Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark

Turn-based tactical role-playing games, when done right, are a fantastic mix, blending the timeless strategic gameplay of chess with a deep role-playing experience. By that measure, Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark is absolutely done right. From a gameplay perspective, there's no shortage of options. There's a ridiculous number of customization options to play around with. Players can change out their party's looks, equipment, and abilities from literally hundreds of combinations. In fact, there's almost too much to work with. Setting up your squad can be extremely time consuming. And even after you've got things just the way you want, battles can get the better of you, taking your best team members out of action for a few fights and forcing you to dig deeper into the roster for reinforcements. In fact, it sometimes feels like you spend more time in the game's various menus than you do in the actual fights or story.

Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark is heavy on its story, throwing players into a world that's instantly familiar but still feels original. Right off the bat, there are twists that turn everything Kyrie knows upside down. As Kyrie uncovers the truth beneath the surface of her beliefs, the player is also learning about both how the world is perceived by the people and how it truly is. Admittedly, the flow of the story's a bit choppy, due mostly to the amount of time players have to spend in the gameplay elements. It's a bit like trying to follow the plot of a TV movie constantly broken up by commercial breaks. Still, it builds a solid foundation with plenty of potential. With its wealth of customization options, Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark has more than enough content to keep a player's interest.