Varlet developed and published by FURYU Corporation, is a narratively driven, turn-based RPG (role-playing game) that focuses on the darker elements in narration. The gameplay is simplistic in nature, with most of the emphasis taking place in the narrative. As for the narrative, it takes up a bulk of the game, and instead of taking a more visual novel route for the game, the developers instead allowed a focus on action, allowing players to have a bit of variety. To go back on track, the narrative is what really carries the game as the major focus, as without it the game would fall apart.
The game starts off with the player being given the usual RPG questions, such as name and whatnot. However, the main difference that sets this game apart is the questionnaire it asks of the player. This questionnaire changes some of the stats the player is assigned at the start of the game, so these questions can impact certain stats and dialogue options locked behind certain conditions.
Other than starting to dictate the player’s stats, the game does have some ways of getting more of a certain aspect through using certain dialogue options. Other than that, the only other gameplay features to make mention of are turn-based gameplay and the more exploration aspect where players can interact with a hub-like world.The turn-based gameplay focuses on turn positioning and allowing players to decide what they want to do, such as getting attacks/buffs/debuffs. However, these attacks depend upon the action bar presented on the left-hand side of the UI depicting who will attack first for the turn and allow players to strategize, as once their characters have completed their actions, they will begin the start of the next turn.
This ensures that players will need to strategize in order to minimize and maximize their damage output with survivability in mind during higher difficulties. One major change that needs to occur is for farming, and that is an auto battle function to help speed up the process of certain fights against trash mobs when the player is more than a couple of levels higher than the enemies. This might make the combat tedious without it, but there are only a couple of instances in which player input is a necessary part of the game, such as during bosses or difficult fights. While the combat is turn-based, there needs to be another way for players to break from the combat, and that is through SSS.
That has players gain money over time by contributing to student life by helping out students by finding lost items, putting up posters, and closing glitch portals. This provides players a moment of respite from combat and showcases that the characters are still just students that have stuff to do to ensure that they leave a positive mark on their surroundings. By doing so, it ties directly into the narrative of the game, focusing on the darker elements out in the world, as it is the very backbone of this game.
As for the narrative, without going too much into detail and spoilers, the narrative can be dark at times but allows for some lighter moments to shine on through. With Varlet being heavily driven by the narrative, the structure of the game is separated into chapters and episodes to pace the player in enjoying the game to keep their interest. The game itself is more like an anime in some regards, so fans of anime might be inclined to play this game, which is a lot less demanding in comparison to games like Persona 5, which can overwhelm a player at the start. The way Varlet is laid out is that it focuses more on narrative mixing in gameplay elements to show a sign of progress for the player as enemies get harder and their duties as members of SSS grow. One major thing I would like to see the game provide is to develop certain characters a little more at the start to provide a sense of emotional investment for players to latch onto. This can be remedied by DLCs added onto the game to flesh out characters and introduce harder content.
All in all, Varlet is a pretty light game in terms of gameplay, but the narrative truly takes center stage, trying to focus on certain key elements. The gameplay truly tries to set the pace of the game, but it feels like it could use some more work in terms of difficulty and certain qualities of life missing from RPGs. With respect to the narrative, it is what carries the game, as it makes the game feel like a short series anime. However, this more anime structure is also a drawback, as the game could flesh out the characters some more in the opening chapters to leave a stronger impression on the player. Varlet by the FURYU Corporation is a 7/10 game that needs some more polishing to be the diamond it deserves to be.
Varlet is available for PC via Steam and Epic Game Store, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch.
Related: Reviews by Kyle Manila
I would describe myself when interacting with games as a strategist with a pension for stealth and loud explosions.
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