Anteform is a tiny, futuristic RPG, written for the PICO-8 development platform, and was first released in 2019. It uses the same game engine as Minima and was written by the same guy, Feneric (aka Eric W. Brown). It’ll run on Windows, Mac, Linux and Raspberry Pi.

Anteform is less reliant on combat than Minima, and more reliant on exploration and dialogue. There’s still combat in the game, and it grows in importance when you enter your first dungeon, but in general the game is easier than Minima – in terms of combat – because it allows you access to weapons quicker. You have to buy them, of course, but a dagger for six gold is a bargain after the lack of weapons in the first part of Minima…

It does take longer in Anteform to enter the first dungeon, than in Minima. That’s because you need to take a boat to it, and you’ve first got to find the boat. Which isn’t too difficult if you speak to people in towns and villages. They’ll tell you where the boat is.

Once inside the dungeon you must then turn on your torch to illuminate the darkness, before doing anything. Rather than use burning torches, like in Minima, in this you use an electric torch and must buy batteries to keep it working. Food is still a thing in this game, and you must make sure you always have some, otherwise you’ll slowly starve. Like in Minima, there are monsters in Anteform that will eat your food, if they’re close to you, so you need to keep an eye on it.

Buying keys and opening doors is the main way into Anteform. There is no obvious route to uncovering the mystery of Anteform Valley, though. So you have to keep looking, talking and jimmying doors to make progress.

Anteform is another good tiny RPG from Feneric. Is it better than Minima? I guess that all depends on your tastes.

More: Anteform on itch.io