Every time I give a mixed rating. My heart feels heavy. Since I like to highlight what works well, and what doesn't, critique, offer suggestions, and move on. Wartales(WT) is passable for me. After struggling to play for two months since the launch in April of this year. But, I wanted to see as much as I could. Because I love supporting indies and especially if they have role-playing elements. After over forty-five hours I decided it was time to review WT before my feelings soured further.

A medieval low fantasy tactical RPG with sandbox gameplay. As someone who loves medieval and low fantasy settings, this was a no-brainer to watch out for. And I’ve been watching the developers work closely ever since. Avidly reading patch notes, whooping in delight when roadmaps appear and progress is made. Waiting until the final day when the official release arrives.

First let's start on what WT is about, then move on to the critique or what I call my mixed feelings. There is no central story from which your company of mercenaries must follow throughout your journey. Instead, you complete scenarios in each region of which there are six to explore, fight, trade, and even play detective. Upon finishing, some are related to a scenario, the progress bar in the top left corner will fill up until you reach a hundred where you can partake in the final province mission before you move on to another place. Times will vary to accomplish your goals. In my experience, they can range from eight to twelve hours to thoroughly comb one sector with a majority of sidequests done. And I had already progressed past four of them. Was one-third of the way done on my fifth before I couldn’t take it anymore.

The main meat here holding up a chunk of your time is the combat portion. Turn-based emerges when you encounter a hostile in the overworld. Honestly reminds me of Divinity: Original Sin(D: OS) a lot since you can maneuver your party members in any direction. Not a grid or hex-based. Use abilities as long as you have valor points. Points you can earn every time you rest. These don’t recharge every fight, so be careful utilizing them. However, there are skills you can attain to increase temporary valor points to mitigate the loss. One of the cool things you can do is switch any weapon/shield that can grant you new toys to play around with. I could switch from a greatsword that allows me to hit multiple enemies in a 160-degree radius in front of me. Then switch to a different sword allowing my character to charge forth through multiple bandits caught unaware. Swap my shield to inflict a debuff causing a cannibal to be more susceptible to damage and more. I appreciate this since it makes equipment management useful in combat(You need to unlock the skill later, you cannot switch weapons early on). Entrusting the player to carefully manage new powerful weapons containing lackluster effects. Old weapons with cool spell sets that do a bit less damage. And while you cannot use the environment to your advantage akin to D: OS. The underhandedness of Wartales comes into play here. Regarding debuffs. Can’t wreck through a baddie's health or armor? Use poison to whittle down their health(HP). Stack that up for more damage. Still not enough? Here’s bleeding taking off “X” percent of their maximum HP. Burn them too. And watch how the effect can spread to nearby guards in close range and yourself if you’re close enough. And if that’s not enough there is even corrosion and disarming foes too! I haven’t gone through the whole list because each class has its skill tree unique to them.

An acceptable amount of class variety here. In spears, swords, hammers, axe, bows, arrows, daggers, and animals, suffice it to say there is a varied amount of choices you can pick and specialize your companions. I had fun recruiting new troops and setting them up with new equipment I had on hand after defeating an annoying private army. A nice way to build up your mercenary crew. Interestingly enough, I don’t believe there is a limit. I've read other reviews noting bigger sizes. I was able to manage over twenty units. Twelve are battle-ready, while the rest such as my ponies and prisoners cannot fight. So overwhelming odds against a lone soul or two to four is well immensely satisfying to decimate. Didn’t have any issues paying wages and feeding them either. I suspect a larger group could be a hassle.

You mainly find your busy work to do upon entering a tavern and talking to an emissary near a bounty board. From there you can accept contracts to eliminate a troublesome group, destroy a rat infestation, and even find tombs(these are underground dungeons). These contracts, if you can excuse the radiant missions(Basically filler and repeat again and again) are decent in that some of them you come across as you traverse the big overworld. See a merchant under attack, help a family solve a murder, find the missing person, hunt down a group who terrorized a village, etc. Side content, for the most part, is all right, since they're just a bit below the quality of the main quests for a scenario.

Nonetheless, let’s move on to my critique. Not a positive or a negative. But for the sake of transparency, I’m noting them down. Suggestions in the end parts.

Experience(EXP) contribution and how that is earned needs a major overhaul. Early on, leveling up your troops is not a big issue. It starts to become a bigger problem as you head to the middle portion and then final parts. If I could sum it up in one word. Grindy. The max, as far as I know, is twelve. I was only able to reach level eight for a small portion of my crew while the rest were in the six to seven range. And facing off hostiles in the eighth to ninth resulted in battles being time-consuming averaging out to 15-30 min engagements, each time I encountered a sizable group against my party. Why does it take a while man? Do you not have the best equipment? Trust me, when I say my crew is built comparable to a tank capable of withstanding the hardest of blows. And strong enough to deal devastating damage, eliminating them swiftly with one guy. Hell, I've even used my min-maxing skills to maximize every centimeter of damage at my company’s disposal to inch my way to victory so I would say I was very prepared. I was not prepared to struggle on the grind. I had to download a half-EXP mod on the Nexus to circumvent the horrible grind I saw every time. Only used it after the 3rd region. For reference. The amount to go from six to seven is 2600. And from eight to nine you require 4200. You can imagine the rest as you climb to twelve. Having to start from zero and reach the next tier starting from seven to eight. 3500. Let’s do the math. Winning rewards 50 -/+ EXP. During endgame 50~. Still has the same payout. Hold on, WHAT THE F$#%. Do you expect me to grind to the seventh!? For each of my companions?! Do you know how many engagements that will take? 70! Now multiply that number by the average it takes to complete one. 15-30 min. 1050 minutes to 2100 minutes which if converted to hours comes out to 17.5 - 35! You can forget about me grinding past the ninth! These numbers are an average based on how many times I batted heads versus evil people in every region. They should not be inferred as everyone’s experience of WT. They could vary. I also changed the difficulty to the lowest so I'm not bothered with deep engagements. Facing off a group for an extended period of time runs the risk of potentially losing a valuable unit you trained up until now. Lose one? Recruit another fella starting from the lowest tier level. If your party is at eight but a majority are at six then hello newbie six. There is no rewind mechanic if your unit dies. They died? Ya gotta bury them. Or eat them for one food.

Oddly enough, I’m reminded of my time playing Xenosaga Episode 2. Due to similar lengthy fights. The image is one of the longer battles. Do you want to know the average there? Five to fifteen minutes for an average brawl past the midportion. And boss skirmishes can easily double or bloom more...Sighs

Personally dislike using mods since I prefer to expose myself to what vanilla content there is to offer. I had to break my rule to see if it can help lessen my frustration. Providing my troops a better chance. Ultimately the mod is a bandaid to the underlying problem of how EXP is earned. I think offering up more substantial rewards for side/main content and during your professions(I'll touch on this later) would help lessen the grind as well as provide a better outlet than the default method.

I feel auto-battle should be available to ease turn-based encounters. And not as a requirement to face each mob. At least an option to auto-complete for randoms you face in the overworld. Thereby lessening the tedium of entering a clash with some schmuck who somehow concludes they can face my hardcore mercenary company? An optional toggle in the settings you can check off or on depending on your preference. Hostile mobs? Auto-battle is activated. Turn-based for the side/main stuff. This way you don’t have to spend a lot of time battling and can do whatever you want such as fishing. Yes, there is fishing here and a host of other activities you can do for example lockpicking. There are more than eight professions to mold your members. Of course, they start at a newbie tier before they can become masters. So if you want to construct one of your companions as a thief you can do that. Cook? Essential. Woodcutter? Yup! Bard sure! Miner, yes, please! Necessary for my blacksmithing job. No problem. Alchemist too? Wow, what is this Witcher? Sign me up!

The user interface especially when hitting a button on your keyboard(Alt) highlighted items of interest & humans. Forming a barely noticeable outline. Alternatively, an option to include a more player-friendly outline should exist to prevent players from having to squint too hard. Therefore, allowing players to find anything else in the environment. Finding any secrets out in the overworld or inside corridors. I had to spend the majority of my time swiping my mouse left and right and up and down to double-check that I didn’t miss anything.

For some reason, I had stutter issues in combat and outside. Didn’t impact me in a major capacity. Occurred uncommonly in my playthrough as well as in random instances during traversal in the overworld. More time in the oven to be optimized some more to spawn smoother playthroughs. And I tested this with lower settings on my computer as well to see if that made a difference. Nope, still the same. So beware of that. Thankfully no bugs or glitches are here.

