Artis Impact is a unique brand new RPG that is being developed by solo developer Mas. The game features a mixture of hand drawn and pixel art styles, and incorporates classic JRPG elements along with daily life moments, a classic ATB battle system, and an insane amount of world interaction.
It is a game packed full with smaller details that are rarely seen in a video game, and it has recently gained quite a bit of attention on social media and Steam. Recently it was revealed that the game will release on August 7th, 2025, and a free demo has been made public for everyone who wants to try it out. The game seems to have a lot going for it, and we here at Netto's Game Room had the pleasure of speaking with the developer to learn a bit more ahead of the game's official release!
Before we get started however, I'd like to thank our friend Sophie over at Kepler Interactive who first introduced us, and Grace over at IOI Gamer who helped kick things off. It has been great speaking to you both, and we greatly appreciate Mas for taking the time out of his busy schedule.
Hello, my name is Ben and I'm one of the founders of our gaming blog Netto's Game Room. It is really nice to meet you! To start things off, could you tell us a little about yourself?
Hello, nice to meet you, Ben! I'm Mas, the solo developer of Artis Impact. I'm from Malaysia!
So I had the chance to go through quite a bit of the demo for your brand new RPG Artis Impact, and I have to say that it surprised me in a lot of ways. The initial setup of venturing out into the world gave me Earthbound vibes, while the battle system was full on classic Final Fantasy ATB! What would you say were your biggest influences when working on the title?
Amongst many other classic games I've played, Harvest Moon (SNES) and Terranigma are the main influences while working on Artis Impact. I enjoy playing games that are relaxing, and I believe it would be a fun experience for the player to enjoy venturing into a little unknown adventure, with RPG elements, along with different towns across the game.
One thing I noticed right away was just how much you could actually interact with the world. From being able to unplug ATM machines by "talking" to the back of them, to blowing up a fuse box in my face because I kept messing with it, and even details like how the character looks up at the menu to order. There are SOOO many little touches that make this game feel alive, and I'm sure I only scratched the surface while playing the demo. What made you decide to put so much effort into so many little things that players might not even discover?
I think it's always important to imagine and try to understand what the player would like to do in every scenario in the game. While I playtest the game as I develop, I always try to imagine what the player would want to do. For instance, if there's a switch in the room, wouldn't it be fun if the player can flick it on and off? Also, if the player flicks it too often, maybe the switch will break down. These tiny interactions often don't provide real impact to the storytelling part of the game, but these are fun to poke at, and essentially contribute to a better role-playing experience.
(I knocked out the power...)
Artis Impact is a full on JRPG styled game, but there are life simulator elements built in as well. Time passes while exploring, NPCs go about their daily life, and the main character Akane gets assigned jobs on specific days of the week. Unlike most games with life simulator elements, this game isn't a single town game, and there is a whole world map out there for you to explore. Will there be time constraints, or is the game more on the relaxed side of things?
The idea of Artis Impact is to give the player a fun, relaxing, and bizarre adventure experience. I tend to avoid anything that might stress the player with strict conditions. The time element is included primarily to better portray the feeling of venturing (and maybe to hide a few little secrets...)
As mentioned before, the battle system is ATB based and very similar to games like Final Fantasy or even Chrono Trigger. With the demo, the fights were scaled back and made easier, so I didn't see the full extent of how the battle system would be going forward. (Although I did get slaughtered by extra bosses...) Could you tell us a little more about how skills and timing within the fights will work as things pick up in difficulty?
I try to make the combat as interesting and fast-paced as possible, but remain as simple as possible for the players, no extra stress with the timing and positioning or any heavy thinking. Therefore, it will be more about the character's power rather than the player's skill. I believe this aligns with the core element of the game, which is fun and relaxing. Players can acquire new skills, new weapons, and new upgrades to tackle a boss. I believe this experience is fun for casual gamers and grinders. (I'm one of them!)
(Meanwhile this thing killed me.)
Akane as a character seems great so far; I really like her! Her personality is a bit hard to pin down, but I love how she isn't a flat character, and actually feels human. Living her life in game allows us to see many different sides to her, and that is something we rarely see in games. In most RPGs we follow our character's story, sure, but how many of them actually let us see the cast fall face first onto a bed exhausted? Or see their dumb little mistakes that would get them laughed at? We usually only see what the other characters see, and the little everyday quirks are absent. What made you decide to create a character like this?
When it comes to characters, I often draw inspiration from real-life personalities, exaggerate them, and try to imagine what they would do in certain scenarios. I believe it's interesting to put them together and imagine what would come out of it.
I cannot ignore is the art! Everything is hand drawn, with a wide range of art styles across the game. We have cute little faces during dialogue, a mixture of detailed and minimalist pixel art during the main gameplay, and cutscenes can range from black and white sketches to full colored scenes. The pop up comic like panels that advance across the screen are a really nice touch as well, and the full animations are extremely smooth. It is a truly unique style, and with a professional artist on our very own team here, we'd love to hear more about your process of drawing and creating this world and story!
Thank you so much for your kind words. When it comes to game development, we are often making trade-offs, especially with limited time. Therefore, I had to be very creative in coming up with an efficient way of presenting the game idea to the player. For instance, my process goes like this: I have a story that I hope to tell, then I think—how can I deliver this story to the player? Rather than, “Okay, I've drawn this cute little town, now let's think of an interesting story for this town.”
Currently the demo is available on Steam, but do you have plans to bring it to other platforms as well?
Yes, if at all possible, we would like to make it available on other platforms.
And finally, is there anything else you would like the world to know about Artis Impact?
I hope playing Artis Impact will give players a little getaway from the busy world we live in. Thank you so much for having me!
Once again, Ben and Netto's Game Room. Thank you so much for your precious time and consideration! Thank you so much for having me!
And that was my interview with Mas! I personally really enjoyed every second I spent playing the preview of the game, and I strongly recommend others give the demo a shot. This was a game that completely flew under my radar, and I really wish it hadn't. As a huge fan of RPGs, this game ticked a lot of boxes for me, and I can't wait for the final release.
To learn more, here is the official trailer. You can also head over to the official Steam Page to try out the demo today. As mentioned in the interview Mas is hoping to bring Artis Impact to other consoles as well, but that will be an announcement for another day.
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