Artis Impact Review - At The Frontier Of Humanity's Last Hope

After four years of development, Malaysian developer Mas now leaves the fate of humanity in the hands of players globally in their debut game, Artis Impact. The turn-based RPG places players at the center of a decaying world ravaged by war, as those that survive must pick up the pieces and forge a new life to move forward.

The game's protagonist and her witty AI companion are at the forefront, protecting them from the threats that remain in this post-apocalyptic world. Along their journey, they will encounter challenging enemies and bosses, colourful characters, and uncover the secrets of their "future utopian world" that is packed with plenty of heart and personality.

Artis Impact Review: Built From Scratch, Pixel By Pixel

Artis Impact is a turn-based RPG developed by a single developer, Mas, a game cited as a "labour of love" by the developer, which took four years to complete. The game follows a charming female wanderer named Akane and her witty companion, an AI bot named Bot, as this oddball pairing delves into the remains of a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by a war between humans and AI.

While much of the game will be spent exploring multiple areas as they accept missions from their commander, Akane embarks on a deeply personal quest while uncovering her mysterious past. There are plenty of secrets about Akane and this post-apocalyptic world for players to discover while sharpening their combat skills through training and implementing strategies to confront the various corrupted enemies and bosses that Akane and Bot will encounter.

The post-apocalyptic world of Artis Impact is beautifully designed by hand, blending 2D pixel art and "retro comic aesthetics," giving it that distinctive cozy charm in this dark and despondent world. Not everything in-game is all "doom and gloom," as the warm and lighthearted dialogue and moments shared between Akane, Bot, and the many NPCs that populate every area throughout this decaying world add plenty of personality and provide much comfort and hope for their futures.

Artis Impact Review: At The World's Apocalyptic End

The end of the world has occurred as humanity bands together to try and find a future in this ravaged new world, and at the heart of this game's story is our protagonist, Akane, and her companion, Bot. The game begins with Akane and Bot inside her home at the Junkyard in Sunnyside, where they'll encounter their first AI enemy inside the subway before heading to the Lith Club.

This locale is the home of the aforementioned Lith Club, where Akane and her colleagues assemble to take on various assignments to combat the rogue AI enemies and bosses that are still in operation. It's here that, after completing a few main story quests, Akane will gain access to the Workshop, where she can train against dummies to improve her skills or access the Artificial World and face digitized enemies without much consequences, like death.

The game's turn-based combat is very streamlined and easy to learn, where aside from her usual attacks, Akane can use various Arts to deal more damage, use Guard to block incoming attacks, and consumable items to replenish her HP and MP meters. Much later on, different food and drink items can grant Akane various buffs that will enhance her HP, MP, attack percentage, defense, and other stats that can turn any combative situation in her favor.

Let's not forget about Bot, who can equip various skills and items to assist Akane during battle. Akane can also equip similar items, such as jewelry pieces, to enhance her stats, as these items can be purchased from vendors or dropped from completing dungeons, areas, and defeating hidden bosses.

Another gameplay aspect of Artis Impact that I thoroughly enjoy is that Akane can take on various jobs throughout the world to earn an income. From working in a supermarket to being a pizza delivery person, a housekeeper, and more, some of these part-time jobs will require her to complete their adjacent side quests, which she could acquire ownership of these businesses and continue earning a passive income.

Akane can also earn money from completing quests, earning interest on funds in her bank account, and acquiring property, which these funds can help her make purchases and upgrade her weapons, Bot's equipment, and her Combat Rank. There's also a Respect mechanic, which functions similarly to a reputation system, allowing her to increase her Respect value by completing specific tasks.

By lending her services to defeat the area enemies and bosses, helping put NPCs in escort missions, and more, this increases her Respect, and if she reaches a specific Respect value, it will unlock a hidden ending for Artis Impact. Do keep in mind that certain actions and player choices can influence her Respect value and the overall story development, as certain narrative paths will lead to "relationship and emotional dynamics" with various NPCs.

Artis Impact Review: Unforeseen Technicalities

While I was deeply impressed with the game's art style, combat system, and character development, there were a few things that didn't resonate with me during my hands-on experience with Artis Impact. Once Akane accepts a mission to Sandy Bay to investigate AI-related activities, certain areas begin to lag, especially the cave system at the Mosswood Foothills, making exploration and, subsequently, engaging in combat, rather tedious and frustrating at times.

Key bindings become delayed or unresponsive at times, which can result in selecting the wrong action to perform when in combat, which the enemy or boss can take advantage of. While the game's narrative is well-written and it does take a while for the story to get rolling, another issue of concern I had with the game is that certain character dialogue, more specifically with the male NPCs, was quite concerning when Akane interacted with them, as the language was rather problematic.

Akane's male colleague, Billy, is one such character who frequently expresses his viewpoints on women early in the game, stating that he wasn't interested in a woman's opinion and that their place in the world "should be at home." As the game does inform players that treating others with respect is a widely accepted norm, not just in-game but also in real life, Billy is just one of many characters that displays this kind of behavior towards the female characters through language until a pivotal moment; however, it's unclear if this decision is intentional to reflect discordance amongst society given the world's setting.

Artis Impact Review | Final Thoughts

Following Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, Artis Impact was a much-needed game to play in the short break, especially given how Wuchang can be pretty frustrating at times (those boss battles were tough as nails after all). Despite the rather bleak and hopeless post-apocalyptic world in which the game is set, the charming characters and the hilarious, lighthearted dialogue exchanged between Akane, her companion, and various NPCs do bring warmth and a cozy vibe during these dark times.

Akane's personality perfectly complements Bot's, the latter of whom can be rather direct or confrontational towards her and the other characters at times, but they do share plenty of heartwarming moments that are memorable to experience. There were some lagging issues experienced in certain areas, which did take me out of my gameplay experience, mainly due to them being tied to the main story, and I had no choice but to trudge through them as they were essential for advancing the quests.

The pixel and retro comic book art design, along with the enchanting music, further enhanced the game's cozy post-apocalyptic aesthetics; however, the fluid turn-based combat is an absolute favorite, and I enjoyed engaging in battle each time an enemy or boss was encountered. Some dungeon and hidden bosses can be challenging to face, as each has unique tactics that will make these match-ups quite hard to counter, for which players will need to spend some time upgrading Akane and Bot's weapons and equipment to turn the tables in their favor.

Artis Impact was reviewed on PC via Steam with a copy provided by a publisher over the course of 15 hours - All screenshots were taken during the course of the review.