Arms’ Heart, a dark steampunk RPG from Hamster, has a different kind of character growth system. You still fight enemies and obtain points, but these don’t directly lead to new skills.
Gena, the main character, gives malice to a homunculus baby who is key to the story. Using the Hazard Alchemy system players help the baby grow up and when he ages the heroes gain new skills. You also get to tell the homunculus how to live its life by explaining adventures from Arms’ Hearts’ story.
Arms’ Heart also has a hint of Shadow Hearts. Remember the wheels? Those are sort of back in the Howling Gear system. Three spinning gears determine the success and strength of attacks and skill. Line them up right and you’ll score critical hits. Pair them wrong and your attacks will miss. Players can customize the gears by adding wider cranks for more attack power, for instance.
Hamster has Arms’ Heart scheduled for a November 25 release in Japan. So far, there hasn’t been any mention of an international release anywhere.
Published: Nov 3, 2010 12:39 am