separates the True Kusoheads from the rest: those Normal Gamer's and the Demon's Darks they just love to roll around in. virtual hydlide is t&e soft's masterpiece (relative), for all that entails. it's like playing golf but with swords, and without any golf balls. not quite like a golf video game (don't worry t&e soft has you covered there too!!), but like actual golf, midsummer in humid, 40 celsius, salty air as the sun sears off your topmost layer of skin. it kind of hurts! it's kind of an unwelcoming, unpleasant experience that makes you wish, at times, that you were being lobotomized instead. but to think that way is reckless. Don't Mistake Recklessness for Courage.

this game is awful but don't think for one second that i don't love it. Virtual Hydlide is one of the very first 3D RPGs and it definitely feels like it, everything about the game is rudimentary and ambitious. none of it really works out, from its randomly generated worlds to its stiff combat and its sub-10 framerate, but a lot of it is seriously way ahead of its time. it's not just one of the first 3D RPGs, but one of the first open-world 3D RPGs with random generation and the ability to save anywhere. i do earnestly love its stinky, chunky FMV-aesthetic (the player character just makes me smile) and its corny fantasy score. this game is objectively terrible in basically every way possible, it has some seriously frustrating bullshit in it, but i can't help but admire it. it's so cute!!!!!

Maybe I just got a soft spot for console games that try to aim for something way above what the hardware was capable of doing but I actually find Virtual Hydlide somewhat enjoyable. Once you get past the abysmal framerate you got what is quite possibly one of the most ambitious games not only on the Sega Saturn but from that era of console gaming in general. Everything this game attempted is now almost commonplace in RPGs today(open world, real time clock, save anywhere, randomly generated world) which makes this a fascinating game to play even if you don't find it fun. While it might seem terrible at first glance and easy to be swayed by its negative reputation I recommend giving Virtual Hydlide a fair chance if only to see how cutting edge it was.

The SEGA Saturn's answer to King's Field and Ocarina of Time. If it was released today it would be called a Soulslike and a Roguelike.

Virtual Hydlide has quite a few baffling design decisions and the Saturn can barely run it, but it has that special something that makes you want to keep playing despite it all. The game looks beautiful at times and can really draw you into it's world when it wants to. Give it a try!

I recommend you play on Normal or higher. At easy difficulty the game is so easy it becomes boring.

This was one of several games I was stuck with as a kid upon the Saturn launch. I never got all that far into it, certainly never making it past the vampiric castle, but this time around I followed a guide and, honestly? It’s still a dreadful, awful game but I found it endearing.

Time hasn’t been kind to this game, but it HAS been a kinder experience than how it would’ve been back in the day, which for me would have been to play this or Panzer Dragoon, the only good Saturn game I had at that time, for the 1000th time. Acquiring a taste for kuso games has helped tremendously as well.