Ernesto: an RPG without text, waiting, grinding or spatial movement

Independent developer Daniel Benmergui recently released a role-playing game that is unlike other games of the genre: there's no text, no speech, no waiting, no grinding and no movement within spaces. As the game's title Ernesto: A Quick RPG suggests, this game was designed to be played through quickly.

The game is presented as a board with icons on it, where each icon represents an object that is commonly found in RPGs, whether it be a gold coin, an enemy, a medical kit, a chest of gold, or tools that players can use to disarm traps and cure illness. The goal is to traverse the board, tracing a path to the exit of each level, with the hope of arriving at the final level to kill the Dungeon God.

While the game has an element of chance — hazardous traps are scattered throughout the levels, often masked by a question mark icon — players will still have to approach it as they would a regular RPG with a mind to level themselves up and ensure they're well-equipped for battles. Ernesto can be frustratingly challenging, but the speedy nature of it makes it easy to jump back in to retry levels.

Ernesto: A Quick RPG can be played at Kongregate.