Cogen: Sword of Rewind is a game i never heard of until Inti Creates brought it up. See, appearently they decided to collab with Gemdrops Inc to promote the release of both of their games and it was honestly pretty neat to see. Both Luminous Avenger iX 2 and Cogen came out on the same day, both featured the other game's protagonist as DLC physical only DLC in the case of iX 2 and both games have a pretty similar aesthetic and both are definitely taking inspiration from Mega Man Zero to a degree. When i first saw footage of Cogen, i was worried it was gonna be a Gunvolt clone. The demo alleviated those fears and after finishing the full game, i can say it stands on it's own.
The actual gameplay of Cogen is pretty sweet. If you've played Mega Man Zero, it's basically the same deal but with a few neat additions. For starters, our heroine Kokaku can actually deflect certain projectiles and send them back at the enemy, wielding her sword as if it were a lightsaber. This is something Zero couldn't do despite wielding an actual lightsaber. Because deflecting back enemy projectiles will always be based, i was onboard with the fundamental gameplay of this game. Kohaku's real gimmick is her ability to rewind time and it plays out interestingly in this game. Technically, you can't take any hits. If you get hit, you die and the game marks it up on the counter. When you die, you can rewind time up to three seconds and try again and your time rewind meter effectively serves as your HP bar. As long as you have one full second, you'd have a chance to turn things around. If you die and your time rewind meter is empty, it's back to the checkpoint for you. In addition, you can also use the time rewind for some extra movement, as it refreshes your jumps and air dash. There's not a whole lot of opportunity to use this, especially in the game's hard mode, which limits the recharge of the meter, but it was nonetheless fun to do.
However, while the time rewind mechanic is cool, it also is kinda used to justify some bullshit level design. I would get hit by shit i couldn't see coming just for there to be an excuse to Bites the Dust. For the record, it is possible to beat every single stage without rewinding at all if the in-game achievements are anything to go by but you'd definitely have to have foresight for that. In addition, much like Luminous Avenger iX 2, the game locks a chunk of the story behind hard mode. Unlike iX 2, there is no lives system in hard mode, the only limitation is the fact that you're limited in your rewinds unless you collect pickups or pass through checkpoints and recharge points. Basically, while the decision to force the player to replay the game on a harder difficulty to see everything is cringe, it's better in this game. And there is a hard mode exclusive level at the end too so that's nice.
As far as the characters and writing, it's pretty basic but it's fine. Kohaku is a bundle of infectious optimism that reminds me of Firis from the Atelier series. Which is to say, i like her. Kohaku also just hard carried the entire cast, as the other characters by themselves are pretty one-note and are only helped by their interactions with Kohaku. There is mid-stage dialogue, similar to the first two Gunvolt games, but there's nowhere near enough of it, so it made me wish that the game at least had the base convo feature that all the Gunvolt games have.
Paying $25 for this game and an additional $9 each for the DLC character stories is.....kinda a lot for this short game. $25 is how much Luminous Avenger iX 2 costs but at least it's justified by being the first self-published Inti Creates game with an English dub and the replay value is honestly much better. Cogen is a fun game and i'd recommend it to anyone who likes Mega Man Zero or Azure Striker Gunvolt (or both) but for $25.....maybe wait on a sale for that. Or if you're playing on Switch, use gold coins for a discount like i did. I do plan to at least get the Copen DLC because of course i will.
The actual gameplay of Cogen is pretty sweet. If you've played Mega Man Zero, it's basically the same deal but with a few neat additions. For starters, our heroine Kokaku can actually deflect certain projectiles and send them back at the enemy, wielding her sword as if it were a lightsaber. This is something Zero couldn't do despite wielding an actual lightsaber. Because deflecting back enemy projectiles will always be based, i was onboard with the fundamental gameplay of this game. Kohaku's real gimmick is her ability to rewind time and it plays out interestingly in this game. Technically, you can't take any hits. If you get hit, you die and the game marks it up on the counter. When you die, you can rewind time up to three seconds and try again and your time rewind meter effectively serves as your HP bar. As long as you have one full second, you'd have a chance to turn things around. If you die and your time rewind meter is empty, it's back to the checkpoint for you. In addition, you can also use the time rewind for some extra movement, as it refreshes your jumps and air dash. There's not a whole lot of opportunity to use this, especially in the game's hard mode, which limits the recharge of the meter, but it was nonetheless fun to do.
However, while the time rewind mechanic is cool, it also is kinda used to justify some bullshit level design. I would get hit by shit i couldn't see coming just for there to be an excuse to Bites the Dust. For the record, it is possible to beat every single stage without rewinding at all if the in-game achievements are anything to go by but you'd definitely have to have foresight for that. In addition, much like Luminous Avenger iX 2, the game locks a chunk of the story behind hard mode. Unlike iX 2, there is no lives system in hard mode, the only limitation is the fact that you're limited in your rewinds unless you collect pickups or pass through checkpoints and recharge points. Basically, while the decision to force the player to replay the game on a harder difficulty to see everything is cringe, it's better in this game. And there is a hard mode exclusive level at the end too so that's nice.
As far as the characters and writing, it's pretty basic but it's fine. Kohaku is a bundle of infectious optimism that reminds me of Firis from the Atelier series. Which is to say, i like her. Kohaku also just hard carried the entire cast, as the other characters by themselves are pretty one-note and are only helped by their interactions with Kohaku. There is mid-stage dialogue, similar to the first two Gunvolt games, but there's nowhere near enough of it, so it made me wish that the game at least had the base convo feature that all the Gunvolt games have.
Paying $25 for this game and an additional $9 each for the DLC character stories is.....kinda a lot for this short game. $25 is how much Luminous Avenger iX 2 costs but at least it's justified by being the first self-published Inti Creates game with an English dub and the replay value is honestly much better. Cogen is a fun game and i'd recommend it to anyone who likes Mega Man Zero or Azure Striker Gunvolt (or both) but for $25.....maybe wait on a sale for that. Or if you're playing on Switch, use gold coins for a discount like i did. I do plan to at least get the Copen DLC because of course i will.