I like to think I'm well versed in the niche circle of JP rpgmaker games, with enough sources and acquaintances that most games that gain a semblance of popularity (or notoriety) will eventually make their way to me. And yet, surprisingly enough, up until a friend of mine mentioned it offhandedly and described it as a "me" kind of game, I had never heard a single peep about this game. Zakuzaku Actors is a JRPG made in rpgmaker and developed by a person who goes by Hamusuta. It actually released way back in 2012 but up until now, as far as I know, has remained untranslated, which even then is still surprising that I had never heard about it till now, 13 years later. It was only back in January of this year that the game had been fully translated. The game is completely free and its translated version can be attained from the translator's Bluesky account. I will write quite a bit, and as such I will try to label things properly for once, mostly because I don't want to scare people with my awful yapping, but I also want people to potentially just read whatever they might be interested in. Join me as I try to talk about what I consider one of the greatest games I have had the pleasure of playing. Also please look at the title screen first.

Story and Setting
At a cursory glance, Zakuzaku Actors (or ZakuAku) is a game that's a dime a dozen in the world of rpgmaker games, with only its downright goofy, childish, amateurish even, but charming artstyle to make it stand out. And yet, after a few hours in, I quickly realized that this is a game that's much, much more than meets the eye. ZakuAku sports an interesting and at times difficult combat loop, with a story and runtime that spans a whopping 50-60 hours. The setting, which we are immediately taught about as soon as starting the game, is a fantasy world that harbored powerful wizards who eventually gained the ability to summon beings from other worlds. As one does when attaining great power and responsibility, they began to summon people from other worlds for slave labor. Despite the ability to summon them, they are unable to send them back to their original world, not that they would likely do so anyway even if they knew. As they continue haphazardly summoning people and other beings without considering the consequences of such actions, tensions quickly arise between the natives and these inter-dimensional refugees that are labeled "Hagure" (the strays) by the natives. This of course leads to overpopulation, conflicts, and other major issues between natives and the Hagure with the latter over the years faced with oppression, racism, and the arduous task of now adapting and trying to live in a world they are not wanted in. Such events eventually lead to war which concludes with the summoners being persecuted and the act of summoning banned in an attempt to appease the general populace. With both sides exhausted from years of conflict, the dust eventually settles, but despite supposed laws in place to protect the Hagure, tensions are as high as ever in this post-war era. This is the story of a young Hagure girl, Delichi, and her adoptive mother, Rosemary. Amidst these tensions that are practically a ticking bomb, both of them begin their humble task of creating a kind and caring home, a Kingdom for the Hagure.

Despite the rather heavy premise, ZakuAku is one of the goofiest and most wholesome games I have ever played. Two people don't make a Kingdom, and so Delichi, designated the King, and Rosemary, the general counsel, begin their task by recruiting others to their newly formed Kingdom. The first two residents (party members) you will almost immediately recruit are a three-headed dog named Berberos and a harpy named Hapiko. Where this game excels is in the relationships that are formed between Delichi and every character she asks to or eventually joins their Kingdom. Delichi is our not very protagonist-like protagonist and a very earnest and endearingly dumb kind of kid. As one might expect, Rosemary generally takes the role of handling just about every task that involves running a kingdom and the like. And yet, Delichi as a character is a force of nature unlike anyone else. She has no special hidden powers (save for her excessive amount of mana), no dark past, nor any kind of ridiculous lofty goal one might expect the usual isekai protagonist to have. She is simply a kid who wants to provide a home to those who need it, and we quickly learn that this kindness doesn't just extend to Hagure but to everyone who needs it. The manner in which someone is recruited into the Kingdom can be as immensely goofy as it can be heartwarming. One of the very early examples of this that made me realize that this game was going to go places, is when you're tasked with confronting a Hagure girl who is kicking snowmen over a village for unknown reasons. Upon meeting her, you learn she is kicking snowmen because she wishes to attract talent recruiters for the snowman kicking sport. A sport which only exists in her homeworld. The entire silly encounter immediately turns on its head when she refuses to stop, even after being reprimanded and losing in battle, wholeheartedly believing that if she continues kicking snowmen then someone, anyone from her world that may have also been summoned here will notice. Reality, however, is harsh as she breaks down crying, knowing she can't return back to her family nor the sport she so dearly loves, and expressing her hatred for this world that also hates her. Delichi then begins to kick snowmen as well, stating that it's surprisingly fun and that she could see her Kingdom adopting this as a sport. And before doing anything like asking the girl to join her, Delichi instead asks for her name and if they could be friends. Yukino will then join the Kingdom. Up until now, the game had made me laugh or giggle numerous times, and yet a mere two or so hours in, maybe even less, and it had also managed to make me tear up a little. This is the very essence of ZakuAku. Despite the rather heavy themes we were set up with, ZakuAku is a silly game at its core. Despite it's premise, you won't see it solve these huge societal and political issues that most JRPG stories attempt to solve, and I think that's fine. More than anything, it is a game about facing hardships with the friends we make along the way and extending our hand in kindness to those who need it.

