Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

The first hour should feel immediately comfortable if you have any affection for old-school console-style RPGs. You guide Nix and his party around the overworld, stop in towns for conversation and supplies, then head back out toward the next objective. It is a classic structure, and EXP does not need to reinvent it to create a steady forward pull: there is always the practical question of where to go, who to speak with, and whether you have prepared properly before pushing onward.

Visible enemies make exploration considerably less aggravating than random-battle RPGs of the era. You are not forced into every fight just because you took a few steps, so you can conserve time and resources when a route is already familiar. That freedom also creates a useful tension: avoiding combat may get you where you are going faster, but turn-based RPGs still ask you to weigh whether your party is equipped and ready for whatever comes next.

Combat earns its keep through the equipment choices. Melee weapons and firearms sit alongside special attacks used by some party members, while guns consume separate ammunition. That ammo requirement is the sort of detail that can make you pause before spending your strongest option on a routine encounter. If you like planning around consumables and deciding when a powerful attack is worth the cost, EXP has a sturdier tactical backbone than its basic JRPG-style outline first implies.

The limitation is equally clear: this is a game for someone who enjoys the genre’s familiar rhythm rather than someone hunting for radical systems. Town visits, equipment purchases, overworld travel, and menu-driven turn battles are the main course. Give it a chance if that rhythm sounds comforting and you want a sci-fi variation on it; skip it if repetition in RPG progression is what usually loses you.

Graphics

EXP uses a top-down RPG viewpoint for its exploration, putting Nix and the party’s movement across the world at the center of the screen. The visual style is rooted in the practical, map-and-town-based look of a 1990s DOS role-playing game, with the focus kept on traveling between settlements, enemies, and story destinations rather than dramatic camera work.

Story

The setup has more bite than a simple “repair the ship and leave” mission. Earth is nearly ruined by pollution, humans have already made and broken a bargain with the mechanical Destragon, and the resulting conflict has turned the planet into a war zone. Nix arrives in Hydra territory carrying a smaller problem, only to find that there is no clean way to stay outside the larger mess.

Hydra is the strongest complication in the premise because it is neither just another invading force nor a simple refuge. This organization of human colonists’ descendants is neutral when Nix arrives, yet it has its own agenda. That puts the story in a more interesting place than a straight humans-versus-machines war and gives Nix’s attempts to return to Earth a believable reason to become tangled in competing interests.

There is a pleasingly pulpy quality to the whole setup: poisoned Earth, mechanical creatures, broken treaties, and a crash-landed pilot caught between factions. It is not subtle material, nor does it need to be. If you enjoy science-fiction RPG stories that use a personal journey to tour a wider conflict, Nix’s predicament is an effective hook.

Overall Experience

EXP: The Excellent Potato is a curious, earnest sci-fi RPG built on dependable genre fundamentals. Its best ideas are not flashy ones: enemies appear on the map, firearms make ammunition matter, and the plot has enough factional tension to make the trip back to Earth feel like more than a navigation task. The result is a game that invites patient play rather than immediate spectacle.

The payoff is worth pursuing if you can meet it on its own old-school terms. You will spend time talking in towns, buying gear, traveling, and settling into turn-based battles, but the war between humans and Destragon and Hydra’s uneasy position give those routines a reason to continue. The strange title may make it easy to overlook; the underlying adventure is more conventional, and more appealing, than that name implies.

Think of EXP as a recommendation for the RPG fan who wants another variation on the classic party-based formula, with a sci-fi setting and a little extra resource management in battle. It is unlikely to convert anyone already tired of this style, but genre loyalists may find a worthwhile obscurity here—one with a stronger central conflict than its goofy title would have you expect.

Retro Replay Score

6.8/10