Grey Heritage: Faded Vision

Alright, this one is a thumbs up because for a Srpg Studio dev first game this is a solid fundation and I respect that. But as a consumer, get this on sale because the full price may get your expectations a bit high, want to know why? Keep reading.
You still with me? Great. So Grey Heritage: Faded Vision (FV) offers a short 14 chapter (maps) of tactical gameplay. This games shows its inspiration clearly, mainly Fire emblem, and specifically Genealogy of the holy war and Thracia 766.
When just starting the first chapter you will find yourself in a massive map, all maps are really big, a simple trait that goes back to genealogy, the twist here is that FV does interior maps and mixed maps, making use of mount and dismount mechanics like in Thracia. The genealogy gen also goes into the HP values for units, most being fairly generous from the start. On the other side, the main thracia inspiration seems to go into the story of the game. Here we follow Leon the exiled heir of the kingdom in his rebellion to get his throne back from the usurper Edward.
Now, this just be me, but the whole game has a weird homoerotic tension between Leon and Edward... or maybe that is just how I read it due to the beautiful art of the characters.
In any case, the story shows a small scale internal conflict and left some things unresolved for a future entry, this is not your saving the world from an world ending war plot, and that is alright. Even if it can leave you wanting for a bit more story about the bigger world.
But let's get into the meat of the game, overall, the reason that I had to recommend the game on sale is that, while chapters can be fairly long on a first time, the quality varies from bad to good, with a lot just being stuck on mid. With the best chapter being in the middle of the game, requiring you to invest a fair bit of time before you tap into the full fun that FV maps offer.
Making a quick rank of the chapter with got 4,6,9 and 10 as the best maps, the common denominator being that all of them make use of the big maps by diving your units and giving them something to do at all times in inter related ways. Like having one group opening doors for another group, while a third is fighting for their lives.
On the opposite side, we have chapter 5 and 11 as the worst maps, this being big maps with low unit counts you have to traverse carefully and take a lot of time just waiting for the AI to finish their turn.
The first map requires a special mention, the first is fairly tigh on the combat, a bad move can end your run quickly, and the save points require working through a fair amount of combat. Then the rest of the maps are just there, they work but are not that memorable or unique, this includes the last 3 maps sadly wich suffer from some divisive boss designs...
All in all, the general mechanics are fairly standart for a FE-clone game, and due to how short the game is things like promotions, branching paths or supports are not in the game. This is a pure combat focused game, with a story that works to push the conflict even if it seems to have troubles on putting you on the protagonist side due to an antagonist that may be a bit more relatable, and an ending that may not pull the right strings if you already saw it coming.

And that is why the reccomendation comes for getting it on sale, it is an interesting game to see when and why big maps work in FE style games, it is a good game to have as base line of what to expect from a Srpg Studio game and it may give you some fun jokes to make about Leon and Edward, but is not going to blow your mind. But that is alright, we all need a "fast food" game that scratchs the itch everyonce in a while.
If that is what you want, you will have a decent 8 to 14 hours here. That's all folks.

Characters generally feel pretty good, story is serviceable, gameplay is is exactly what you'd want from the genre, maybe a bit too simple if anything. Solid 7 peters out of 10 and well worth the price of entry.

Game crashes when ever I trade an item between two characters. But works perfectly on the Steamdeck. So Deck it up

Firstly, I am currently working on my own SRPG Studio project and downloaded this game mainly to see what someone else had put out there. I feel like that’s worth mentioning as it definitely colored my experience with Grey Heritage.
Secondly, I like this game. It isn’t perfect and I have quite a few criticisms, but overall I had a great time with it.
If you’ve ever played Fire Emblem, GH is basically that; but a very old school throwback sort of take on the FE formula. Gone are all the bells and whistles of Awakening/Fates/3 Houses, and I for one find it very refreshing (even though I love 3 Houses). It’s a back to basics tactical experience that relies on a straightforward narrative and (usually) interesting map design. Also, it’s quite short, so if you’re a busy adult like me it’s an excellent way to get a quick hit of rpg nostalgia without committing dozens of hours.
There are some downsides, unfortunately. The pacing of the gameplay can be slow, especially in the early chapters; the maps are all quite large, and occasionally I had to spend multiple turns simply moving my units toward the next bunch of bad guys. Also, several maps hand you large numbers of computer controlled allies who have a tendency to trivialize otherwise challenging encounters. But the single biggest problem with the gameplay has to be Viola; she’s your primary archer who has the gleefully unbalanced ability to transform into a super-long range ballista and pick off enemies one by one from across the map. The game’s final three boss battles were all a simple matter of protecting Viola as she patiently chipped away while your hyped-up nemeses watched helplessly. It’s kind of funny the first time, but ended up being distressingly anticlimactic.
Oh well. Most of the maps provide fun and innovative concepts that often seem overwhelming at first glance but end up being fun and engaging.
I guess I need to briefly touch on the game’s biggest shortcoming: the writing. It’s not great. The overall story is actually solid (and in my opinion beats out some official FE stories, particularly Fates), but the characters are mostly one note and forgettable and much of the dialogue feels awkward. There’s definitely something interesting going on here, but the delivery is very rough. Speaking from experience though, writing a story in this particular medium is HARD, and I have to give lots of credit for the effort that clearly went into this, even if the results are middling.
Overall, GH is a flawed but fun homage to the genre’s classics and is well worth your time. If a sequel is in the works (as the game’s ending seems to indicate), I will definitely be giving it a look.

I appreciate that it's a first attempt at making/writing a game. I enjoyed the aspects of it being a love letter to classic FE. That being said, it left me missing what was missing. As others have said, the characters are pretty flat and the story is rough. If you want depth to the sprites on your screen, or much customization at all, you'll be disappointed. Some of the maps are solid, others are brutal. It's much more forgiving than the unplayable ch3 in the demo for the sequel game, but it will give you some challenges.
There are only 11 playable characters, and mechicanally some are vastly more useful than the others. Is it refreshing that cavs aren't the best units for once? Yes, but the lack of options are also disappointing--all of the melee units are lackluster, and you'll spend most of the game using ballista to cheese. Hit rates are all over the place.
I would be pissed if I paid full price for this game, so glad I grabbed it on sale. I dont regret the time I've spent on it, but feel like there's probably better options to scratch that same itch

Real talk, this game is so damn fun. I love Thracia and this gameplay scratches that itch most SRPGs can't match. Give it a try if you're a real gamer.