From one dinosaur themed game to another this Tiny Teams, I’m taking a look at Clever Girls. This turn-based tactics RPG developed by Ossifrage Games immediately hooked me for one reason. The character focus. This team of four dinosaurs have escaped the corporation who made them, and now explore the island full of curiosity to their surroundings. All while surviving the poachers who want to capture them.

The demo, labelled as the Dress Rehearsal, is said to not be part of the full game’s story. But still it shows off these characters, how they interact with each other and the world around them. And the combat, where each has differences when it comes to battle. I’m liking Daisy, Prati, Sawyer, and Shade, who show fun personalities whether exploring or in the heat of battle.

The dinosaurs have come across a campground, with them exploring all it holds. Which includes a theatre. The artistically-minded Prati convinces the others to do some acting, with those scenes providing the battles this demo holds. The campground is a nice area to be exploring, by the sea as it is. The visuals depict it’s abandoned state well with their subdued colours, standing in stark contrast to the lighter colours of the dinosaurs. It works very well in my eyes.

When it comes to the exploring, icons above certain items show when interactions between the dinos can be shared. The objectives make clear which interactions are needed to progress the story, but it’s nice to see all of what is on offer before moving on. The writing clearly depicts the personalities of each dinosaur, such as Shade being more technically minded to the point of quoting the dictionary when asked what something is. All these interactions are shown with some great 2D art of each dino taking part.

As for the battles, each one of the demo introduces new things. The first starts things off with Daisy in a greenhouse, where some poachers want to destroy the plants. Humorously, these poachers – narrated by Prati, speak like idiots. Who only speak their evil at wanting to destroy the plants. And that goes for the second battle, too. The third, that’s all Shade, who seems to be a film noir fan.

Tactics is the name of the game in battles, with each dino having a movement limit and various abilities that cost AP. There’s relationship-based abilities, too, which utilise more than one dino to perform specific things. Admittedly, I never used any of those. I was more focused on the basics of the battles, trying to set things up for stealth attacks. I’m sure had I used more than just the movement-based abilities and melee attacks, these battles would have been easily conquered.

Since this is turn-based tactics, it’s not as simple as rushing head first into a fight. Staying in the open provides plenty of attack opportunities for the enemy once their turn rolls around. Should an enemy have sight on a dino, that will be indicated. If they sight a dino going into hiding, or felt them from an attack, they will perform blindfires near to the indicated space.

The dinosaurs can be swapped to during my turns at any point, but doing so locks in any actions already performed. So, it was always in my interest to make sure I was confident of a plan before swapping to another. The final battle, once all four dinos come into the fight, really show the tactics on offer. Though, naturally, I missed most of them. Though I did utilise Shade’s ability of underwater attacking well.

With all the acting complete and night falling, the four settle for the night at the campground, with the demo ending with them moving on. I found all the interactions really fun, smiling throughout. With the story part of the demo complete, there’s the quick battles to jump into. This mode let me replay those of the story, trying out new tactics to quickly end the fights.

I’m very interested in getting to see the full game of Clever Girls. The exploration and interactions between the four are great. The battles offer a lot to get invested with, with the promised growth of abilities, and relationships, sure to keep me playing to the end. And replaying, as it’s noted in the description that there’s many alternate paths to the story. It will be fun to discover them all, I’m sure.

Images Taken From:
Clever Girls: Dress Rehearsal Demo | PC