Last but not least, a more central story would be appreciated to hook players more into worldbuilding. Could be better and more cohesive. Despite the murders, cannibalism, private army vs. government, politics, factions and backstabbing. A harsh gritty adventure awaits. If only the developers linked me closer to the stories told by the people living in this harsh gritty world. Generate heavier incentives, so players care more for the alchemist nearby whose family member was kidnapped. Oh, the barkeeper is friends with the one who was kidnapped. Time to save them! Oh, you helped the mayor in the 1st region? Nice! They’re a good friend of mine. Why back in my day, we were young whipper snappers… And so forth to link the main/side stuff combined. Further meaningful content alongside memorable and fleshed-out characters. NPCs and missions are scattered, offering up little cultural significance both in the history of the world and the characters living in it. And while I was satisfied for my first fifteen hours, the majority and rest of my time left me in a state that leaves me befuddled.

I am left sighing at the end of the day due to a multitude of factors. A combat system that seems fine in the beginning except marred by troubled enemy encounters that can reach long engagements. Fatiguing the player and forcing them to grind a lot to stand a better chance versus the mid to endgame elites. An unoptimized product prone to stutters, you may come across and a user interface has to be refined to outline interesting objects/people. In need of a central plot to connect all scenarios and link to flesh out the worldbuilding and parties' efforts more. Thereby, producing a difficult item to recommend. Looking back on the patch notes I think they developed each region as a checklist. Focusing on adding new regions, connecting them superficially, and presenting a foggy vision that isn't as clear as it remains as a list of tasks to do and finish at your leisure. Full of systems and mechanics focusing on breadth instead of depth on gameplay and not on the finer details of what I mentioned earlier to hold everything in an interconnected manner. Creating a sort of mix of fulfilling and unfulfilling content to explore beyond the surface level. A mile wide, an inch deep example.

There is potential here. I can see it. Shiro Games could improve with patches. However, I cannot recommend Wartales in good conscience. I can only offer a grimace and a read/watch more label to ensure your purchase is solid. To those who enjoyed WT, I salute your dedication to playing through everything. Sadly I can’t bring myself to say I enjoyed it to a degree. I find myself shaking my head rather than nodding since I had plenty of big flaws rather than full of praise.

6/10

Edit: Removed, added, clarified some text to explain my thoughts better and made it a bit less negative. 99% of review still intact.

For a long time, I have wished for one game to give me a similar feeling of wonder and discovery as my time with Dark Souls 1. For years I have searched, and as the market filled with countless soul's-likes, I was still unsatisfied. Because they strive to fulfill different criteria of what makes a soul's-like truly great in varying degrees. Except for a single Indie RPG. Bleak Faith: Forsaken.

Made by 3 developers. And one I feel has nearly enough to stand next to Fromsoftware's beloved Soul's games for an indie RPG. Yet, the recent release has been unjustly, unfairly, and unreasonably panned by many users on the web for bugs and an Epic controversy. The former has been hyperbolized beyond disbelief and gatekeeping, while the latter is a rabbit hole; I'm not going to discuss it here.

Despite, these major claims, I sought to review the game based on its own merits upon release. This is my review of Bleak Faith: Forsaken after 34 hours. For full disclosure, I did not ask the developers for a review copy since I wanted to experience it with everyone else.

Anyway, let's get started.

Primarily an open-world survival horror action third-person RPG. A cross between sci-fi and dark fantasy. A ‘Blame! By Tsutomu Nihei’ meets ‘Berserk by Kentaro Miura’ game. You will explore the omnistructure and discover the history behind this unforgiving world. Embrace the unknown and risk your life multiple times against powerful adversaries.

That’s the main gist of what I can glean. And for the most part, it is pretty true in exploring the omnistructure. It does share similarities as a souls-like. However, there is enough content here to differentiate itself from being another soul's clone.

You don't level conventionally in Bleak Faith. Instead, the game runs entirely based on the gear you find in the world and the equipment you earn from enemies. This is an interesting take on the gameplay formula since it eliminates the need to go to a stationary safe zone to allocate stats. Instead, it enforces a bold approach where players must venture to explore the Omnistructure.

A vast world full of verticality with medium-large levels. And where some can quickly become lost in the sheer scale of wonder and discovery. In my experience, I was captivated by the level design and appreciated the environments of sci-fi megastructures to the mix of fantasy elements of technomancy. I became lost in the narrow corridors while searching for better loot and taking in the sheer scenery of places. At times, you will need a mental map of the levels you encounter. Nonetheless, sometimes your curiosity might lead you to find a great treasure or a hidden shortcut to unlock. The great thing about playing games like these without any official guides or information on the web at the time of release is that it forces the player to go in any direction at their peril and curiosity. To my utter joy, the first area you start does a good job of dropping you into the world and letting you go off in any direction. And the 2nd area is impressive due to each level being intrinsically interconnected.

Early previews of trailers have some heavy Shadow of the Colossus inspiration here. And I am glad to report there is such a system in place to climb onto large enemies to weaken them. The mechanic is not half-baked either. You will be fighting differently by striking their legs to stagger them. And then you climb atop their body to strike at their weak points. This mix of Colossus-style combat is refreshing to the combat formula where you fight lone or multiple adversaries. Now you have to keep in mind the larger giants as well.

Climbing, jumping, water traversal are allowed in the game. Adding to the player freedom and traversal on nearly every cliff, crevice, as well as a sprinkle of platforming here. A nice change of pace from battles. To see more of the level structure, the power to do so at any time and for players to figure out their path is an incredible feeling. Granted, it is not at every level. But, the fact is we can jump anytime. Also is integrated well enough with the other mechanics, not to the point of a checklist, but each mechanic felt natural and not thrown in haphazardly. Enhancing the world to make nearly every nook and cranny possible to reach. So if you think there will be some obstacles blocking your path... Well... You know what to do.

I love your character abilities here and the perk system. They visually affect different playstyles to become extra powerful or subtly with stat upgrades. For example, I could pick the Vamprism perk, granting my character life steal. One perk: Increases the number of health potions on my belt, a passive chance to create illusions. Dual weapon & heavy weapon masteries to increase damage and more.

These coupled with interchangeable character abilities, made my playthrough very enjoyable since it emphasized different builds and experimentation.

I like the crafting system here. Since it does not contain a currency system to buy equipment or items. Unlike the Souls games it's inspired by, you don't lose currency on death, so it is okay to die. Therefore, the gameplay loop of exploration and defeating enemies to gather materials becomes a euphoric feeling. Allowing the player to become stronger as they progress further. Upgrading your weapons and gear outputs a good change in the stats of your character. As a result, the crafting system helps the player overcome bosses or tough enemy mobs.

For bosses. They are threatening and do a fantastic job of giving you a good bit of trouble. But, not to the point of being insurmountable to defeat. Simply upgrade gear and weapons, and have enough items on your belt to increase damage, armor rating, and more items. Help immensely to turn the tide of battle. And for the most part that was enough for me. Attackers are also varied and I did not see a lot of copy-paste here and there. The whole world evolves in a way I didn't expect as I progressed deeper into the game, making new foes appear.

Dig the large variety of weapons and armor you can find. Made hunting around the world for unique armor sets and equipment a pleasure and fighting opponents not dull. Considering, I wanted an enemy's gear. Cool cape? That's mine now. Woah cool staff dude. That too will be mine. So the gameplay momentum is sustained as you progress further in the omnistructure.

Weaponry feels powerful and usable in certain situations since they can have one or two unique abilities attached. A unique weapon can emit a sword slash in front of you. The other can teleport behind enemy lines backstabbing them, others can summon beams of light. I haven't found all of them yet, but the sheer amount of weapon abilities with unique animations is a great plus in my books. Just like the souls series, boss weapons feel very powerful to use and very rewarding to have after a tough fight. Also, they aesthetically look very epic.

Speaking of epic. The music slaps. And I dearly want to buy the soundtrack as soon as possible. Boss tracks especially are fitting and overworld levels give off a pleasant track tunes.

Now then, as much as I want to go on praising what works effectively here. There are some things I must critique. And granted, the developers have already fixed the controls and Giant's bug. Two major complaints I had were quickly resolved. During my playthrough. This is very satisfying to see and so, I’ll focus on other matters.

First. Inventory updates. Occasionally will not show what I acquired from an enemy or what item I found. I had to check my inventory constantly and discover, “when did I get that item?” All items should pop up clearly. So I do not need to check my inventory and double-check.

Minor to somewhat troublesome bugs. Compared to the exaggerated claims by some users online panning the release as unplayable due to the number of bugs. Quite frankly, I didn’t encounter that many. And when I did they were largely fixed by the re-spawn mechanic you have innately. You can spawn one nearby when there are no enemies. Nonetheless, I did experience falling off the map, not intentionally mind you two to four times, getting outside level boundaries two to three times, and collisions with the enemy where I am stuck to them about three to four times. These all occurred throughout my thirty-four-hour playthrough and one crash to the desktop. And suffice it to say I didn’t lose a major amount of progress either. Granted my playthrough could be different and I’ve seen different reviews from other reviewers who have played to end credits stating different experiences with bugs. So this could be a ‘your mileage might vary’ type of deal. Be that as it may, most reviews on Steam still have negative thumbs-down ratings. When the developers have already fixed a good number of those complaints regarding the controls, floating while jumping, and instant death from climbing giants. This is a gentle reminder to read other reviewers' impressions of the game who have played extensively. And provide clarity and logical reasoning. There is a clear difference between ten to twenty minutes of playtime to two hours or less and then compared to those who played five, ten, twenty plus hours.

