LEVEL 2 - MARDEK MENU

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Straight from the beautifully nostalgic era of flash, Mardek is an honest and endearing RPG that oozes with genuine care built into every aspect. Named after the titular hero Mardek, it sees players assume control of a party of eager adventures on their quest for adventure and renown. This story takes place in the realm of Belfan, a typical medieval setting that soon gets disrupted with a healthy dose of sci-fi. The opening gameplay sees players introduced to the game's mechanics by playing as the incredibly powerful heroes Mardek and Deugan, who have impressive combat prowess but limited, uh, 'world knowledge' shall we say. This tutorial section largely focuses on the game's combat interactions and general controls, concluding with a fight against a fearsome dragon, with peculiarly casual dialogue for a final boss. It was around this point i realised this was taking place in the imagination of our characters, this might be really late but i'm not perfect okkk. It got a smile out of me regardless, it's a great way to introduce the game's mechanics in a unique way, players can see how powerful these characters can get while being introduced to other systems in a suitable atmosphere. It sets the tone for the initial stages of the game perfectly, with the aspiring heroes Mardek and Deugan eager for an opportunity to begin their grand adventure. This comes in the form of a mysterious object falling from the skies, which demands swift (after completing sidequests) action.

This interaction is the main way players test their combat skills learnt in the tutorial, fighting through the forest to reach the destined clearing. Combat in Mardek is turn based, with each of your party members having their own actions they can carry out. This is deepened by the reaction system, successful action prompts when using or receiving an attack increase the strength of the attack/defense. Different reactions can be equipped in the skills menu for each character, allowing flexibility for players to adapt to their chosen gameplan. This keeps players engaged during gameplay, rather than just spamming actions to get out of the encounter as quickly as possible. Further deepened is the elemental system! Which i'm personally always a sucker for. Characters in the game will have an aligned element, which affects the attacks that they are weak to and strong against. This system even extends beyond gameplay, the wider story of the world takes these elemental alignments into account. Sometimes in slightly...questionable ways. There is a readable book that describes that explains how women secretly desire to be ravished by the element dominant to them, which is slightly ?. These and other dialogue quirks are undoubtedly the growing pains of an indie developer, with extensive self-reflection revealing that they would have done things differently with their newfound experience.

That was a bit of a detour, but onwards! Contact with the crashed UFO brings Mardek and Deugan into contact with Rohoph, an alien/angel/otherworldly entity who proceeds to occupy a corner of Mardek's mind. Literally, as a host. This is where the story started picking up for me, it's timed at exactly the right moment to hook players in. The start is fairly typical RPG shenanigans, but this introduction of otherworldy cosmic happenings signalled that there's something deeper and more interesting happening here. At the point i'm at in the game this is still fairly unexplored, but i've got a long way to go and am looking forward to finding out as much as i can.

Despite its simplistic visuals, Mardek is brimming with an earnest and enthusiastic spirit for worldbuilding, storytelling and character development. i will always be a firm advocate for games that feel personal, an expression of one person's passion for the use of games as a medium for deeper storytelling. It sounds a lot better than the game that Will was going to play but couldn't because it was too boring lol.