Subjective review: Miru
(2024-07-14)
[note]
TL;DR
It’s my favorite solo game, but it has some pacing problems. 8/10.
Miru, the solo analog adventure
🎲 Intended audience: people who are familiar with basic tabletop role-playing game concepts.
Miru is a journaling solo RPG adventure by Hinokodo.
Solo RPGs are pen-and-paper games that require only one player to play. Whereas most tabletop games require one player to take up the role of the game master or referee, solo RPGs replace this role with various mechanisms, such as an oracle or a system of random event tables, paired with an increased player responsibility over the progression of the game. What would be ruled by the referee in a non-solo TTRPG, is resolved instead with a roll of the dice, or some other, potentially more mechanically curious procedure.
Many solo games, Miru included, tell a single curated story. The focus can be very narrow: the game might take place in a specific location at a specific time, for instance. Miru does not allow you to create or customize your character either, which is par for the course. Solo systems are usually not generic enough to support arbitrary settings or adventure prompts. That is one of their strengths; the system can be tightly intertwined with the story in a way that would be inconvenient or even impossible in non-solo systems.
Solo games are mechanically diverse and often involve innovative approaches to both visuals and game design. They also tend to be rather lightweight, including only the necessary rules or content in the often somewhat slim zine. Players often have to massage their brains a bit and deduce how some properties of the game interact. This is part of the appeal, for me at least.
I enjoy The Soloist and Dan's News for my solo RPG news.
Journaling solo games are solo games that involve writing a journal of some kind as you progress. Miru asks you to write down a short rundown of what happened on each day of your adventure. You also draw the adventure map, hex by hex, on a blank map template.
With definitions out of the way, let me start by saying that Miru is the best solo adventure I have played. The creative setting, the mechanics and distinctive visual identity come together to create a cohesive, well designed experience that I can wholeheartedly recommend. However, it is not perfect. There is a bit of a pacing issue during mid-game as well as some confusing or contradictory rules that are either explained by looking up the author's comments on the itch.io page or not explained at all. These are minor issues, though, and can be circumvented with some GM's fiat (which is of course also player's fiat when you're flying solo).
First look
Miru paints a picture of a dystopian, post-metropolitan society future where humans begrudgingly coexist with humanoid and animal-like robots. The story is kicked off in a scene where a farm worker robot kills a relative of the main character in an act of self defense when it evaluates their drunken hooliganism to be a threat. Stricken, the main character vows revenge and sets off to find out the truth about the machines’ origins.
The game is a procedurally generated hex crawl with apocalyptic gear-scavenging mechanisms and straightforward combat with a dash of god-slaying thrown in for good measure.
Hexes are generated by combining 3 oracle tables:
Hex type (mountain, grassland, swamp...) → Event type → Particular event
Visiting a single hex takes one in-game day. The main gameplay loop is about generating a new hex, surviving the generated event, and planning your next move such that you don't lose too many resources, such as food or sleep. Near the endgame, this survival aspect turns into loadout optimization when you prepare for the final boss.
There is also currency management. Money, or bitliths (a snarky reference to cryptocurrency), are used to purchase survival resources as well as equipment from villages. The available stock improves as you discover more villages: the first village has level 1 stock, the second one level 2, and all the following ones level 3.
My experience
The beginning was excellent. I quickly grokked the rules and the objective of the game. The first hexes were significant; you could never know if you're going to get important gear, or nearly die to a robot-wolf. The plot was nicely propelled forwards by special events that happened on predetermined dates, and character progression felt good. These events, as well as random events dropped little bits of lore here and there. As a big fan of From Software games and figuring out the world by reading item descriptions, this kind of soft worldbuilding hit the nail on the head.
This well thought-out and balanced part of the game lasted maybe 10 to 20 in-game days.
My entire playthrough lasted 41 days. In wall clock time, it lasted me over three of months. There wasn’t actually enough much gameplay to warrant multiple months of play; I just had an extended break near the near-endgame part. I felt that the pacing there was a bit off, every hex felt very same-y. I had obtained enough resources and gear for exploring to be very safe and so the random events began to mean less and less. Little by little, the grinding-adjacent preparation for the final boss fight started to feel repetitive, and so I inadvertently took a break from the game.
I returned to the game just recently and decided that I'm just going to have a try at the boss. Screw getting the best gear, I will finish the game! This was a good call, since the battle was intense. I threw everything at my disposal at my opponent and was just strong enough to defeat it with one (1) HP remaining! Talk about a close call.
I will not spoil the final boss or the ending here, but I want to say a bit about it nevertheless. Depending on whether or not you picked up on the solarpunky undertones of the game during your playthrough, the ending may come either as a bit of a surprise. It surprised me at least.
There's also something that seems to be a hook for the next game in the series, Miru 2, subtitled "Analog Horror Game". The third installation, Miru 3, is an "Analog Defense Game". I am left wondering what happens in the plot between parts two and three.
I give Miru a solid 8 out of 10. The visuals, the theme, the mechanics, and the overall vibe are all excellent. The grindy bit in the middle was really the only thing that reduced my enjoyment somewhat. Note however that your mileage may vary. Everything is determined by a roll of the dice.
Mixed media addendum
I love mixed media art. Combining disciplines and breaking traditional boundaries makes great art.
With that in mind, the designer has released an official soundtrack called Static Abyss for the Miru game series. The physical minidisk release of the soundtrack comes with some kind of game rules too, based on photos that I've seen. Sadly, it has sold out, possibly soon after its release in April 2023. The digital version is available on the itch.io page.
The concept of a soundtrack for a physical game is badass. I own one physical release of such a thing, the Mörk Borg adventure Putrescence Regnant, which takes the form of a highly stylized LP disc and sleeve. Very cool.
Jan Tuomi