There have been a lot of books and movies from the point of view of mice and other rodents. These stories have covered a lot of deep subjects, ranging from confronting loss to immigration to even the horrors of the holocaust. They offer a different perspective that allows them to soften the blow of more serious and dark subject matter and make it palatable to younger audiences. Another entry in this genre is the indie RPG Small Saga. This RPG tackles the subjects of death, loss and the desire for revenge.

The Role You Play

You play as Verm, a mouse on a quest for revenge. Motivated to carry out his quest, he fights with a Swiss army knife roughly the size of his body. Several others join his journey, including a fire-wielding mole wizard named Siobhan, a red squirrel bard with a pencil flute and a white lab mouse named Gwen who fights with a scalpel. Each one of them has their own unique skill tree and can learn new skills and boost their attributes.

Plot

The story begins with Verm and his brother breaking into a grocery store to steal a large bag of seeds. They are confronted by a human in a yellow exterminator uniform whom they refer to as “The Yellow God.” When Verm’s tail gets caught in a mousetrap, his brother sacrifices himself by confronting the Yellow God to give Verm time to escape. From that point on, Verm swears an eternal quest for revenge against the Yellow God.

Gameplay

Small Saga uses a turn-based combat system for its combat. Your party members and the enemies you face take turns attacking or using skills and abilities to boost their stats. Each character has a specific class and may be more suited to lending support than attacking. 

The combat is not always consequential. Often the battles are more set up to help further the plot than being a distinct feature of the game. Characters may often be engaging in dialogue during the middle of combat.

Length

Small Saga is a rather linear game. You follow along with the story as you progress and the gameplay does not have you deviate from the main storyline very much. You do have the option to partake in a few sidequests here and there to explore different areas, get new items and gain more experience, but it really isn’t all that necessary. The story alone does provide a fine enough experience and from beginning to end, it will take about 6-8 hours to finish.

Music

The soundtrack in Small Saga goes for a tone that matches the modern day setting with the more historical fantasy genre. A lot of the music is very folksy and there are a lot of strings in the production, but there’s also enough synth and modern percussion to make it sound like a present-day soundtrack. All of the songs do a good job of creating a fantastical atmosphere in a modern-day setting.

Notable Features

Even though the world in Small Saga is referred to as Rodentia, it very clearly takes place in modern-day London. The game does a great job of portraying the modern-day architecture of London’s skyline as well as several of its famous landmarks. It does all of this while retaining its pixelated art style. Several landmarks from the Shard to the Big Ben can be made out. This does an excellent job of establishing that the game takes place in present-day London, even though it has a strong fantasy theme from the main characters’ perspective.

The Talking Parts

All of the dialogue plays a big part in the story. There is a lot of character blocking and all of the characters are well animated and uniquely expressive. Even without any voice acting, the characters are able to do an excellent job conveying their personalities through their facial expressions and body language which is always very vibrant and expressive. 

This also happens during several of the battles as well. The fights will usually be interspersed with dialogue to convey the stakes of what each character is fighting for.

Z…We’ve Reached the End. Anything Else?

There are very few non-boss enemy encounters in Small Saga, and the ones that you do encounter do not respawn. This is because the regular enemies don’t really play a meaningful role in the overall gameplay experience. You don’t get experience or money from defeating them, and any items you get aren’t really necessary. The regular battles exist seemingly to practice battle skills in preparation for boss fights and little else.

Final Summary

Small Saga is a very story-rich game from the perspective of mice and other rodents. It doesn’t put much emphasis on the gameplay and combat and puts more focus on the story and characters instead. It is not for everyone, but for those looking for a very story-driven experience, it may be exactly what you’re looking for.

Final Score: 8/10

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