I'll refrain from talking about the story past that, as it'd be nice if people who become interested in this or are willing to try it, can see it for themselves. Any thing I mention related to the story or certain aspects will be properly spoilered beforehand.

Mechanics
Now, one of the interesting and quite engaging mechanics of the game is, of course, building your kingdom. After going through a dungeon or spending enough time battling, you will be allowed to hold a Kingdom Conference. Based on the characters you've recruited, each conference there will be a chance to see an event out of various for that particular character. Such events can involve just that character alone or alongside others with, apart from the silly art that accompanies it, the end result being a variety of bonuses, such as money, exp, items, and other such things. It's a little difficult to explain properly but thankfully I have a ton of screenshots just on those events alone.

As you can see, these events vary greatly, are often very endearing or absolutely goofy, and do a surprising amount for developing characters that don't always get to participate in main story events or for characters that are optional to recruit. In that regard, these are a boon considering that the roster of party members goes well over 30 eventually and seeing them participate in the world around them is heartwarming. There's quite alot events, as each character has at least one common event and one rare event. Add on all the events that require multiple people and each conference quickly becomes something to look forward to if only to see what kind of goofy skits may happen. As you recruit more characters, during the conference you will also be able to listen to a character's proposal for a shop, event, idea, and other such matters, which you will then be allowed to invest in immediately or later once you have the funds.

These characters will proceed with their ideas or shops and will provide monetary, experience, stats, and other such bonuses on top of adding more to the pool of events you can see during conferences. There are quite a few more mechanics regarding the Kingdom but these are paced out over the course of the game, as such I won't be talking about every single one of them. One thing I should mention is that every single mechanic is explained very well and you'll always be able to go back and read the tutorials and explanations should you ever need them again. The game is kind enough to let you know early on how important a character's proposal is, such as the dojo, which will allow members not in your main party to accumulate exp as well, which, considering the roster size, will quickly become very helpful.

Combat
There's so much more I could say but let's move on to the combat aspect of the game for now. You've seen them plenty of times before, but ZakuAku is a turn based rpg, and for a while it doesn't really differentiate itself from any other standard turn based rpg. There's a few things that do stand out, however. The first being that a main party will consist of eight characters (once you have enough) rather than the traditional four that one might expect. Four will be your frontline, and four will remain in your backline. Before starting a turn, every character is freely interchangeable and the game will remind you numerous times that it is balanced around using all eight members, especially during boss battles. This might not seem particularly deep, but you'll eventually realize the game really means what it says. Some bosses can come at you very hard and there are a few difficulty spikes you may be caught off guard by. One particular mechanic that I don't recall the game explaining is how turns are "frozen" for the backline. If a character is stunned or paralyzed and then moved to the backline, they will remain in that state indefinitely, as opposed to being stunned for a single turn on the frontline. This goes both ways for buffs as well. Meaning that powerful buffs that last for one turn only can last indefinitely as long as you move the recipients to the backline, allowing you to set up some pretty powerful turns for yourself, something you'll want to learn to do for lengthy boss fights. I also noticed that just by playing normally, you'll often be underleveled for most boss encounters. I think the game expects this and even encourages it as you will be rewarded with extra exp for taking down bosses well under their recommended level. Not to mention that the versatility of the eight member party system and proper equipment allow you to do just that with good composition and planning. Eventually, you'll be using equipment for their numerous passives and resistances instead of just raw numbers. Expect a hefty amount of menu-ing.

One aspect of the combat that might be off putting or odd for some is how non-boss encounters are handled. Almost immediately, you will learn that normal battles are generally meant to be played on "Auto", as most mobs do not require you to do much outside clearing them quickly with aoes. Elite enemies will be visible on the map and starting out will require standard play, though you'll eventually also be able to clear them on Auto just fine. You are also given an explanation of how to block certain skills from being used on Auto such as heals, something the AI will always prioritize even without anyone being at critical health. Post-battle you will also be taught of the quick heal button and allowed to customize how heals are used, though I never switched out of mp-efficiency in that regard. These aspects lead me to believe this is how it's meant to be, especially when you consider the length of the game. It's clear that the focus is on the story, characters, and boss encounters.

