Rise of a Third Power is the second game from Stegosoft Games, a developer that focuses on creating 16-bit style role playing games. This creative team of just two are clearly a passionate pair. From the opening screen, I was immediately struck by how colorful everything was. I started the game and was further captivated by how well crafted everything seemed right out the gate. Having played for a good 30 hours later I am here to let you know, this game delivers a retro experience with modern sensibilities and creativity. While it’s not exactly a flawless experience, it is one where the good greatly outweighs the bad.
Taking place in the world of Rin, twenty years ago the world was engaged in what is known simply as The Great War. Rin’s major factions have had time to recover, but it seems that below the surface old wounds and bitterness are still fresh. Rin is a land with a very strong sense of politics. Each of the greater nations who participated in the war struggle to maintain the peace despite the strong alliances that created it. Set on the day of a royal wedding intended to strengthen ties, we find a pair of unlikely heroes setting out to prevent another catastrophic war from breaking out.
I will not give any more major details as to avoid spoilers. What I will say, is that I found the tale woven here is both well thought out and done through character interactions. The pace of the story moves at a pretty solid clip. The first couple of chapters are set up, but even though they are a bit slow overall, they do a great job of introducing a very wide cast and familiarizing us with the important players.
Thankfully those players are great. In story heavy games I usually find at least one character that I genuinely hate. Not so here. The main party is as rag tag and mixed as it comes, but each is delightful. The balance of personalities are handled with care. I especially grew to like Aden, his constant need to act with edge or be snarky even when being straight about a situation made me laugh out loud regularly. Thankfully Stegosoft has struck a great balance between personality and how the group functions in travel and combat, two more aspects Rise handles well.
While exploring the very large world of Rin, your party moves at a relatively quick clip. I was a bit mixed on this at first as I felt that it undermined the size of the map. However, I realized after a couple of hours because you do not have random encounters, you can just focus on going to your destination or exploring when the story permits. The goal of where to go next is usually very clearly defined, either through dialogue or by prompts given in game. Combat is initiated a specific points in the story or by walking up to the enemies and initiating with a button press.
Combat in Rise of the Third Power is fun despite not being particularly innovative. Like many games of the 16-bit era, the combat is done on a turn by turn basis. You can use a variety of attacks from each character. Buffing and debuffing are a common and almost central part of the strategy. Your teammate’s abilities uses their MP and each character has a a default attack that can help them restore their MP. Some regain it automatically, some can recover MP when they take damage, so a bit experimentation is required. As you level up, you earn skill points, materials for crafting, money and consumable items. Crafting is as simple as gathering the necessary materials and selecting the option to craft. Items crafted add a permanent buff to your stats and you can equip accessories for additional bonuses or effects. Growth is fairly linear, but I do believe it is fairly well balanced overall and requires very little grinding to keep up with the overall growth curve.
Rise of the Third Power’s presentation is another solid aspect. The places you’ll visit in Rin are very detailed and quite pretty. The character are not excessively designed and their sprites animate quite well along with the use of special effects. I was also pleasantly surprised by the score. It has a pretty wide range, with classical instruments, synths and and even electric guitar. The only real nitpick I have is with how a couple of visual cues are not as easy to read when exploring certain areas. It required me to search through whole areas again and there is no mini map for the cities and dungeons, which can lead to a bit of unintentional back tracking. Another small nitpick is that since each character is specialized there isn’t much in the way of customization.  Besides that, Rise of The Third Power is a fun turn based RPG with a fun cast and a story that weaves its politics and relations well. I must commend this small team for crafting a great adventure.
