Bloomtown: A Different Story – A Hidden JRPG Gem (Review)

Bloomtown: A Different Story is a hidden gem of an RPG from the makers of Graveyard Keeper. Combine the JRPG combat and social elements of the Persona series with the themes of Stranger Things Season 1 and a nostalgic pixel art style, and you’ve got a pretty good idea for what this game is all about. Most importantly, it combines all of these elements very well at a budget price of about $25 to make a great cosy game that is well worth looking into. Read on to find out more!

Bloomtown: A Different Story is available on Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4 & 5, Xbox 1 & S & X, and Microsoft Windows. This review was written on the Switch version.

Presentation is one of the standout features of Bloomtown: A Different Story. The first time you step foot into battle and hear the catchy battle themes (that are extremely reminiscent of the Persona series) you might just find yourself instantly hooked. Town exploration has relaxing old school JRPG music to counterbalance it. It’s a shockingly good soundtrack for an indie game.

Graphics are top notch as well, with environments dripping in small details and bursting with colours. Animations are simple but nicely sprinkled throughout for extra immersion. I’m a sucker for pixel art and this game knocks it out of the park.

The only downside here is that there is no voice acting in the game. It captures that old school feeling, but might be offputting if you don’t like to read.

10/10

This is very much a story driven game and while you’re not going to blown away by a massively original plot, you’ll find yourself thoroughly engaged throughout. Much like season 1 of Stranger Things, the true heart of the story is a charming look into what it was like to be a nerdy kid in a country town in 1960s (versus 1980s of ST) America.

The characters are fun and interesting and get up to typical kid stuff, like pranking policemen, getting scared of creepy neighbours, and embarking on grand adventures of their imagination. Unlike certain other games that have released recently, the dialogue is brilliant and is often very funny!

The core plot of the game involves the dark side of Bloomtown, where a creepy Underworld exists, and demons are possessing certain townsfolk and causing terrible things to happen in the real world. It’s up to your gang of plucky kids to save the day!

I particularly enjoyed the characterisation of the boss enemies and their demons. I don’t want to spoil anything, but they’re basically all heartbreaking in their own way. It sums up this game’s story well for me: it’s not crazy original, but it’s done well, and it has a great heart.

9/10

Players who have played the Persona series will be right at home here. This is a game of two halves: exploring the town during the day and spending limited time to engage in work, activities, or growing your social bonds; and exploring dungeons at night to get loot, progress the story, and fight enemies.

The town exploration stuff is simple compared to Persona. Unlike those games there’s no hard time limit on when you must complete dungeons, so you can max out all the town stuff stress free. It’s both a pro and a con: it makes for a much more chill game, but it also makes it very easy. I maxed out all my traits long before the end of the game for example, which left me simply waiting to pass the time rather than do any activities. Luckily, the side quests and stories are good fun and kept me pushing forwards regardless.

The dungeon gameplay is simple but good fun as well. It’s a classic turn-based JRPG with elemental attacks and weaknesses. Each party member has their own specialty and managing SP and ammo for your ranged attacks is a big focus of combat.

One neat quirk of the dungeon gameplay is that you can capture and subdue demons and then equip them to your team to unlock extra stats and abilities. While this is helpful for regular enemies, most bosses seem to be resistant to all elements and elemental debuffs, which undermines this system. Stat debuffs, healing, and regular attacks are how nearly every boss fight goes, which is a disappointment. Luckily regular enemies have decent variety.

There are also small puzzles and chests to find sprinkled throughout which were a fun addition. You can grind for demons and experience if you want to, but I never found it needed.

Putting it all together, the dungeon gameplay is solid but nothing you haven’t seen before. It’s good fun, and the banging soundtrack makes a big difference!

8/10

Overall, I had a blast playing Bloomtown: A Different Story. It’s not an epic life changingly original story or game that will redefine everything, but it’s got amazing heart and is simply fun from start to finish.

9/10