RPG Maker Dungeon #7: Super Lesbian Animal RPG
Link: https://ponett.itch.io/slarpg (Available for $15.00, demo available.)
Originally published on April 14, 2023
Super Lesbian Animal RPG is an RPG where you play as super lesbian animals. Let's break it down.
Lesbian: In many classic RPGs, the hero and heroine fall in love over the course of the game. If they get together, it often happens at the very end. Not so for Melody and Allison, who start Super Lesbian Animal RPG in a relationship. From the very beginning, they can kiss each other in combat for a quick stat buff, and it's not a big deal--it's just something that happens when two folks like each other. The game slowly doles out nuggets of information about their shared past, like the origin of Melody's name and what other party member Allison used to go out with. It lets the player shape Melody's personality through dialogue choices, letting you guide her interactions with Allison to a limited extent. At the same time, SLARPG isn't afraid to inject tension into Melody and Allison's relationship. The two of them get along well most of the time, but just like any other couple there are times when they fail to communicate or simply disagree on something.
Something that caught me off guard when I started the game is that Melody is given a choice between three subclasses of Paladin, her personal class. I personally chose Amorous Paladin, figuring that this was a game about the power of Love after all. Amorous Paladin is useful, and feels in character for Melody. But a few hours in, a character asks you the question: is living solely for love really worth it? What if you hurt other people by failing to take care of yourself? SLARPG is a very funny video game with charming characters, but I also appreciate that it is willing to ask the player these kinds of questions. It joins the likes of BOSSGAME in using RPG mechanics to flesh out relationships that ring true.
Animal: Super Lesbian Animal RPG has a history. Its lead developer Bobby Schroeder writes the blog Thanks, Ken Penders!, an excellent blog delving into the wild and wacky history of Archie Sonic comics. (For a hilarious summary of her findings, I recommend this post from 2019.) Archie Sonic comics could be goofy, horny and often quite bad, but the best of them (including but not limited to Ian Flynn's run starting in 2009) have a sincere affection for the characters and their struggles. SLARPG reminds me a lot of Archie Sonic, in a good way. While the central plot is a bit goofy and disposable, the game takes the main characters seriously. A later sequence has the characters explore a snowy environment in pairs, and work out their baggage following the big third act twist. It's a somber sequence for a game called "Super Lesbian Animal RPG," but it works, even if the ice puzzles rubbed me the wrong way. (I hate ice puzzles...)
Weirdly enough, Super Lesbian Animal RPG used to be a My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fangame called Super Lesbian Horse RPG. You can still see fragments of Friendship is Magic in the character designs, like Melody's hair being vaguely reminiscent of Fluttershy. Personally speaking, I'm glad that SLARPG went in its own direction, if only because the adult cast lets Bobby explore themes that Friendship is Magic (despite being a well made kids series) could never have touched. While the game borrows from kids shows and licensed comics, it never allows itself to be defined by them, either. Neither does it look down on them--after all, this is a game called Super Lesbian Animal RPG, it knows what it is.
RPG: If Super Lesbian Animal RPG was a funny game about two young women navigating their relationship while fending off the apocalypse, it would already have an audience based just on the humor and the nice art. But I was pleasantly surprised that SLARPG is (for the most part) a pretty good game! Each of the four characters is themed around basic RPG archetypes, but they have a fun synergy with each other that feeds into the story. Allison is a strong fighter, but needs Melody's healing to survive encounters. Party tank Jodie can taunt enemies to attract their attacks, but she can also apologize to them too. Fulfilling party responsibilities earn "star power" that feeds into special attacks, leading to a fun dynamic where you find yourself playing each member of the party like a MMORPG guild. I was also impressed by the dungeons, which come with twists and turns reminiscent of Zelda games. The best of them allow flexibility when it comes to picking which key to use on which door, leaving even modern retro RPGs like Bravely Default in the dust.
Sooner or later, though, I found that the battles in SLARPG wore out their welcome. I appreciated that the enemies required strategy in the beginning, but sooner or later I found myself using the same abilities in every single lengthy fight. Despite equippable skillbooks allowing you some freedom in building your characters, the game still exhausts all its design tricks by the third or fourth act. Thankfully the game is fairly short and the promise of resolving the story is just enough to keep you playing. Keeping these criticisms in mind, SLARPG beats the pants off most "humor" RPG Maker games from the past. Most of them didn't even attempt fun battles or dungeon delving. (Even the ones I liked stole their jokes from Monty Python and The Emperor's New Groove, anyway...)
My personal favorite detail in Super Lesbian Animal RPG is the lion that offers tarot readings. Each character gets a little scene that hints at future developments, while reminding the audience that tarot is interpretive rather than predictive. Plenty of games like this feature "fortune tellers" as an in-game hint mechanic that tells you where to go if you're stuck. SLARPG does this too, but I appreciated that it lets tarot exist in the setting as a (vaguely sketchy?) art form rather than something purely magical. Maybe that's the real Super Lesbian Animal RPG: a small-ish but heartfelt game with an informed perspective that punches well above its weight class.
(My other favorite detail: the dungeon that morphs your characters into...well, I won't spoil it. Play the game for yourself!)