When you’re making a game that bills itself as a bit more adult, using crude language and humor, it really feels like a tightrope act. First, if you’re not able to deliver the core gameplay goods those elements tend to feel tacked on and almost cynical, trying to make something that isn’t fun to begin with better with profanity. Second, at least for me, it helps when even without the adult elements thrown in, the game has a generally silly sense of humor. Tone can be really important, and if a game is already inherently funny, being willing to simply go all out with it can be fun.

In the case of The Edge of Allegoria, at least in my mind, the developers have generally managed to thread the needle, finding a place where it can be as bad as it wants to be, but still having some decent gameplay systems driving the experience rather than the humor. In particular, I like the somewhat odd mastery system the game uses, where you’ll accumulate new attacks and stats by equipping and using different weapons and armor in battle. Once you’ve mastered that given piece of gear, you can equip something else, keeping the essence of it all active and usable, at least until you die. The fact that this system leads to some decisions to make, and allows you to set yourself up with different attacks that can have synergies in combination with one another was really appealing, and your motivation to survive is also then much higher as well.

When it comes to the story and humor, I can’t imagine there’ll be much middle ground here. Either you’ll find it amusing or grating, and since pretty well everything in the game runs with that style it is completely unavoidable. I think for me the highlight was how it could turn normally dull and skippable NPCs into potential gold mines of inappropriate humor, but the variety of phrases you’d have going into battle and things like that also entertained me for their sheer variety and remembering where many of them originated from. If you’d prefer a more serious vibe or find juvenile jokery to be beneath you, you’ll absolutely want to avoid it at all costs though.

In my mind they took what could have just been a middling retro-styled RPG that honors its heritage and at least juiced it up a little. Granted, it’s a real risk since many gamers could be put off with its in-your-face style, but in a world of titles in a genre that can often take itself a bit too seriously, I found it to be a refreshing alternative that could make me laugh periodically.