Osaka is a better KEMCO RPG

Back in 2023, KEMCO handled the console versions of the RPG Thousand Games Metro SeekersAnd it’s pretty awesome! This is an unorthodox post-apocalyptic game that really feels unique because of its approach. Metro Quester: Osaka, its sequel, which isn’t really that different, but it doesn’t have to be. It’s a better one! This time, I’d even say it seems more welcoming to people who might be unsure how to approach it.

The world has ended. Some people still live, fighting monsters, charting what’s left of the world, and searching for resources. In Metro Quester: OsakaPlayers find themselves in a new land of devastated Japan. After choosing an initial team of teammates, your warrior sets out to explore and survive, perhaps also learning more about the land and finding more survivors as they do so.

Do you like it? Metro Seekers? I hope you did, because Metro Quester: Osaka basically the same experience and elements! It just takes place in a new region of Japan. There are waters you need to cross! Instead of 24 characters, you have 32! There are more monsters! More dungeons! Also, one thing I really appreciated, was more tutorials and text.

Original Subway Seeker, While great, it ends up being an RPG with little text and context. It’s mostly about the experience. You explore the area, discover secrets, find resources, fight monsters, and survive. Metro Quester: Osaka There’s a little more story. The intro has more content and explains the game elements better. There’s still a lot left to the imagination. It just feels like there’s a little more to it, which is appreciated.

But for the most part, the gameplay is unaffected. Which is great, because it’s so unusual and fun. You wander around the world, digging up more vulnerable pieces of land and checking walls to see if they’re solid, charting what the new world looks like. As you do so, you may find reliable foraging spots where you can find food or resources. You might even get lucky enough to find new gear, an extra ally, or another campsite. While your overall goal is to explore everything, your weekly goal is to find 100 food so you can actually keep playing and survive. (Although if you want to move your campsite, you’ll need an additional 30 food to cover that move.) Because areas are contaminated and corrupted, you can only perform a certain number of actions per trip and per day. This prevents you from clearing an entire area in one run. Yes, and monsters and monster nests can also appear both on land and when you are canoeing, in the water around you.

Those battles don’t play out like a typical turn-based KEMCO RPG, although there are those elements in there. Metro Quester: Osaka. You set up your five-man party’s actions before you start a battle. You have to factor in your resources and how many actions each person can take. You then choose to start a battle and it plays out automatically before your eyes. Everything you tell everyone to do? They do! Only monsters also act between them, there’s no pause and you have to hope your choices are sensible and your resources don’t run out. I’ve found that between the initial entry and this one, both some of the regular enemies and bosses in the final third of the game can seem a bit ridiculous due to the scale of the attacks they’ll use. The gear options you can get seem pretty strong and starting with the default “balanced” party actually puts you in a pretty strong starting position from what I’ve seen.

While getting to traverse a new area with updates and new class additions along with more gear and enemies is all great, there is one element that bothers me as I get more used to the adventure. Metro Quester: Osaka It’s an improvement over the original KEMCO and Thousand Games RPGs in many ways, but I feel like the setting probably isn’t one of them. It’s fun to make the water sections such a priority and so rich! However, I think it’s probably more interesting in concept than execution. When I’m faced with so much water, I don’t find it as interesting as my land-based adventures. It’s just not as interesting mechanically or visually.

Still, Metro Quester: Osaka is a great game and a sequel to the original KEMCO and Thousand Games RPG. It still has the same feeling of desperation as you try to find resources. There is the same thrill when you discover new paths or useful items. The combat system still feels really distinct and effective. I highly recommend it and if anyone hasn’t played the original, I can even say play this one if you can only pick up one of them.

Metro Quester: Osaka available on Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and PC.

---