Cris Tales (v1.0.7)

A hand-painted fairy-tale world becomes a living timeline in this inventive turn-based RPG, where the past, present, and possible future occupy the screen at once. You play Crisbell, a newly awakened time mage travelling across Crystallis to confront the Time Empress before catastrophe consumes its kingdoms. The tone balances colourful storybook charm with a surprisingly grim vision of ruined cities, suffering citizens, and futures that are rarely as simple as they first appear. Cris Tales wears its affection for classic Japanese RPGs openly, but its central time-travel concept gives the adventure a strong identity of its own.

Travelling between towns, dungeons, and major kingdoms follows a familiar party-RPG structure: speak with residents, tackle side quests, recruit allies, uncover equipment, and enter turn-based battles. Crisbell’s powers let you send enemies into the future to age armor into rust or make poison and damage-over-time effects hit harder, while moving targets into the past can reverse certain changes. Party members bring their own specialties, including healing, elemental attacks, and defensive support, so battles reward planning around turn order and enemy weaknesses rather than simple attack spamming. Decisions made during quests visibly affect local people and locations, allowing you to witness how an act of help, neglect, or resource allocation shapes a region later on.

Its split-screen presentation remains the standout feature, with NPCs, scenery, and even enemies changing in real time as you look left and right through history. The lavish 2D animation gives each kingdom a distinctive personality, from bright coastal settlements to decayed industrial futures, while the soundtrack and theatrical character designs reinforce the old-school RPG mood. The campaign is best suited to players who enjoy narrative-driven, menu-based combat in the vein of Chrono Trigger, Grandia, or modern indie homages, though veterans should expect a more streamlined challenge than the toughest genre classics. Cris Tales is an easy recommendation for anyone who values visual imagination and clever combat ideas over massive open-world freedom.