Beyond Galaxyland is a vibrant and creative blend of classic RPG mechanics, sci-fi storytelling, and unique exploration, all wrapped in stunning pixel art. Developed by solo creator Sam Enright, the game draws inspiration from iconic titles like Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VII while adding its own fresh twist to the genre.

You play as Doug, a high-schooler who escapes Earth’s destruction by “The End,” only to find himself in Galaxyland—a solar system where an alien race, the Mogodo, has relocated survivors of various apocalypses. Accompanied by Boom Boom, his sentient guinea pig, and a robot called MartyBot; Doug embarks on an interstellar quest to uncover the truth behind Galaxyland and seek a way to undo Earth’s apocalypse. The story combines humor, heartache, and peril, creating a compelling and cinematic experience that feels closer to a movie than a traditional game.

Each planet in Galaxyland feels like a world of its own, from the neon-lit streets of cybernetic cities to lush jungles and frozen wastelands. These diverse environments are filled with quests, puzzles, and quirky characters that bring the galaxy to life. The active turn-based combat system elevates the gameplay, blending strategy with time-responsive mechanics. Players will need to master the system to minimize damage and outsmart enemies. The added mechanic of scanning enemies to uncover their strengths and weaknesses brings a tactical edge, keeping battles engaging and dynamic.

One of the game’s standout features is its monster capture system, allowing players to collect creatures and bosses, each with unique abilities that can be unleashed in battle. This mechanic adds a rewarding layer of depth to combat, encouraging players to carefully build their team and strategy. Epic boss battles, ranging from colossal space dragons to bionic behemoths, keep the action fresh and exciting, while the game’s semi-open 2.5D design and vibrant pixel art create a nostalgic yet modern sci-fi aesthetic.

The gameplay balances exploration, combat, and story progression seamlessly. While some grinding is necessary to level up monsters and unlock their abilities, it never feels overly tedious. Instead, it rewards players with greater power and flexibility in battle. The music, while simple, complements the gameplay and adds to the atmosphere without being overbearing.

Verdict:

Beyond Galaxyland is a triumph of indie game development, offering a heartfelt, engaging, and visually stunning experience. With its rich worlds, memorable characters, and innovative mechanics, it stands as a must-play for fans of JRPGs, sci-fi, and monster-collecting adventures. The ending leaves some questions unanswered, but the journey is so satisfying that you won’t mind. Highly recommended!

Some games just hit you differently and the love and care poured into this great little venture is more than apparent.

For those of us who were kids in the 90s this reminds me a lot of the feelings I had playing "Another World" on the megadrive (or Genesis depending which part of the world you're from). The gameplay is completely different but the discovery aspect, the sounds, the variety of alien races and the intricate relationships between the main characters just brought me back to that game somewhat. There's that lovely sense of wonder at times that gives a tremendous amount of joy and takes us back to childhood memories of what space could be.

However "Beyond Galaxyland" is its own thing and although the story may be considered somewhat simple it's written with a surprising amount of depth, especially for the protagonist and their various companions. The gameplay delivers on all aspects and never becomes stale, all whilst making you wanting to see what happens next in your voyage of discovery. I even loved the added collecto-thon of photos, items and enemies as it was implemented in such a way that made me want to get all 100% achievements for the game.

I think Sam Enright (the game dev) is on a path to Indie greatness if he can keep building on this universe or even keep exploring how far he can take his pixel graphic and storytelling skills.

This is a gem and I can't wait to see what comes next with this developper. BUY IT!!! You won't regret it

This game is a mess.

I will start by saying I'm a huge turn based RPG fan, these games are usually right up my alley. But Beyond Galaxyland sucked my soul out of my body and not in a good way. I had to force myself to finish the game, over sessions spread out weeks from each other.

I don't want to be just negative, and I will say the game has a lot of heart and personality, the environments you're taken into are quite different from each other, it has very good QOL features (such as asking you if you want to teleport back to town after a quest to save you the way back, EVERY game should do this), the platforming and puzzles are fine, the minigames add some variety and none of them were frustrating.

The story is overall relatively unique, offers some character moments (not anything unforgettable either) but isnt told particularly well, from a writing and presentation standpoint.

The visuals and soundtrack have good things going on for them too, but they are very "lofi" if that makes sense. I didn't vibe with it and it gave TEMU energy sometimes. I know that's not a very nice thing to say but the ******* combat took all the patience and goodwill I had towards this game, so let's go into it.

Soooo.... let's start by what the enemies are doing. they will usually attack more often than you, and one attack can take anything from 30/80% of one character's HP (you read that right, EIGHTY PERCENT). some AOE attacks are 80% HP of your entire party, so if anyone wasnt full HP they are deadzo and you waste a turn and an item reviving them. keep in mind, again, most bosses get turns faster than you.
- there is a block mechanic that is basically a QTE u must properly time to block some of the damage. on some fights, it is NECESSARY to block or the damage taken will be simply too much otherwise. you can't block AOE attacks and the timing to block is completly arbitrary, poorly telegraphed, and out of place for a turn based game. if i wanted to play a game where I had to time my dodges I'd play Elden Ring or something. blocking is a cancerous mechanic in this game and I felt like I was overly punished every time I missed one.

now for what the game wants the PLAYER to do in combat. this combat system wants you to use skills, and summons. You can only use summons a few times per combat per characters (usually only once at the start of the game) because points are very limited. Yes, you can refill summon points with items but this wastes a turn and you don't want to skip turns in this game. you must also CAPTURE summons as you fight them, and their effects are underwhelming/boring anyway.

Worse, the abilities also use another currency, ability points. you can only amass like 10/15 maximum at any given moments and some abilities cost up to 12 points (lol). EVERY abilities costs points, healing costs 7, removing enemy debuffs (necessary for some bosses) costs 7. if a boss puts up an OP buff and you're low HP, you have to CHOOSE between healing or removing the debuff. absolutly terrible design.

WORSE, you get ability points by doing normal attacks. EXCEPT normal attacks can MISS due to RNG and if they miss, you lose 2 points. there will be PLENTY of times where you must heal, you don't have 7 points so you must attack, and a few of your attacks will miss (purely out of your control) and you won't be able to heal next turn and the boss will wipe the floor with your sorry ass. This is absolutly infuriating and these points systems need to be either reworked from the ground and removed from the game.

Oh, and I also forgot to mention that you ALSO lose ability points when you fail to time a block correctly. so not only you take massive damage (which is punishment enough) you also lose 2 points per missed block and that sometimes will screw you over next turn because you won't be able to heal, capture monsters (5 points) or scan for their hp/take pictures (4 points).

these combat mechanics are probably the worst i've ever experienced in any turn based RPG and WORSE YET, the balancing of fights is terrible. before the point of no return the game opens and offers you quite a few optional side quests that culminates in boss fights that are vastly overleveled compared to you at that point of the game. im taking 10+ levels above what the final boss of main story is. to tackle this optional end game content and properly complete the game, you have to grind like crazy against normal enemies in order to stand a chance. except then, the final boss is a complete pushover that I demolished effortlessly.

I have nothing good to say about this game's combat, except that it tried to have its own identity I guess, and the good things I have to say about this game's other systems aren't enough to compensate.