Magical fantasy RTS is revived beautifully! In addition to high resolution, new systems such as "Great Magic" with the power to turn the war situation around and a "Skill Tree" to strengthen familiars are added! GrimGrimoire OnceMore appears on Switch!

If you think “If it is set in a magic school, is it a game where you take classes and interact with friends?”, “GrimGrimoire OnceMore” betrays expectations at once from there. This work is a title reviving the magical fantasy RTS “GrimGrimoire” created by Vanillaware through high resolution and addition of new elements. Using the power of grimoires, players protect their own territory while summoning various familiars, and at the same time aim to capture the enemy territory. Because the war situation changes dynamically in real time, there is no time to be careless thinking “If I protect this side, it's fine”. Which familiars to summon, where to send them, and whether to prioritize attack or defense. The busyness of issuing instructions while reading the entire board as if becoming a wizard connects directly to the fun.

The protagonist of the story is Lillet Blan, a girl recognized for her outstanding magical talent. Invited to a magic school where only chosen boys and girls are allowed to learn, she swells her chest with expectations for her new life starting now. What's more, Gammel Dore, who serves as the principal, is a great wizard who once defeated the Demon Lord. If it were just this, it would be a dreamlike environment, but the main school building, “Tower of Silver Star”, has a terrible past. Unbelievably, this tower is a place that the defeated Demon Lord once used as his castle. Naturally, unexplained secrets and dangers remain inside, and even individuals harboring different intentions gather there. From behind the gorgeous magic school life, a somewhat disturbing air drifts from the beginning.

Just five days after Lillet first touched a grimoire and took her first step toward becoming a wizard. A terrifying calamity strikes the tower, and all the people inside lose their lives. You might think “Even the protagonist?”, but a strange event occurs only to Lillet. Instead of facing a deathly ending, for some reason, she goes back in time. And the same five days begin again. In other words, in the story of this work, you will search for the reason why the tragedy occurred while experiencing the limited time again and again. Actions of persons that were not understood last time hold meaning in the next loop, and new questions emerge behind casual events. Expectations of “Can something be changed this time?” naturally become the driving force to pursue the next development.

What attracts me personally is that the setting of rewinding time is not a mere device, but an important structure for understanding the story. Because Lillet herself accumulates experience, she becomes able to face events she could not handle the first time using another method next time. At the same time, questions like what the people gathered at the tower are thinking, why the calamity occurred, and what is hidden in the “Tower of Silver Star” gradually reveal their outlines. Knowing the conclusion, yet not knowing the truth. Precisely because being sent back to the same time in this state, players also want to carefully watch the words and actions of characters together with Lillet.

In “OnceMore”, not only high-resolution visuals, but new elements are also added to the game system. Representing that is “Great Magic”, which is powerful enough to overturn the war situation itself. While using it in a driven-cornered scene can create an opportunity for a counterattack, precisely because it is powerful, it is an existence that makes you want to think about when to use it. Furthermore, familiars can be strengthened through the “Skill Tree”, increasing the fun of raising fighting strength according to your own fighting style. Leaving the real-time tactics possessed by the original version while evolving into a work where strategies can be assembled more easily to play is a part I want not only people playing this work for the first time, but also people who know previous “GrimGrimoire” to pay attention to.

“GrimGrimoire OnceMore” features a beautiful magic world, strategic battles progressing in real time, and a mysterious story approaching the truth by repeating five days. What is most interesting above all is probably that the protagonist is not an all-powerful existence who can save the world from the beginning, but tries to change the future while repeating failures and experiences. If it's the next five days, she might be able to save. If trying again once more, she might reach the answer she had overlooked. Carrying such hopes and anxieties, Lillet opens the grimoire again. For people who want to thoroughly savor a story like a brain battle and mystery solving that does not end with just the beauty of magical fantasy, they should hardly be able to escape from these strange five days.