ASTLIBRA Revision

ASTLIBRA Revision is the kind of game you almost can’t believe exists—not because it’s flashy or high-budget, but because it’s overflowing with ambition, heart, and raw, unfiltered passion. Developed almost single-handedly over the course of 15+ years by a Japanese indie developer (Keizo), this side-scrolling action RPG may look modest at first glance, but beneath the surface is one of the most emotionally resonant and mechanically satisfying RPGs in recent memory. At its core, ASTLIBRA is a deeply personal tale about survival and searching for meaning. You play as a nameless swordsman who wakes up in a strange land after losing his childhood friend. What begins as a simple quest quickly spirals into a multi-chapter epic involving time travel, gods, moral ambiguity, and the cost of ambition. This isn’t your typical “save the world” narrative. It’s intimate, emotionally raw, and surprisingly dark. It tackles themes of trauma, obsession, identity, and mortality in a way that feels earned. And while the storytelling can be melodramatic or unpolished at times, its sincerity and depth hit harder than most AAA plots. Combat in ASTLIBRA is fast, fluid, and layered. It plays like a hybrid of Castlevania, Ys, and Odin Sphere, with responsive swordplay, air combos, magic attacks, and skill trees. What really sets it apart is how much it gives you over time. You’re constantly gaining: -New weapons with unique movesets -Dozens of skills and magic types -A full job system with passive and active perks -Equipment that modifies playstyle -A familiar (your talking crow) who evolves over time and aids in battle The RPG systems are deep, and the enemy variety and boss fights are genuinely challenging. It’s not a game that holds your hand—it expects you to adapt, learn patterns, and get stronger through smart customization and timing. Let’s be honest: ASTLIBRA isn’t winning any awards for graphics. The art style is retro and janky at times, with inconsistent sprite quality and stiff animations. But it has its charm—bosses are often massive and creatively designed, and there's a gritty, dreamlike quality to the environments that gives the game a unique tone. The music, however, is fantastic. The soundtrack mixes emotional piano pieces with high-energy battle tracks and eerie ambient themes. It’s one of the game’s strongest atmospheric elements and elevates every key moment. This game is massive. Clocking in at 40–60+ hours for a full playthrough, ASTLIBRA Revision never stops throwing new mechanics, story twists, and challenges at you. It has: -Side quests with real payoff -Hidden dungeons -Optional ultra-bosses -A full NG+ mode with narrative differences -An unlockable bonus chapter (the "True Ending") that recontextualizes everything And best of all? It’s shockingly affordable for the amount of content and quality it delivers. ASTLIBRA Revision is one of those rare indie RPGs that feels both nostalgic and daring. It wears its imperfections openly, but those rough edges are part of what makes it shine. It’s an emotional rollercoaster, a mechanical triumph, and a love letter to action RPGs that punches far above its weight class. If you want something truly different, made with heart, depth, and vision, ASTLIBRA is a must-play. A flawed masterpiece—and one of the most memorable RPG experiences in years. Rating: 9/10