Moving on.

The next points I'll cover can be a hit or miss. Not a negative or a positive. All the same, I have decided to say here for transparency.

To start, hitboxes can be a hit or miss. Sometimes the weapon I am using is just a tad bit short. Other times it is great when evading an enemy. Could be better I feel.

I wish there is a 'perk reset' button or drinking a unique consumable to revert perks. I made the mistake of clicking one perk thinking, "This will be good." Except it's not. And now I'm stuck with a perk for my whole playthrough. Granted, there was a warning attached of picking a perk being irreversible. So that's on me.

Has jank when it was good. But also jank when it is bad. Yet, I still had a lot of fun throughout my playthrough and didn't reach a point of frustration to the degree I wanted to gatekeep this indie RPG for good. In several cases, I had jolly good laughs on some jank occurring. Some of which work in my favor!

I wish there was more story here. Seems, the narrative can be a bit vague at times. And while I appreciated the cutscenes greatly, more dialogue to explain some lore, sidequests for more side activities to do and more NPCs to flesh out the world-building could do wonders in immersing me further.

I also think the combo system can be a hit or miss. I barely touched it early on since I couldn't get the mechanic to activate it correctly. While a friend of mine told me it works for them. So I am going back to see if I can properly activate them in fights. Probably my fault for not fully understanding how it works. Perhaps a tutorial archive in the menu to refresh players on mechanics would be nice.

And that’s it. My final score for Bleak Faith: Forsaken is an 8/10. I was thinking of a 7/10. But I feel that is way too harsh. There is plenty of good content here, the game has organically especially from 3 developers. I could see it going to a 9/10 in the coming months as the devs continue making incredible progress as each day passes. And will add more free updates. Such as NG+, content expansions, and multiplayer. But first fixes since that is a very high priority.

So! If you are on the hunt, for an indie RPG souls-like in the vein of Dark Souls 1 just as I was. A mix of sci-fi and fantasy with a cross of Blame! & Berserk. And don't mind the occasional jank here and there. Then I recommend Bleak Faith: Forsaken. I have faith that the developers from Archangel Studios will come out with something great in store for us.

Enter Ashley Riot, Riskbreaker
Basic premise/Story

From developer studio Square, and directed by Yasumi Matsuno. You play as Ashley Riot, a Riskbreaker who travels to Leá Monde to investigate the connection between a cult leader and duke Bardorba. A simple investigation right? Oh, I wish. There is more at work here in the dark and a story worth uncovering.

Battle Mode Please
Unique Gameplay

Vagrant Story's gameplay is one of the most innovative or convoluted systems of systems I have ever had the pleasure of playing. But, I feel the game has some of the weirdest design decisions regarding those systems in place. So I sympathize with the sentiments of those, who feel the combat/crafting is clunky and cumbersome. I certainly felt them. However, I feel these two systems along with the progression of how to increase stats and gain affinities to be more effective against enemies is a neat twist against the traditional level-up by grinding enemies endlessly.

Here, you have to be smart since enemies feel deadlier. Encounter an undead enemy and you may find yourself having a tough time without a silver weapon or a certain type of weapon like blunt, edged, or pierce. Each monster is weak to a certain type or more. So you have to figure out their weaknesses by analyzing enemies or through trial and error. You cannot simply bash every enemy you see with your strongest weapon. The game simply doesn’t work that way.

Nonetheless, not only do you have to figure out what weapon the enemies are weak to, but their base characteristics give a hint or sign of what else they could be weak to. Such as phantoms. Weak to weapons with a high affinity to phantoms or any other element. Humans and other creatures you face become increasingly more susceptible to their nature. As long as you use the same weapon continuously to create a high affinity with the weapon. You can become more effective in dishing out more damage to the creature/humanoid/or other abominable nightmares you face.

And this is where the game truly starts to shine. As you use the same weapon since the beginning. You become more in tune and more effective at using it. Making it deadlier against say 'dragons' if you continue to kill more dragons or combat them. You gain affinity incrementally as you fight each type of enemy. And thus your weapon can become stronger. If you’re worried that the main weapon you have been using will fall behind in damage you can combine that equipment with another blade to create a more powerful blade. The catch is you need to be in a workshop with the right type as well as make sure the resulting weapon is stronger and not an inferior weapon.

As long as players pay attention to stat values in the bottom right corner and make sure your affinities are intact. Because combined weapons combined each blade's affinities. So using a piece of old equipment with a piece of new equipment and the resulting equipment will maintain the gained values and negative values the item has. So in theory and practice, you can use an old weapon you have been using since the beginning and use that weapon by endgame. Well… It’s going to be combined with other weapons, so the merged weapon would contain all the affinities you built up since the beginning. Weapons don’t degrade after continuous use either.

So then what’s the main appeal to the battle system beyond fighting and defeating enemies to make our current weapons stronger? The answer is the battle system or more aptly named ‘Battle Mode.’ With one button press Ashley can unsheathe his weapon and or shield he has equipped and a sphere starts to spread from his character. Any enemy caught within the sphere can then be attacked by Ashley on any limbs the target has. The body and head are included. This simple mode is enjoyable throughout the game to choose which area of the enemy you’re facing is weakest. Kinda like the V.A.T.S. system in Fallout, the mechanic is very similar here. With each limb/part detailing the chance to hit and how much damage Ashley can inflict. The game has buffs and debuffs as well which can increase your strengths and accuracy among other values to your benefit. Although, the enemy is pretty smart in their own right and can dish out debuffs to make you weaker. You won’t see this in every fight, but it is something to watch out for.

You don’t gain stats traditionally like other Jrpgs. Instead, every time you defeat a boss you have a slot machine with various stat increases scrolling by. And when you hit a button on the controller the scrolling will stop and whatever stat is displayed will increase your base stats. So if the last section that the scrolling stopped on was MP +2 then your mana pool will increase by 2. HP, str, agi, and int, are also possible results with the number varying. You can also find stat-boosting items whenever you delve deeper into the Leá Monde. By endgame, I had a good spread of my stats and didn’t find too much trouble in the end.

Leá Monde's Secrets
Final thoughts/Ruminations

I’ve heard of Vagrant Story over the years. Usually regarded as tough and complex for the gameplay mechanics to understand and sometimes having one of the most compelling stories out there for a JRPG. And now when the end credits are rolling, I cannot help but agree with those statements.

Despite some of the combat systems being a bit of a learning curve to understand, for the most part. The game is largely self-contained to give you the information and help you understand it. Additionally, there is a quick manual within the game, you can pull up whenever you need to. I found this helpful whenever I needed a refresher on a mechanic I needed a bit more information on.

In my case, I found the combat challenging and rewarding since they give the players so many options to dispatch enemies as I see fit. I could chain attack, my enemies, to death without giving them any moment of reprieve as long as I time my attacks to the big red exclamation point. Could switch to a mage-type build and blast my enemies with devastating spells. Or switch to any of my weapons and blast them with break arts. Using only my HP as the cost if I didn’t want to chain attack them. Defend Ashley with Defensive abilities, so the damage my enemies deal to me isn’t as severe. Switch weapons during combat anytime and rebuff/debuff my enemies before they can get a single hit and more. Heck, I can even position myself so the enemy will hit his/her comrade. And the game will let it occur! So friendly fire does exist! Sucks to be them honestly. Luckily Ashley is a solo man. So you don’t need to worry about hitting party members.

I love the freedom the devs give to the players and it shows so much. If you have the options, abuse it to your heart's content. And Vagrant Story does so magnificently in its own right. While making the enemies challenging and fair to fight. You are never in an insurmountable fight, only unprepared with the wrong equipment being used. As long as you know which type of weapon and shield to use against your enemies you should be able to breeze through the game.

Since the game doesn’t have wide open fields like the team’s previous game with Final Fantasy Tactics. The game largely takes place in box-sized levels. So you don’t have lots of room to explore. I feel the devs used this to their advantage by creating lots of rooms with purpose. Some even go so far as to include no enemies with only boxes where you will have to place them in certain ways to get to the other areas of the room or activate mechanisms to unlock the door. There are even timed events where you need to run across a series of rooms to get to the other side, making combat, not the end all be all for the game. I love this type of breather room so to speak to give players a rest and just run to another room. Granted there aren't a lot of these rooms, but their inclusion of them is still appreciated throughout the game. And while I would’ve liked more interesting rooms to use a different art palette. And a bit more differentiation from some similar corridors. I think the game still has enough surprises in store to alleviate those concerns. One aspect I didn’t see was a decent spread of platforming involved to get to the other side of the room which I took as a personal challenge to do in some rooms. It’s awesome how there is a dedicated jump button so you can evade enemies at your leisure. And the game makes full use of that.

