By Izzy Harper

Video Games Editor

The basic stigma about RPGs is simply this: they’re boring. Combat is turn-based rather than live and in the moment. Sifting through countless menus and submenus just to perform a single move. Complicated arrangements of your party members’ stats.

Reading… So… Much… Reading…

It seems like the entire genre goes against why people think video games are fun. But, is there a way for the excitement of casual, exciting adventure games to meet with the calculated catharsis of executing just the right plan in an RPG?

Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling was released on November 21st for Windows PC, and later for all major current-generation consoles. The game takes place in a world of sapient bugs, and the player follows the story of three explorers tasked by the Ant Queen to find the Everlasting Sapling — an age-old artifact rumored to bring eternal life. You control Kabbu, a chivalrous beetle from a foreign land who was inspired to become an explorer, Vi, a rebel bee that left her hive to prove she’s strong, and Leif, a moth with ice magic whose past is shrouded in mystery.

The star of the show in this game is the battle system. Each one of your party members gets an action to perform, whether it’s attacking, using a skill or an item, spying on the enemy, or just doing nothing. However a peculiar one of those actions is being able to relay one party member’s turn to another, in order to perform a certain action only they can do, or for other advantageous purposes.

I won’t state much about the story for the sake of spoilers, but know that it’s one of the best and most entertaining stories and worlds I’ve ever visited. There’s a lot to discover when it comes to just completing trivial side quests, finding small pieces of lore, or even simply observing wherever you are.
The graphics are mostly digitally drawn assets in a three dimensional space, with 3D-looking geometry reserved for creating terrain or accenting background landscapes. All of the characters are 2D sprites that simply flip around when they turn the other direction. On paper it sounds kind of primitive, but it’s actually very charming to see.

The only major drawback of the game is its platforming elements. Your jump is painfully short, and gravity-intensive, and puzzles where you have to utilize some overworld-exclusive abilities are tedious to maneuver. These sections aren’t few, either — they come within every single chapter of the game. But if you can get past that, you can experience a captivating story, with a riveting and jamming score to every battle and overworld area. When it comes to entry-level RPGs, Bug Fables is a tiger beetle among a field of ants.