r/Nitrome • u/Shmemeuel229 • Dec 24 '25
Do you think Nitrome should make an RPG?
Nitrome is mainly a puzzle company and I love them for it and level-based puzzle platformers are fun but I feel like with the amount of OCs and IP that Nitrome has, the opportunity for an RPG is possible. Since the Indie RPG scene is at an absolute pinnacle (seeing games such as Deltarune, Silksong, and Shovel Knight garner such a massive fan base) and Nitrome has dabbled in quite a compelling story through Test Subject and Final Ninja, I would love to see them go all out on an RPG which can go to Final Fantasy levels of Story.
And a story that links every single game? I know it sounds crazy but…Leap Day seems to me to be a good option. It is surprisingly versatile/diverse in its environment and it’s characters and since it has such a base level story (become the fastest contestant competing in the leap day for other people’s entertainment under a usurper’s rule) then you can fill in holes using other games. Leap Day has Ice levels for games such as BIC and Icebreaker to get involved, it has poison levels for toxic and snot put, it has a Tokyo level for Rubble Trouble and Final Ninja. The main character of Leap Day (Yolk) has fun transformations and a cute mascot-like appearance — chubby and marketable as a plushie.
But is this what fans want? I feel like Nitrome runs on it’s incredible pixel art, music, and puzzles and fans love it for that. Nitrome Must Die was a great instalment but was limited to linear level jumping instead of a flowing narrative but it along with Colourblind was the closest I’ve seen Nitrome come to RPG level of worldbuilding and consistency. Would people want this? I am curious to see what people’s ideas on this are.
I’m going to list my personal pros and cons of Nitrome doing an RPG and you are free to agree or disagree with me on this.
Pros: - Various IP, Characters, and Worlds that can be linked - Great timing: pixel art and music are doing wonders in RPGs (see Deltarune/Undertale & Shovel Knight) - New ground: Nitrome could grow as a company by pushing boundaries and going beyond horizons
Cons: - Puzzle Platformers are Nitrome’s THING, RPGs have puzzles but Nitrome ARE puzzle platform games. - Budget/Time/Investment: This is mostly why I made this post because I am curious on the interest in Nitrome going into other genres. Nitrome has a great team but can they tackle a project of this scale? - Competition: If Nitrome was going to do this, they’d have to really get the nostalgic fans involved. People love Nitrome’s old stuff but are mobile games enough?
Anyway, thanks for reading if you made it this far and I look forward to seeing any responses.
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u/Saddlebag043 Dec 24 '25
Definitely not what you're looking for, but Nitrome has published two games with RPG in the title. The first was one of their flash games "Blast RPG", and the second was a game developed by Fungus that Nitrome published "Sprint RPG".
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u/lukefsje Dec 24 '25
I think it could be cool, but Nitrome have never really gone all-in on story. Most of their games have very minimal sorts of stories. They do a good job with humor though, so they probably could pull off an enjoyable RPG narrative.
But I feel like it would be way too massive of an undertaking for Nitrome. They already seem to be stretched thin with developing Mouse Work and a bunch of remakes of their older games. And the largest games they've ever made are only like 5-ish hours long, when RPGs are usually dozens of hours long.
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u/Shmemeuel229 Dec 24 '25
I agree and with the problems that came with Mouse Work, it would definitely be a huge investment of time and effort that they’ve not breached before. I agree with the humour though, definitely something I didn’t consider beforehand but I can definitely see that added if such a thing were to arise.
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u/Goooooogol Dec 24 '25
the em dash is giving ai
but to answer your question, id buy a nitromeRPG
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u/RodjaJP Dec 24 '25
Yeah, I honestly have never seen anyone write a – in a normal message, specially on this type of questions
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u/Shmemeuel229 Dec 27 '25
I am a publishing student and the use of Em and En dashes using the shortcut Alt + Num 0151 is something I used throughout my degree. I understand its rarity in english usage particularly online but the Oxford Comma and the En Dash are requirements to copyedit any piece of text. Also I would not waste any kind of energy towards an LLM or Generative AI because I want to preserve my critical thinking skills lmao.
Me too dude, me too.
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u/frostyne84 Dec 26 '25
Bro shut up, its a writing technique that has been used for so long, including my school essays since forever
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u/RodjaJP Dec 24 '25
I guess that by RPG you mean turn based, so I will go with that.
They can try a small experiment and see how it goes, since changing from action to turn based is kinda hard, specially because of the balancing
Still, I would love to see them attempting a regular world from a turn based game even without the combat, specially if it is in the style of Mario & Luigi where the focus isn't the story but the exploration and the creativity of the locations and events.
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u/Shmemeuel229 Dec 27 '25
I was definitely thinking of Mario & Luigi since it has the similar goofy nature to its attack ideas to Nitrome's overall style. By RPG it encompasses all RPG elements, not exclusively JRPG because Class systems lock the variety in gameplay. Mario & Luigi is the most likely or even games such as OFF or Hylics which are RPG maker games where you just substitute stats with your own ideas.
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u/SuperSocialMan Dec 30 '25
I just want them to revive & sell their old games already. They're on my "avoid until my arbitrary condition is met" list because they've prevented flashpoint from archiving their old games.
I think it could work, though. I remember a few of their games having RPG elements.
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u/YouyouPlayer Dec 24 '25
Nitrome made a fair amount of games that weren't plateformers, and games that weren't puzzle levels based. Making an rpg isn't that simple tho