The sound is impeccably well-tuned to the cinematic graphics for the game. Where the story would transition into a cutscene moment between antagonists or with Ashley in the picture. The music is fitting here providing the right amount of tension, anxiety, momentum, and vigor to shift the player’s mood. In my case to great success. I felt intrigued by some scenes. Worried in others, anxious in other cases, and pumped in ensuing fight scenes about to occur. All in all the music and sound effects were intricately linked with the game and I found it enjoyable to listen.

Graphics also share the teamwork load by providing excellent use of cinematic direction to push the PlayStation hardware to its absolute limits of rendering everything in 3D. And while this did limit the game in some areas. I was impressed throughout my playthrough by how the devs were able to circumvent these issues with clever lighting, camera angles, and comic book-styled visual design to accentuate the narrative and keep it intriguing. I felt rooted in my seat in anticipation for the next scene to occur and wondering what will happen next. I also liked the gritter atmosphere the game conveyed of Leá Monde and the surrounding levels and enemies reflected that greatly enhancing the immersion of something more at work here.

I wish the game had some quality-of-life improvements to make the combat a bit more fresh and more modern for newcomers. Having the menu not be slow, removing hard limits on inventory, and connecting it to the storage. Crafting/combining using your whole inventory including the storage chest to eliminate backtracking and going back and forth to the chest. A detailed map of combinations to combine weapons, armor, and shields without consulting a chart online. To help newcomers on what equipment to keep based on stat values. Saving anytime instead of within save circles. And a tiny bit more differentiation between corridors

If there is one last thing to touch on for Vagrant Story. It is how the story is detailed. Through expositional dialog. So you won’t find any factual information to peruse like lorebooks or conversing with NPCs. Pretty much everything you need is through the scenes occurring in the game. And perhaps some item descriptions you find here and there for worldbuilding.

I feel the story closes all important plot points and loose ends pretty well within Leá Monde; the place where all the events take place. It can be slow in the beginning to understand the early scenes being shown, but stick around and you'll probably be engrossed as I did with intrigue and curiosity to learn more. With clever twists and turns I didn't expect and moments I was genuinely shocked to learn as the plot moved forward. There is no cliffhanger ending either and I was quite satisfied with the ending scenes. I will admit the game can make the early scenes confusing if you skip an important cutscene by lingering at the start menu screen and don’t skip any of the following scenes after starting the game. So I recommend not skipping anything.

Be that as it may, there is something quite special here I haven't quite seen, since the time I played Final Fantasy Tactics and Xenogears. To show players something entirely new and bold to the audience without any wasted dialogue. Demonstrating a clever balance of wit in writing. Striving and succeeding in holding my interest throughout by shifting the pendulum in favor of the antagonists or the hero of the story. A fun combat system reminiscent of my time playing games from the Mother series/Witcher 1. With timing my chain attacks. An intriguing story from the beginning, middle, and end. Well-rounded antagonists to boot. Impressive cinematic direction. And takes regular tropes we associate with JRPGs and flips them on its head. To great effect.

All of this is a remarkable achievement for a Playstation 1 title. And despite some criticisms, I have with the game. I think I can safely say it's one of those PlayStation 1 gems that is a must-play for anyone looking for a nuanced story outside the scope of Final Fantasy then look no further than Vagrant Story.

Here is a quote from the director Yasumi Matsuno. I feel this sums up what Vagrant Story is.

"If FF is the game industry version of a major Hollywood movie, then VAGRANT STORY is an independent movie to be watched quietly in a small movie theatre. The scale is different, but the burning enthusiasm and the dreams behind the scenes are the same as in the majors."

Score: 9/10

"We fight to live!"
Starting Thoughts

After 150+ hours with the game, I think I can safely say the Tactics Ogre: Reborn(TO:R) shot up to one of my absolute favorite strategy role-playing games. There is enough nuance here in how worldbuilding is constructed and politics I found realistic and surprising to a degree where my suspension of disbelief was held at bay. Pulling my interest from the beginning to the very end. As well as a host of other great features in the game like fun gameplay, freedom to customize units/classes, and a multiple route system is enough to sink many hours into the game.

The game has so much content in terms of multiple routes involved and exclusive units to recruit. And not only that, there is a people lorebook here which can constantly update based on the current events in each chapter. A propagandistic newspaper of events happening outside of your sphere of influence. A wealth of classes to choose from and easily switch into. Some are cleverly hidden, but for the most part, I felt all classes are viable depending on how you use your troops.

Impactful decisions throughout the plot and one where you can see the immediate consequences. So be wary of making hasty choices, take your time, and decide the best course of action. Since the plot will change drastically as you delve deeper into the game. Likewise, recruits and events will also change depending on what choice you made in earlier chapters. These can lead to different outcomes and events. There is a useful feature after you beat the game to see what happens in other routes.

"....True Victory is won in the heart, not on the battlefield"
Some Thoughts

Love the gameplay where you can create your party. Assemble a team of tanks with healers and you can make a tanky phalanx crew to mop up enemies ahead. Or mix things up and create a team of twelve, with every unit as a different class to spice up the class variety. Heck, you can even make a party full of casters if you so desire. And there are plenty of classes to choose from. Like frightening enemies with a terror knight. Unleash devastating spells using a warlock/witch/wizard. Recruit hybrid classes like valkyrie/fencer/enchantress and more. Dish out so much damage as a berserker in a 180-degree radius. And even stock up your healers with spells to attack and buff your allies with faster speed. Or take up the sword and become a swordmaster or the ninja class to strike enemies with ninjutsu. There are so many class combos you can try, the only limit is your imagination.

Great map variety where you can start from atop a hill and fight your way down to the enemy below or vice-versa. Where you start from the very bottom and must fight your way to the top. Elevation matters here a lot and weather can change how you approach a battle. So bringing a winged unit would be great to travel to high places easily, but will be hampered in accuracy due to rain or snowy weather. So keep an eye on the weather and the terrain you will fight on. To turn the tide against your enemies.

A bunch of side content you can do. While most of them occur in the final chapter I spent a good chunk of my hours completing a great majority of them. There is even a post-game included which can take even more hours of your time to complete. But I recommend it all the same. Especially to see the epilogue and what happens after the final boss is defeated. Very rare to see this among other games nowadays.

Health and fortune to you all
Final Thoughts

To balance all the glowing praise I've given to Tactics Ogre: Reborn. There are a couple of things I wish the game did better to elevate it a bit more to perfection.

Additional cutscenes to develop characters more. While I consider the main cast and villains pretty good. What would elevate them more would be additional cutscenes to flesh them out. Sure there is dialogue during battles and it is fantastic to learn more about your units as you fight. But I feel some more optional cutscenes could’ve given a bit more room to turn characters into more human and complex characters. More unique battle dialogue would be appreciated. Perhaps sprinkling some of their backgrounds after reaching an ‘x’ amount of battles with the said unit or some other suggestion would be nice to see.

Easier means to recruit hard-to-acquire units in each route. Or at least vaguely say what to do to recruit a unit. Had to follow a guide to make sure I didn’t mess up on some characters to recruit them. I imagine blind players can be frustrated if they unknowingly messed up a key requirement midway through recruiting a character. Especially if a unit can be important to receiving certain cutscenes and background with another character and further character development.

Aside from the criticisms, I listed above. I feel TO:R is an incredibly deep game for SRPGs. It touches on heavy topics on war and doesn't shy away from the brutality of it. While subjecting our main cast(the three units you start with) to the machinations of people in power. What to do with said power, what changes come from our protagonists, and who suffers the most in war. Where their beliefs will be tested and their strength of character checked constantly to see if they can overcome or succumb to the consequences of battles and skirmishes. Both physical and mental.

The game doesn’t have an amazing visual style, and yet the game’s graphics still hold up quite well today. And while there isn’t deep character development to the point I would be shouting across the rooftops for everyone to play TO:R. I feel the developers do a good enough job selling the characters enough since our main cast is intertwined with the plot and what becomes of them in the end, as well as any characters I recruit too. There is enough variation and differences in each route to see. And exclusive content you could only find in their respective routes. The soundtrack is great and I have nothing bad to say about it. If anything, I will say the music composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto & Masaharu Iwata made many tracks that fit in many places during battle and outside. Making me feel immersed in the world and battles ahead. The gameplay is really fun and my hours flew by as I continued to fight on every map I could and if need be, I could take a break and let the AI fight for me.

If you are looking for a game about war and political factions vying for power along with the usual tropes of protagonists coming to save the day. Then you won’t find that here. The game goes deeper into what you find in war and it ain't pretty. What happens when politics and other factions come into the equation and how that can affect the main cast, side-cast and innocent people. You’ll find out what exactly happens to our young trio at the end of the game and the events to come based on your decisions. So if you are looking for any of that, I feel Tactics Ogre: Reborn could be the right game for you.

