Ultima: Runes of Virtue II on Game Boy is one of those old-school RPGs that feels bigger than it has any right to be. You start off in Britannia—same as the main Ultima games—but this time it’s top-down, grid-based movement with simple but surprisingly deep combat. At first glance, it looks basic, but then you realize you’re juggling spells, dodging traps, and solving tile puzzles that actually make you stop and think.

The monsters are no joke either—some of them hit way harder than you’d expect early on, so you’ll be backtracking for health potions more than once. And the dungeons? Classic Ultima-style mazes where you’ll scribble notes on scrap paper just to remember which lever opened which door. It’s got that satisfying mix of exploration and frustration where every new area feels like an accomplishment.

If you’ve played the first Runes of Virtue, this one refines the formula with better pacing and a few quality-of-life tweaks. Still, it’s very much a product of its time—no hand-holding, no quest markers, just you and the overworld figuring things out. The music’s got that crunchy Game Boy charm too, all bleeps and bloops that somehow stick in your head for days.

Not gonna lie, it’s rough around the edges by modern standards, but there’s something weirdly addictive about it. You’ll either bounce off hard or lose an entire afternoon without noticing.