I know what you’re thinking – that title is pretty sensationalist, how on EARTH can this game live up to that kind of expectation?

You Are Not the Hero is a kickstarter funded RPG in the vein of the classic JRPGs of yesteryear, meaning it’s all pixelated and full of the tropes you’ve become accustomed to.

What makes this game different is the fact that you’ll be playing the game as not one of the heroes, but a regular old NPC type character, only in this case – playable. If you’ve ever wanted to experience the world of a great JRPG without the focus on an epic, grandiose story, you can do that here through the eyes of Petula.

Petula is an unemployed, emotionally charged, hot tempered and otherwise average young woman. Petula gets swept up into the heroes’ quest to escape the royal army after they scavenge for supplies in your village, stealing your pendant. After demanding to get it back, they hastily leave to continue their quest, leaving you to pursue them and get it back.

Another key difference in You Are Not the Hero is that there will be no battle system of any kind, in fact combat is generally not recommended as you’re just an average person. What the game does to make up for the lack of endless grinding through battles is provide you with a rich, vibrant world to explore and live in.

There will be lots of ways to earn more money and just experience more of the world in YANTF, like opening a bakery, an inn, working as a waitress, opening a fish stall, or even just saving up to buy a large house to fill with pointless stuff. This is the kind of JRPG for people who have gotten bored of the tropes that JRPGs tend to fall into these days.

You can check out their excellent kickstarter pitch below:

If Your Are Not the Hero seems like the kind of experience you’ve always (or just recently) wanted in a JRPG, you can pledge on their kickstarter page here.