The world of Artis Impact is, on its surface, rather bleak. Humanity survives by a thread, building villages over the ruins of civilisations past and sheltering from the ever-present threat of corrupted AI entities, massive creatures that ruthlessly lay waste to anything and everything. There’s violence, corruption, brutality – but always plenty of time to pull a shift at the local pizza shop, dip into a spa for a relaxing pick-me-up, or talk smack with your robot bestie.

A sci-fi JRPG from Malaysia-based solo developer Mas, Artis Impact is a light adventure in a dark world. Presenting itself on the cosier end of the RPG spectrum, it places its focus firmly on its playful characters and gorgeous art direction, which marries hand-drawn graphic novel scenography with wickedly animated pixel art. It’s a world of extremes, chaotically wielding a thoroughly offbeat sense of humour alongside its heavy themes.

Protagonist Akane works for Lith, an organisation dedicated to protecting humanity from vicious enemies referred to as “AI”. While generations of war with these artificial constructs have left society in a post-apocalyptic state with resources scarce, some AIs are friendlier to humans, including Akane’s constant companion, Bot. The pair work together with Lith to defend their village against robot attacks and attempt to uncover the mysteries of how the AI came to be.

Artis Impact has a striking and unique visual style, using gorgeous pixel art to render its environments and main play space. Developer Mas uses soft edges and subtle shifts in colour to create simply beautiful scenes that feel at once haunting and cosy. Contrasting this are the manga-style comic panels that accompany dialogue and cutscenes, where hand-drawn character art allows for more detailed depictions of events. There’s a distinctive monochrome palette used here that is striking and makes the occasional splash of colour stand out effectively. Additionally, the “zoomed-in” panels allow for exaggerated facial expressions and regular doses of slapstick humour to punctuate scenes.

The world of Artis Impact itself is neat and compact, taking you through a few different settlements and dungeons peppered with items to collect, enemies to defeat, and side activities to pursue. Akane can interact with the citizens in each area, unlocking opportunities to work part-time, exercise, or eat out at restaurants. Each of these additional actions nets you some money or increased combat stats, as well as treating you to some cute little animations and conversations.

The focus on building the world and showcasing funny character moments does come at the expense of a cohesive main plot. While Akane and Bot are ostensibly completing missions for Lith, there’s not a lot of clarity around what their overall goal is, and most story leads set up in the first half of the game don’t really go anywhere. The adventure ends up feeling more like a series of disparate events rather than a continuous narrative, which is at odds with the title’s JRPG-style progression.

Combat against the game’s various AI enemies is par for the course for your typical turn-based RPG. You’ve got access to a few unlockable skills using Akane’s R Blade, some consumable items, and the auto-attacking Bot, who can be equipped with a supportive or offensive skill to use at his will. Taking enemy attacks will increase Akane’s level of Arsenic poisoning, which makes her more vulnerable to damage and needs to be cleaned off in a spa or through visiting a health clinic.

What ends up happening is each encounter becomes an exercise in style over substance: the animations look awesome and there are numbers and stats flying around, but you’re basically only going to be repeating one or two actions over and over again, chipping away at health bars until the fight is done.

Unfortunately, I’m not able to comment on the actual difficulty of the game’s combat and progression. During the review period, an overpowered buff named “Preview Privilege” was applied to Akane’s stats, making it nearly impossible to fall in battle. This couldn’t be toggled off and contributed to the battle system feeling relatively basic. It’s likely that a more natural difficulty curve would help combat feel more engaging, but its simplicity and ambiguity still hold it back.

Artis Impact may be a JRPG at a system level, but it’s a unique beast in actual “game-feel”. Its original brand of humour, gorgeous diversity in visual styles, and charming characters fit neatly into a sub-ten-hour playthrough that doesn’t outstay its welcome. While I found myself wanting more from the plot and combat system, this is an impressive offering from solo developer Mas and a decent little treat to enjoy over a cosy weekend.