Modelled on SNES-era RPGs, Citizens of Earth recalls one of the console’s true classics, EarthBound. Both take the traditional genre formula – building a team, levelling up through turn-based battles and uncovering a vast, complex story – but abandon the usual fantasy aesthetic for a mirror of everyday life. Citizens goes further, exhibiting a sense of absurdist humour and gentle political satire throughout.
As the newly minted vice-president of the world, your post-election vacation is interrupted by a series of unusual occurrences with unusual characters – a coffee shop manager turned robot, a bear made of honey, and mutated deer, to name a few. Uncovering the cause involves recruiting more than 40 townsfolk, each offering amusing twists on typical RPG abilities (the baker burns enemies, for instance). And while it features too many repetitive battles, aficionados of the genre will be likely to overlook this and enjoy the comedic quests and atypical setting.
