8-Bit Adventures 2

this game is Final Fantasy 4 on crack what the hell

8-Bit Adventures 2 is a rare instance where a team seeks to capture the nostalgic magic of classic JRPGs and manages to deliver on virtually every front. A deeply narrative-driven adventure, finely-tuned combat, and a beautiful aesthetic package make up an unforgettable experience that would most certainly have been among my personal favorite indie RPGs of 2023. Since I can’t go back in time, I’ll settle for it being a frontrunner for the same title in 2025.

What I Liked

The Cast: A large, eclectic group of characters that are well written, fleshed out, and all have their various moments to shine over the course of the adventure. Returning characters from the original play pivotal roles without overshadowing the newcomers’ critical moments. The end result evokes a sense of nostalgia for the first adventure all while letting this new tale truly breathe and come to life.

The Combat: 8-Bit Adventures 2 sits on that razor’s edge of challenging, but fair combat, and it only gets more technical as you unlock the various party members which can be swapped in and out (a la FFX) at any time, further encouraging strategy and depth. Each party member’s unique skill set can be further enhanced (or diversified) through accessory slots and the augment system.

Aesthetics: Bridging the gap between the NES and SNES, the 'NES+' look pushes the boundaries of what the former could handle, maintaining its nostalgic appeal by not fully committing to the latter’s 16-bit design. An exceptional chiptune soundtrack further enhances this, capturing the magic of classic JRPGs.

Plot Delivery: Cutscenes are highly expressive and emotive, which really helps the characters resonate with you on a level that you might not expect given the game’s 8-bit-esque aesthetic. Make no mistake: this is a deep story-driven experience despite the look on the surface! And the care given to continue and expand on some topics and events from the first game is both appreciated and commendable.

What I Disliked

Text Speed: While the amount of love and care put into the narrative is palpable, it can feel a bit sluggish at times due to how slowly the text boxes advance. There is little difference between the two options given, as both will automatically slow down during emotive scenes (which happens A LOT). Although I can understand why instant text would break a ton of cutscenes due to their expressive nature, there’s no reason why lower-key moments and generic NPC dialogue shouldn’t be able to be sped up significantly (if not instant). Speed readers (like myself) may struggle with this a lot despite the quality narrative.

The Villain: Let me be clear that the main villain is not bad - their backstory is intriguing and motives are logical, but their line delivery can feel a bit too..."muahaha" at times. This is a minor nitpick, however, as this was and still is very commonplace in JRPG-styled adventures.

What Is Worth Mentioning

Best Played Second: Being a direct sequel to the original, 8-Bit Adventures 2 is best experienced after completing the first adventure. While efforts are made to catch new players up, there are many callbacks to the original journey that won’t have the same impact without firsthand experience. That said, this could be a double-edge sword, particularly for Steam Deck-exclusive players, as a fairly significant visual bug does exist in the first game that is, while playable, a bit annoying to play around. Perhaps a remake/remaster is in order, devs *wink wink*?

Consider Buying This If…

You’re looking for that next grand retro-inspired JRPG adventure to sink your teeth into, and want to do so in a truly meaningful way. 8-Bit Adventures 2 harkens back to those classic adventures while not relying on nostalgia alone - it is a true labor of love in every sense of the statement.

Overall Opinion: GREAT

Based on a BAD, OK, GOOD, GREAT rating scale.
Played entirely on Steam Deck.
If you love RPGs and like what you see from me here, consider following my Curator journey!

I haven't finished this game, I have mixed feelings on it. I wish I could leave a neutral rec.

Depending on your tastes, 8-Bit Adventures 2 is a perfectly paced JRPG or an insufferable dialogue heavy RPG that uses its melodramatic story scenes so frequently that the game is at serious risk of being an interactive visual novel.

I generally even like the dialogue, the characters, the continuation of the story from the first game, but it's overdoing it for my tastes and I found the first game to be far more palatable as a result.

A delightful breath of fresh air

The story is good but the world-building is even better. The 8-bit visual aesthetic is detailed enough to convey action and emotional scenes. I really liked the music too.

The combat system is very similar to Final Fantasy X. You have 3 active party members and can infinitely swap them out for others with no penalty. Some nice quality of life changes are that all party members share exp even if they didn't fight in the battle and there is a setting that resets your party to its original composition after combat is concluded.

