When you think of Wizardry, you probably think of the old-school, Western-style dungeon crawling RPGs (DRPGs) that ruled the PC way back when. But oddly enough, Wizardry made a huge impact in Japan, not only resulting in several console ports but several spinoffs and a subseries that continues even today. And those spinoffs also inspired original, derivative works, with developers like Experience graduating from Wizardry and eventually creating their own IP.

Saviors of Sapphire Wings is a particularly special example—a testament to Experience’s…well, experience, and a concentrated dose of DRPG comfort food that hits all the right notes.

Saviors of Sapphire Wings is a remake of Students of Round, one of Experience’s earliest original works as an indie developer in the aughts. Experience has specialized in DRPGs and nothing else in its nearly two decades of existence, making this remake the result of years of stubborn dedication to a niche genre.

More recent titles like Strangers of Sword City or Death Mark are better examples of Experience at peak performance, but Saviors of Sapphire Wings is a perfect onboarding point for new players given its focus on a character-driven story.

Most DRPGs have you assemble your own crew of (probably doomed) heroes, leaving the vibes to the world around them. In Saviors of Sapphire Wings, Experience has its cake and eats it too by rolling out a party of authored characters but giving players opportunities to customize them almost from scratch. That customization is also tied into the characters’ stories in a way that fans of Fire Emblem would appreciate.

As a destined hero who fell short against the Big Bad, your job post-reincarnation is to build this scrappy group of young heroes into world-saving material. This includes forging unbreakable bonds with them as people, not just co-workers. That’s because the threat facing all of creation has demonic mind control powers, and the only counter against them is the Power of Friendship! Spending time with the homies and earning their trust and love is just as crucial as grinding EXP.

Your party members bond with you by participating in combat, but you can also spend one on one time with them back at the base between outings. You can share meals with them or simply chit-chat, getting to know them and building a rapport. When a bond grows strong enough, you can use your powers to “reincarnate,” which basically lets you respec. You also get to assign a sub-class, expanding each character’s options in battle.

These moments of character growth dangle an alluring carrot in front of the player, which leads them through the hardcore dungeon-crawling stuff. Grinding, navigating mazes full of traps, getting pounded by stat-checking bosses, and all the other sicko-level stuff is all on the table—but Saviors of Sapphire Wings dresses those genre-heavy elements up gracefully, making it even more impressive that it’s rooted in an indie game that’s over a decade old.

I could go on and on about Experience as a developer, and how a small studio being able to specialize without compromising on its chosen niche is such a valuable rarity in games.

But I could also simply recommend Saviors of Sapphire Wings & Strangers of Sword City Revisited, available right here on the Epic Games Store. Not only do you get the historically fascinating, old-school charm of our current subject, but you get the additional context of a newer game from the same studio. While Saviors of Sapphire Wings is an excellent place to start on its own, getting a taste of the bigger picture really makes it sing.