns with some trial and error, I was able to successfully befriend (or bludgeon) my opponents. I liked that the game doesn’t require a lot of grinding, and I was impressed with the number of unique attacks for each enemy. I also liked that we can use Burst Skills and attack/react in the same turn.

I especially liked the different clothing/armor options. There are clothing shops in each town that sell basic clothes, hats, and backpacks in different colors. But you can also find or purchase some armor and weapons that change your appearance when walking around and when you’re in battle.

In terms of things I didn’t care for so much, if you’re defeated, usually you’re sent to your last save point (but there are some exceptions that allow you to respawn in the same room). I didn’t mind that we can’t save everywhere, but it was a little frustrating that I couldn’t skip dialogue before a boss fight that I’d lost several times already.

You can’t use an item on your turn and attack/react on the same turn like you can with Burst Skills. I found myself using the same healing skills instead of experimenting with other abilities – especially because the amount of items you can carry is very limited. There is a storage box in some areas but that doesn’t hold much either. I had to throw away quite a few items that could have been useful as a result.

That being said, I still really enjoyed exploring Athens and finding as many of its secret items or characters as I could. It seems like the game is somewhat linear in a way, as some areas are blocked off until you finish doing something else. But if you try to discover every secret, you’ll do quite a bit of backtracking (thankfully there is a fast travel system).

There were interesting Easter eggs hidden here and there. A few areas had secret messages in Braille, which I thought was neat. I think I uncovered a lot of secrets, but I know I didn’t find everything even after 2 playthroughs. I did wish that we could see the current percentage of completed content.

And speaking of completion, it’s possible that the game might have more content in store. One area was mostly blocked off, but I could still get to it and talk to someone there. There’s a “Munchkin” feature that I couldn’t figure out yet, and players can also share or even combine their completed Rhapsodies (representations of their playthrough). A character in the first town mentions special events!

The main story feels complete on its own though, and there appear to be some alternate routes based on your victims-to-friends ratio? A lot of the writing was entertaining. The character traveling with you may comment on the area you’re in, which was a nice touch. I did want the recruited characters to comment a little more on the overarching story as it unfolds, but the content that is there is impressive from solo dev Nico Papalia.

Athenian Rhapsody is just a fun and wacky experience that takes inspiration from much-loved games that came before it, but it never felt overly derivative in my opinion. I had a few minor gripes here and there, but I still had a good time exploring across a ~15 playthrough (x2). I loved the character designs, and their quirky (if a bit homicidal) personalities. And the soundtrack by Arpbug was absolutely fantastic, complementing the game’s overall feeling well. Everything came together for the most part, and I hope to see more of Athens someday soon.