As the roguelike genre has been taken over by melancholic games likeHadesand cuteness-meets-horror titles such asCult of the Lamb, Pahdo Labs is planning to take the stage withStarlight Re:Volver; an explosive, loud, and colorful roguelike RPG with MMO elements to encourage player-to-player interaction. This brightindie gamefeatures four main playable characters—Effy, Kira, Ren, and Vivi—to start who all have the power to travel to a dream world known as So Mi.
Starlight Re:Volveraims to serve as a game anyone can play, which led Pahdo to create a diverse cast and other features made to help even those who might not play often stand on an even keel with more regular players. In a recent interview, Game Rant spoke with creative director Alijah Ladd to discuss the playable cast and what players could expect fromStarlight Re:Volveronce it is released in early access.
Starlight Re:Volver and How it Twists Magical Girl Tropes
The idea of a magical girl RPG roguelike is most certainly unique, but the concepts fit together like a glove when one looks at thetropes commonly found in magical girl anime. However, just asStarlight Re:Volvermay be using commonalities between the genre for its premise, it also doesn’t stick to the norms.
While Akira “Kira” Tsukino is the typical princessy magical girl, Effy Corbeau is described by Ladd to be Pahdo’s “answer to the shonen protagonist.” Vivi and Ren may round out the group as male, (or in Vivi’s case, a bit androgynous) counterparts, but they still get beautiful transformations that are made with plenty of detail and symbolism compared to Ladd, not unlike many othermagical girl characters in fiction.
Ren and Effy Take the Best of Both Shoujo and Shonen
It makes perfect sense forStarlight Re:Volverto joinshonen tropeswith shoujo ones as, in the end, they’re not all that different. Effy, with her inspiration being the Japanese version of the Moon Rabbit myth with a bit of Monkey D Luffy fromOne Piecemixed in, is just as punchy as the protagonists she’s meant to serve as an answer two with a cheerful flare. Ren, however, according to Ladd, is the commonalities between tokusatsu media likeKamen Riderand the concept of magical girls personified and made into a playable character.
“In spirit, those genres,Kamen Riderand magical girls, are very similar in that you transform, and you enter another dimension or another world. You become a stronger, more unleashed, or truer version of yourself.”
Ladd also made it very clear that even the transformations themselves are made with incredible detail, designed to tell players who these characters are through careful symbolism and visual storytelling. Vivi almost lives a double life as his every day appearance and So Mi transformation are completely different. Each character has a story to them and their transformation as they all tie into who they really are, and fans can look forward to finding out more onceStarlight Re:Volvergoes intoearly accesssometime in 2025.
