Thank you NIS America for sending us this game to review!

Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten is a prequel to the Utawarerumono series. The Utawarerumono games are story-driven tactical strategy titles while Monochrome Mobius is a role-playing game with turn based battles. Many of the same characters are present and in this title, you get to see how they all met.

Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten begins with Oshtor’s father, Pashpakur, being chased by several armed guards. Pashpakur isn’t traveling alone as he has his teenage daughter, Shunya, with him. As the armed guards draw closer, Pashpakur pushes Shunya through a portal and instructs her to seek our her brother, Oshtor.

Shunya succeeds in locating her brother and he’s shocked to hear about his father as he was told he died several years ago. He’s also surprised to learn about his sister. Since she has many of their father’s mannerisms, he doesn’t doubt her claims. Naturally this brings up many questions about the whereabouts of their father and what he’s been doing for the past several years.

Unfortunately, the portal used to bring Shunya near Oshtor is no longer functioning, so they have to figure out another way to bring her home. She lives in a place that not many are familiar with so together Oshtor and Shunya must embark on an adventure to discover the truth. It will be a dangerous, but exciting adventure!

Munechika is the first of the recurring characters that you’ll meet. She will help Oshtor and Shunya track down their father. In the beginning of the game, Munechika enjoys holding Shunya’s hand a little more than normal. The issue is not pressed, but perhaps that explains her being single in future entries.

Mikazuchi and Oshtor start off as rivals under the same teacher, but they soon become brothers in arms. Out of all of the party members, Mikazuchi is the one who uses foul language the most. Both Mikazuchi and Oshtor enjoy drinking and there’s a scene where they strip down to their birthday suits (along with a few other guys who are also stupid drunk) and they get walked in on by a relative who quickly gets equally offended and embarrassed. Though Oshtor and Mikazuchi are both straight, that doesn’t stop a high ranking official from drawing them as lovers and sending them to search for the manuscript before it lands in the wrong hands and people get the wrong idea about their relationship.

Each party member has weapons, spells, and abilities unique to them. Mikazuchi is a tank and wields a huge sword. His magic has electrical capabilities the delayed lightning shocks are useful against foes. Munechika uses earth magic and is an excellent healer, she can revive fallen party members with some health. Oshtor can revive fallen comrades, but they will only have one health point. Shunya can heal one ally at a time and is the strongest magic user.

The turn-based battle system places all of the combatants on different rings in orbit. Moving to the inner rings reduces the characters waiting time to attack while the ones on the outer rings have the slowest action time. Many attacks can slow down or push the enemies back. Most attacks will target a single opponent while others can target a section or all enemies.

Battles start by touching an opponent, though if you are several levels higher you can attack a foe and instantly get the experience and loot without having to actually fight them. If you can defeat nearby enemies this way, you’re probably plenty strong enough for any nearby boss battles.

In each town, you’ll see a request board for side quests. Requests are a good source of experience points, loot, and money. Most of the quests have a time limit, so pay attention to them! As characters level up, you can assign points to different attributes like health, magic, and defense.

Towns typically have an herb seller and a weapon smith on site. You have an inventory limit of nine items, so make sure you have plenty of revival and healing herbs handy. Later in the game you can invest in the weapon smith to expand their selection of weapons and armor available.

The worlds and dungeons are huge and worth exploring every nook and cranny. Treasure chests and resources are plentiful and often respawn so it’s worth coming back to areas to resupply as needed. One of the side quests tasks your party to collecting a healing herb that resembles marijuana, and your group does a sting operation to uncover the drug ring.

The ruler of Yamato is referred to as the Mikado and is considered a god by many. There are priestesses and other magic wielders that submit to his will. Oshtor aims to be in the Mikado’s service like his father.

Graphically, Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs has taken many shortcuts. It’s not uncommon for RPG games to palette swap monsters and that is certainly the case in this game. While your party members and other significant characters are nicely dressed and detailed, the NPCs are quite bland in comparison. So much so that the difference is jarring.

Thankfully, the Japanese voice acting and background music are both well done. Some of the melodies would get stuck in my head after playing the game.

If you have played the Utawarerumono games, Monochrome Mobius is worth checking out to familiarize yourself with Oshtor’s backstory and how he met his powerful companions. If you enjoy Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten, you’ll want to play the Utawarerumono games (if you haven’t already) while you’re waiting for the cliffhanger ending to be resolved.