I didn't mention it earlier since I feel this fits better here, but each party member has HP, MP, and TP. Two of these are self explanatory. TP is a resource that instead accumulates based on damage given, received, and through specific skills. Max TP is 100 and at the start of a battle, each member's TP value will be set at random from 0-40. TP is possibly the most important value as the skills tied to it generally consist of a character's bread and butter. The roster is huge, and each character will come with specific niches or archetypes as well as unique TP skills tied to their kit. This makes party composition quite engaging and it encourages you to play with it. On top of that, outside of unique skills tied to a character, everyone can learn just about every general skill depending on whether they're physical or magic based. Throughout the game, you'll accumulate many skill scrolls, physical and magical. Let's say we have one of our mages, who is predominantly fire based with only fire based skills. Not bad, but this means we can't exactly take them against enemies resistant to fire. That's where skill scrolls come in, as they are there to help round out your characters and what they may lack. Skill scrolls consist of both general TP and MP skills. MP only skills are probably the most important ones you can learn from these scrolls, as they function as a battery to charging up TP, where the real bulk of your power lies. Of course, this doesn't mean you can make a character excel in everything, as unique skills are often better than scroll skills and scale with the character's level. Not to mention each character comes with their own resistances and passives that further emphasize their kit. With all this in mind, building characters and compositions quickly becomes a very fun activity and something I was looking forward to every time I recruited someone new. Again, expect a hefty amount of menu-ing.

Miscellaenous & Thoughts
Man, I've talked so much and yet I feel like it isn't enough. There's just so much more to the game and mechanics I haven't explained but I feel more like I'm yapping too much by now (and I should probably start talking about how I actually feel about it all). As I said before, the game provides detailed tutorials on how all these mechanics work, and I wouldn't be surprised if I just missed the details about turns being frozen for the backline. Anyway, this game is so much fun. To be quite honest, I was a little lukewarm on its combat loop starting out, but once it got rolling it really never stopped. By the mid game, every character I would recruit had me sitting in my metaphysical armchair as I pondered over how to fit them in a comp or how to do funny stuff with their kits. I got really excited when the game eventually allowed me to learn combo skills which required two or even three party members on the main team, opening up even more possibilities in team building. Even if the combat remained lukewarm, the story and its characters very quickly grabbed me, another thing that surprised me. I can't even begin to tell you how much I laughed over the course of the game. The writing is so much fun and just filled with an abundance of lighthearted and extremely goofy moments. I know I mentioned it already, but for as goofy as it is, the story can also get surprisingly emotional and there were plenty of times I teared up. The game does such an incredible job of giving its huge roster of characters so much attention and especially to Delichi. Of course, not everyone gets the same amount of treatment and it's very obvious which set of characters can be considered the "main" cast and which ones remain as a supportive role in regards to the story. Even then, it's still commendable just how much life Hamusuta was able to give to their characters. There are some things, however, that I feel are worth mentioning. The translation can be a little iffy at times, mostly in the grammar department. Not surprising given the size of the game and the amount of text, dialogue, and events you can encounter. Thankfully, they're easy enough to spot and mentally fix. Another thing is that the game has a good amount of Japanese humor, some of which may be a little bit crude and stereotypical. Again, considering the time it was being developed in, not completely surprising. Thankfully, most of that kind of humor is isolated to one specific character and are often reprimanded for it and never goes too far.

There are a few tidbits I want to talk about before closing out. I mentioned it with Astlibra, but one thing that's common with rpgmaker games and its adjacent likes, is that all music is generally obtained from free source libraries such as Dova Syndrome. As a result, if you're well versed or dabble in the rpgmaker scene, you're likely to come across familiar tracks. For me, this is a bonus, as I usually just end up soyjak pointing when a track I know starts playing. Though with that said, ZakuAku also features some music specifically composed for it, namely by mozell, a popular JP artist. The times in which these tracks are used are, as one might expect, for big emotional payoffs and specific bosses. Speaking of bosses, there's the sprite work, or rather the assets used. Being an rpgmaker game, many of the bosses and sprite work you'll see are assets native to the rpgmaker engine and, again, you'll see plenty of familiar stuff. Though there are moments where you'll instead see Hamusuta's wonderful art being used instead. Again, for the big moments. Now, I can't begin to describe how much Hamusuta's art grew on me. As I played the game, I realized I was seeing their art evolve over the course of the game's development. As such, it's funny to notice how silly some of the early characters look compared to the later ones. Even so, I really like their artstyle and it does such an incredible job of emphasizing the silly, goofy, and heartwarming nature of the game.

