Game: Maliki: Poison of the Past
Genre: RPG, Life Sim, Adventure
System: Nintendo Switch (also available on Steam (Windows))
Developers | Publisher: Blue Banshee | Ankama
Age Rating: US E10+ | EU 12+
Price: US $29.99 | UK £22.49 | EU € 29,99
Release Date: April 22nd, 2025
A review code was provided, and many thanks to Homerun PR.
Two things can be concerning to the platonic ideal of the Western cozy gamer: 1, Isekai portal stories, because there’s an overlap with them just being a waifu collection simulator and 2, webcomics, because there’s a lot of them and they’re all over the place in terms of quality and tone. Maliki: Poison of the Past overcomes both of these initial worries with cozy flair. It’s an Isekai, sure, in that your playable lead, Sand, is dropped unceremoniously into a world she — and you — clearly don’t understand. Still, it’s also based on a cute French webcomic, and if you’ve never even heard of it before, the game makes sure that’s totally okay.
Maliki: Poison of the Past is also only passingly similar to another sim-like RPG, Harvestella, which is nice because Harvestella still suffered that recent Square Enix ailment where everything has to turn philosophical and dour at some point. Maliki, and Sand, and the rest of a colorful cast of characters have their own problems to face, but the good news is that this is a colorful and upbeat world to explore. But is there some bad news? Let’s take a peek.
The Colorful World of Maliki
I have no clue what goes on in the webcomic, and the game is prepared for that sort of response on arrival. You, as Sand, are thrown into a confusing, active situation where a rampant and dangerous bit of landscaping has consumed whatever it is this girl in a Midna-style wooden half mask is trying to preserve. Your quick tour will leave you in the precise mindset of your character — what the HECK is going on?? — before someone twigs (har) to the fact that they goofed their timey wimey gambit and ships you off to another spot in the timeline.
As you and Sand catch your breath, a proper tutorial and introduction to Maliki’s shrunken Domaine of farmland prosperity begins, and it’ll take only moments for you to realize that the time jumps are foreshadowing. A lot of Maliki rests on playing around with time, from combat tactics to exploration, as you reclaim lands tainted by the all-consuming Poison.
The tutorial is brisk but gets you everything you need and makes sure you have access to that information as you move along. The tools you’ll need for the farm sim side of the game are introduced at a fast but smooth pace, with their utility perfectly familiar to anyone who’s at least even heard of the farming sim genre.
All of this happens against a lush backdrop of pastel and primary colors, put together in a cohesive, appealing art style that looks very much like a mesh of European comic albums and the cartoon worlds of Steven Universe. The individual characters are full of little details, made up of round lines that convey vivacity over plumpness. It’s very cute stuff.
But All Is Not At Peace in Maliki
Although Maliki will quickly introduce you to the basic toolkit you’ll use for your hours of farming life, it’s also just as quick to whisk you off into lengthy sessions of exploration and combat. I’d barely plugged some carrots into the ground before we were neck deep in a time-frozen farmland, where the only active objects were my little combat duo and a handful of enemies.
Exploring these regions is slightly Zelda-like, with plenty of little puzzles blocking you off from progress and tucked-away goodies. Many of the puzzles revolve around controlling the flow of time as you wheel back and forth to place platforms wisely. Still, it won’t be long before you’ll also be flinging objects around to create accessible stairs and other pathfinders’ necessities, with other tools yet in store for you.
Before getting into the meat of combat itself, I need to note that some hidden paths are simply marked by a patch of landscape that’s just slightly different from everything else around it. These patches are not colorblind friendly — I checked with my partner, who has a cool pair of Daredevil-red shades just to see a smidge of nature’s bounty — and can be very easily missed even if you’re not. Keep on alert!
Bringing Love with the Power of A Hard Noggin Bonk
The combat in Maliki is turn-based, in contrast to the Action RPG elements of exploration. Here, too, mussing with the flow of time will help you not only keep the edge in combat, but give you opportunities to recover health and energy. Getting a grip on the tactical nature of that tool is crucial because Poison’s legions aren’t going to make it easy for you. Combat is typically fair but tough, and you won’t be getting a free recovery when you level up.
Because the regions you’ll be fighting through are large and ornate, full of puzzles and shortcuts, it won’t be long before you find roots you can nourish back to life, giving you a place to refresh your party or go back to your base to do a little work around the farm. Here, too, though, Maliki is fair but tough — returning to your current exploration zone puts you back at the beginning, with the enemies respawned for your resource and experience grinding pleasure.
Your mileage may vary, but I began to wear down pretty quickly, wanting to just noodle around the farm for a while. But I simply didn’t have much unlocked yet, and the crops were often far from grown, and I had no choice but to head back to the trenches.
Conclusion
Maliki: Poison of the Past is a beautifully designed game with a loop that feels heavier on combat and exploration than it is on farming. The combat, while balanced and intriguing, may end up being a little tougher than you’d expect from games in this niche, and you may well feel like you’re missing some opportunities to simply pootle around your crops. But if you’re locked in and ready for a turn-based RPG with a little meat on it, you may well fall in love with Maliki.
I found myself a little frustrated — but understanding — with being dropped back at the dungeon’s entrance in the early game, as my resources dwindle too fast from trying to hustle back to the checkpoint. It’s going to be a matter of heavy preference for gamers. Still, I solidly mark this as one for the RPGers looking for a slightly lighter adventure fare than, say, Lunar. Then, I would recommend it for farm sim fans looking for a little excitement in between harvests.
Final Verdict: I Like it A Lot
Do you like our content?
Support LadiesGamers as a member on Patreon!
Or buy us a cup of coffee or tea on Ko-Fi!
