Joan of Arc is one of the most infamous figures in all of history, a young woman revered as a martyr who changed the course of the Hundred Years’ conflict between France and England. With Joan of Arc’s mythical story, it’s little wonder she’s been featured in a variety of media, but you’ve likely never heard of the very best video games inspired by the legend. Jeanne d’Arc is a hugely overlooked gem on the PSP, a brilliant tactical strategy game that fused Joan of Arc’s story with the stylings of Japanese RPGs, for something unforgettable. Now, 17 years later the game is finally playable on something besides the PSP with its introduction to PS Plus on PS4 and PS5.
Jeanne d’Arc comes from Level-5, the talented studio behind the likes of Dark Cloud, Rogue Galaxy, Professor Layton, and more. Level-5 has a long history of creating vibrant RPGs, and Jeanne d’Arc is undoubtedly one of their best, crafting a rich historically-flavored story backed up by strong tactical gameplay.
Jeanne d’Arc is set during the Hundred Years’ time period, albeit a heavily fictionalized version of it. In the past, humanity fought a desperate struggle against an army of demons, with five great generals crafting magical armlets that let them banish the creatures. Years laters, France and England are locked in battles across the Hundred Years’ period and the Duke of Bedford, makes a pact with the demon king, bolstering the English ranks with horrific creatures. The small French village of Domremy is one of the first casualties, and a young teenage girl named Jeanne and her two friends are the only survivors. This demonic twist sets up a dramatic RPG story, following Jeanne in her rise from victim to savior of France.
Jeanne d’Arc’s story is easily its most fascinating element, with little historical pieces that act as a springboard for the game’s bonkers narrative. You aren’t just fighting alongside French soldiers, as the game has a wide array of frankly bizarre party members to fill up your party members. There’s the vulgar and boisterous La Hire, based on a real soldier, who’s portrayed as a massive lion beastman in the game. Then there’s a young archer named Marcel, who insists on giving everyone and everything a unique nickname.
Each and every party member has their own unique quirks and personality traits, adding a ton of color to the game’s already strong main narrative. At the same time, the entire game was voiced using French actors, giving a sense of authenticity that you don’t seldom find in this kind of tactical game.
The uniqueness of each party member carries over into battle, with each character having their own skills and strengths. There’s an additional wrinkle, however, as every character has an affinity to one of three phases — Sol, Luna, and Stella. These phases work like Fire Emblem’s rock-paper-scissors system, with each one being strong or weak against another. This affinity system is something you’ll constantly need to keep in mind in Jeanne d’Arc, strategically placing your units to take advantage of it.
There are two other systems in Jeanne d’Arc that make its combat more unique, and even more about making sure your units work well together. When a character attacks an enemy it makes a Burning aura in the spot behind them, and moving another ally into that grid to attack will give you a damage boost, and it can even be chained multiple times. Similarly, if you place allies next to each other you can activate a Unified Guard when attacked, reducing the chance of a hit and damage.
Jeanne d’Arc tactical battles have a lot of depth to them when you layer in all these systems, and strong map design only helps elevate them even more. This is a strategy RPG on par with the genre greats, like Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy Tactics.
It’s a shame that Jeanne d’Arc didn’t get its deserved due upon release, considering it was fairly niche and hit the PSP a few years after launch. It’s one of the most exciting games Level-5 has ever made, and its bizarre twist on history is reason enough to give it a try. Luckily, there’s a great tactical RPG to go along with it.
