Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

The first hour’s pull comes from being sent out as part of humanity’s last line of defense rather than being asked to save the world in some distant, abstract way. Abel and his squad operate from a headquarters where you rest, collect items, and prepare before heading into the next assignment. It gives the adventure a brisk loop: regroup, stock up, then return to dangerous territory with a clear job to do.

Once you are in a mission area, Abel settles into a familiar dungeon-RPG rhythm. Enemies appear at random, and battles shift to a first-person turn-based format. Each character can attack, use an item, or spend special points on special attacks. There is no need to decipher an eccentric combat language before you can start making sensible decisions, which is a genuine advantage for anyone who enjoys straightforward party management.

That same conventional approach is also where impatience can creep in. Random encounters in large dungeon-like areas ask you to accept repetition as part of the journey, and the basic command set does not promise much novelty on its own. The Auto option is welcome for routine fights, but it also underlines the game’s preference for steady attrition over constant tactical fireworks. Come for a methodical old-school crawl, not for a radical reinvention of the genre.

Graphics

The game combines a top-down viewpoint for exploration with first-person battle screens, while its anime/manga and dark sci-fi framing fit its monster-invasion premise. The contrast between moving a squad through mission spaces and confronting enemies face-to-face in combat gives the action a suitably old-school RPG shape.

Story

Abel’s strongest narrative asset is its unapologetically grim setup. Humanity’s technological progress has come with devastating environmental damage, then a floating fortress arrives in Earth’s orbit and the Beast Empire begins its invasion. The destruction of an entire continent makes the stakes clear immediately: this is a world already losing the war.

You are not dropped into that conflict as a lone wanderer. Abel commands a group of enhanced agents, trained and infused with advanced biological and technological developments. That detail gives the party a purpose beyond simple adventuring; they are a deliberately assembled response to a catastrophe that ordinary forces cannot contain.

The initial investigation is a good fit for the game’s dungeon structure. A previous team has disappeared without a trace, and Abel’s unit is sent to find out what happened. It is a clean, effective reason to push deeper into hostile areas, even if the broad strokes lean on familiar dark-future and monster-invasion material. The setting earns its tension through scale, while the missing-team mission gives you a more personal immediate objective.

Overall Experience

Abel: Shin Mokushiroku Taisen is easiest to enjoy when you meet it on its own deliberately traditional terms. Its headquarters-to-mission structure, random battles, and standard turn-based choices make for a dependable rather than flashy RPG loop. If that sounds cozy rather than dated to you, the game’s severe sci-fi premise adds enough flavor to make the routine feel purposeful.

There is a real contrast at its center: a huge, desperate war for Earth’s survival is filtered through intimate dungeon expeditions and practical party preparation. That is the part worth giving a chance. You spend most of your time managing a team through dangerous assignments, yet the surrounding disaster keeps those excursions from feeling entirely detached.

The payoff is therefore aimed at a specific kind of RPG fan. If you enjoy older Japanese dungeon crawlers, can live with random encounters, and like your science fiction dark, apocalyptic, and crowded with monsters, Abel has a solid premise and a comfortably recognizable battle system. If you need fast pacing or a constantly evolving set of mechanics, its standard structure will likely feel more dutiful than thrilling.

Retro Replay Score

6.4/10