Our verdict
Beneath the surface of its unique plot element, Elrentaros Wanderings is a fairly standard JRPG with interesting building mechanics but a severely lacking overworld and overarching story.
As an avid visual novel lover and anime fan in general, Elrentaros Wanderings caught my eye a few months ago despite its long name. The idea of a game where you spend half your time playing a classic dungeon crawling RPG and the other half playing a high school visual novel is so unique and exactly my style, so I had to give it a try.
You play as an adventurer camping outside the small town of Elrentaros in a fantasy land called Melvania. Your adventure begins like most of these games – you meet the townspeople, enter a dungeon to rescue someone, and agree to help defend the town. Things get weird when you go to sleep one night and wake up in a classroom in a completely different universe, but all of the characters you meet are real-life versions of the townspeople. It’s your job to figure out what’s going on and which of the two worlds is your “true” home.
Unfortunately, I have to start with the complaints now. All of the marketing for Elrentaros Wanderings pushes the idea that you can split your time between the fantasy world and the reality of school, and presents it as a 50/50 split. That’s definitely the part of the game that convinced me to play in the first place, and given the many lists of upcoming cozy games I’ve seen it on, I think many others think so too. What actually happens is that you spend hours lounging around in the fantasy world, only to find the occasional scene in school, with extremely limited interactivity.
This is disappointing not only because these connected worlds are the main mystery of the plot, but also for graphical reasons. The 2D illustrated backgrounds and characters in Elrentaros Wanderings are stunning, and the unique and memorable character designs help the game stand out in this vast genre. The town’s overworld, however, is… disappointing to say the least. Although the town is home to over a dozen residents, it feels empty and lifeless, with endless bare green fields on either side. The dungeon levels are a bit more interesting, but I avoid spending time in the overworld whenever possible.
And what about the combat? I’ll admit, the dungeon runs are pretty fun, with varied fights depending on your build, and a ton of extra skills to unlock per item. The build system allows you to go into dungeons, farm weapons and armor, and then customize them on the fly to increase your overall build level. I’m still not entirely sure what’s more important, the rarity of an item or its level, but trying out different combinations keeps the combat fresh and adds an extra challenge.
You can also equip passive skills from townsfolk by improving your relationship with them. Unfortunately, this is a bit cumbersome and requires a lot of mechanical skill for some characters that I simply don’t have. For example, I want to unlock Hibiki’s passive skill, but to do so I have to complete a difficult dungeon level without taking a single point of damage, which I find difficult every game. Completing the challenge doesn’t even guarantee you the passive skill, it just unlocks the gift you need to strengthen your friendship with him.
Another way to increase friendship with characters is to give them gifts using special coins you farm, but these are rare. I think given the visual novel game aspects, Elrentaros Wanderings could have relied much more on the conversation tree and gift elements of socialization from games like Stardew Valley or other dating games.
These difficult friendship challenges also impose level caps on your gear, making it incredibly difficult to progress without grinding. I know JRPGs are known for their grinding nature and some people find that entertaining, but considering how little plot there is outside of clearing dungeons, it gets boring really quickly.
Overall, I just don’t think Elrentaros Wanderings is for me. If you’re a fan of classic JRPGs with lots of grinding and varied builds, it might be better for you, but my excitement about the “two worlds” plot point was clearly overblown compared to what the game actually entails. At least I got to meet a few charming characters along the way.
That’s it for our Elrentaros Wanderings review. If you’re looking for some scares, check out our FNAF Into The Pit review next. Alternatively, you can find another RPG to play with our lists of the best Switch RPGs, best JRPGs, and best ARPGs.
