YMMV / Small Saga

• Anvilicious:
  • In general, the game's politics are unabashedly in favour of radical, queer anarchism or socialism. The main characters are all outcasts who belong to the LGBT community, who rise up against fascist political establishments and overthrow them through violence. Both monarchies depicted in the game are cruel societies filled with rampant injustice and unfair laws, and it's made explicitly clear that things would be much better off without any rulers at all. Oh, and just to really hammer it home, the House of Commons is referred to in-game as "Hell".
  • For Clan Grey, their historical explorer described as having crossed the sea and laid the foundation for their modern-day settler colony is named "Christoph." The leader of the clan wanted the Cailleach to tell him how to "make Sky Garden great again" and the last half of his description of the symbol is blatantly the United State's Pledge of Allegiance with a couple words switched out.
  • The game also takes potshots at "doomerism" - a modern ideology that has a very pessimistic view on climate change and humankind's role in it. Plaguemaster Aquila is presented as being correct in their understanding of the damage caused by humans both to their own world and Rodentia, but the conclusion they draw (ie. burn everything to the ground) is completely the wrong way of going about things. This brings Aquila into conflict with the protagonists, who actually want to make the world a better place.
• Complete Monster: King James XLV, unlike his noble ancestors, is the spoiled and apathetic ruler of Murida. Showing no concern for the surrounding nations, King James seals off trade and commerce with other cities while also refusing to help any of the citizens within his own city, even as Murida slowly descends into poverty. Upon learning of the Yellow God possibly approaching the city, King James has Plaguemaster Aquila and his other subordinates divert all their resources on finding a way to defeat the new threat instead of helping the population of Murida. When the Yellow God finally makes its way to the city, King James orders Aquila to drop a warhead onto Murida in order to kill the Yellow God while he takes shelter, not caring that thousands of innocents and even his own troops will be killed by the blast.
• Genius Bonus: The grey squirrel clan is depicted in this game as a faction of American-accented colonizers who built their nation (filled with unjust and bigoted laws) on the ruins of the indigenous red squirrels' land after seemingly wiping them all out. While an obvious allegory for the real-world USA's treatment of indigenous peoples and other minorities, in many parts of Europe (including Britain, where the game is set), grey squirrels are indeed an invasive species that have caused native animals' populations to severely decline.
• It's Easy, So It Sucks!: As a consequence of the game featuring no grinding as part of its draw, some players consider the game too easy for their tastes. With the exception of one or two fights, pretty much all of the battles can be beaten without any fear of losing, especially with the fact that items aren't consumed after a battle and most enemies can't keep up with your character's increasing stats.
• That One Boss: Plaguemaster Aquila, who stands out for being the only boss battle in the game with a timer built in - four minutes, to be precise. While they don't deal much in the way of damage, they do have a considerable amount of health that has to be reduced to zero in a short space of time, and the party's main source of damage (ie. Verm) is not participating in the fight. Worse still, they can summon minions to fight alongside them - the minions aren't particularly dangerous, but the battle won't end until all enemies are defeated. Worse still, Aquila can use an attack that stuns one of your party members for multiple turns, something that can be devastating when the clock is ticking. It's not unlikely that the player will be hearing Aquila's voice counting down those last ten seconds by the time they deal the final blow.

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