PLAYISM fans might remember that a short few months ago, we did our first Playism Live Twitch stream, showing off Helen’s Mysterious Castle, an upcoming release on Playism English. At the time, we only had the Japanese version of the indie JRPG to show, and localization was still far off.

With the English localization of Helen’s Mysterious Castle nearing completion, we thought it would be fun to give a closer glimpse at the game, and let all of you in on some of the secrets of this unique 1-on-1 focused JRPG.

Helen’s Mysterious Castle follows, as one might imagine, Helen, a mysterious young girl with the amazing ability to have entire conversations without saying more than “?” and “!”. Living in a small cabin, she sets out on a journey to explore a dark and dangerous castle that stands quite close to her home.

Soon after beginning her journey, Helen discovers her first weapon: the bow. Shortly after that, she fights a slime. It’s here that we discover what makes the battle system for Helen’s Mysterious Castle so fantastic. Instead of the bow being a piece of equipment that assists her attacks, it is the attack.

At the top of the screen, “Attack”, “Defense”, and “Action Delay” are listed. They pertain to the properties of Helen’s opponent’s next attack. At the bottom of the screen, the same words are lined up, and Helen can select which weapon she wishes to use. At this point, the strategy still hasn’t unfolded, as Helen only has a single weapon to use, but things will start to make sense soon.

Soon after defeating her first slime and heading through the castle entrance, Helen finds her second piece of equipment: a simple wooden shield. Upon picking up the shield, Helen is ambushed by another slime, and we’re given a taste of the game’s strategy elements.

Each piece of equipment at Helen’s disposal has unique Attack, Defense, and Action Delay properties, just like her enemies. Attack determines how much damage a given weapon will do. Defense determines how much damage that weapon will block. Action Delay determines how long it will take Helen to use the weapon in question.

It’s at this point that the strategy begins to unfold. All battles are 1-on-1, so there’s never a case of being outnumbered. Instead, battle depends on using the proper weapon at the right time to mitigate damage as much as possible, while using weapons, spells and shields to make sure Helen does as much as damage as possible while enemies are vulnerable.

As Helen delves deeper into the castle and destroys monsters in her path, we notice that she’s receiving experience, but she doesn’t seem to be leveling up at all. We quickly learn that experience is used to level up individual pieces of equipment instead, and depending on the equipment, leveling up can increase Attack, Defense, or shorten the Action Delay.

There’s much more to Helen’s adventure, but we certainly don’t want to spoil too much. Helen’s Mysterious Castle will be out on Playism English soon. Keep tuned to Playism to find out when Helen’s Mysterious Castle will be available.