Beyond Galaxyland

Doug has had a pretty rough evening. After returning home to his parents with his school friend Rosie, his guinea pig Boom Boom escapes. Running out of the house to find his pet, Doug then gets chased by an otherworldly zombie-looking thing before throwing himself headfirst into a portal as the only escape. He's then told that the Earth is lost to a force called The End, he's one of the only human survivors, and that he is now a resident of Galaxyland - a collective of alien species living in a network of planets designed to keep their residents contented.

As I said, rough night for Doug, but a pretty good setup for Beyond Galaxyland. A modern RPG with all the charm of a classic Final Fantasy game, Beyond Galaxyland immediately impresses with its pixelated visuals and bopping soundtrack. From the dark recesses of the capital planet of Neo to the bright forest world of Erros, there are plenty of gorgeous environments to explore and it's fun simply to just jump around them. As a side-scrolling RPG, Beyond Galaxyland doesn't open itself out entirely, but there are plenty of hidden nooks and crannies to explore alongside additional quests that'll see you take on all sorts of wacky adventures. Anything from The Thing meets Murder on the Orient Express to a sci-fi Arthurian adventure can be found in the side quests of the game.

Like RPGs of old, Beyond Galaxyland is rather simple in its gameplay. At least at the start, that is. You can explore, and you can fight. Exploration and the puzzle mechanics are straightforward but fun and rewarding to get involved in. Making the most of the differing environments, the puzzles come across as unique even if they largely result in you either moving something to where it should be or pressing buttons in the right order. The movement is satisfying and rhythmic, broken up nicely by the combat.

Enemy variety and your abilities are both stand-out successes within Beyond Galaxyland's combat. One minute you're fighting raptors, the next you're tackling a massive humanoid pig or a roulette wheel come to life. It's all as wacky as this space-faring adventure should be (especially when you consider you're joined by a guinea pig forced through thousands of years of evolution within minutes) and allows you to throw yourself into the universe of Beyond Galaxyland. As with other classic RPGs, the combat is turn-based, and you have the options of attacking, using an ability, using an item, or summoning in the menu. Attacking builds up your Ability Points, and using abilities costs them, but there's a catch.

In Beyond Galaxyland, you can miss your attacks. Enemies can also miss you and you can block with a QTE for reduced damage, but the missing from your end largely feels random. You press a button on your keyboard or controller for each attack, but there's always a chance you'll miss even if you have the rhythm down perfectly. When you miss, you lose 2 Ability Points. When I finished my run with 13 Ability Points and most of the stronger abilities cost 7 or more, your attacks can add a sense of randomness that comes across as needlessly punishing. Okay, because the RNG gods decided I would miss three attacks, now I can't use the ability I needed to and risk losing the fight. It's not tactical and doesn't add much to the experience besides adding in items that will increase your accuracy. Combat overall proved easy enough, even with the randomness thrown in, but it felt a strange choice.

As well as paying homage to RPGs of old like Final Fantasy, Beyond Galaxyland also has its own Pokémon tribute as you can catch enemies in the game to use them as summons later, including bosses. These summons have their own resource, and can provide great buffs for your team, damaging abilities, and debuffs against the enemy. As soon as I started making the most of my summons, combat worked out a treat. It's good combat doesn't border on being too difficult, considering the game relies purely on manual saves, so if you die, you best hope there was a save point nearby. It's generous enough with these save points, so you really needn't worry, just make sure to keep saving when you can.

We now come to what I believe is Beyond Galaxyland's biggest strength and weakness in its narrative. The opening comes at you thick and fast, leaving you as breathless as Doug as you're told the entirety of the Earth has gone bye-bye. Some of the dialogue here is a bit formulaic, and Doug does have to remind us he's sad by crying a bit too often, but otherwise it's a great hook. These somewhat odd or weaker character moments persist at times, but the universe that has been established here keeps you going. Mountains of questions are set up with each new character introduction, each new bit of lore that drops your way. The bosses you encounter are each incredibly memorable, both in their visuals and their mechanics, and so throughout the adventure you will get dragged into Galaxyland, following Doug's quest to return and fix his home.

Along my adventure, I get to a certain boss battle. I'm thinking this might be the entryway to an action-packed third act. After all, I'm nowhere near the max level for the game yet. I'm even psuedo-locked out of some fights because I'm not that strong. To my surprise, however, when I beat the boss and am given a cutscene that only serves to ask more questions than it answers, I have beaten the game. I obviously can't go into spoilers here, but if you play Beyond Galaxyland yourself I'm sure you'll feel a similar sense of confusion when the credits roll. Nothing is answered, no final gains or losses are made. The story doesn't end in a way that sets up a sequel, it feels as though it simply stops midway through. I'm not sure if more story content or another game is planned, but the story just cuts itself off. It's not even like there's a hidden ending if you get to max level and do all the side content, as you just start from New Game Plus or go back before the final boss. It really left me baffled, and unfortunately meant that Beyond Galaxyland couldn't quite reach the heights I thought it capable of.

Despite a disappointing ending and some irritations with the dialogue and combat, Beyond Galaxyland is an RPG that will remind you of the heady days of your first Final Fantasy, mixed with a Pokémon blend. Its world, traversal, puzzles, and soundtrack will keep you entertained for the entirety of your adventure, and I just hope at some point soon we could see a further conclusion to it.