Facebook is full of role-playing games, but deep, turn-based, console-style RPGs are still pretty rare. Deep Realms manages to take virtually everything that makes the genre great—including an engaging story, lots of character customization, and a beautiful fantasy world to explore—and crams it on to a social network, with only a few minor caveats. It’s not only one of the best role playing experiences on Facebook, but Deep Realms is also one of the best games overall.
Facebook is full of role-playing games, but deep, turn-based, console-style RPGs are still pretty rare. Deep Realms manages to take virtually everything that makes the genre great—including an engaging story, lots of character customization, and a beautiful fantasy world to explore—and crams it on to a social network, with only a few minor caveats. It’s not only one of the best role playing experiences on Facebook, but Deep Realms is also one of the best games overall.
You play as a young farmer living in a world of swords and sorcery. One day your brother goes missing and so you decide to set off to some nearby caves to find him. As is often the way, what seems like a simple mission quickly drags you headfirst into a battle for the fate of the world, where you’ll meet plenty of interesting characters and learn a few important secrets. Though the narrative is somewhat light by RPG standards, it’s incredibly deep compared to similar Facebook games. You really feel like you’re moving along an epic quest, which provides plenty of incentive to keep playing.
Exploring the world works in a similar way to games like CSI: Crime City. Each area in the game is divided into squares, and moving from one square to the next consumes energy. While most squares are empty, you’ll regularly stumble across traps, treasures, and enemies to battle. Combat is turn-based, which means that you’ll take turns exchanging blows with your enemy (or enemies, depending on the situation.) You can equip up to three attacks at once, and you’ll be facing off against magical creatures and monsters, including massive bosses that take multiple battles to defeat. You can even enlist your friends to help take them down.
A lot of the strategy for battle comes in how you customize your character. Very early on you’ll get to choose one of several classes, which allows your character to become specialized. You can focus on using weapons, or on wielding magic, but it’s an important decision because your character will remain that class for the rest of the game. You can purchase and find new weapons and armor, and your character’s appearance even changes depending on what gear they’re wearing. And, in a nice twist, there are collections in the game, but each item goes towards crafting new weapons and armor.
So Deep Realms is a complex game, but it never really feels daunting. Each and every aspect is clear and easy to understand, making the game playable even for someone new to the genre.
But not every aspect of the game works quite so well. Outside of the main quest, there’s also a village where you can battle other players and play games of chance. The mini-games are fine, though they require the game’s premium currency to play, but the player-vs-player battles are remarkably dull. You only get a limited number of moves each battle and whoever causes the most damage by the end wins. It’s a great way to earn some extra experience but it feels like a tacked on, unnecessary part of the game.
But it does little to take away from what is otherwise an amazing experience. Deep Realms is a sprawling, complex, and engaging RPG that manages to be both casual and deep at the same time. From the epic storyline to the deep character customization to the strategic combat, Deep Realms is exactly what you’d want from a RPG of Facebook.
