Product Info

Platform

Switch, PC

Publisher

Ankama Games

Developer

Blue Banshee

Genre

Action, RPG

Players

1

File Size (Minimum)

2.4 GB

Release Date (NA)

Apr 22, 2025

Purchase From

eShop

Steam

Maliki: Poison of the Past, an indie role-playing game (RPG) developed by Blue Banshee. It’s the studio’s first game, and overall it is a solid start.

Prevent the Poison

Humanity is in trouble thanks to a formidable plant called Poison. With the help of Maliki, her castaway team will travel through time to prevent Poison from taking over humanity’s peaceful world. In addition to turn-based battles, players will have to solve puzzles Poison has left across each world and complete a few side tasks from civilians to fend off the dangerous plant.

The game’s story revolves around Maliki and Poison’s timeline where you uncover their history and secrets of how things became as they are today. You’ll start off the game as Sand, who was suddenly warped through time to Domaine, a safe haven outside of time, by Maliki to help stop Poison’s terror. Initially, the game foreshadows the outcome in Domaine and then takes you further back in time to start the game. The story throws you for a loop to figure out what is happening and what to do, but things become clearer and more interesting after a couple of chapters.

In addition to Sand, Fang is a scientific genius who has created many gadgets for Sand to use and help the team out of a pinch against Poison’s shenanigans. Becky is a farmer who lost most of her memories in the past and is handy in battle with her pitchfork and skill set. Fenimale, a fairy who, while not liking what humans do with nature, still prefers humanity over Poison. Her nature-styled technique skills are another great asset to help get through the tough battles ahead.

Timeline Battle

The game utilizes a turn-based mechanic where each character (friend and foe) take turns based on the timeline graph on the screen. However, both you and the enemy can manipulate the timeline order by using temporal actions. This feature allows you to move your character and your opponents spot on the timeline. If you slide your current character to the far left of the timeline, they can regain health points (HP) and technique points (TP) but will also lose a turn in battle and cannot change the timeline for another turn. However, the next player can still manipulate the timeline as long as there are enough Chrono Points. These points can be earned after each round of turns or by using the “Concentrate” action.

If you and a teammate share the same spot on the timeline, you can perform a combined attack on the enemy. Similarly, enemies can share a spot on the timeline with a team member or with other enemies. This can benefit the enemy depending on the battle situation.

This unique style aligns with the game’s theme of time traveling and requires strategic thinking several steps ahead. It is enjoyable for players and adds an extra layer of depth to the gameplay.

Growing Up

At your homebase at Domaine, there is work to be done here too. While this location is a safe zone, Poison has also made a mark in this place. Thanks to the Thousand-Root Tree, it keeps you and your team safe. However, it is having difficulty growing but providing it with “naturons” obtained through farming and giving it a “Breath of Life”, rewarded from defeating bosses, the tree will push back Poison’s control, giving you more areas to explore in Domaine. You’ll have more access to areas to farm and progress through the game’s story.

Farming is straightforward and not as complex compared to other simulation genre games. Growing plants gives you ingredients to create specialty items to use while exploring, such as raising your defense for thirty minutes.

Prepare Your Team

Your team shares the same level of experience, regardless of who is knocked out in battle. Each member only has one item of equipment. Such as Sand’s shoes or Becky’s hat, making it simple while you concentrate on other matters. Each teammate has their own unique set of techniques that can be rearranged after learning more than four through leveling up. Adjust your skills and equipment items as needed before the big battles ahead, as some of the enemy’s skills can exploit your weaknesses depending on your status. For example, if you equip your sneakers with a weakness to nature attacks, you will lose more health points when attacked by enemies using nature attacks. While the battles are entertaining, it would be more interesting to see more team combo skills to learn, similar to the time-traveling RPG Chrono Trigger.

Don’t Bug Out

There are many positives to diving into Maliki: Poison of the Past but there are also some hiccups along the way. While playing on the Nintendo Switch, the framerate drops too much and traveling through worlds can be a bit taxing on the brain. However, playing the indie RPG on the recent release of the Nintendo Switch 2 eliminates that framerate headache, and it is highly recommended playing on the Switch 2 for a smoother gameplay experience if PC is not an option.

Other development bugs have caused some struggles playing against the manipulated Principal at the end of chapter two. This issue is highlighted by multiple glitches in battle. For instance, after a few turns into the boss battle, the game would not bring up the player’s battle menu, almost as if time had stopped. Although you can save anywhere, anytime, the save point reverts back before the boss battle dialogue where you are chasing the principal around the school. After defeating the boss, the game closed out due to an error. Fortunately, the game did save the data of defeating the boss and proceeded to the after-battle cutscene. Expect patches to be released to address this and other minor bugs to smooth out the gameplay experience.

Timeline Beauty

Poison of the Past features some great illustrations from humanoid cats to enemy designs. Maliki’s design is based on the original Maliki webcomics by Souillon, carrying the artistic style over to Maliki and the characters of the indie RPG. Characters like Fang and Maliki have a familiar look reminiscent of the styles of famous manga artists, Rumiko Takahashi (Ranma ½, InuYasha) and Akira Toriyama (Chrono Trigger, Dragon Ball). The simple animations of body movement and facial expressions during dialogue cutscenes are beautifully executed, with some of these expressions carrying over into the chibi form as well.

The world draws inspiration from French visual culture, incorporating elements such as Paris and references to the country. The vibrant 3D world uses Japanese chibi-style art with additional flares that give a unique style. This combination resembles Nintendo’s Link’s Awakening Remake and Echoes of Wisdom, serving as great inspiration that works well in this game. The background glitch effects while exploring a world that’s stopped in time add nice touch details. However, a visual map is missing, which could be useful for navigating the extensive exploration in each world and reducing backtracking.

The soundtrack of this indie RPG is exceptionally well done. Each world’s battle music changes style but maintains a consistent tone. While exploring, the music adjusts in different areas, adding or removing instruments to bring the world to life and provide variety. Big boss battles feel impactful and energetic, contributing to an overall solid collection of scores that enhance the gaming experience.

The Final Stop

Maliki: Poison of the Past is a timeline adventure that is definitely worth exploring, thanks to its unique battle style and diverse worlds. While it does have some bugs, such as frame rate issues on the Switch, playing on the Switch 2 resolves most of them.

A Nintendo Switch code provided for this review and was played on both the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2.