Madou Monogatari follows the adventures of the adorable Puyo Puyo mascot Arle, as she tries to find eight crystals, which in doing so will grant her one wish. You know what she wishes for? To pass kindergarten. Go on, say “awwwww”. We wont tell.

Even though its based on Puyo Puyo characters (or, as Gideon Zhi is so quick to mention, Puyo Puyo is based on Madou Monogatari characters), this is an RPG through and through. So if you suck at Puyo Puyo (like me) or just plain dont like it, well, you need to play this game anyways. It does away with your typical RPG conventions in a way that you really wouldnt expect in some cutesy little Puyo Puyo game.

Like, theres no indicator of your hit points at all. All you have to go on is all the dancing around that Arle does. I mean, if shes just kinda drooping there, with her eyes all spirally lines, you better Goddamn well heal that girlie, stat. Youre a magic user, so you dont have any actual physical attacks at your disposal. Youve got your three core attack spells (Fire, Ice Storm, Lightning) at your disposal, which dont use any magic power (for which, again, theres no indicator), and then youve got all your other spells, like Healing and some other stuff. If you cast Bayoen on a monster, and Arle tells you she has plenty of magic power, then youre still doing ok.

Theres a whole hell of a lot of walking around going on, but the game world is pretty small, so its not that bad. Plus, youve got these awesome flying squirrels that you can ride. Its pretty badass, man.