Galaxy of Pen & Paper +1 Edition

Genre: Turn-Based RPG

Players: 1

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in Pen and Paper Games Bundle along with Knights of Pen and Paper +1 Deluxier Edition and Knights of Pen & Paper 2 Deluxiest Edition.)

Galaxy of Pen & Paper, released on mobile devices and PC in 2017 and ported to multiple platforms including Nintendo Switch in 2020, is a Turn-Based RPG that follows in the footsteps of its predecessors, the Knights of Pen and Paper games, replacing their medieval fantasy theme with a sci-fi theme, but retaining the series’ core concept of a “game within a game” where the plot is taking place in a tabletop game being enjoyed by friends, complete with out-of-character banter.

The good news is that this framing device, and the overall presentation as a whole, is as good here as it’s ever been in the series, combining 2D pixel art visuals with occasional simple 3D effects in a way that isn’t by any means impressive, but still lends the game a good feeling of style that fits its 80s/90s-era version of the future, complete with countless clear cultural references. The writing and dialogue here is very good, giving this game a lot of personality, and the music is similarly an excellent synthesized retro-futuristic style that does a brilliant job setting up this game’s vision of the future.

The bad news is, the gameplay here doesn’t make as good use of the game’s framing devices as previous entries in the series did, and the game-within-a-game stuff just seems like a gimmick here rather than a fully-fledged gameplay element. Given that this is one of the series’ core distinguishing traits, and given that much of the rest of the gameplay here is pretty formulaic and uninteresting, Galaxy almost feels like a step backwards from Knights of Pen and Paper 2, and it simply doesn’t have that compelling grindy gameplay that made the prior game work so well. What’s worse, it still retains the series’ consistent problems with a lack of character customization and slow progression.

Galaxy does try to do a few new things though – the futuristic setting allows for recharging shields, and there are spaceship battles that are completely separate from character-based battles. The shields are a nice addition, but nothing truly groundbreaking, and the spaceship battles are an interesting idea, but they don’t really tie in well to the rest of the core gameplay loop. The result is a game in a series that feels like it traded away its best gimmick for a few mediocre ones.

At the very least I can say that this game seems to finally get its touchscreen controls right after the prior games in the series inexplicably failed to properly move these controls over from mobile devices to the Nintendo Switch. In fact, given that the game’s menus are kinda’ awkwardly set up with the traditional gamepad controls, I think I overall prefer the touchscreen controls this time, though players looking to play the game in docked mode should still manage okay after getting used to things.

In the end, I like that Galaxy of Pen & Paper is expanding on the presentation elements of the series and really focusing on the story – in my book, that puts it well ahead of the bland first Knights of Pen and Paper. However, at the same time I feel like this series seems to be forgetting one of the most important elements of its roots, and as a result the gameplay suffers, replacing that important gameplay element with a few scattered experiments that serve as a poor replacement. The result is a game that feels like a step forward for the series in some ways, but a huge step backwards in others, and on balance I found Knights of Pen & Paper 2 to have the best balance overall in the series between great gameplay and great story. Stick with that one unless you absolutely love the sci-fi theme.

tl;dr – Galaxy of Pen and Paper takes the Pen & Paper series of Turn-Based RPGs into the realm of sci-fi while retaining its “game within a game” concept. Unfortunately, the gameplay elements that tied into that concept are weaker here, resulting in a game with a solid presentation but lacking the compelling gameplay of its predecessor. This is still a serviceable RPG with a fun story, but the lack of compelling gameplay ultimately makes this a misfire for the series.

Grade: B-

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