Marisa of Liartop Mountain review: a fun virtual TTRPG adventure

Are you a fan of tabletop role-playing games (TTRPG)? Then Marisa of Liartop Mountain just may be the game for you.

Marisa of Liartop Mountain is an adventure RPG where rolling the dice and making decisions determine the path for our hero, Reimu. Follow along with Reimu on her adventure looking for Marisa, who has gone missing.

While Reimu may be are protagonist of this story, she is not alone. She is actually the center of an RPG being played by 4 girls. The girls have different influences on the game, which is tracked on Reimu's character sheet. Yes, there is even a character sheet!

The game also brings along everyone's favorite parts of TTRPGs: the dice! Well, it's at least my favorite part anyway. The game uses a 6-sided dice system to determine outcomes. For the dice goblins out there, the game has several different kinds of d6 (six-sided die). Some help with rolling lower numbers, while others can help produce higher numbers.

Marisa of Liartop Mountain review

So, here are my thoughts on the game.

I was initially enthralled by the graphics of the game and the feel of an actual TTRPG. I did have a bit of a hard time at first between the tutorial and the long dialogue before I finally got into the game. The audio is in Japanese and cannot be changed, but the text can be switched to English to be able to read the dialogue.

The dice system is fun but can be frustrating. What I mean by this is that there are a few different 6-sided dice sets to choose from, and the dice can have different numbers on them instead of the regular 1 through 6. You do start with a standard d6 containing numbers 1 through 6. Some dice may only have even numbers, while others may only have odd numbers. Some dice may have 0's or even numbers higher than 6. Depending on how you roll, you may choose from a few of the available outcomes. If you are able, you can reroll the dice for a different possible outcome. The dice have a limited number of uses, so you have to be careful with what dice you use and how often you use them.

I love the inclusion of miniatures in the game.

This really does help bring the TTRPG feel to it. The minis even have animations for when they are attacking or defending. One thing that I wish you could do is to control the minis with your mouse in order to move them around the board, and see what you could find and explore. In this game, you are given the choices of where to move on the board and what you can do in each scenario/ encounter. Since I could not freely move the mini, it felt as though I was on railroad tracks and was limited in what I could do. If there were freedom of movement to allow exploration, I think it would make the game even better.

All in all, I think the game is a solid concept and would recommend it to anyone who likes solo TTRPGs. The graphics are amazing, and the game mechanics are simple and easy to follow.

So, will you take a chance and roll the dice? How will you choose to play the game? What adventure awaits you in Marisa of Lairtop Mountain?

Marisa of Liartop Mountain releases on Steam tomorrow, September 19th.

Pixigonal was given a free copy of Marisa of Liartop Mountain in exchange for an honest review.