"Proof of life" - so goes Astlibra's rarely used but pretty important subtitle. It's a major theme in the latter part of the game, where the sheer level of time travel shenanigans and fantasy bullshit happening makes it a pretty pressing issue - but I won't go into that. But deliberate or not, the term so brilliantly encapsulates the game itself.
Its impossible to talk about Astlibra without mentioning it's development cycle. As I write this, for instance, the dead space remake has just launched. When Astlibra started development the original was still a year away. Sole developer Keizo has plugged away at this and one or two other games in his free time over 15 damn years. And this is a guy with an office job. This game is his "Proof of life". And it bleeds out of every damn screen in the game.
There's a ridiculously large amount of ground to cover but Astlibra boils down to a sidescrolling ARPG in the vein of Ys III and Zelda II, shoved in a blender with stuff from Comiket. You get astonishingly flashy and silly combat combined with puzzle design from 1990, whilst some insanely hard doujin music which may or may not include hatsune miku goes obscenely hard in the background. And then you'll come across some insanely detailed boss sprite with cleavage that takes up half the screen and fires dodonpachi patterns of magic at you.
This is not only kinda silly, but also legitimately kinda great. The combat's main hook is effectively building up magic spells by dealing damage, and those magic spells give you temporary invincibility upon cast - which encourages super aggressive play. Bosses in particular are fantastic, but just clearing screens of enemies is somehow a joy after 30 hours of play, particularly as new engagement options keep on opening up even into the super-late game.
In general there's just so, so much you find, miss, or just ignore in Astlibra that feel like they meaningfully give you new options or feel impactful. I have absolutely no fucking idea how it does it. Things like triple jump boots and launchers are hidden in corners, random crossbows you get to solve two puzzles is powerful in combat, and mage staffs are widlly powerful but basically ignorable for the vast majority of players. The game clearly doesnt expect a player to get absolutely everything but also expects them to at least have some stuff - and the balance is struck just right.
Maybe most surprisingly, the story kinda hits. The current english localisation is a bit rough (it only really worksas it does because 2007-angsty fan translation tier fits well for the game) and you can undoubtedly pick a million holes in it's time travel/meddling gods bullshit, but it really nails it's emotional beats and hooks. KEIZO really knows how to turn a knife and throw in some good twists. The first two thirds of the game are a bit house in fata morgana-y in how they're individually story based whilst teasing at the greater whole - and that the batshit final chapters actually keep the emotional core and it's themes front and centre is remarkable. The core theme of butterfly effects and every choice coming with costs are very well done. And honestly the characters are also great - adorable crow Karon is effectively the voice of the unnamed protagonist for the entire game and is always a delight in particular. It hooked me, which is something i was not expecting at all.
Astlibra also does something very, very clever. It cheats. The revision release, whilst of course being extremely similar to just Astlibra's free version, is a result of KEIZO recruiting a handful of people, including ex-vanillaware artist Shigatake to refine the graphics, smooth the edges and add a few bits of content. And with it the game gains a much more defined aesthetic (the free version looks even weirder than the current release trust me) and refinement whilst still retaining that glorious individuals heart. It's kinda genius.
Yeah, looking at Astlibra truly critically it'll be very easy for someone to absolute rip into it. It's a bit overlong, it's difficulty balance is suspect, the postscript isnt worth playing, it's a bit too horny, it's aesthetic varies from looking like a straight up vanillaware title to looking like a geocities website and it's a bit repetitive. But as the sort of jaded asshole who was ready to make those sorts of comments, i really don't care, and it's not just the context of it's 17 year development. Astlibra is overwhelmingly charming at every single turn, fun, hype as hell and continually engaging with it's story, gameplay loop and seemingly endless secrets.
Something about this game just dredges up the wonder I had for playing RPGs as a kid which very little can manage these days - Ys VIII does, and Xenoblade can for moments - and I have loved it unconditionally. I have been up til 3am playing Astlibra just wanting to push ever onwards.
It's certainly not for everyone - the demo will probably serve as a good litmus test for whether you're into this sorta thing, and I'd reccomend checking it out first (especially as the game itself basicaly doesnt have a tutorial so it serves dual function). But I would like to think ive got it across in this review that if you're into this, you're probably going to be really into it.
