Hello mutual, what is baroque? I could google it but I'd love to hear about it from you <3
OH I AM SO GLAD YOU ASKED
Baroque is an absolute hidden gem of a game. I never hear anyone talk about it, and I think it’s because it got really overlooked; it got only like 50% on GameFAQs ratings, but a whopping 90% of Google users liked it! It was apparently originally released on the Sega Saturn?? And then got remade for PS2 and Wii. It’s apparently also on Switch now???
I found it for Wii for like $5 in a Gamestop, and picked it up with some birthday money, and I AM SO GLAD I DID.
This is the game’s cover. It’s described as a roguelike RPG, and you play a mute, amnesiac protagonist who explores a post-apocalyptic world. You meet all sorts of characters who slowly become more and more twisted as the game goes on. Some of them are The Horned Girl, who speaks the thoughts of those who get near her; the Bagged One, who speaks the words of others instead of her own; and the Baroquemonger, who can read Idea Sephirah, which if I recall, are kind of like…memories of the past.
At the beginning of the game, Archangel (the guy up there on the cover) tasks you to purify the Absolute God, who destroyed the world. He gives you an Angelic Rifle, and directs you to the Neuro Tower. You go there, in hopes of absolving yourself of a sin that you’ve committed, but can’t remember.
The Neuro Tower is a series of randomly generated dungeon floors, with randomly generated enemies and loot drops, that you have to navigate through to find your way to the Absolute God, and find scraps of the story from other characters. You progress the story in part by dying in the dungeon; when you die in the dungeon, things in the world change slightly, and you unlock new dialogue, and slowly get stronger in order to progress further through the Neuro Tower. It also has a cool system of letting you store weapons and items in Consciousness Orbs that carry over beyond your death.
I CANNOT EXPRESS HOW MUCH I LOVE THIS GAME. It has been YEARS since I played it, but I loved it so much, I’ve picked it up over and over again through the years to start new runs. There’s something about it that just keeps dragging me in. You get to pick up these fragmented bits of story, and try to piece together the picture of what really happened in this world, all while watching the characters you meet at the beginning become more and more distorted over time. It was actively described as “hardcore” when being marketed for PS2 in the USA, because of the nonlinear way the story is given to you. You can find pieces of story before you’ve got its context. It all depends on how you go about playing it, what you discover along the way, how often you die, and what and who you interact with. It’s one of those games I’d suggest looking up as little as possible about, honestly.
If you ever get the chance, definitely give it a try!! I super want to play it again now lkfgkfljg