Score: 9.75/10

“...We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win, and the others, too.”

- United States President John F. Kennedy's "We choose to go to the Moon", 1962 speech.

"Magnificent Speech. Ain't it? But how is it relevant?"

“Uhh well sir. Kinda evokes a similar ideology about our mission. Ya know in Outer Wilds(OW). Plus our newest astronaut for the program has some interesting logs to see. I think you should see them.”

“Hmmm. Reports are only forwarded to me urgently for outstanding experiences. And you say he has one?”

“Without a doubt sir, I think it may shed some light on why the speech is given among other things. Though do mind his first day. The results were… not pretty on initial impressions. He also tends to label our project as a game/simulation at times while referencing relative sci-fi films… Which is odd, but not harmful.”

“Hmph, I’ll be the judge of that. He better not write anything concrete. Due to the secretive nature, it’s imperative to keep things close to the chest so to speak. If I find SPOILERS in the above mediums. I’ll expel him post-haste and zero remorse.”

Log 1 - An extremely short slow, boring beginning to a grand adventure

Initially I thought learning about space and whatnot boring. Yet decades later on I couldn't help but amusingly remember those naive days. Here I am weeks after joining the program. And I must say The Outer Wilds is odd. I signed what felt like books of NDAs, and the only thing I can definitively concerning this secretive game is that it evokes a whirlwind of cathartic emotions. Steadily rising higher despite its demure appearance. Steam succinctly describes; “open world mystery about a solar system trapped in an %^&(%^& loop.” With bolded phrases such as: “Welcome to the Space Program! Mysteries of the Solar System… A World that changes over time and lastly grab your intergalactic gear!" Statements sound interesting at a glance, but nothing to entice everyone except those with an interest going farther than our little globe in real life. Pointing at the biggest question of 'how,' 'what' & 'why' during your stay here are primary motivators to unearth the beautiful diamond. And I must whisper after trying for a small amount of occasions…

My first impressions weren’t positive. I love getting to the action real quick. So when I'm delegated to walking and reading early on. Doesn’t excite me to move on especially since I already want to progress past the atmosphere. And usually, there’s a clear prerogative of what to do. Here there’s not a hand-holding overarching narrative to follow consistently. You have to build your own goals and discover what lies in the vastness of the universe a bit. A central 'plot' does exist though, so don't worry if you think this is purely a sandbox. Moreover, upon finishing the basic tutorials on thrusters, scouters, signalscope and finally getting the launch codes. Took 30 minutes flat and I was ready to sleep. However, once I entered my ship and said goodbye to my friends. Activating thrusters and Yahoo! We're in space! Didn’t have difficulty navigating the solar system… Until I ventured to a distant foreboding sphere. Where my breath was taken away and silenced. And my previous hurdles are eradicated. Wish I could march back in a hot instant to slap my past self silly for thinking ridiculous nitpicks. Because I’m so glad to be wrong.

“If it wasn’t for the last sentence. I would’ve ordered you to flag him for disposal.”

“B-b-boss?”

“Nevermind. The 2nd record better impress. Or else…”

Log 2 - Appreciating the fear of the unknown

I’ll try to describe my emotions on the first planet. Any interstellar film or game worth its salt needs to evoke the presence of horror, hopelessness, anxiety, and tension. We can use examples from earlier works like Alien(1979) by Ridley Scott or Mass Effect(2007) series. The former needs no introduction where we see struggling survivors encountering a deadly alien threat. Managing to keep our suspense intact and the ‘surprise’ of what occurs in the future moving. Among other elements of horror such as fear. The latter presents a decent spread of hostile and friendly species to converse. Yet the traits differ. You never know what to expect despite talking to them. The element of ‘surprise,’ is inherent in the above aspects. Thus I am treated to a host of emotions I find unsettling. But not off-putting. The closest example I think is during a segment of Independence Day(1996). Where the protagonist must venture off on a final mission. Not a spoiler, most films have this action during the last act. A final hurrah. I felt a sense of uncertainty despite cautiously maneuvering my small vessel in an unknown place. Feeling lost and embracing the zero-g is a sense I felt intimately. The sentiment is further connected to a growing climb of wonder and excitement. Upon discovering something I found incredible and increased my resolve to learn further.

“Boss, you’re smiling.”

“What?! Nonono bits of food stuck in my mouth, had to move my teeth a bit.”

A cough is heard.

“A-anyway let’s move onto the 3rd report please.”

Log 3 - Fleeting wonder and magically enraptured from beginning, middle, and end

One of the main pillars is Wonder and magic is everywhere. The sensation of actually embarking on a solo declaration is fulfilling. Discovering new facets you seldom knew before is equally as powerful. Encountering and struggling against different varied biomes is a treat both planet-wise and in astral territory. Mirrors our lived life in making goals and acting upon them in a unfamiliar environment. Ya know the first moment you see snow? And you wanna build a snowman immediately? Remember those memories. The awe and jaw drops are plentiful. I’m reminded of the second when I first became enchanted by Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace(1999). Not because of the cool action sequences as a kid, but the big ol question mark on my face witness Tatooine. A harsh desert with a cornucopia of species living around. Beyond the nearly unlivable conditions, my eyes were glued to the racers speeding along the canyon highways in a deadly race. Different from NASCAR, the Olympics, horse racing and plenty vehicular competitions out there. The phenomenon never escaped as I climbed higher in age brackets. Games and films both share a wonderful quality to capture something different, and unique. We gaze and transport ourselves into a fictional world to our liking, dislike and nuances in between. Exploring, discovering, being lost, trails connecting pieces of lore. And starting anew, reborn with the knowledge gained. A gratifying cycle emerges. I can’t escape. But do I need to? Hmmm…

Capturing the immediate and prolonged interest of any individual varies. The dullness I experienced initially reversed course upon investing additional time. Helped by a strong point. Every 22 minutes a [censored] occurs. [Re%^&*ing] my character with intact launch codes. And crucial wisdom gained previously. Ready to start another venture. I wasn’t enthused on the mechanic early on. But after hours passed by unnoticed, I realized it's an innovative narrative helper. Demonstrating the consequences of our historical actions and what methods we can induce next. Not adhering to strictly player-centric design. The state of everything continues with or without our actions and causes self-reflection. The last point is significant. I’ll touch on it later as I dive into the process of elimination and frustration. On the opposite side, I calmly steered my cruiser to another location since the previous place scared me enough to not travel back there till I scrounged up extra courage. I traveled to a decently fast-moving object which I didn’t think was possible. Landed surprisingly safely. I was riding high on the accomplishment. Until I came upon an old recording. Turns out an ancient civilization left their findings! I learned a clue and after checking what I could, which isn’t a whole lot. I return to my vessel. Only to witness it’s not there! I recall what my translator deciphered revealing the cause. I facepalmed not registering the different data prior to later. I promptly yeeted myself into the sun to restart. What a horrible 2nd try. On my third attempt, I traveled to a fresh site.

You know the idiomatic expression the third time's the charm? Well let me tell you how it's true. I can’t dive into specifics of what I saw. In terms of relatability and vibes, I found it breathtaking. An animated film I still love today is called Treasure Planet(2002). A story about a young lad coming across stories of a cool wandering pirate with the ability to disappear with nary a trace. To the point he has amassed a great treasure. Enchanted by his tales, he resolves to follow in similar footsteps. I won’t discuss anymore, but if you splice the movie with Interstellar(2014)’s planetary discovery, with displayed awe in both protagonist's facial expressions. Then you can figure out what my face turned into. The sentiment is unsurpassed and instantly hooked me to delve deeper into the cosmos and what mysteries to unearth, understand, and utilize to the fullest extent. The magic of discovering other passages connecting to clues and answering my questions left me satisfied to a greater degree I would equate to circumspect. A notion I love to bits when connecting wonderful lorebuilding.

“Hmmm. I don't appreciate disclosing the exact minutes, but I'm happy he at least censored the important bits. To leave fresh greenies their own imagination.”

Gently smiling. The assistant silently passes the 4th transcript. Wondering if it was a trick of their eye, but they swear a slight smirk instantly emerged before vanishing. A blink if you miss it event.

Log 4 - For now a little step. Later, a giant leaps for lorebuilding

The fourth spot I journeyed to I would equate to a familiar segment from Interstellar(2014) except mixed with an animated film called Titan A.E(2000). Both deal in matters of heavy topics I won’t spoil. But it is deep and conjures mature themes. Enhancing OW’s careful lore building. Mirrors similar human fascination with space and what can we glean from minute information given to us using advanced technology. Using a suit and gadgets helps us to create a better picture. Although it can be hypothetical we can at least infer with evidence and prove claims. Therefore, I can’t help but smile whilst I'm reading texts of dialogue again where previously I thought was boring.

