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Taiwanese indie studio HeatPot Games has released its turn-based, tile-matching JRPG Hero Emblems on iOS. You can purchase it on the App Store during its launch period at the discounted price of $2.99 before it goes up to its full price of $3.99.
Hero Emblems puts you in charge of the four heroes that collectively make up the princess’s armed guard. You have to take them on a quest across the game’s adventure map to rescue the kidnapped princess, finding a rumored cure for the dying king along the way, and eventually taking on the source of all these mishaps, the God of Evil.
The four heroes are of your typical JRPG jobs. Howard is a fighter and focuses on dealing damage with a sword. Elsa is a witch on a broomstick who casts spells for magical damage. Alston is a knight with a large shield used for defending the group. And Trista is a healer who restores the group’s HP.
Each of these four heroes is represented by an emblem in the grid of tiles during battles. You have to match three or more of the same emblem, and the hero it corresponds to will perform their action. Matching more than four emblems creates skill emblems that can be matched afterwards for more effective actions. The most powerful actions for each character are encountered when matching emblems in an ‘L’ or ‘T’ shape on the grid.
As they’re turn-based battles, you have a limited number of moves you can make in the grid before the enemy attacks. They hit hard, so you need to keep an eye on your DP (Defense Points) so as to not take any damage to your HP (Health Points). When you do take damage you’ll need to match shields or hearts to have Alston or Trista restore the bars.
Hero Emblems isn’t all battling, though, as it features plenty of dialogue scenes during which you’ll get familiar with the unique personalities of the cute characters. Howard often sleeps in, turning up late to mostly everything, but he’s always there with his sword when needed. Elsa is wise and often takes authority, with Alston usually agreeing with her and backing her up, while Trista tends to be a bit ditzy at times.
You can find out more about Hero Emblems on its official website.