8-Bit Adventures 2 is a fantastic retro-inspired RPG that delivers a fun, heartfelt story with a cast of memorable characters who play off each other wonderfully. While it isn’t overly challenging, the engaging battles and emotional story beats keep things compelling from start to finish. You don’t need to have played the first game to jump right in and enjoy the adventure, making it accessible to newcomers.

The game respects your time, offering a rewarding experience without requiring endless grinding to achieve 100% completion. Plus, the free post-game DLC adds even more value. Whether you're a longtime fan of classic RPGs or just looking for a charming, well-crafted adventure, 8-Bit Adventures 2 is definitely worth playing.

Fun game like Final Fantasy. Not real hard either.

This is hands-down one of the best JRPGs I've ever played. The graphics are gorgeous, the sountrack is wonderful, and above all else the writing is FANTASTIC.

The difficulty curve is pretty much perfect, with no grinding required as long as you don't run from every battle. The combat system is robust without being over complicated, and allows every character to have their own niche without punishing you for not divining exactly which party members you'll need for the next boss.

The ending was phenomenal and the post-game content was a lot of fun and adds further story context without feeling stapled on.

I cannot recommend this game enough, and I love it so much that I'm going to be trying the first game soon.

One of the better old school RPGs I've played in a long time

After 35+ years of playing RPGs, 8-Bit Adventures Two is one of the definitive gaming experiences of my life. No, really, it's that good. The game plays as a greatest hits of what makes classic rpgs work, while staying consistently innovative. The flow is constantly engaging and throws enough challenges to keep it interesting, and there's a large, vibrant world to explore. The characters are deep and complex and tend to win you over quickly...I didn't WANT to like Charlie but he ended up being a special lil dude. And the retro 8-bit style is amazing, just one of the most attractive games I ever played.

"8-Bit Adventures 2" is the full-nostalgia-package in terms of faithfully recreating an JRPG-experience of old: Retro, but accessible.

Being the sequel to the blocky but earnest first title, it surpasses it by leagues in terms of content, gameplay and presentation (maybe not necessarily in terms of narrative but more on that later). I still recommend to play the first one or at least get a synopsis though, for there are many references to the first title throughout the game.

The whole ordeal is quite good to look at, the spritework is charming and colorful, the musicc is catchy, the combat - while not "new" - is executed quite well: Status-Effect-Use is rewarding, partymember-switching is nice. It can get a little repetitive at the endgame when you got your best comp and just roll with it, but luckily the game is not grindy per se and the enemy-encounters are NOT RANDOM (which is a plus in every RPG in my opinion). It is not really hard by any means, but there is quite the difficulty-spike near the end (and I cannot speak for the post-game content, which was added by the free DLC).

The campaign is quite long (around 30h) and it can drag a little, for the dialog is long and cheesy at times (but thus even more faithful to the genre that it wants to be part of – I never liked the righteous-good-campaign-narrative about "companionship can overcome everything-trope" that a lot of JRPGs have, but I didn't mind it here).
Storywise it somewhat breaks the conventional fantasy trope, by taking place in a literal game world, but the rest of the storyscaling is your typical ordeal of epicness. The first entry did manage to pull the meta-narrative better, but this is just my personal opinion. Writing is decent nonetheless!

In short: This is a big and wholehearted package of JRPG-goodness! It definetly deserves a broader audience from fans of the genre and is well worth the price!

Wow, I am a veteran RPG player and I can easily say, one of the best RPG's I have played in a long time. Just the right length, great characters, AMAZING dialogue and story...I don't cry much and this game had me tearing up 3 different times. The creators love shines through and through. I got this on sale on a whim, and I would gladly pay full asking price. If you are on the fence, take the leap friends; 100% worth it.

This is a really special one - a throwback to retro JRPGs built with modern sensibilities. I could feel how much love was put into making this game every step of the way. If you're on the fence, get it - you won't regret it.

🌟🌟🌟🌟Ratings🌟🌟🌟🌟
⭐️Game Play⭐️ [8.3]
Comments: Always been a fan of turn-based games and this was solid implementation of one. The concept of the Omega Blast as well as the combination moves for certain characters were an interesting iteration. Wished there were more One critique that I would have would be the vague descriptors in regards to the weakness system. Maybe a simple guide to which elements counter which. I also feel that more elements of ailment types would make the creativity on the part the players more apparent in the game. I would have rated this aspect higher if it were not for the navigation in the game. The map provided is too vague, especially for players that play the game only in leisure.