The genius of worldbuilding worth its salt is the ability to strongly capture an individual’s attention and let the user form their conclusions based on information given from religion, culture, laws, physics, and other info. There's merit in connecting. In video games, we discern this through dialogue given by NPCs and books we can read. Two elements work in tandem to enrich the player beyond the main plot. For better or worse, we identify an excess and perhaps too little in some cases. Here, a careful methodology concerning the non-handholding story and vital lore texts emerges. Maximized to the fullest effect I'm astounded to witness from a non-RPG. And I’ve played a decent amount removing the RPG element. What blows my mind further is the placement of lore exercised to the fullest limit. Knowledge is extremely instrumental in conducting further actions. Thereby the primary strengths result in the varied text. Ancients in humorous stories and hobbies full of quirks yet it doesn’t detract from their passion in their craft. Goals, missions, incentives, and purpose all become linked and shared. Far from piling an ever-stuffing pinata or treated to a plate made by a five-star restaurant. Rather familiar... a certain fella I watched growing up from Discovery channel. Dr. Michio Kaku who can break complex terms into explanations like I'm five format. With a dash of compelling interest. Then cooked to an extent I'm savoring the taste. With the power of my handy ship reports, I can connect lore automatically. Arrows lead me to my next destination based on evidence previously. And data entries compiling alternative bits to complete an informational packet. Categorized, neatly in concise portions of longer post-it notes. It is a miniature, but effective companion twisting the noggins in my brain not too hard unlike the Talos Principle. Disregard thinking it could be a chore. Quite the opposite.

Throwing out conventional design. From coding to world-building- constructing a trail that is rich, emotive helped by sound design, and purposeful. Yet it does not retain the intrinsic building blocks we usually associate with storytelling; the character ‘A,’ will detail information to us to character ‘B.’ We read text records instead. Some may see this as boring as hell as did I, early on. But stick with it, and you will see the splendor of their capabilities. The genius and creativity of the writings revolve back to the narrative, the curiosity. Then the question arises. What is the underlying incentive that moves the participant so much to continue? I’ll answer that by pointing to the sky beyond our planet and asking “What lies beyond outer space? And what else can we derive from there?” The incentives look plain, but usher in a tug-of-war gently luring me into the mystery and eating the delicious carrot. And it's funny because my philosophy teacher posited multiple questions to extrapolate from anything similar to the pursuit of education, and the limits of our current understanding of science. He used a pencil as an example. Why is it sharp? Why is the material wood? Can it be broken? What is the eraser made of? How long does it take to create a single pencil? What’s the cost? Why am I using a pencil instead of a pen? These questions can be applied coming across each concept or tangible stuff during a sweep in OW. Yet it doesn’t become a chore to look underneath every nook and cranny. Purpose and clues which lead to further clues and discoveries in a cyclical manner rewarding the patient and observer. Listening and understanding are key component blocks in understanding things greater than we initially perceive. Lean into the minimalistic design without being overbearing. There is enough to ride the fine line of not extracting over-complicated to the point of excess. And I 100% believe 99% of everything here is gold. Loan Verneau(Other designer) emphasizes the characteristics from a 2020 Noclip documentary.. “Minimalism is actually advantageous.”

“Boss, here’s some grub. You should eat ya know.”

“Yeah yeah don’t worry, I'll eat when I finish chronicle 5. Don’t worry.”

The assistant turns around, rolls his eyeballs around, and cheekily smirks as he watches his employer avidly reading more entries. He nonetheless hands him the fifth log.

Log 5 - Secrets, have secrets. And the critical usage of tools

Much in a minuscule vein of the Marvel Cinematic Universe(MCU) Avenger films, there’s always a layer behind a character or plot and usually you can apply the concept to films and videogames in reading behind the scenes or underneath the underneath. Underlying messages, themes, and possibly commentary on a variety of issues without implicitly being said. OW operates similarly. I follow breadcrumbs, I learn additional details, shifting the layers of my comprehension from literal, non-literal, lateral, etc. A delicate move that eases youngins and removes the over-complicated. Toeing the very fine edge of a black hole. Not descending entirely, but enough to make me struggle. My thinking process was in overdrive to determine various possible links. Frustration and impatience emanated from my head. Almost to the point I wanted to put this as a negative. But taking a deep breath, re-evaluating my options, the process of elimination, and a cool head kept my logical process running smoothly and not overheating such as a PC.

I hesitate to call this a 'puzzle' cause it's not. In the vein of Portal & Talos Principle. Where it is clear and linear of what you have to do. Definitely puzzle inspired. Elements through the environment in a non-intrusive manner. Designed in a way to be beginner-friendly yet as you gradually hit the end credits slowly ramp up. Not too cryptic and not too direct. Easy to connect the dots in my opinion. Forgive me for not enclosing the exact method or describing further, once again spoiler territory. But if you enjoy those ‘puzzles’ I mentioned earlier, then probably the process is favorable of how the developers implemented here. Tying to the lore and narrative. Enriching my overall experience, akin to pursuing an oasis in the desert after days of not eating or drinking. I was hungry, thirsty, and ravenous to continue. Here’s a hint, use the rumor and ship records to help you pinpoint possible solutions. It may not matter much early on but try to make it a habit to check. The results will surely surprise you.

Moreover, the tools gained are used to the fullest effect. You can attain most of them by equipping your suit. But also don’t forget about them! I can’t track the countless occasions I died forgetting to equip my gear. Don’t be a silly fool like me. Remember! It’s dangerous to go alone! Take this! A special craft, jetpack, scouter, translator, signalscope, A reliable suit equipped with an oxygen tank and fuel for the jets! You’ll need these essential tools before descending on new ground. Lest you die of lack of oxygen heh. The tools are a nice fusion mixing into the raw fun immediately. In expected and unexpected ways. I lost sight of my liner. Heh easy peasy, I use my jetpack to jettison slightly into the atmosphere where I can behold an overview of the planet I'm currently on. And it's fun wrestling with different forces of gravity. A past memory allowed me to soar freely, enjoying the freedom of zero-g. And testing the effects of denser gravity life. Is a super struggle to jump a mere foot. Such careful implementation, where physics and movement are acted upon deserves special praise. Always fun to test out various gravitational fields and actively maneuvering my ship based on my momentum is satisfying by demonstrating you can’t easily become a master with enough tools and tricks at your disposal. Revolves back to always something fresh to learn and discover and using that knowledge is priceless.

Navigation I found to my pleasant surprise isn’t tough. To me, I found the experience easy to get a sense of orientation to decide your ensuing travel destination. Helped by the fact you have your globe compass. Thankfully entire locations are not absurdly complex. Plenty of locations are developed with care. Distinct enough to stand on its own. Standing in the middle of nowhere, you undoubtedly easily find themselves lost on where to forge next! Well, my friend the signalscope is a radar, compass, and a handy sound detector. Simply following the source can lead to incredible discoveries! A reliable suit can protect you from various hazards so keep an eye on your health! It’s not just the vastness of the unknown that can be scary. I’m reminded of the warning Stephen Hawking once said regarding alien civilization. Maybe that will help or not. Who knows… Anyway! You should use the scouter. While it seems useless in the beginning to throw a pocket-size machine out in the distance rendering images such as mobile Mars rovers. Invaluable in checking out what’s in the distance. You rarely know what kind of matter you’ll come across. If safe to land, dangerous terrain to traverse, hell the additional light source emanating is vital in scouting too! In the darkest of moments, I determine solace in the illumination. Lastly, a handy translator to decipher old texts. Minus this little guy, I probably would’ve quit entirely! A tool to transcribe what was said long ago. Man. Wish we had this for our main cast back in Arrival(2016).

“Arrival is a damn fantastic film! A must watch along with the other sci-fi films touched on.”

“I agree, boss. Weird they haven’t watched Kubrick’s famous space film. Think he could’ve had substance to articulate about him.”

“True, perhaps they have not watched the film yet… Shame.

“Best of the best… Ah, here's the latest text.”

Log 6 - It's okay to make mistakes. History is full of them

I believe one of the hardest and maybe underappreciated qualities is to capture the attention of an individual for a prolonged period depending on the fun factor. Overcoming obstacles, finding new treasures, discovering secrets, winning against an opponent completing an objective, and my favorite is learning supplementary erudition that can be used retroactively to encounter alternate paths and solutions to obstacles. A slice different from metroidvanias with required items/abilities to progress. Similar, but different from how a rogue-lite conducts after failure. Operates by handing you enough necessary devices, not ability-gating, but sending them off at their own pace is an immensely enjoyable endeavor. 'If you can go there, you can reach it.'

