Paladin Dream is a straight down the middle type RPG; there’s no surprising twists or turns to uncover through the short run time. The kicker is that the vast majority of what’s on screen isn’t HitherYon Games‘ work, as it’s created using RPG Maker. Granted, the programme allows devs to write their own story arc and draw their own assets, but ultimately you’ll still be playing a game made within the bounds of an engine that is painfully showing its age. HitherYon Games have created their own sprites and some unique music, and both of which hold up well. You play as Josiah, a square jawed paladin, plagued by a dark past. You decide to pick up your sword and head out into the world to kill God or find out that you were the monster all along. You know the drill.
If you think of the pre-PlayStation Final Fantasy games, then you’re approaching the correct experience. Movement around the map is done in a bird’s eye view and dialogue is rooted in a text box that usually repeats the same sentence each time you speak to an NPC. Combat boils down to you and your enemy taking turns slapping each other in the face until one of you falls over. Each fight is functionally the same, but mercifully Paladin Dream doesn’t force you into unacceptably grindy gameplay loops. In this case you’re able to follow the core story arc to completion without having to spend hours punching bandits just to progress to the next grind session.
If you’re looking for a retro RPG experience then Paladin Dream might be for you, but so could thousands of other games. There aren’t any massive clangers which would have me call it a broken experience but it also lacks any kind of hook that would let me wholly recommend it.