Kemco was once a well known for making point and click adventure games, like Shadowgate, Where just about every decision ended in death, usually in humorous ways. The NES contained what could be considered their trifecta of masterful games: Shadowgate, Deja Vu, and The Uninvited. Despite these great games Kemco seemed to just vanish from the world but That’s not what happens to companies who make great games right? Of course not. Kemco kept making games without anyone really batting an eye. They even made a couple more Shadowgate games but that’s not why I’m here today. What if i told you Kemco is now known for making mobile games? What if i told you they were good? WHAT IF… I stopped stalling and told you those games were ported to pc and console and I’m about to showcase some of my favourites?
Ya I figured you’d like that more than this. Alright Kemco makes many kinds of games for those looking to relive the classic days of gaming with modern amenities like auto saving and accessibility options. They have RPGS, Tactical RPGS, Deck Builders and even rogue likes. They do it all so without further delay let’s start with what’s been consuming my life this month: Overrogue.
Overrogue is a deck building RPG hybrid by Kemco’s main dev team, EXE Create. The game play itself is very fluid and inventive. 5 different themed decks are unlocked as you progress the generic but serviceable story; which showcases a son of the current ruler of the under world looking to succeed him by playing a card game competition. The first deck starts you off with abusing the money you pick up to deal massive damage while other decks with have you doing things like making high hit chains and even poisoning yourself into a 100+ damage powerhouse. What sets Overrogue apart compared to others like Slay the spire is it’s party system. everyone shares the same deck but you can rotate where they are in the battlefield to take take damage or retreat to heal. It’s not an overly difficult game either making Overrogue a great way to introduce someone into the genre. and at around $10 when on sale for pc consoles or a less balanced but fair, free gacha experience on android this game is a no brainier.
You like Phantasy Star? I’m not talking that newfangled mmorpg thingy you fancy kids play but the unforgiving battle encounter RPG from the genesis. No? Well before i leave on my midlife crises lemmie tell ya about Kemco’s second dev team, Hit Point. These guys LOVE to make you grind. Are the games fun? Darn tootin’ but you won’t want to 100% them without taking a break. You’ll know if the whips are coming out for ya if you see the enemy above your characters in battle. Or you’ll figure it out when the encounter rate is faster than the memory of a goldfish on a booze filled college bender. Hit Point makes the good stories but the unforgiving difficulty and grind while EXE is responsible for the stellar evolution of old school RPG but bland ass stories.. Justice Chronicles is a fine example of this philosophy
Justice Chronicles is a beautiful, engrossing story about a group of soldiers and a priestess as they try to stem the flow of an evil miasma from overtaking their entire world. My spoiler free summary may sound bland but people die, dreams are broken, and the depth of character development in a game looking like it’s made of 16 bits is far beyond what we were getting growing up. Do yourself a favour: get the game on sale for half off and grab the DLC to halve the encounters and double the XP. otherwise enjoy a 17 hour game that gives you 8 hours of fighting after you want to give up. Other notable games from hit point in this style include Monster Viator, and Legend of the Tetrarchs.
Alright Coming back to EXE is a rogue like called Yōdanji (Good luck finding this one WITHOUT that fancy o I dare ya.) It’s a lot like games you may remember in the past like Chocobo Dungeon or more more style appropriate, Fatal Labyrinth on Genesis. There’s a trend here with kemco but I don’t want to distract you from what makes Yōdanji so fun despite it’s simplistic art style; the customization. I swear you could play this for 10 hours and still find a new mechanic or play style choice waiting for you to spend time with it in the dungeons. All the characters are based on Japanese folklore so your demon umbrellas and spectral gotse appreciators are all on full display; showing you they can go the depths and bring you a good time. again, with EXE, the story is pretty much non existent but the game play makes you wonder why they made the name such a hard to search disaster. Def grab this if you can. Yōdanji is another introduction to a genre masterpiece I’ve come to know Kemco for.
Lastly I want to tell you that Hit Point isn’t just about abusing their player base. They seem to enjoy it greatly but sometimes you’ll find them offer a beautiful, inventive game with a story not near as devoid of engrossing plot as it’s sister dev team. The game I want to talk about is Chronus Arc. This thing is essentially Zelda meets Square Enix’s SAGA franchise rolled into one. Does that mean combat is a little mean? oh yeah Hit Point competes with SMT for masochistic strategy in their battle systems but boi howdy is it fun. This is an instance where you won’t mind the encounter rate near as much because it gives you time to solve the puzzles while stomping on enemies. The story is kinda hard to explain without spoilers but essentially you need chronus fragments for a 1 in every 10 year event and bad things happened that force you to go out and explore the world. honestly much more than that and you’d get a good chunk of story. the plot slaps you in the face within 20 minutes it’s kinda insane. That said, like most Kemco games, this is $10 when on sale and free for android with the ability to buy your way into an easier time. Def worth a shot if you wanted to know how Goof Troop on SNES would fare as an RPG
So there you have it. Kemco never left. They simply hard pivoted into a new direction: affordable RPGs that start on mobile and get ported elsewhere. These RPGs btw usually only last around 12 hours for the main story but get to around 20 if you wanna 100% them. Perfect for on the go or those who can only set aside about 30 mins at a time. Lemmie tell ya I almost gave up on RPGs cause my life just doesn’t have the time to spend 40 minutes on a cut scene or 2 hours on a dungeon. Luckily I found Kemco and I can confidently say: I still love RPGS. I love these games and I want more people to find them as well. So why not take a chance and plop down a tenner on an RPG or a deck builder? you get pretty far in the 2 hour window for returns on steam or you can slap one on your phone or tablet for free and test the waters. I think you’ll find yourself pleasantly surprised if you do.
