Heavy Spoilers RPG: The true identity of the final enemy is the hero's father

Heavy Spoilers RPG: The true identity of the final enemy is the hero's father is a free RPG that is basically built around one big joke. The game tells us most of its twists before they even happen, including the big secret about the final enemy, and somehow still manages to make the story enjoyable. We play as Harold Sageblood, a young hero sent by the king to investigate people disappearing across the kingdom. He travels with the mage Marsha Betraeor while also trying to find out what happened to his missing father. The story is easily the best part. The whole point is that the game keeps ruining its own surprises on purpose. Characters have ridiculously obvious secrets, the dialogue constantly gives away what is about to happen and even the title tells us exactly what the main twist is. Normally that would completely destroy a story, but here it is the joke, and the game does a surprisingly good job of making the actual moments entertaining anyway. The comedy works because the game takes its stupid spoilers completely seriously. We can often guess what is coming almost immediately, but the characters still react as if something huge has just happened. That makes some of the scenes much funnier than they would be if the game tried to hide everything from us. It feels like the game is laughing at the usual RPG story formulas rather than trying to tell us a completely serious fantasy story. The RPG gameplay is simple but better than we might expect. We get normal turn based battles, movement around the map and different areas to explore, but the game is clearly much more interested in its story and jokes than making a deep combat system. The battles give us something to do between story sections, and some fights can be a little more involved than the basic presentation makes them look. The characters also help carry the game. Harold, Marsha and the other important characters are deliberately written around obvious RPG stereotypes, but the game keeps using those stereotypes for jokes. There are also plenty of small interactions and ridiculous moments that make the short adventure feel more memorable. The game is completely free and is available in English, Japanese and Korean. The biggest problem is that the gameplay is nowhere near as strong as the writing. The combat is fine, but it is not deep enough for us to spend a huge amount of time thinking about builds or strategies. The exploration is also fairly basic, so most of the reason to keep moving forward is because we want to see what ridiculous thing the story does next. The other weakness is that the whole idea depends on us enjoying the joke. If we do not find the constant spoilers funny, then there is not much else here to carry the experience. It is also fairly short, so once we have seen the story and the main jokes, there is not a huge reason to replay it. That said, the game has had a very strong reception and has built its reputation almost entirely around how well this strange idea works. Overall, Heavy Spoilers RPG is a really funny little RPG that knows exactly what it is trying to do. The combat is simple and the game is not very long, but the writing makes up for a lot of that. We like that it takes the most obvious RPG twists imaginable and turns them into the entire joke, while still giving us a few moments that work despite us already knowing what is coming. It is not a masterpiece, but it is much more entertaining than the ridiculous title makes it sound. Rating: 7/10