But also exhibit a manageable learning curve. Thereby allowing astronauts and astralfarers to continue unabated without major insurmountable hurdles. A phenomenal example is akin to Mario falling into the abyss and we restart immediately is a simple and earliest example. Here the presence of failure and not giving up is palpable. Embracing mistakes can often lead to interesting outcomes. Making the most of what you can do within a limited ordeal reminded me heavily of my recent trip to Japan. Where I tried to do the most of what I could physically do while staying within ‘x’ amount of days. You have to embrace the logistics and persevere to rise above average motions to do as much as possible. Granted you don’t have to follow the ideology to a T. I love doing whatever you want at your leisure.

My experience in Japan was a proverbial light-bulb in parallel history of what I conducted. I didn’t come to this realization til dozens of attempts of failing, dying, and befuddlement. Concerning the failed attempts. I stand and try again. It is why I appreciate the [blank] loop occurring within 22 minutes clever. Sure a restart is feasible, but considering the full breadth is not player-centric. Enough distinct events occur within a small time frame. I won’t bring out anything explicit. But this core facet is a robust pillar holding up what makes OW remarkable. I’m reminded of the Apollo program to reach the moon after a world superpower equivalent entered the race by sending Yuri Gagarin as the first person to fly in past our blue home. Countless citizens of the Liberty Nation felt fear of being left behind. I was never born during that era, but the texts in history books detail the significance greatly of landing on the moon. The sensation of rivalry, anxiety, feasibility, capability, and what if’s are borne fruit within the OW project. How many adventures will my tiny craft be able to exert? Before I redo the whole start again? What untouched goals can I scrounge aside from virtually landing on my moon? Can I fulfill my mission parameters? And most importantly why am I doing this myself?

As a student and lover of world history: encompassing socio, technological, cultural, and countless others. Fascinating to grasp, but also our experiments to blast outside our atmosphere. The simulator has an alluring way of increasing my curiosity constantly. By approaching early interstellar travel through a museum. You don’t need to understand everything inside, but I find what’s displayed enchanting. Unseen creatures cute but terrifying. Text writing given in an untraditional manner. Artifacts changing senses of physical orientation and the mysterious Nomai talked in reverent tones leave me intrigued for new material. Teasing me, luring me to learn extra. It's lovely, the devs managed to send me into a similar fascination I had long ago as a young lad. I was enthused on entire interstellar matters and reliving the experience now. In a distinguishable manner by actively transforming a viewer's perspective into that of an active participant. “I read tales of cosmos history” takes on a whole new meaning when I traveled to the “moon and beyond.”

Despite my slight struggle in the beginning. The journey is bloody significant it in my honest opinion. It's up to you to decide the methodology a journey will advance. They say ignorance is bliss. And knowledge is power. Blah blah blah. Entertain the two notions and subsequently witness a slow, but gripping plot of pioneers embarking on treacherous expeditions and meritwhile voyages. Embracing the unknown like a partner steadily balancing their fear on a tightrope. To what end? Up to you! For what awaits fellow travelers mainly a wonderful trek to the stars.

Log 7 - My Mixed Feelings is Zero, as I Expected

I’ll be frank. I have zero mixed feelings. No negative nitpicks, and frustrations were due to the fact of my inability to jump the gun and Rambo my way to the credits. A shameful bad habit I still have trouble deterring myself from. Although, I’m glad I played until I finished the final act. The lesson I gently reminded is exercising a lesson in patience. Breathing deeply and re-focusing on my priorities whilst undergoing a process of elimination. Determining what I haven’t explored and what I couldn’t pass before, but with extra information gained. Surely I can do what I was unable to before. The backtracking wasn’t a sore spot. And sure the beginning can be slow, but I believe it's worth delving into to understand fully the tutorials. Gently nudging the player through the do’s and don’ts of star travel and the dangers that come in your travels. I’m at a sheer loss to add anything concrete regarding suggestions and I cannot for the life of me conjure meaningful examples. Everything is self-contained and at your disposal to succeed. Mayhap a gentle reminder that self-reflection is key and organizing your next list of priorities transitions into an easier task to undergo were vital to remember. Here’s a tip reviewing what you already accomplished might bring a different insight. Keep notes my friends!

“Kid already left huh? Damn. My is stomach hungry. But that can wait. I have naught urge to eat nor sleep right now.”

“Funny, I too experienced the same feelings after I entered the organization.”

Log 8 - Stories & mysteries. A positive appraisal

I always love heavy stories. It's the primary reason I look for within the medium. Everything else 2nd. So I'm extremely shocked to play a title where the plot is [redacted] in a way I didn’t expect. I’m no stranger to storytelling methods of unreliable narrators, ludo narrative dissonance, and connecting essential literary elements to craft a compelling plot. A climax full of importance and gawking. Supposedly with a loveable cast as well. I received none of these yet achieved an indescribable experience using a non-traditional progression. Which I find enormously challenging to describe in minute details. Within the confines of the simulator, I encountered many memories I don’t believe I'll forget. A stack I reminisce fondly. An aspect, so moving is a solid top quality. Ever seen any seven wonders on Earth? Or presumably some iconic nature-made landscape to leave you breathless? Same energy! In my struggle, all that's left are the sensations conjured during the moment and everlasting memories. Usually, players detail the conclusion as the ultimate moment. Others, the journey. And for a certain side the beginning. As I take my final steps into the end credits I can chiefly remark that everything is priceless, precious, and potent passion resonating to my very heart.

“Yes, I do agree the overarching story has incredible value striving towards. It's enormously challenging to display in a raw form. But I sincerely and wholeheartedly agree with their assessment.”

“Oh man, two left. Nights getting late… I have work in the morning... Meh I'll keep reading.”

Log 9 - Tips, hints, and a single weird outlier- A confession and the choice

Despite what I said early on with having zero mixed feelings I will confess to using a FAQ and hint guide near the very last stretch of my playthrough. I won’t say specifics. I primarily missed two things but I already knew beforehand and the execution. I simply missed the diminutive connection. This isn’t advocating to check FAQ or a guide. Merely suggesting if you need help. Or contacting a close friend. A blind playthrough is still highly recommended. However, this doesn’t deter me from gently conveying if you’re struggling to be careful of spoiling yourself on YouTube or a harmful thumbnail blatantly showing what to expect. It is extremely rare I would resort to such a tactic considering 99%, I found everything by myself and I suspect if I hadn't checked I would’ve eventually found the answer. I don't think there’s harm in searching for hints/tips since its impossible for every person to be on the same wavelength in understanding and processing logical thinking. It's why we don’t notice universal praise 100% of the time and barely to none flaws in every single product made. There’s always something to remark.

“Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I’ll give their assessment a valid shake. It's honestly impossible to make a program and run to the finish line. Hitting the mark consistently. Playing blind to successfully reaching the ending every instances without help. The ultimate undertaking is still not within our capability. But by fine-tuning it we can achieve a close number to the triple digits. I believe Noclip demonstrates the history and the multiple developmental iteration stages in getting there. Seems the work was very challenging, but worth it. Cool guys. Was nice watching behind the scenes.”

“Oh. The last texts…”

Log 10 - The Final Log

I think the testament to a magnificent quality is the ability to grab anyone from any reasonable age and outside of searching for auxiliaries fully explore and in their understanding comprehend what is given. To an extent where the player deeply appreciates what is conveyed through memorable experiences, deep themes and reigniting a blazing heart of what makes videogames so moving. In neither too complex nor too simple aspects. Rather it strives to hit every range in the spectrum to capture the essence of what I feel is the zenith of pure discovery, supreme wonder, and incredible satisfaction through the act of accomplishment. At the very core, the devs toe the fine line to the point of frustration. Excelling in qualities I look for. And punches its weight limit beyond the super heavyweight class. Heck, shooting for 100% isn’t required either! You don’t need to worry on performance achievements. They're akin to extra credit points. A relief in my eyes. Thereby lodging a wonderfully thoughtful fun loop that keeps me coming back frequently until the final track is conveyed. Danny O'Dwyer, from Noclip puts it in the best way possible.

“...Outer Wilds is more than the sum of its parts. It's the type of game that leaves you with a feeling that can’t be explained. It has to be experienced.”

I echo the same sentiment. The herculean effort the developers at Mobius Digital created is truly one of a kind. Infrequently have I played a science fiction type hitting utterly the things I love and fear from the cosmos yet contained in a moving revolving door of themes tiny and grand. I found the grand finish line of my expeditions. Sure there were bumps on the road to get there. But OW travelers experiences hardship differently and manages to resolve them in a method to their satisfaction. For me. The venture was arduous yet left me with a marvelous sense of immense satisfaction. A sensation anyone knows intimately. Whether it's to defeat the most difficult boss, triumph over the hardest puzzle, climb the tallest pillar, or journey a thousand miles whilst completing many mini-challenges. The same feeling never escapes. The moment of victory, the HUZZAH always reigns supreme. A phenomenal caliber reverberates in spades beyond my imagination. Always surprised me to the nth degree yet ne'er blew my suspension of disbelief into a catastrophic supernova. Elevating by not prescribing to conventional designs. Connecting the sweet Chekov’s gun beautifully comparable to an intricate web. Whereupon I was helplessly comprehending every morsel of lore and thus achieved a peak Everest of worldbuilding. Through gaining knowledge. And harnessed to the maximum effect. Removing egregious copy paste areas. This wasn’t the largest universe I’ve explored, nor the prettiest graphically nor does it contain a tour de force soundtrack and an always gripping plot to unearth coupled with a loveable cast. Doesn’t hit the limit of fun gameplay. Outer Wilds is none of these. Yet the sum of its parts as Danny eloquently said earlier along with playing as blind as possible are the hallmarks benefiting an increased multiplier to the X degree. Tying the above to excellent points by a duct tape machine and launching my ship to uncharted territory is an unparalleled impression.