[h1]ASTLIBRA – An incredible journey that balances engaging gameplay with an epic story[/h1] [h2][u]Overview[/u][/h2] I felt myself pulled into the game early on despite the slow burn. But I will always remember the moment that slow burn fully ignited a spark in me. Ominous music (Replica is the exact track for reference) slowly ramped up with a vocalized chorus hinting at something powerful ahead. Then the camera panned out for a grand reveal of just why that music was playing. I got chills upon the realization of who I was talking with and what exactly that meant for my characters and the course of the story. I was no longer simply invested in the story. I was completely absorbed and absolutely needed to see it through the end. [h2][u]Story[/u][/h2] ASTLIBRA is a story that is best to dive in as blind as possible and just get incredibly lost and bewildered at everything going on. That slow burn of realization of what is actually happening is amazing. I think it is well written as well. There were many reveals that were impactful and emotional for all the right reasons and none of that throwing shocking reveals that make no sense. That is to say, I was able to predict quite a few twists, but they were guided by the narrative and clever foreshadowing. Signs of good writing. Now, while I really loved the story overall and its characters I do have some criticism. There are some strange quirks in the game of sexualization of the women where there really didn’t need to be. One instance I remember is where a character is laying sick and bed and a few characters just sexualize her laying there for no reason. It was more gross than anything though I suspect it was meant to be for laughs. However, I think it speaks to the game’s strengths that even such moments did not put me off from the game. The actual story content that matters is done really well and I enjoyed it. I just can’t talk too much about it without spoiling. But it’s one hell of a ride that really keeps going and going and by the end I felt incredibly satisfied with the game and was very happy to have played it. I can certainly see myself replaying the whole thing again. But before that I got a DLC to check out. [h2][u]Presentation[/u][/h2] It’s a 2D side-scroller and pretty much looks as you see in the screenshots. It probably looks a bit rough, but I was actually pretty sold on it right away. I rather like the art and sprites. Also you know what’s neat? All the equipment like armor and weapons have their own unique appearance. So there is a LOT of graphical work done here! Music is amazing. Replica is my favorite track but there are tons of other bangers. Wintering Ezo Red Fox was probably the biggest surprise to me. It sounds so different but it totally works for where you first hear it. The music just slaps whether its an emotional punch to the gut or hype music before delivering the beatdown of the century. [h2][u]Gameplay[/u][/h2] ASTLIBRA is a side-scroller action RPG. I found it while looking for games similar to one of my favorite games of all time which is in the same genre – Odin Sphere. Like Odin Sphere, the game is also very story heavy. But the gameplay is till top notch. You will be introduced to many new ways to grow stronger and stronger throughout the game and I found that growth to be an addicting component of the game. I genuinely loved finding new equipment. One of the best ways to grow is to just constantly use and master new equipment and gain a reward for said mastery. In a way it kind of reminds me of Gurren Lagann. You start off beating up slimes with a stick and by the end you’re in epic armor with giant swords slaying all sorts of fantastical beings and more passive abilities than you may known what to do with. The passives aren’t all just power trips either. Some are tradeoffs (die in one hit but significant power boost), some change your ability to traverse the map (extra jumps), change combat, or just general quality of life upgrades. It’s all completely free to respect at any point. The gameplay can be challenging but I’d say its always fair. One of the earliest bosses is probably the hardest time I had in the game but that was because I did not yet have many options. That said, I did have to try one of the final fights in the game multiple times (I say one of, because I am talking about the final story boss before the epilogue which is lengthy and has its own final boss… whom I found easier than the one I mean). So even with a full arsenal of powers and equipment at my disposal it wasn’t a walk in the park. One tip I will give is to take advantage of invulnerability during magic casting. That was pretty much the key for my more difficult fights both early and late game. [h2][u]Summary[/u][/h2] One of the best games I ever played. These days I am often seeking out shorter games. This one was a JOURNEY at around 80 hours played. And I loved every minute of it (well, some weird sexualized moments aside). It’s rare for me to get so absorbed into a game that I am constantly playing it everyday until it’s done. But this game successfully grabbed me and I just could not put it down. As I said in the beginning, I knew I had to see it through to the end. And I’m damn glad I did. Even now months later I still think about the game and get the urge to listen to the OST again. What an incredible experience with so much passion put into the game and story.

Fast paced combat ✅ Time travel ✅ Final Fantasy 9 Mastery System ✅ Massive content to explore ✅ Waifus ✅✅✅ Horniness ✅✅✅ Jokes aside, 10/10 game

Strong contender for my favorite game of all time and I haven't even finished it. The way this game plays with Time Travel AND maintains continuity is so cool. If there were any moments where time travel contradicted itself I couldn't even tell because it was so flawless. If the guy who made this ever reads these comments, just know that the 15 plus years you spent making this were well worth it. I bought this game just so I could put it as my favorite game on my steam page even though I have been playing it through family share. That's how sick this game is.

What a wild ride, definitely a slow burn, once you get past the first hour or so it picks up and gets really frickin fun, I personally love grinding out weapon skills so I really enjoyed this game. Story got a little wonky towards the end but honestly a lot of fun, give this a shot you might enjoy it as much as I did.

