Monark is a game by furyu that I really enjoyed, though I knew there were some heavy grinding sections. Seeing that FuRyu was going to join Aquria for a turn-based RPG that held elements of social bonding and a world of glitches was an interesting idea to see. Thus Varlet was born.
Game Name: Varlet
Platform(s): PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, PC (Reviewed)
Developer(s): Aquria, FuRyu Corporation
Publisher(s): FuRyu Corporation
Release Date: August 27th, 2025
Price: $59.99
In Varlet, you are a student who transfers to a new school, Kousei Academy, thanks to moving in with your cousin. Your cousin is the head of the Student Support Services for the school and is too busy to deal with it. She asks your character to take over for her, and you agree. As you help students in SSS, a new dimension arises that gives power to their desires. This dimension is specified as the Glitch world.
The Good
The art of Varlet is gorgeous. Each character design is a joy to see. You get to see who the new main characters are in each chapter, thanks to the ones who have art when they speak. The Glitch world features a fun design of contrasts, with a multitude of bright colors complemented by black undertones. It does a good job separating character silhouettes.
The combat in SSS may take a bit of time before you get access to every tool in your arsenal, but I really enjoyed learning the systems. You can use Guard Break moves to break guard, and Stun Breaker moves to stun enemies. The timeline system also incentivizes your units using attack moves with similar speeds so they can combine attack power. If they attack at the same move on the timeline or one away, they have a chance at combining power and doing more attack and guard power or stun power based on the move. You can also activate blitz mode by activating an SB move while an enemy is stunned.
In Blitz mode, your characters can use four different inputs. One adds an extra turn to Blitz mode, one adds damage to the combo hits, adds a bigger combo multiplier, and the last one adds extra damage to the finisher alone. You will mostly see this during bosses, and it adds a nice flourish to a finisher based on who deals the finishing combo. All the characters have their own personal finisher.
The character relationships of the main cast are phenomenal. There are a bunch of great scenes in this game, and I took a ton of screenshots of dialogue I just loved to bits. I even had to use the log feature to scroll up to text so it could be mixed with the face of another main character.
The music of the first dungeon was a bit basic in comparison to literally every other dungeon in Varlet. The music and the soundtrack in this game are absolutely fire. I wasn’t sure what to expect since the first dungeon was a basic soundtrack. Not bad but basic. The second dungeon started, and instantly, I turned the volume up loud because it was a serious bop. I absolutely loved hearing what the dungeons had in store for me, and it made me hyped for when dungeons started.
I played all my time on Steam Deck, and it was a locked 60 FPS the entire playthrough. Varlet feels like a perfect game to play on a handheld. There is some busy work to do for the SSS requests. Watching stuff or doing normal things, and then going around the school grounds, can feel like busy work, but it is easy enough to do on a second-screen type playthrough.
The Bad
Speaking of SSS Requests in Varlet, they are annoying. I have to turn my sound off so I don’t have the AR scream Sonar to me every five seconds as I roam around the courtyard. The conversations do lead to nice school worldbuilding and gossip mills that do eventually turn up in future chapters, but they aren’t the only thing this game wants you to do in SSS Requests. You can have all the students categorized in your student directory you can look at after the end of the day, but they don’t let you know a lot about them. This requires you to pay attention to get the snippets that matter, as opposed to the ones that are reacting to what just happened in the story.
When it comes to the bosses and the enemies with more health, fights are fun and engaging. Once you get to a high enough level, though, it just feels like a chore to defeat basic enemies. You are required to fight enemies in the dungeons frequently to unlock doors or get treasure chests. There are flank attacks, but the enemies in the overworld don’t move much, and some are stuck in a single place, looking in a single direction. Flank attacks only work if you are engaging in combat directly behind them.
The Verdict
Varlet has the bones of a solid game. The problem I have with it is the monotony of the game. Basic tasks feel longer than they need to be. Fans of Monark will love the art and design, but it might be a hard sell if you are looking for a persona game because it is not. I do like Monark more, but Varlet is still a worthwhile game to add to your collection and to give a try.
You can buy it physically on PlayAsia, or you can buy the game digitally on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, or PC. Though you might also want to wait to find it on sale if you think $59.99 is too much of an ask for the game.
Review Disclosure Statement: Varlet was provided to us by FuRyu Corporation for review purposes. For more information on how we review video games and other media/technology, please review our Review Guideline/Scoring Policy.
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Summary
Varlet brings a lot to the table in its systems and mechanics. It also adds a lot of self-discovery to the gameplay with the ruler and leader systems. The SSS requests are monotonous and definitely feel more like busy work than anything, but it doesn’t hold the game down too much.
Pros
- The music is going to go on your must-listen playlist from the game
- Combat is engaging, and using blitz mode on enemy bosses feels satisfying.
- Characters have a fun relationship, and the dialogue is great.
Cons
- SSS Requests are annoying and monotonous
- Basic enemy fights become more boring as the game goes on
- Your characters don’t level up in reserve, so you will need to have a favorite three-character party to use.
