Breath of Death VII is a game that you most likely haven't heard of. It's a retro RPG available on the Xbox Indie Games Channel for a measly 80 Microsoft points (one real world dollar) and I'll tell you right now it is most certainly worth your four quarters.

If you've ever played the old Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy games you know exactly what you're getting into with Breath of Death VII. As the hero, you will embark on a quest to slay evil, gain party members, and level up.
The story is very barebones and uses humor as its saving grace, making references to other games and breaking the fourth wall. Just about everything about this game is retro, from the graphics to the gameplay.

However, there are a few little improvements here and there to keep things fresh. Let's start with what has stayed the same.

The battle system is turn based, with no timers whatsoever. This allows gamers to go as slow or as fast as they want. Each character has a basic attack, "Tech" moves, magic, potions, and a unite ability (more on that later). Techniques and magic both cost Magic Points (MP) to use and offer up a variety of different effects like damage, sleep, poison, etc. Health potions are the only type of potion and come in limited supply. They can only be found in treasure chests around the map and cannot be bought from the merchants.

The good thing is that potions fully restore your character's Health Points (HP) and will even resurrect them from death. Green and red represent when a character is hurt or dead, respectively. All of the text will change to either color when the time is appropriate, but the HP numbers are the real indicator and seeing the colors isn't necessary if you pay attention.

Now let's jump to what new innovations the game has to bring to the genre. First of all, there are a limited number of random battles on each map. Once you exhaust those battles you are free to roam the map as you wish. You can start a battle at any time by entering the menu and hitting "Fight," even when the battles are exhausted.
During a battle two of your party members can use their turn for a "Unite" ability that will have fantastic damage or effects to go along with it. After each turn in battle the enemies' strength will be increased by 10%, encouraging you to finish the enemies as quick as possible.

That doesn't mean you have to have good reflexes or even think quickly though. You can take as long as you want during your turn to input your action and the text will not scroll unless you hit A.
Lastly, the battles have a combo system at their heart, which takes some getting used to, to utilize completely. Every hit on the enemy will increase the combo by one and certain attacks are multiplied in strength by the combo counter. However once you use those attacks the combo will be reset, or if you use a healing spell. This can create some interesting strategies during the game.

Accessibility Issues / Concerns

This game is definitely accessible to most every gamer, regardless of disability. The biggest concern with mobility would have to be the inability to remap the buttons. While traversing the world and dungeons, the joystick or d-pad will control the player's movement and the B button makes your character run.

One handed players may have trouble using both at once but running isn't completely necessary as it just speeds up your character. In battle, the joystick and d-pad move your cursor up and down to select which action you want to take. From there, A will select and B will cancel the actions.

Then you simply pick which enemy or ally you want to use the action on. You are never timed or hurried in any way, so precision and timing is not an issue. One handed gamers should have no troubles in or out of battles as I was able to do both with one hand easily.

Deaf gamers will have no problem getting through the game since sound never plays an important factor. There are no voiceovers and all of the dialogue is presented in large white text on a pure black background, as is the battle screen text.

The game sports a 16-bit retro art style that is sure to evoke the nostalgia within you. Being red/green colorblind myself, I had some minor problems playing through this game. First off, during battle if one or more of your party members is low on HP, all of the while text will turn to green. That in itself is easy to notice, though it is curious why green is used for a state of emergency. If one of your party members dies all of the text then changes to red.
For the colorblind it boils down to "if the text isn't white, something bad is happening." Luckily all of the numbers are still displayed on the screen so the color is not the only indicator as to when someone is in danger.
Another issue is that some of the dungeon pallets use colors that are too similar for different objects. Chapters 3 and 7 both use the same textures that consist of dark grey roads and brownish bushes that were hard for me to differentiate. On a few occasions my player would stop moving and left me confused, only to realize there was actually a bush there that I couldn't see because it was too similar to the ground. It isn't the biggest issue in the world, but it is certainly worth noting.

At a Glance:

Visual: Like me, those who are red/green colorblind will have some minor issues while playing. Textures in chapters 3 and 7 are hard to distinguish and a red/green color scheme is used as an extra indicator for character HP in battles. Text size is easy-to-read.
Recommended score: 7/10

Hearing: The Hearing impaired should have absolutely no problem going through this game. All of the subtitles are big bold and crisp. White text on black background is the cherry on top.
Recommended score: 10/10

Mobility: The controls are very simple, but cannot be changed. Only the joystick/d-pad along with the A, B, and Y buttons are used. They only have to be pushed together if you want to run on the map.
Recommended score: 8/10

Overall: Breath of Death VII is a retro parody RPG that is very accessible. The game will run about 6 hours total, more than justifying the one dollar price point. The reference humor is hit and miss depending on how well you catch the references. It is definitely easy to recommend this game to anyone!