A friend of mine recommended this game, that was all I knew before trying the demo. As soon as I started playing, I instantly fell in love with the soundtrack (it really scratches that old-school JRPG itch), then the combat, and by the end of the demo, I was hooked. The story has good pacing, introducing new elements with each chapter and doing a great job of keeping things entertaining throughout. It was a great ride, and I’d happily recommend it, even at full price

I loved every second spent playing this. been gaming since '92 so this took me back. i really enjoyed the story. they twists. the grind definitely leaning towards oldschool if youre looking to get EVEYRTHING. with that said, super fun. 100% worth every penny spent and every second played. cant wait for the next game from KEIZO. ill wait as long as needed.

This game is a hidden gem. Excellent gameplay and story. Worst thing in this game is that you will have to grind a little bit if you want to gain every item and skill.

The demo is not good, so you may misperceive the game before buying it. After playing the game for more than 5-10 hours, you will find that this game will far exceed your expectations. The combat experience, art style, soundtrack, and unexpected story can all bring you different surprises. One of the best 2D action RPGs ever. Definitely worth the money. Thanks KEIZO for this masterpiece!

Way better than expected, I’m just a couple hours in and I am totally hooked. The story has a “to the moon” feeling where you know it’s going to be an emotional trip but you don’t know how. Looking forward to seeing more.

What a game. Playing on impossible straight away from start to finish of the super long tutorial was a very satisfying experience. Time to start the real game... Baker's Daughter/10.

Fun Game!! Pros: -Excellent level progression. -Quirky graphics (normally I wouldn't normally like graphics like this game has (some of it seems photo shopped), but the developer(s) make it work for this game. -Skipping events and stories (if you die for example) Cons: -Enemy AI (some enemies will walk off cliffs/over holes and fall off the screen). They will also spawn sometimes in the background (especially for Boss MOB spawns). Enemies can also fly off screen and never come back. -Good story, but it's like the "Energizer Bunny" (it just keeps going and going and going and going, and gets very random towards the end; feels rushed). -The ending of the game feels rushed. Just a BUNCH of flat surfaces with parallax backgrounds and enemies plastering the screen. -There are pointless "choices" to make in the game, or only one choice "keeps the game going". The other ends the game (rolls a short, stupid "credits" scene) and puts you right back at the point where you are "making a choice" again. (So, not really a choice). So, choice-less choices... AKA pointless. -After every chapter, the developers decided to run the same exact "intro" cinematic. At least they made it skip-able. VERY stupid. -Stupid "sexual" references (where your characters try to spy on other characters naked), and some boss fights with "shaky female chest" (Not the first game to do this, Dragon's Crown is another example (terrible game)) . Any game that has to do this is "trying too hard", or has a developer(s) that wants to "sleep with a super model" but can't... so they make games with low-grade sex references (female characters with very large chest and "very responsive to physics) to compensate. -About every minute the game stutters for half a second (with lack of options for FPS and VSync), no way to fix this.

One of the greatest games I've ever played. Fantastic story, interesting characters, epic bossfights and beautiful ambientation and soundtrack

What started as a curiosity of what was going on with this one-dev indie turned into one of the best stories I have ever played through in a video game. It's a slow burn at the beginning, but once events started unfolding it had me hooked right until the final true ending after 60 hours. The gameplay is simple, yet fun and addicting; I often would just go back a few screens just to grind and unwind for a bit. The only warning I can give is that the game can get a bit "suggestive" at times, especially with some of the boss' designs, and this is after the publisher asked the dev to tone it down. 10/10 would recommend to everyone, except for my grandmother

this is a hidden gem of games . systems and game-play that work together , perfect platform ./ metroidvania style game skill learning adaptation. magic usage in split second to overcome overwhelming odds. some minor annoyances that may require you to check the forums but still 9.8/10 even with the minor annoyances after you beat the game +/- additional content which you can challenge before the endgame .. there is still great adaptation after unlocking endgame on the main game. if you wish to find and unlock everything and getting to be even more overpowered in the process. then theirs the second game where you play as the female barmaid after completing the main game which is just as enjoyable all i can say is KEIZO did an amazing job and when you finally hear about this game you will wonder how you never heard of it before as it is just ... 100% WOW with perfection