As I continue to do research on the game now that I've finished it, I keep finding out more and more things I'd like to include but I honestly don't know how include them. Over the past decade this game has had a history that I've been completely unaware of and it feels so odd... surreal... even a little disappointing to only be finding out about it now. At the very least I'm glad to have eventually come across it. As I read other reviews, I've also learned that there is even merchandise for the game, which of course sells out instantly, and even a pop-up cafe in Japan at one point.

Totaling 56 hours, I sat in front of my computer screen at about 2am on a Saturday as I watched the credits roll by. I normally go to bed at around 11pm regardless of whether I have to work in the morning or not. The finale took me about 5 straight hours and I just could not bear to put it down halfway, hence me staying up so late. Watching the credits roll by gave me an incredibly bittersweet feeling, and as I watched as the game presented it's cast of goofy and lovable characters, I teared up for the umpteenth time at the character it saved for last.

I had been witness to the journey of Delichi as she constantly overcame obstacles and foes with the power of friendship. I am reminded that a game doesn't really need to push the boundaries of storytelling or subvert expectations. ZakuAku is very simple in its storytelling and it takes pride on it and makes it its strength. If you're familiar with rpgmaker games then I implore you to put ZakuAku on your list. Maybe you already have it there, and if so, great. For those unfamiliar with the medium, I still strongly recommend you give it a try. Rpgmaker itself serves as a barrier of entry and I understand how it might be difficult to overcome that, but also, the game is free... so, give it a go if you find the time. Please take a look at the title screen now.

There's one final thing I want to talk about. I have been lying to you.

One thing you'll become acquainted with early on in the game is the Dimensional Tower. A place made of stratums that unlock as you progress certain points of the story. It is a place where you can essentially grind, gather materials, money, and rare equipment. The game tells you that it's optional to clear it for now, but will eventually be required for the story. Each stratum gets progressively more complicated and even features a few superbosses. Generally, you go up floors for each stratum and fight a mid-boss and a stratum boss, with there being optional bosses and sometimes characters to recruit in between that. The eighth stratum is the final stratum which is reached at around the 40 hour mark or so, and clearing it took me from level 90 to level 115 for most of my party. It was an uncharacteristically long and in depth stratum compared to every other before it. I avoided clearing the floor boss until I had finished all the optional stuff, of which included a superboss that also happened to be the most difficult boss in the game thus far. Like with a previous superboss in an earlier stratum, you can challenge an even stronger version of them once you beat them for fun. When I went to take a look at it, I was greeted with this rather shocking prompt.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. As I pondered over this, I went ahead and cleared the stratum boss of the eight stratum, which was very easy after having done all the optional stuff, and was once again surprised.

Shock. Awestruck. Flabbergasted. I don't know which word would describe it but my jaw dropped when this began to sink in. Part 1...? What do you mean part 1?? What do you mean next part?? Needless to say, this becomes rather obvious once you finish the game and head into the now unlocked developer room to read the comments on the development cycle and other such tidbits. One of these providing you with a hint as to how to move to the interlude of the game before moving on to part 2. Again... the interlude???? Yeah. 56 hours in, I had finished part 1 of ZakuAku. This game is in fact not 50-60 hours as I had mentioned earlier. How long is it? Well, after digging a bit more, the game's current length seems to be at about 150 hours or so, give or take. 50-ish for part 1, 40-ish for the interlude, and another 50-ish for part 2. Prior to clearing the eighth stratum, I was already drafting out my review for the game. I was already pretty dead set on what I wanted to write and how I felt about the game. I already have this game set as my GOTY barring any other potential galactic surprises. And given what is releasing this year, such surprises are not likely. Imagine the shock I felt. I don't think I've ever had this strong of a whiplash moment. I'm including this whole section just to try and give whoever reads up to here even the semblance of that whiplash I experienced. I pondered over whether to even post this or wait till I had truly finished the game. In the end, I think it's fine to post this. Everything I said still stands. Part 1 of ZakuAku is incredible. Is having more of this a bit too much? Maybe, who knows. I, for one, am deeply excited to continue spending more time with Delichi and her band of goofballs. Honestly, if I had done a bit mroe research prior to playing the game, I would have quickly learned just how long this game is. I'm kind of glad I didn't. My friend simply linked me the download and I proceeded to head in blind. After playing an hour or so of the interlude, I've been instantly met with a sense of progression from the developer's side. Namely, normal battles now seem to include Hamusuta's very own art, an extremely pleasing surprise. Music also seems to have upped in quality as well. Considering that, I will definitely come back to this review at some point and add on a bit more to it. As is, I'm not even halfway done with the game yet...

Anyway, if you read all the way to here, then thank you for indulging in my yapping. I hope I intrigued you even just a little bit.

Zakuzaku Actors, I kneel.