Children of Zodiarcs

Children of Zodiarcs is a tactical RPG from Cardboard Utopia, published by Square Enix, that drops you into Lumus, a fantasy city carved up between obscene noble wealth and grinding poverty. You play as Nahmi and a crew of street thieves and outcasts trying to survive in the margins of a world that was never built for them. The class-warfare framing is earnest rather than subtle, and if you have any patience for underdog narratives, the setup earns your attention in the first couple of hours. The combat system is the reason to pay attention here. Instead of standard MP or cooldown mechanics, each character brings a deck of ability cards and a set of custom dice into battle. When you play a card, you roll the dice attached to it, and the face that lands modifies the outcome, adding healing, shield charges, extra hits, or bonus effects. You can reroll dice you do not like, but each reroll costs a face from the pool, so there is genuine tension in deciding when to push your luck. It is a light roguelite rhythm sitting inside a grid-based SRPG, and the two systems talk to each other in ways that feel deliberate rather than gimmicky. Deck construction between missions gives you meaningful choices about risk tolerance per character, which is the kind of build expression I can actually get invested in. What works less well is the pacing of the story. The main cast has charm, and Nahmi in particular has a defined voice, but the narrative momentum stalls in the middle chapters when the game leans on repetitive skirmish maps to stretch runtime. A few of those maps feel like pure filler, which stings because the writing, when it is doing real work, has genuine emotional weight. The dialogue during key story beats lands. The fourth throwaway street-brawl map in a row does not. Character arcs are present but underdeveloped for a couple of the supporting cast, which is a shame because the setup invites more depth than it ultimately delivers. Visually, the pixel art is clean and atmospheric, capturing the grey-and-gold contrast between the slums and noble districts effectively. The soundtrack does quiet, moody work in the background without demanding your attention. Neither element will headline anyone's highlight reel, but both serve the tone honestly. On the mechanical side, difficulty can spike awkwardly depending on how you have built your decks, so players who engage with the customisation system seriously will have a smoother time than those who treat it as optional dressing. At roughly twelve to fifteen hours for a full run, Children of Zodiarcs does not overstay its welcome, which is more than I can say for a lot of games in this space. The Mixed Steam rating feels a touch harsh, likely reflecting frustration from players who expected a traditional SRPG and got a hybrid. If you know what the card-and-dice system is asking of you and you are willing to meet it, there is a genuinely inventive little game here. Not every bet it makes pays off, but the ones that do are worth the table stakes.

Monika · Scout Team

RPGs

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