This is hands down a hidden gem. I will not lie that at first I was offput by the games visuals that seemed to clash badly with background art. I almost didn't buy this, but was convinced by the overwhelmingly possite reviews from 25000 people. I was not dissapointed. Without going into spoilers the game starts as bog standart fantasy anime story, but that is only a first layer in the story onion. I had many "Oh, so that's why that mysterious person is there. It all makes sense now and isn't just a standard fantasy trope" moments. These revelations don't come out of nowhere and there are some hints that the world is much larger than implied, so they don't feel like pulled out of "backside". Also of note is a great "Completionist" weapon system where instead of you sticking with single weapon you find, you are incentivised to spend some time to master them all to unlock good deal of bonuses that don't just increase your strenght by arbitrary small increment but unlock new abilities that can change your playstyle. Most weapons, armor and shield has this (90%+), while the rest give power points (green magic gems) to put into unlocked powers. Higly recommend this one. Don't sleep on it just because of clashing visuals.

great music, good gameplay, okay story, great graphics, got me hooked. very enjoyable ride!

Great and fun action game Tip: play the game in hard mode at least for less grinding lol

It's an incredibly fun hack and slash action RPG with tons of loot to collect, an absurd yet engaging story full of great characters and moments, and a pretty beefy game for just $25 - my first and only playthrough took roughly 80 hours (granted, you could probably remove 10-15 of those just from grinding XP and resources, but still a lot) Absolutely worth it. Go into the game as unspoiled as possible, I promise you that the story alone will keep you hooked.

Fun combat similar to Castlevania (Metroidvania ones specifically) with a really good story, good characters, good pacing, and interesting mechanics. There's a ton of content here too. Highly recommended.

Mixed bag, combat is good, game mechanics give you a good feel of progression, but the pacing is off, dialogue is dragged out constantly, text speed is incredibly slow, so you either skip everything and just forget the story or endure... Combat on the other hand is quite fast paced.

Is no one going to mention that you fight a giant child splaying out her legs and constantly pushing her vagina towards you????? It's such a fucking weird and pedophillic bossfight that it completely ruins the game, why the fuck do I need to spend 5 minutes looking at a child lap dancing to beat the fucking game??????????? How is no one else mentioning this, is it because of how late game it is????????????

FAIR WARNING TO THOSE THINKING THIS IS A GOOD, NORMAL JRPG. This game is literally about being trans. I got sucked into the intro because it was so interesting and well done but then boom, you meet the first human and HE LITERALLY THINKS YOU ARE A GIRL AND THEN YOU DREAM ABOUT WANTING TO BE TRANS. What the literal fuck? Please put LGBTQ+ in the tags or some shit. PLEASE STOP PUTTING THIS SHIT IN VIDEO GAMES, IT IS NOT REAL. IT IS MENTAL ILLNESS.

Uppercut airblade downsmash backstep trigger explosion arrow whirlwind invoke spear i-frame killer shark SSS THE CROWD GOES WILD

One of the best JRPGs of the recent years. Nuff said. Get it NOW.

A hidden gem that has a story line that is truly something special. While the game itself can get unfortunately grindy once you get past a specific stage, it's more then worth it as the story is one to remember.

This game scratched an itch I never knew I had. Grinding is insanely satisfying and the plot is at least as good as some triple A games out there. However, the highlight of this game is the combat loop. I could go on for hours just demolishing mobs and farming. Playing on steamdeck oled and it feels like this game is meant to be played here. Play and git gud. 10/10

Clunky looking animations were the biggest worry I had when deciding to buy this but I'm glad I did. They never really bothered me while playing and the art is quite good. Good pacing, story, progression systems and combat make this a great buy.

astroturfing for this game everywhere you look unbelievable

What a wild ride. Amazing. Crazy story.

Didn't expect much. Suddenly fifty hours had passed.

Fun game, Recommended.

Banger game.

it's giga

its peam

Just Buy It.

Doidera

yes indeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed

yes

yeah