Good afternoon/evening/morning, fillies and gentlecolts! If you've already recovered from your Pinkie-induced highs, then listen up. For the last several months, the DarkkyShadow team has been hard at work upon the bluntly named MLP: RPG, an open world ponies-on-earth role-playing game. More about the project after the break!


MLP: RPG is certainly still in its development stage, with many game aspects unfinished. However, much of the game framework has been completed, and there's certainly plenty of world to explore.

The game starts off promisingly, with a clear menu interface and a flashy intro sequence. With characteristic impetuousness, everyone's favorite lavender unicorn casts a powerful incantation at a mysterious altar, sending herself and many other ponies hurtling across space and time to earth.

The game starts out a little slowly - at the beginning, when you're limited to a low-level Twilight Sparkle, most battles consist of spamming the attack button until all your enemies have folded. Soon, battling becomes more diverse: multiple attacks and enemies lend some needed variety. The mining skill is similarly button-mashy, but it's currently a minor part of the game. At the beginning, hold the shift key to walk more quickly, and make sure to obtain some antidotes before plunging into the abandoned mine.


The game's strengths lie in its length and its usability, specifically its fully fleshed-out equip system, bestiary, and comprehensive list of achievements. The game uses vocal music from various brony artists instead of more traditional background fare, which can be a plus or a minus depending on your taste in music.

The game continues to grow more interesting as you add more ponies to your party and unlock more locations to explore. However, at higher levels, fighting is often severely unbalanced - enemies can be killed three times over with many special abilities but shrug off normal attacks without taking damage.

MLP:RPG is still in development, and thus not at a place where I'll review it as a finished title. Submitted as is, I'd give it a sturdy 6 or 7, as there's already a lot of promise. If you're a fan of RPGs and projects under development, get it while it's hot!