The Remake of the End of the Greatest RPG of All Time Review

The Remake of the End of the Greatest RPG of All Time is… not an RPG. Sorry, folks, who just saw the title and thought so. It is a deduction puzzle game developed by Lucas Immanuel, jucobee, Kyle Chuang, and Coin Drop Games (who is also the publisher). Successfully funded through Kickstarter back in 2024, it is now set to launch on the 28th of May 2026. With an extremely complicated name and the claim that what’s within is “The Greatest RPG of All Time”, I just had to check it out as a major fan of the genre (despite all the roguelikes I play). So, will I discover a hidden gem lost in the rough or is it better to let it fade into the annals of history?

What is The Greatest RPG of All Time? My bet's on Earthbound.

The game centres around an obscure (fictional) RPG from the ‘90s called… well, The Greatest RPG of All Time (how humble). You begin the game at the very end, in a fight you can’t win despite being max level, because you have no idea how to even control your own party. Once you reload your save, though, you’ll find various pieces of media that’ll help you beat the game. It’s a story about two student developers way in over their heads, the struggles of game design… and inserting your fanfiction character into the remake of a game because you hated one of the original guys. So much for preserving its integrity…

I found the narrative to be extremely intriguing, wanting to dig deeper and find out what was happening, both with the game and the developers themselves, as they remade something they obviously loved. It’s also quite funny at times, such as how blatantly crap their OC is (which actually makes the game harder), as well as this real conspiracy website, which was a riot to read through.

...Where's the tutotial?

This is also helped by the various art styles used to really bring back some of that nostalgia. The Remake of the End of the Greatest RPG of All Time mixes pixel art, (purposefully ameterish) 3D environments, and full-motion video to really pull you into this world… or, I guess, the development process. Everything just felt deliberately done, even the flickering textures of the floor.

But enough about that, let us start The End! As mentioned before, you're going to be thrown into the deep end without any idea how anything works. Your attacks are doing nothing, enemies are dealing horrific amounts of damage, and for some reason, you’re cursed, and healing actually does damage. No wonder TGRPGAT had such low review scores because holy crap, these fights are unfair unless you know the exact attacks and weaknesses these monsters have. If you want to defeat… anything, really, you’ll need some outside help.

A guiding light... in virtual paper form.

Throughout the game, you’ll find pages of an original game manual (scribbled with notes from the remake devs when they were kids), recordings of the director’s commentary, and clips of an unreleased amateur documentary. Within these files are the keys to success, with hints ranging from how to defeat particular enemies to answers to questions you may have. It’s very much likeTUNIC, in that while you have all these abilities and powers, without the proper tutorials, you’ll be completely ignorant of them.

Because you’re supposed to be as lost as possible, I’m not going to dive too deep into the game mechanics. If you want to play it for yourself, it’s best if you play The Remake of the End of the Greatest RPG of All Time as blindly as possible because I’m afraid that if I say anything more, it’ll rob you of those “Wait, I could do that!? Oh, that makes sense” moments, which is really exciting. Though the lack of proper information can be its most aggravating aspect, which I will get to later.

Seriously, what is happening?

But not everything can be found in TGRPGAT itself. By selecting the Log Off option in the pause menu, you’ll find yourself in some sort of museum scene. It’s in a 3D environment, with various walls blocking your way, with the only way to break through being to solve their questions, like what number the party members are or who these guys are. It may lead you to obtain new information or allow you to dive deeper into the place. It’s interesting and it made me analyse each and every detail I saw when going through the stuff I had.

However, it can be a little annoying to navigate through it. Playing on a controller, it was more frustrating than I’d like. Turning your camera around is painfully slow, taking at least five agonising seconds to look to your left, and there was no way to change the sensitivity or speed. I had to switch the mouse and keyboard to actually look around without imagining the sound of a creaking door every time I needed to turn around.

All answers exist somehwere, you just have to figure it out.

And to be honest… I think I hate The Greatest RPG of All Time, remake or not. Don’t get me wrong, the game itself is quite enjoyable. Some solutions are quite elegant and lead to a satisfying “Ah-ha!” when you find exactly what you’re looking for. At other times, I wanted nothing more but to bang my head against the wall, hoping that something would click.

I found myself stuck quite a few times where I felt there was no answer I could find, unable to figure out what the game wanted from me. I explored all the areas, grabbed every page and read through it multiple times, and yet I felt like I was missing something. Plus, there were several times when I was trapped somewhere with no way to head back unless I solved the puzzle, and I really didn’t want to resort to permanently resetting my progress just to use my future knowledge and bypass the learning curve. I just wanted nothing more than to… well, look up a real guide. In a game like this, that shouldn’t be a thing.

Explore the museum, and find all you can.

The Remake of the End of the Greatest RPG of All Time is… well, I’m not sure how I feel, to be honest. The frustrating moments are built into the game on purpose, making you seek out answers from just about anywhere, leading to some brilliant moments of deduction and logic. However, some answers are just too obtuse to find and that feels terrible.

The average playtime is around four to six hours, which isn’t a lot. You can beat this in a single play session. Unfortunately, I couldn’t beat the game in that playtime because, to be honest, I got stuck on one part for way too long and decided to give up and wait until someone else smarter than me gives me that hint, which I feel is a failure. I could be missing something extremely important, and I’ll definitely dive back in, but until then… I just want to play something else.