Regalia: Of Men and Monarchs (2017)

Regalia: Of Men and Monarchs Royal Edition is a kind of a mix of three genres— a strategic role-playing game, a simulation, and even enough text to be like a visual novel in some ways. The basic goals for the game are set early. There is plenty of humor in the theme of the story with almost all of it in full-voiced dialogue. The characters are nicely designed and despite there being no elevation difference, the battlefields are designed decent as well. The battles are somewhat different from your regular SRPG but still good. If you don't mind a SRPG with some simulation aspects delivered in a humorous way, then give Regalia: Of Men and Monarchs a try.

There’s a beautiful game in Regalia, but it’s sadly hidden behind a massively cumbersome and counter-intuitive interface. While I’ve been told that there’s an update in the works with numerous fixes planned, and even several for issues I mentioned, I’m not entirely sure though it will fix all of my complaints. Frankly, I’m a bit shocked the game got through Nintendo’s testers in this state. The game costs $24.99 on Switch and provided me at least 30 hours of playtime, and while I can see the good here, it’s currently outweighed by all the bad. I will note that if Pixelated Milk is able to fix the majority of the problems I mentioned, my score would likely be double what it is currently. I can respect the effort here, but it’s hard to recommend Regalia: Royal Edition in it’s current form. Here’s hoping it gets the loving care it needs soon.

The sheer amount of content that they were able to pack into Regalia is incredible and the fact that they were able to make it all work is nothing short of outstanding. Apart from the onerous loading times that could alienate a few, the chemistry of blending time management with a complex and engaging battle system while tying it altogether with an engaging story and brilliant voice acting is an achievement that has eluded large development teams with years of game creation experience. I wholly recommend Regalia to fans who enjoy RPGs and I will be the first to put my hand up for the review of the next game this developer comes up with.

Regalia is a fun tactical RPG with a strong narrative element. It's not without it's issues – mainly loading times – but it's a well-designed and content-rich game nonetheless.

Regalia certainly has a lot going for it, particularly in its audio and visual presentation, but its generic battles and some minor control and UI issues prevent the Royal Edition from truly ruling the realm.