I love myself a good JRPG, but they are usually too long for me to play within the time constraints of being a father and husband. So when Covenant of Solitude dropped into our inbox, I was hyped – a JRPG that could be completed under 15 hours? Count me in, and it’s a tale worth retelling, but not without baggage, so let’s dive in!

A Somber Tale of Isolation and Redemption

Don’t get me wrong, Covenant of Solitude is not your typical mobile JRPG, with a surprisingly heavy and emotionally grounded story. You step into the shoes of Fort, a young “genie” who can summon monsters, making him a pariah in his village. What follows is a tale that weaves themes of betrayal, self-acceptance, and the brutal cost of trust. Unlike the more generic offerings often seen in Kemco’s catalog, this Covenant of Solitude leans into its character dynamics with a level of maturity rarely found in other mobile RPGs. It even feels like Final Fantasy light at times. The evolving relationships between Fort, Legna, and Elicia feel nuanced, even if the translation occasionally struggles to keep pace. The localization can be a bit stiff and overly literal at times, but it doesn’t detract from the game’s emotional weight (just be prepared to read through some lengthy text).

Port Quality: Mobile Roots, PC Growing Pains

The Steam port of Covenant of Solitude brings higher-resolution visuals, controller support, and traditional widescreen presentation—but these upgrades also expose the game’s mobile-first design. Menus, while functional, feel awkward with mouse input. The user interface screams “touchscreen heritage” and doesn’t quite gel with a keyboard-and-mouse setup. Luckily, I could play this game on the ROG Ally, which comes with full built-in controller support, and this solved almost all the controller issues I had when navigating with the keyboard and mouse setup.  But the overall performance is smooth and stable, with near-instant loading times, and there are no noticeable crashes or bugs. It’s clear that this is a faithful port, but one that lacks ambition. While longtime fans of Kemco will know what to expect, newcomers may find the game visually and interactively underwhelming for a 2025 release. But, bear with me, this might be one of those sleeper JRPG releases of 2025.

Gameplay: Traditional Yet Flexible

Covenant of Solitude remains true to the tried-and-tested JRPG formula. Players engage in turn-based combat, manage elemental weaknesses, and navigate through classic dungeon layouts. The main gimmick of Covenant is the summoning mechanic. Fort can call upon monster tribes to aid him in battle, and each tribe brings unique roles—healers, tanks, damage dealers—that allow for strategic party compositions. These tribes range from Beasts, Dragons, Vampires, and Faries, each with their pros and cons. As your summoned allies level up, they can change jobs, turning them into more powerful forms, giving the game a light monster-raising element that adds surprising depth. Grinding is present but not punishing, and the game rewards strategic thinking during boss encounters, especially when using buffs, debuffs, and elemental advantages properly. Does this mean that playing through the dungeons will be a breeze? No, the boss will often slaughter your entire party with the blink of an eye, primarily due to some elemental attack, knocking out all available moves for your party. Luckily, there are savepoints right before the boss battles, with items to tackle said boss in either the dungeon or the last visited shop for you to equip.

New Game Plus

I finished the game in 12 hours and 5 minutes, and was dropped into New Game+ almost instantly. This is okay for those wanting a challenge, since everything you gained is transferred into the new game, but it also locks you out of specific achievement progress lines. There are eight sidequests in total (+ two if you count the buyable dungeons, with an ingame currency). Still, for one specific sidequest, you need to find a certain number of items – I missed two during my first playthrough. Still, in NewGame+, the game pushed me into the same gameplay loop as the first playthrough, which would result in almost ten hours of extra gameplay to hunt down the achievement. And sorry, this isn’t Baldur’s Gate, so that’s not going to happen.

Conclusion

So to conclude. Yes, Covenant of Solitude is far from perfect. Its mobile DNA is both its strength and its weakness, offering a heartfelt, portable-sized RPG that feels just a bit too small on a PC screen. For an optimal experience, play this on a Steam Deck or ROG Ally. That said, this is one of Kemco’s more emotionally resonant titles, with a story that sticks long after the final boss falls. If you’re looking for a retro-styled JRPG with strong storytelling and you’re willing to overlook some clunky UI and dated visuals, this might be a gem worth rediscovering.

7/10

Tested on the ASUS ROG Ally Z1 Extreme