Stories of Bethem: Full Moon

My first few minutes with Stories of Bethem: Full Moon felt like finding a cassette tape in a drawer you forgot you had. The SNES-era top-down aesthetic, the overworld music looping just a touch too fast, the way the first dungeon immediately asks you to push rocks into holes without explaining a thing. It's a one-person passion project that wears its heart openly, and if you make your peace with that rawness, there is a genuinely pleasant twenty hours or so lurking inside. The core hook is unusual for the genre: Khoma carries no sword, no shield, no melee weapon of any kind. Combat runs entirely on spells. You start with a basic wind shot, gradually unlock a fire spell that also burns through log barriers in the overworld, and so on. It is a Metroidvania-adjacent loop where your offensive toolkit is also your key ring. That spell-gate design gives exploration real texture, because returning to a screen you breezed past earlier with a fire bracelet equipped actually feels like a small discovery. The dungeon puzzles are the other bright spot. Rock-pushing and balloon-deflection chambers manage to stay brisk and satisfying without overstaying their welcome, and reviewers across the board singled them out as the game's clearest strength. The friction comes from everything surrounding those puzzle rooms. Backtracking is pervasive, and the overworld zones are visually samey enough that you will occasionally lose your orientation on the basic map. Combat itself is thin: two spells equipped at a time, a hit-retreat-heal rhythm against respawning enemies that repopulate every time you leave a screen, and bosses that look more dramatic than they play. The story, a curse-and-quest frame about Khoma's father and the two Witches of Bethem, is endearing in ambition but thin on payoff. The English localization is bumpy in places. These are not surprises for a one-person indie from 2015, but they are real costs. The soundtrack leans on royalty-free Kevin MacLeod tracks, which means some of it will feel immediately familiar to anyone who has spent time on the internet. A handful of the compositions fit the mood well, especially in the forest and desert zones where each area gets its own distinct palette. The pixel art has that slightly unclear generational identity, sitting somewhere between 8-bit and 16-bit without fully committing to either, but it is colourful and legible, and the distinct witch character designs give the world some personality. Who is this for? Genuinely: players who feel a warmth toward SNES-era action-RPGs and can extend patience to a small solo developer still finding their craft. If you go in expecting the structural tightness of actual Zelda, you will exit frustrated. But if you go in expecting a quiet, slightly odd adventure that knows what it loves and tries very hard to share that love, Bethem returns the affection. The monster aura collection at the museum, the side quest for a lost teddy bear, the Oracle Sisters service hub: there is a handmade sincerity to all of it that bigger games rarely bother with.

Kai · Scout Team

Indie & narrative

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