Melting World Online vs Verdant Skies
Melting World Online
Melting World Online is a strategy RPG set in what seems to be an alien world. Featuring a unique old school-look, this game more than makes up for its dated graphics with an in-depth and surprisingly strategic gameplay. Aside from the timed turn-based combat, which is modelled after Fallout games' VATS system and is designed to keep you on your toes, you'll also get to assemble your own team of mechs (along with their mech pilots) to bring into the battlefield.The most intriguing part of the gameplay, however, is how you can customize your mech. Instead of giving you fixed slots to put your weapons and armor in, you get a grided box for each part of your mech, namely the cockpit, left and right arms, the body and left and right legs, where you can attempt to squeeze in as many weapons and armor as you can. After all, the more weapons you have means the more attacking options you'll have, while having more armor means your mech can take a lot more punishment from the enemy before going down.
Melting World Online may not win any prizes when it comes to its nostalgic 90s visuals, but its gameplay is definitely worth a look, especially if you're a huge fan of strategy games.
Verdant Skies
Verdant Skies is an indie farm simulation/RPG combined with a pretty unique art style and visual novel-like dialogue choices. In this game, you play as the latest pioneer who was sent from Earth to a habitable alien planet whose main job is to set up and manage the farms at the colony, but of course, you are often asked to help out other characters with their tasks. You can also interact with the characters to increase your relationship level and eventually unlock new options such as being able to date them and start a family.Verdant Skies also features a straightforward gathering and crafting where every almost every action you take in this game will cost you time and/or energy. There's no need to restore the time you lost, but energy can be easily restored by consuming food. As a game that's very similar to Harvest Moon in essence, the game's farming aspect can be impressively in-depth, allowing you to splice the genes of your crops and your livestock to produce much more superior versions.
Verdant Skies is definitely the sort of game you'd want to check out if you've loved playing games like Harvest Moon, Staxel and even My Time at Portia. The game isn't too expensive either, considering the hours you can get out of it.