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“Noahmund” tells the tale of war against a person called Salaber, which your character (called Galina) gets involved in. Unfortunately due to the introductory sequence being in Spanish, it was hard to tell exactly what initiated this conflict, although it is made extremely clear that Galina lost someone close, and thus giving a probable motive to continue the fight against Salaber.

You initially start off practicing your moves in a sort of dojo/battle arena, and this is where you immediately see what makes this game quite unique, both in a good and bad way. The controls are joypad only – so if you don’t have one, then this game isn’t for you.

You can really tell that “Noahmund” has been inspired by old-school JRPG’s such as “Final Fantasy” and “Chrono Trigger”, and lucky enough for me and you. “Noahmund” just happens to be a truly good JRPG game.

Fighting is done on a large square area, around 10 squares by 7 in which you can move and fight freely – no Action Point checking here! Movement is performed using the left thumb stick whilst fighting is done with the right – the direction you move either determines the direction of where you move or fight. This does take a bit of getting used to, but works well – once you get the hang of it.

The main problem is using alternative weapons and special items – using the right trigger modifies your weapons list, but it is awkward moving, and fighting whilst pressing that at the same time. It may be tempted to leave any teammates to do your fighting for you. However, they aren’t invincible, and if they do die, then it’s possible that’ll it be game over time.

“Noahmund” is the kind of adventure JRPG that’s easy to pick up and just play on the go. Another great thing with the game is that its story is really well-made.

When not fighting, movement is performed in more or less the same way – on a grid system, except the left stick indicates which direction you face. Normally, this highlights an arrow (which shows you can go in that direction), but occasionally it’s used to interact with people or objects. Pressing the action button moves you in your chosen direction.

You can sometimes pick up objects for upgrading or replacing skills and weapons. The inventory screen is pretty simplistic, but easy to understand.

Inventory and skills list are selected through the radial dial.

There are also traps that you can walk on, which need to be deactivated by clicking on correct buttons in a given amount of time. Furthermore, with each stage you also have to find the exit, and that may involve some searching (especially in complex layouts, which require things to be done elsewhere).

Sure, there are checkpoints (in the guise of campsites) usually scattered around, at which point health is restored, and you can save your progress. Unfortunately, these are spaced out a bit too far, meaning you may lose quite a bit of progress is you die

noahmund some sort of underground passageway

The visual novel approach to JRPG moving and fighting works rather well in “Noahmund”. So it’s a darn shame that the soundtrack and sounds aren’t more existing than it is.

Once you get past the inherent inaccuracy of joy-pads, movement can be done quite quickly – although your characters won’t continually move if you hold down the required button, which does slow things down.

The fighting system is good, but the weirdness of it all takes some getting used to. Music and sound effects are okay – nothing particularly special, but they do get the job done. The graphics are fine. Your characters are fairly well detailed and move smoothly enough, but whilst everything looks okay, they aren’t really outstanding – they just look okay.

On the down side of things, fighting and moving around might take a while to getting used to. Furthermore, the graphics in “Noahmund” is nothing special. So the visuals are just okay, no more, no less.

Nevertheless, all in all, I still have to say that “Noahmund” is an uncomplicated and fun old-school-like adventure JRPG. So if you like old-school JRPGs like “Chrono Trigger”, Final Fantasy IV” and “YS”, then you might want to pick up and give “Noahmund” a try.

Pros:
+ Simple game to pick up
+ Story is good
+ Music and sound works okay – just not overly exciting
+ Novel approach to RPG moving and fighting, and works well

Cons:
– Introduction is in Spanish, so some explanation of the story could be missed
– Fighting and moving make take a bit of getting used to
– Graphics are okay – nothing outstanding – just functional
– Inventory system is a bit convoluted
– Pricey

Gameplay: 4/5
Graphics: 3/5
Sound and music: 3/5
Controls: 4/5
Replay value: 3/5
Story: 4/5

tgg grade 4 out of 5

Verdict: 4/5
It’s certainly pretty novel, and would probably be a good introduction to RPG/Adventure games. Once the moving and fighting system is understood, rapid progress should be made through the story. However, the price may be a bit of a turn-off, as there are cheaper games already out there.

Title: Noahmund
Developer: Estudio Ábrego
Format: PC
Genre: RPG/Adventure
Resolution: User-defined
Release date: 2018-08-03
Difficulty:Intermediate
Spent time: +3 hours
Average grade internationally: N/A Gamerankings.com
PEGI age rating: N/A
Price: 22.37 Euros via Steam