Lufia V: For the Savior (Fangame)

Probably one of the best love letters of a fangame that stays mostly true to it's inspiration without feeling like just a romhack. The nods towards the franchise as a whole can be felt throughout while living in the best feeling of a world of Lufia 2, with the music, characters and storytelling. Often times in indie games, especially ones that tend to be heavily inspired by something of the past I find can have too much dialog that's 'on the nose' but this game has a very fresh and of it's own writing that makes the characters and story told fun to experience and not like just something said in a different way. As long as you try to fully experience the game I don't think you'll have any issue with exp or money, sure maybe you'll have to cut from buying a piece of armor or spell here or there but that makes the choices feel more impactful rather than just doing the typical shopping list of items. Also the game is very much beatable without using consumables once you get outside the initial earily game so if you are finding it too easy or difficult you can definitely just adjust your item usage to make the game feel more to your level. 

Can't wait for Lufia 6

★★★★★

ALL I GOTTA SAY IS THE PUZZLES/DUNGEONS WERE VERY VERY GOOD, ESPECIALLY THE ONES THAT LED TO BIG REWARDS.

THE MUSIC/REMIXES WERE ALSO AMAZING.

I SELDOM FIND FAN GAMES HAVE GOOD WRITING, SO IT WAS QUITE SURPRISING TO SEE THE GOOD WRITING/DIALOGUE, IT BROUGHT ALL THE CHARACTERS TO LIFE AND MADE ME CARE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT IN THE STORY.

ALTHOUGH THERE WERE QUITE A FEW GLITCHES, MOST OF THEM WERE HILARIOUS AND MADE EVERYTHING MORE ENTERTAINING. 

For once I'm glad that the World's Most Difficult Trick is something that I can solve within minutes 😅

This game is really fun! I haven't fully beaten the game  proper, but I'm dropping by to say how much I enjoy the puzzles (Minus select few, the 8-sliding puzzle in the Moon Tower is the type of puzzle I like the least) and how it tries to tie up the lore across all official releases!

i love the aestetics it reminds me of rpg maker games :D love it

This game consumed my life for over a week, and it has been a long time since a game has done that. I’m a busy father and I work a lot, but couldn’t put it down. If you’re a fan of Lufia, you have to play this game. It stays true in every aspect to the series, expands the lore in very thoughtful ways and was a joy to experience. I’d even go so far to say it is possibly one of my top 10 JRPG’s now. It’s right up there near Lufia 2. The story was very well done, puzzles were very clever and there wasn’t a moment throughout that I didn’t enjoy myself. Battle system is fun enough, a little lacking but Lufia has never really had a very creative unique battle system (3 kind of was). I can’t recommend this game enough, I don’t know how he pulled it off honestly but this game FEELS like the next Lufia, and it has the DNA in every aspect. 5/5.

Shockingly, I was oblivious to this project until its release in spite of my having adored Lufia 2 since I had first played it on ZSNES some 25 years ago.

And in spite of my trepidation stemming from my unfamiliarity and from the nature of such projects at their worst, this game has emerged as one of my favourite fan projects, my favourite RPG Maker games, and Hell, my favourite JRPGs of all time.

The Sinistrals, the puzzles, and the character dynamics are all at their best, and the aesthetics, the fleshed-out Estopolis lore, and the creative puzzle-battles are more than worthy contributions to this series' far-too-understated legacy.

I've been following this project for over a decade and I'm thrilled that it finally had its release. You can really tell this was a labor of love. If you're on the fence about downloading it, try it out now!

Lufia V: For the savior is a Fan made sequel to the rather underrated and unknown gaming franchise called Lufia. 

Personally I have known about this project for over 10 years now but it sank deep in a dark corner of my brain, even tho I would count myself as a big Lufia fan, with Lufia II being my favorite game of all time.

I stumbled on Facebook that the game has officially been released! Excitingly I downloaded the game and started playing. I expected the game to be less well made with less content compared to the original games. But boy was I surprised!  

I felt like kid again! The game feels almost exactly like that of the original Lufia II game, but with it's own twists and turns. 

At first the game felt so similar that I got a little worried the game would be to similar the original thus not creating the unique feeling I was hoping for. But later on this changed: the addition of new items, the action game-play, the combination of music from the different games, the narrative of the different characters, the insane amount of puzzles and the AMAZING lore!  All of these things were executed perfectly (within the limitations of RPG 2k3). Making the game really feel like a complete sequel.

The only thing I really missed in the game was the feeling of freedom. The ability to fly through the skies or traversing the fast ocean and of course the Ancient Cave. But besides that there aren't any complains. 

In conclusion: The fan made sequel really feels like a  game made by a one man with an insane amount of passion for the franchise he dearly loves. Creating a (in my eyes) true sequel to a franchise I have held close to my heart. The game put me thru tears because it feels like I have finally gotten what a asked for, a new amazing game that has given me a feeling of peace after finally having the feeling of an actual conclusions to the games i love dearly.

The puzzles were one of the first things that hooked me—they’re just straight-up fun. It keeps that classic Lufia style but adds some fresh ideas, and a lot of them are actually pretty challenging. There were multiple times I had to stop and really think, but solving them always felt rewarding. Easily one of the best parts of the game.

Combat is very much that old-school 90’s JRPG setup—fight, magic, item, defend. Nothing groundbreaking, but it’s solid and consistent the whole way through.

Where the game really stands out though is the story. It’s honestly phenomenal for a fan-made game. It doesn’t just take inspiration from the series—it genuinely feels like a continuation of it. Playing as a descendant of Maxim gives everything more weight, and as the game goes on, you start picking up more and more connections to past events. It’s handled in a way that feels natural and never forced. The story only gets better as the game goes on. 

The writing really helps sell it too. The dialogue feels natural and it balances serious moments with humor really well. There are also a lot of character bonding and emotional moments that make the party feel like a real group, which made me care a lot more about the story overall.

It’s also a great length—I got well over 25 hours out of it, which felt like a full experience.

The only real issue for me was the lack of exploration later on. You can’t really go back and revisit earlier areas, and I kept expecting something like that to open up but it never did. That felt like a missed opportunity.

Between the story and the puzzles, this is a MUST-PLAY if you’re a Lufia fan. It genuinely feels like a true continuation of the series.

Made with passion. I've been a fan of this series for over three decades, and this genuinely feels like the conclusion we never got. The puzzles get incredible, and the writing is spectacular: it gets the "vibe" of the Lufia series while still being able to surprise you (often). Really feels elevated from the SNES/GB level of writing the original games had, like this is what they'd always wanted to be in the first place.

I'm rarely impressed like this with fan works, but I know I'm going to be replaying this in the future.

I was waiting for so long! I am glad it is out now! I can't wait to have some free time to play it.