Review: Copper Odyssey

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Started: 15/09/20 - Ended: 24/04/2026 [DATE/MONTH/YEAR]

I first encountered Copper Odyssey by total accident. I don't remember if I was looking for at list of games on sale or games under R$ 20 (around 4 american dollars) and CO caught my attention because of the art and then I saw the page and everything and I totally hooked by it! It was almost like it was calling to me, telling me to play it and so I did!

Copper Odyssey is a RPG maker game focused on turn based combat (with also SMT's Press Turn System). You control Monitor, a monitor of a print making studio. 4 mysterious individuals stole the art supplies during the finals week, so it's your job to find these trouble makers and get them back. If the task sounds way too much for one person, do not worry, you can always ask your friends Bad Girl, Mr. Woodcut and Miss Gun for help. Just remember to always respect the craft!

In a way, CO functions similar to Mother 1, in the sense that a huge chunk of the game is non-linear. You may tackle each of the 4 domains from the hub in whatever order you want, which of course might not always be easy. You can also decline your friends' help if you want (except Mr. Woodcut, he enters your party anyway when you interact with him), so this also means that, for example, you could play most of the game Monitor only, which also can be pretty hard if you don't know what you're doing. When I realized that it opened my eyes on how this game has multiple secrets if you explore and mess around, like a virtual playground!! Because of that, while I'll explain some things here and there (and also give you some tips), I 100% recommend playing Copper Odyssey completly blind and try to explore as much as possible, and then on the nexts playthroughs you use a guide to see things you didn't see or stuff you do!

> The very first thing I need to warn you is: SAVE WHENEVER POSSIBLE!!! This game, like a lot of other RPG Maker games, will just kick you back to the title screen after you die, which is pretty normal, but never forget that even though there is "fixed save point"(which heal you), you still can save anytime from the menu, so it's better to be safe than sorry (you also have 24 save slots, so go wild with that)!!
> Another thing I should warn you about is that MP and CR aren't the same thing. MP is used in a very small portion of your moves and it works just like how you'd expect. Let's say you use the move SLEEP on a enemy. Well, that move will spend you MP and it will stay that way until you use a item to get those points back or find a "fixed save point" (they're those rabbit creatures with a chekerboard tile infront of them) which will fully heal you. CR, also know as Craft or even Craft Points, is what most of your skill will spend with. Craft Points are unique in the sense that you won't start battles with a lot of it and even in the over world it might appear having 0 points in total. Well, do not worry, even though I'm not sure how is the calculation on how many Craft Points you'll start with, I do know one thing: CR is easy to get! Did you use a regular attack on a enemy? You got CR! Did you use an item on your team mate? You got CR! Basically, from what I gathered at least, you get CR by whatever action you do during battle. I remember you also get extra CR if you hit the enemy's weakness or with a critical hit, but I'm not fully sure. In anyway, CR is expandable and easy to get back, so don't worry to use your moves and/or conserve your points for a major fight!! (there is also expecific items that "cure" your CR, but even then the rules still stand).
> Through out your adventure you will find Jax, a big fairy shopkeeper. She sells a few goods not seen in other shops, the first one being "Second Chance", an item that revives a fallen ally (which could be very useful early on) and also "Angel Coins"! Angel Coins are used on another shopkeeper, the Unicorn Decorator (their name aren't ever said in-game, but I got the name from Cam Collins' website pictures. Whatever the case, they're a purple skinned npc, with red hair in pigtails and holding a paint brush as well. They're hard to miss). Different from the other shopkeepers, Unicorn Decorator provides costumes for your party! Alt. colors, the first costume, is pretty simple and straigh forward. Animal Outfits gives everyone a fur suit and also the access to "Cat Feet", an equipable item that gives the party extra turns! And the last one are the Angel Outfits, which let's your party fly, meaning that obstacles are, if anything, just an suggestion. Before you get worried about which costume you should spend you Angel Coins to, have in mind that they won't go away after you change your appearance, so it's fine to just mess around if you don't got enough AC for the more expensive ones.

Now that I've explained the gameplay, I would like to talk about Copper Odyssey's visual and audio presentation.
The graphics, done by Cam Collins himself, is really good! The sprites are somewhat simple, but I think they're pretty charming and also expressive!! The "full art" cgs show in certain situations are also really nice! I totally recommend anyone reading this to check out Cam's artworks, he is a really great artist and honestly his works inspires me a lot as well!!!
The soundtrack, most being composed by Lintilion, is also really damn good! They complement the game by giving this "weird but chill adventure onto the unknow" feeling, although one of my favorites is C.M.Y.K., which is way more fast-paced and "tension sounding" than the other battle themes. The "Redman theme" done by +TEK is also really nice! Sorta reminds me of something that would play in an old video game for some reason. Shame it couldn't appear a few more times, but I suppose that happening just one time with the Redman in action is what makes it special. The credits theme is the music Fall from the album "Take Your Creatures With You" by Maymo. I don't think this song in particular was made for Copper Odyssey, but I do thank the game for introducing it to me! Perfect music to listen when you're in a more calm mood or just want to desstress a little. It's criminal that it isn't more well know, or at least it seems to be this way to me. Please, do take a listen to it when possible!

I can say with confidence that Copper Odyssey is one of the best RPG Maker games I've ever played and also one of the best RPG Maker games with combat out there as well. It's world has capivated me and made me go crazy over it in a span of one day. It's not long, it's likely you would finish it on one day, but I really loved exploring the Print Studio to hell and back, which also made me want to complete it 100%. I also think it's tagline: "respect the craft", is really inspirational in a way. We live in a world that dismiss certain forms of art, ignoring how art isn't about what looks good or bad in a subjetive stand point, but it's actually about making you feel something. Idenpendent of how I, you or your neighbor does their work, remember every artist is equal in the "artistic space". So please, respect the craft, even if you yourself don't get it.