📖Story📖 [9.0]
Comments: I absolutely loved the story. Since I started with this game without playing the previous one, I'll definitely pick up the prequel soon but the story line in general was fantastic. Emotional at times, serious in others, I was in a roller coaster of emotions. I definitely suggest finishing some of the sub stories as they were a few gems hidden in there as well. I also appreciated the various environment that the game went trough. From fiery lava to an icy tundra to a technological factory. Each and every place was well-designed and it was obvious much effort was put into designing each one.

🎨Graphics🎨 [8.0]
Comments: A huge of fun of retro-pixelated games and this is one of the more modern ones. I will judge the graphics based on the vision set by the developers. The game perfectly reflects the promise of a golden age of JRPGs and I certainly agree that this game will bring back some nostalgia to old time Gamers.

🎶Sound/Dialog🎶 [8.5]
Comments: Nothing much to say about VA's because there weren't any but the dialog was good. Each dialogue represented the characters they were assigned to very well while the soundtrack was a calming presence for the most part of the game but intense during the battle sequences so I'd give it a solid ranking.

💰Price💰 [8.0]
Comments: A fair price for the quality of game we are receiving.

🔥Overall Rating🔥 [8.4]
Summary: A very solid game. Multiple different mechanisms to try out, characters with in depth backstories and interpersonal bonds and relationships. I was satisfied and couldn't wait until I finished the game to see the epic conclusion. Really hope for a trifecta here.

Great Design

It's a very solid, SNES-era JRPG with well thought out gameplay and great visual design. There's clearly a lot of love poured into the game from the really well done monster sprites to the cutscenes and vignettes.

The writing isn't the greatest, mostly because the character writing lacks a strong voice but the plot is solid and well-paced with a good variety of locations and a strong feeling of adventure without diving into fetch quests or the usual annoyances.

But really, it's nice to have a game that is pretty much exactly what you expect and what it advertises itself as. I can't really find any significant fault in the game beyond some writing critiques as mentioned above. Strong recommend.

This game has one of the best stories in any game I have ever played. I love all of the characters and without spoiling anything, there are a bevy of amazing moments that will pull at your heart strings. The combat and overall gameplay are great as well. I cannot recommend this game enough!

This game was strongly recommended by a friend, and I would have played it MUCH sooner if the backlog wasn’t an endless struggle. (Finished this game on Switch by the way, but happily owning this title across multiconsoles!)

8-Bit Adventures 2 is a gem that deserves a lot more hype and attention. The base game is about 25-30 hours (not even accounting for the free DLC that was just released), and can be fully enjoyed without having played the first game. However, now that I’ve beaten 8BA2, I really really want to play 8BA—not because I “have to” to understand the story, but because I *really want to* since it’s hard not to get attached to the characters!

The playable cast is well characterized, and I never found myself using the same three members in battle all the time. Each one progresses beautifully as you unlock new abilities and group techniques, and the animations keep bringing pleasant surprises up until the very end of the game. Kudos to the team for putting so much heart and soul into the dialogue and the deep interactions they have with each other!

This game is greatly inspired by some of the most iconic titles, hitting the deep nostalgia while still having its own identity. If an indie gamedev wanted to raise the bar to bring us an ultimate RPG, then they fully succeeded with this hidden gem!

Playing on Steam Deck and it runs great. The game is really fun, there is a lot of dialogue but the story is engaging so far.

The best way I can summarize my thoughts on this game is with this statement: It feels like this game was made by people who truly love the genre but aren't blinded by nostalgia.

At the time of writing this, I haven't beaten the game yet but I am quite far in and thoroughly enjoying it.
Update: I have since beaten the game and can confirm it maintains its excellent quality throughout the whole game.

This game is heavily inspired by classic JRPGs like the first few Dragon Quest games. However, it is full of QoL features and more modern game design. Here are some highlights:
- You have more party members than you can use in battle, but they all equally earn XP so you don't need to awkwardly swap them around to ensure they're all levelled up.
- Speaking of swapping your party members, you can do it in battle really smoothly. As an example: if it's your thief's turn, you can swap them out for someone on your back line, such as your mage. However, this doesn't use up the turn. You can swap out for the mage, then use the mage to attack. If you swap to the mage but change your mind before you attack with them, you can just swap right back to the thief or another party member.
- Healing items and abilities heal a percentage of the target's health. This is great because instead of ending up with 6 different types of potions that all eventually become obsolete, you only have three types of potions: 50%, 75%, and 50% to the whole party.
- You can save your game at any point (as long as you're not in combat or a cutscene, of course), and the game has frequent autosave. The manual saving is also extremely quick; You only need to click a few buttons to save to your most recent save slot, and it saves almost instantly. This might sound minor but it makes a big difference after playing so many games that make saving inconvenient.

