Have you ever wanted to go back in time so you could forget that embarrassing thing you just said? Or would you like to visit a moment in time to remember it again? Maliki: Poison of the Past, developed by Blue Banshee and published by Ankama Games, won’t let you do that, unfortunately. However, you can use time to your advantage and help stop Poison from destroying Earth. In Poison of the Past, you play as Sand, who is transported from her world to the Domaine. The Domaine is where time is in stasis, and the titular Maliki looks over it with the help of her family. During your adventures, you’ll battle Poison’s creatures, help out strangers, and uncover puzzles. Does Maliki: Poison of the Past make you remember the good times or the bad times?

Maliki: Poison of the Past is adapted from the webcomic, Maliki, a slice of life comic with some fantasy/sci-fi elements to it. These elements feature heavily in Poison of the Past. The question is, does it transfer well? Possibly. Fans of the webcomic will enjoy this. I, however, had a little bit of trouble trying to understand the characters initially, as it feels almost expected of the player to know the webcomic. But with that, we play as Sand, who, after getting attacked and with some encouragement from an unknown speaker, is transported to the Domaine. This is where she meets Maliki and Fang, who instruct Sand to help and fight. Only for Maliki to realise too late that Sand jumped ahead in time.

Thus, Sand goes to meet Maliki and Fang at an earlier point. One of the bonuses of Poison of the Past is that it’s an isekai, which is a sub-genre in a lot of Japanese properties, where the protagonist(s) are transported elsewhere and must survive. This works in favour of connecting with Sand, because you’re as confused as she is. Sand then meets the other inhabitants of the Domaine. She’s also taught important gameplay mechanics like farming, where you’ll get your ingredients to make food that’ll boost characters, such as more experience points, better ability to escape, higher defence, etc.

Gardening is useful, but it does become frustrating. Other games that include farming will have some precision when planting seeds. In Poison of the Past, there is almost no precision. Sometimes a soil bed will connect to another one, and it’s great. Other times, Sand will ricochet away from where you want to plant, or once you’ve positioned her, she turns back. Because of this, you’ll end up planting seeds in random spots. Sand also receives plenty of seeds, whether it’s from gardening or it’s given to you. The only reason it’s “worth it” in the end is due to the experience points you gain.

There’s also cooking, which is done for you by a creature named Lady. It’s the only way to obtain items that help you, as there’s no way to buy them. And, only four meals are stored at a time. Thus, if you mistakenly cook the same item twice, it takes up two slots. The only way to get rid of them is by eating them, and bonuses aren’t stackable. They also work for 20 real-world minutes.

The last mechanic out of the three is crafting. Each time you battle, you might receive items that help build equipment. The items you build might be able to deal higher damage, but you’re weak to other damage. You’ll have to weigh up and see what build works for you. While playing Poison of the Past, there’s a clear message from the other characters we meet. A noticeable interaction that Sand has with future party member, Becky, mentions that they don’t use chickens for meat, only using them for what they provide. Other characters talk about nature and how to protect it.

Progressing grants you special abilities called techniques. These techniques might include defensive or offensive abilities. Mentioned earlier, there are also combo moves for two party members to unleash a powerful move. However, they need to be on opposite sides of the timeline; this can be annoying when you need that help, but once unleashed, it’s very rewarding. Oddly enough, the way to equip combo moves and how they work isn’t properly explained. You need to find them within menus, and this can lead players to confusion.

Within Maliki: Poison of the Past, every location you visit has variations regarding their enemy types and what they’re based off of. From sheep and plants in the rural area, to finance bros and punk rockers in the city. Each area that we visit is varied in its depictions, too. From forests to large metropolitan cities and everything else in between. But there isn’t a map to help orient yourself. It does make sense initially, but afterwards, it’d be nice if Sand could find a welcome or information board with one displayed. It becomes too disorientating trying to retrace and figure out where to go. Admittedly, Fang does build a little bee robot called Qbee, which guides you to the next objective. Some characters mention going east… but it’s up to you to discern where east is.

Sand doesn’t seem to have a personality or a history. So it begs the question, is she in the webcomic? Or is she supposed to be a player-stand-in? While you do get to learn more about her later on, it may take more than five hours or so for you to learn this. If you’re asking players to care about a character, why should we? Especially since we’ve gotten to know the others and their personality so fast, including why we should initially dislike Poison.

With all that said, there are moments that do elevate the experience. The music is amazing; the battle music fits with the time/location you’re in, too. In the city, the battle music sounds like nu-metal, compared to the rural area, which is lighter. The humour is pretty spot on too. You have to speak to a doctor a few times, and each time you talk to him, you need to unfreeze him. Because he’s frozen, he says the same thing each time he’s unfrozen. During the last time you speak to him, the party repeats what he says to speed up the process.

The graphics of Poison of the Past are gorgeous. It isn’t similar to the webcomic, but there are street billboards that show artwork from the creator of Maliki, Souillon. There are some variations in using both 2D and 3D; 2D is used when a character speaks, which is expressive and dramatic. It makes for such interesting characters. 3D has clear inspiration from a lot of early 2000s JRPGS, specifically the chibi-style. The design has some small quirks that should be appreciated, such as Sand’s hair bobbing with each step. Unfortunately, there is the use of boob physics in some character designs, which is a let-down. This specifically happens when some characters move on the screen fast. It feels unnecessary, but the characters that do have it aren’t dressed as sexual objects. It just feels odd, in the long run.

There’s a moment in the city where the game references Stephen King’s 1986 novel, It. Players can notice a classic red balloon from an exposed sewer system. Also, while in the city, Fang points out the Académie Française. Where a council focuses on matters about the French language, who also publish the official French dictionary. It’s a unique way to show off some more unknown areas of the city.

All in all, Poison of the Past is about time manipulation and the Butterfly Effect, where even the smallest change can result in a large difference. How certain events shape our lives, and if we go back to change them, then are we changing who we are? We learn throughout the game that Poison and Maliki are often connected to life-changing events in Maliki’s life. Because of this, we’re told explicitly not to alter key moments. And it’s why Poison and his cronies are able to move out of time, much like Sand and the gang. The game works with this idea quite well, and towards the end of it, I was caring about these characters, their lives, their loves, and it’s great to see how it worked out in the end.