Can you tell I love this?
Its impossible to talk about Astlibra without mentioning it's development cycle. As I write this, for instance, the dead space remake has just launched. When Astlibra started development the original was still a year away. Sole developer Keizo has plugged away at this and one or two other games in his free time over 15 damn years. And this is a guy with an office job. This game is his "Proof of life". And it bleeds out of every damn screen in the game.
There's a ridiculously large amount of ground to cover but Astlibra boils down to a sidescrolling ARPG in the vein of Ys III and Zelda II, shoved in a blender with stuff from Comiket. You get astonishingly flashy and silly combat combined with puzzle design from 1990, whilst some insanely hard doujin music which may or may not include hatsune miku goes obscenely hard in the background. And then you'll come across some insanely detailed boss sprite with cleavage that takes up half the screen and fires dodonpachi patterns of magic at you.
This is not only kinda silly, but also legitimately kinda great. The combat's main hook is effectively building up magic spells by dealing damage, and those magic spells give you temporary invincibility upon cast - which encourages super aggressive play. Bosses in particular are fantastic, but just clearing screens of enemies is somehow a joy after 30 hours of play, particularly as new engagement options keep on opening up even into the super-late game.
In general there's just so, so much you find, miss, or just ignore in Astlibra that feel like they meaningfully give you new options or feel impactful. I have absolutely no fucking idea how it does it. Things like triple jump boots and launchers are hidden in corners, random crossbows you get to solve two puzzles is powerful in combat, and mage staffs are widlly powerful but basically ignorable for the vast majority of players. The game clearly doesnt expect a player to get absolutely everything but also expects them to at least have some stuff - and the balance is struck just right.
Maybe most surprisingly, the story kinda hits. The current english localisation is a bit rough (it only really worksas it does because 2007-angsty fan translation tier fits well for the game) and you can undoubtedly pick a million holes in it's time travel/meddling gods bullshit, but it really nails it's emotional beats and hooks. KEIZO really knows how to turn a knife and throw in some good twists. The first two thirds of the game are a bit house in fata morgana-y in how they're individually story based whilst teasing at the greater whole - and that the batshit final chapters actually keep the emotional core and it's themes front and centre is remarkable. The core theme of butterfly effects and every choice coming with costs are very well done. And honestly the characters are also great - adorable crow Karon is effectively the voice of the unnamed protagonist for the entire game and is always a delight in particular. It hooked me, which is something i was not expecting at all.
Astlibra also does something very, very clever. It cheats. The revision release, whilst of course being extremely similar to just Astlibra's free version, is a result of KEIZO recruiting a handful of people, including ex-vanillaware artist Shigatake to refine the graphics, smooth the edges and add a few bits of content. And with it the game gains a much more defined aesthetic (the free version looks even weirder than the current release trust me) and refinement whilst still retaining that glorious individuals heart. It's kinda genius.
Yeah, looking at Astlibra truly critically it'll be very easy for someone to absolute rip into it. It's a bit overlong, it's difficulty balance is suspect, the postscript isnt worth playing, it's a bit too horny, it's aesthetic varies from looking like a straight up vanillaware title to looking like a geocities website and it's a bit repetitive. But as the sort of jaded asshole who was ready to make those sorts of comments, i really don't care, and it's not just the context of it's 17 year development. Astlibra is overwhelmingly charming at every single turn, fun, hype as hell and continually engaging with it's story, gameplay loop and seemingly endless secrets.
Something about this game just dredges up the wonder I had for playing RPGs as a kid which very little can manage these days - Ys VIII does, and Xenoblade can for moments - and I have loved it unconditionally. I have been up til 3am playing Astlibra just wanting to push ever onwards.
It's certainly not for everyone - the demo will probably serve as a good litmus test for whether you're into this sorta thing, and I'd reccomend checking it out first (especially as the game itself basicaly doesnt have a tutorial so it serves dual function). But I would like to think ive got it across in this review that if you're into this, you're probably going to be really into it.
Can you tell I love this?