On top of all the QoL features, the game itself is great. The characters are well written and easily stand out among each other. The story is interesting and entertaining without being pretentious or overly complex. The combat has some fun mechanics to twist the classic JRPG formula, but not so far as to turn it into a different genre. The music is also great, with a variety of tones to suit the moment.
While some games feel like they limit themselves to fit a "classic" game style, this game instead feels like it utilizes the classic style to its fullest and is instead enhanced by it.

I'm not saying this is a perfect game. However, any complaints/criticisms I have are extremely minor and honestly don't feel worth writing about.

Finally, something to know about this game: While this is a direct sequel to the first game, I can say it easily stands alone as its own game. I didn't play the first game, but I had absolutely no trouble following this game. I feel like I was also able to piece together a lot of the story of the first game, as this game does a good job giving you all the context you could possibly need without any lore-dumps or exposition. As you go on this adventure, you hear pieces of the previous adventure in a very immersive way.

I absolutely love this game. I was skeptical to play it after the first game didnt impress me, but i would have missed out on a modern ff style game. Everything i have been missing from old ff games is in the game and the story telling is fantastic. I cannot wait for more games like this!!!! Keep up the great work

Good game....but, there is WAY too much dialogue. Way, way too much.

Fun story. Reminiscent of old RPGs.

You get your monies worth/ then they five you a bunch of free stuff!

If you like old school RPG's, you will like this game.

This game has an awesome story with soul. The combat system is easy to get into, and there are plenty of ways to change up equipment and augments for strategy.

I like the style and story.

Pretty good game

A fantastic homage to classic rpgs like final fantasy, it manages to tell its own story without relying heavily on tropes from the era. The gameplay has a lot of food QoL, and with each character introduces unique gameplay mechanics that lead to some engaging turn based combat. The customization options are light, but enough to keep me engaged during the length of its story.

5/7

As you can guess by the name it's a designed to operate like old school NES/SNES rpgs. Despite the name it's far closer to the 16 bit for the overall game. However the scale, and the sheer heart put into the game took me by surprise. It's very apparent that this is someone with genuine love of the genre making and polishing this game.

The characters fit with classic style ones of not having a ton of depth, but still having unique personalities, and unique battle abilities. They're genuine classic rpg heroes through and through. Also big emotional moments do hit harder than I was expecting anything to going into this. The review quote I saw that perfectly summed it up: Reminds me why I fell in love with the genre to begin with.

Good for anyone wanting a well done, classic Square style back to basics rpg, wanting something a bit easier to finish (30-ish hours to do everything), and anyone that just likes retro style games.

Don't let the name trick you, this game has a great story and great systems that harken back to old ones. It's packed with solid characters and solid content, and none too easy! Definitely give this one a try, a hidden gem.

I had a really obscure bug that I spent hours trying to fix my own. Ended up asking the developer for help and he was polite and incredibly helpful - fixed my save in 2 minutes.

The game is a fantastic RPG, one which was clearly made by people passionate not only about the genre's history, but also with a deep respect for its fans as well. This alone makes it well-worth the asking price for me.

This game is actually amazing, it has a great story line, fantastic pixel art, and probably some of the best characters of any Jrpg i have ever played.

good visuals but a lot of hand holding and filler dialogue, hard to stay engaged outside of cutscenes with big vfx. i want to like it, but its just OK. generic modern names breaks fantasy immersion for me. charlie is kind of a brat and other characters seem low depth. will maybe play again but shelving it for now.

For RPG fans, this checks many boxes. It has an interesting story line and a decent amount of customizing characters with augments.

Amazing little Gem

The dialogue and events is boring.

old school nostalgia.

The gameplay is fun and strategic, no real grind needed and lost of side content to enjoy.

A great love letter to old game with QoL to avoid frustration.

Please note that the story is a little meta and might no please everyone.

Not very far in but its charm hits instantly. Definitely looking forward to the rest. Charming characters, cute as hell pixel art and bomb music! If you like classic turn-based RPG , I’d say go for it.

This is so far my absolute favourite game of the year 2024.

It´s got the perfect NES / SNES retro feeling.
From the artstyle to the sound / music to the writing, everything is amazing.
Feels like i was a kid again playing in the living room at my parents house.

You can just tell that the team behind this game put their hearts into it.

No politics / agendas / propaganda like in many other games (even indie games).

This is basically a retro RPG lovers dream combining everything from the good old NES / SNES times with the quality of life features of nowadays games.

I´d highly recommend to play 8-Bit Adventures 1 first just to understand the story better (even tho you could play this one as a standalone and still get the quintessence of 8BA1) and also to see what huuuuuuuge step they´ve made from their first game.

The team is super active, providing additional content frequently and are also very helpful, if you need anything there is a high chance that they will help you.

In 2025 there is supposed to be a new content drop again, with some kind of bossrush mode. Can´t wait for that.

I loved every second and I really hope there will be part 3 in the upcoming years.

Thank you very much for this nostalgia trip down memory lane, to my childhood 25 years ago.

SUPER HIGHLY RECOMMENDED 11/10

I just came here to say that this is simply one of the greatest experiences I’ve had in gaming since playing Chrono Trigger 20 years ago. I hope others may have access to this game and feel the same about it.

This is one of my first reviews if not my first. This is an incredible game! I write this review as someone who has played video games for over 30 years and love this genre. As I played this game I couldn't help but feel like a kid again playing through games like Chrono Trigger, Lufia, BoF and FF for the first time.

Thank you so much for this and I hope you continue more projects like this!

Edit- I played 5 hours of this on Steam and 40-50 hours on PS 5 which is where I completed the main story.

It's a love-letter to classic NES-era JRPGs. The Dev/studio behind this game is extremely nice and responsive on the discussion forums here, which is really cool to see. The graphics are great, especially the world map; it really feels like you're sitting in front of an NES game.
I will say this early - that this game is not difficult - if that's what you're looking for, maybe check out Crystal Project. This game is a callback to the classics, will give you boss tips at save points if you ask for them, etc. It's more about the feel/nostalgia, much less about being super challenging. Not everything has to be Dark Souls/Bloodborne/[Current Popular Difficult Game], I'm fine with this.
There aren't random encounters - it's similar to Earthbound where you see enemies on the map, and can avoid them if you want. Additionally, because you're in less fights than the average NES/SNES JRPG, the fights you do get in are more impactful - debuffs/buffs matter, you have to actually think a bit instead of just mashing "Attack".
The game is full of callbacks and references to other classics - it's never in-your-face about it, but I caught references to FF1, Earthbound, FF6, Chrono Trigger, and several others during my playthrough. The dev clearly has played classic JRPGs a lot and it shows.
The only complaints I have, and they're minor, is that there is no instant text dialogue option (I know there's a thousand requests for this already Mr. Dev, I'm sorry to bring it up again). I was ok with it at first, but towards the end of the game it got a bit annoying. I'm a pretty fast reader, so it might've bothered me more than it would others. Which plays into my other (minor) complaint - I think a few of the story cutscenes go on a bit too long and could be shaved down/be more concise. The issue is - as I type this, I'm not sure if they really need to be shaved down that much, or if it's because the text speed is slow that it ended up bothering me a bit.

Anyway, minor complaints aside, this is a really cool game. Worth the money.

8-Bit Adventures 2 is one of the best JRPG's I think I've ever played full stop.
It's a heartfelt adventure with amazing writing, music, visuals and game play, It's fun, and there's nothing else to say, it's pure fun from start to finish, it's a labour of love for the old games and you can feel that emanate from every leaking pour this game has, the love seeps through, it's truly a brilliant game, and I wish more people would play it

Great story. Great characters. Great Music. Great Combat. Just play the game please it deserves so many more sales.

Really good throwback to SNES RPGs with none of the tedium of those games (no required grinding, no random encounters, opt-in respawns). Has likeable characters and an interesting plot that does a good job of covering important stuff from the previous game (never played it). Boss fights are tactical and difficulty felt perfectly balanced. The music and sprite work are very well done. Looking forward to what this developer does next.

Really excellent game, with a great story. I have done two 100 percent runs of this within in the last year., which when it comes to rpgs, I almost never do. A full play-through took me 30 hours.

I am looking forward to more from this developer.