I implore any curious souls looking for an excellent sci-fi space adventure such as this as a one hell of a wake up palette cleanser to try between games, game pass, or even if they had an experience a stark contrast to mine then that’s entirely fair and valid. What matters is how your journey started, during, and ended. What you find at the closing of the day is the sincerest conclusion you reached with both hands and mind. Literally and figuratively. For better or worse. The cosmos exists, but so do we. And thus we venture forth to the stars. Undeterred, unbowed, and unflinchingly in the face of its daunting expanse, striving past our normal means. Similar in some respects to a tiny excerpt from a famous speech proposed decades ago.

.
.
.

"Oh by the way Boss. I have something to report-"

The assistant gradually opens the door to the office. There he spies his superior sleeping soundly in the chair snoring softly. Peering closer he witnesses the final log close to his chest.

He sighs softly and gathers a jacket nearby to drape over him. But in doing so, a light object falls to the ground.

A piece of paper.

“Oh for me?”

The assistant reads the confines slowly. Eyes growing wider as paragraphs fly by until...

A single final line…

10/10 - Get me their number. We need to talk.

References and additional material:
1962 - JFK Moon speech
2020 - The Making of Outer Wilds - Documentary by Noclip
Before I play: Outer Wilds - Useful tips!
Spoiler safe FAQ - literally saved my bacon. No joke
My spoiler thoughts of Outer Wilds
Special thanks to Hotpoppah, _YALP & Phantasm for recommending OW to me.

Purify the Blight
Story

Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights starts with you the player controlling a young female priestess. Lily, who unfortunately has no memories of the events prior. And yet she embarks on a mission to purify the kingdom of Land’s End where all of the inhabitants have been turned into Blighted.

It is a tough task to ask of one so young, but she’s not alone in her journey. A stalwart knight spirit joins her in the beginning, to fight the battles she can’t. The duo isn’t all alone, however. As you progress in the game you will gain the ability to bind more spirits to your cause and help Lily as she purifies the land.

Stay Back, Let the Spirits Handle it
Gameplay

Gameplay in Ender Lilies follows in a 2D Metroidvania Action RPG structure. So you go off into this world with your knight. Defeat bosses, Gain new allies and abilities which can help you backtrack to old areas and overcome obstacles in locations you couldn’t access before.

Inaccessible areas you can’t access are easy to identify with the map system. So you don’t need to worry about remembering the exact place you couldn’t go to previously. I found it very refreshing to go back to previous locations and clean up the area properly. There is even a nifty feature where the map will be colored to let players know there are no more items left in the area.

The flow of combat is satisfying in that you don’t personally fight. You fight by having your spirits that accompany you do the work. Primarily offensive abilities. Your knight will slash enemies with his sword. Another can bash enemies away with a great hammer, one useful spirit can even continuously swing her wrecking ball to smash enemies. It should be noted there are a great many spirits to equip throughout the game. Not just the main bosses. Lesser spirits you may come across can give you their aid in battle. So there’s no shortage of spirits to choose from.

Some abilities you earn from bosses can be used indefinitely while others have a limited amount. You can raise the limit by equipping certain relics which can increase the number of spirits used.

Speaking of relics. There are a bunch to find in the game and each of them can change your status in a myriad of ways. Some are basic like increasing health, attack, and movement. But others like prayer usage increase, a new sp gauge, more experience, among others are really useful. I played around using different kinds of relics. So if you’re having trouble beating a boss, perhaps changing your relic setup might be needed.

There is no penalty for dying. So you don’t need to worry about losing your currency to upgrade spirits.

Finding Hope in a Melancholy World
Final thoughts

Didn’t experience any bugs or crashes throughout my 16-hour playthrough to see everything the game has to offer.
On the criticisms I could say for the game. There’s not much, to be frank. The gameplay was tight and I didn’t have any problems with the combat, tutorial, or navigation. Perhaps, if I were to say something it would have to be giving players more of a direction on what to do to get the last ending. Since I had to look up a guide/walkthrough to know how to get the last ending. And two bosses could’ve been tweaked a bit further to make it slightly less difficult. I could include more, but those are just nitpicking and not worth saying.

I feel all the mechanics and features in the game work well. The music synergizes excellently with the dark fantasy atmosphere permeating throughout the world. The plot is intriguing and doesn’t move too fast for the player to catch up. The pacing felt right. And combat and sheer viciousness of it upon impacting enemies feel satisfying. Didn’t need to grind in the game at all. Environment, bosses, and enemy design are wonderfully crafted to the point I can’t help but stare in disgust as well as admire the art of it.

The game didn’t capture my attention immediately. It took some time, but slowly I was brought on board. To see what happens to Lily in the end, see whether or not she can regain her memories and if she can succeed in her endeavor to purify the land of Blight along with her knight. It’s not something I'd ask a very young individual to do. But her unique ability to gather spirits as allies caught my attention. And seeing her continue to stand against countless adversity and persevere is something worth looking into.

For those looking for a different Metroidvania to sink your teeth into. One with a unique premise, tight controls, an amazing soundtrack, satisfying combat, and easy to understand user interface. Perhaps Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights might just be the game to kindle your interest.

Score: 8.5/10

I never thought I would return to 3 Hopes after completing 1 route. Since I was so burned out after finishing one path. But here I am after completing the other two and I have to say, 3 Hopes is a welcome return to the continent of Fodlan, seeing familiar and new faces among the Three Houses crowd.

Battling enemies in the usual turn-based engagements? Nope! 3 Hopes operates as a hack-and-slash RPG. More specifically, the musuo-like kind. You also control a new protagonist. Shez. A run-of-the-mill mercenary with strange abilities. It will be up to you to choose which house to ally with. Like in the previous game, 3 Hopes also features 3 main routes to play through. This review was only possible after I finished all three routes. Since I felt making a review when I had only beaten one path, didn't sit well with me.

Anyway, let's begin.

Gameplay is a major shift from the turn-based nature of Fire Emblem. Here, you'll be fighting in a musuo-like gameplay of hack and slash. Elements from the franchise are integrated relatively well. Using terminology from the series and implementing different unit classes having a variety of different professions from lancer, ax, sword, bow, brawler, and mage. Each main weapon class leads to different classes and different abilities. There is even an element of base-building for your base camp. Which provides a nice way to upgrade your equipment. The game is pretty much what if Fire Emblem is a hack-and-slash? A weird thought, but strangely enough it works here, to some extent.

For the most part, I love the change in gameplay to an action hack-and-slash compared to a turn-based game. You get right into the thick of things by decimating countless mobs and eliminating your enemies up close and personally. Didn’t feel bored utilizing different abilities and units to keep the battles fresh. There is impact and it never gets old commanding your allied units for an all-out offensive. The feeling is euphoric and it is awesome watching your army mow down the baddies right alongside you.

However, the same objectives and S-rank requirements got old real quick since you cannot innovate much to keep the battles fresh constantly. Sidequests & paralogues, in particular, do try to reinvent the wheel in some way. Yet, they still conform back to the old formula of killing ‘x’ units within a time limit, Defeat ‘x’ unit, oh wait extra reinforcements, oh here complete this side-mission while you go into battle. Artillery firing at your units? Please eliminate. Enemy forces calling for reinforcements? Stop them from executing an action. Here are some new reinforcements to add to the battle for you to tackle and defend your bases. Oh, you thought the main story quest ends? No way! Here’s another enemy you have to defeat. This formula becomes tiresome to complete again and again. And when you thought you killed an enemy. Psyche. I'm going to retreat until the plot forces me to die. Sure there are several approaches in store for you like escorts, special-type monsters, conquering key strongholds to move closer to your map, etc. But it is not enough.

I feel the game could’ve been more innovative to keep the combat formula from being dull. It's fine in the beginning and middle acts, but once you do a lot of missions, the combat gets stale. And trust me, I’ve finished all paralogues in one route, every single thing I could fight on the map, extra sidequests, extra limited-time quests to completion. Skipped several in the end, due to realizing they offer no real benefit to me. But for the most part, I'd say 95-98% of all missions I completed for the Black Eagle route.

I skipped the filler battles in the other routes using a vanguard whistle which is an absolute godsend. You don’t need to fight every battle. Using the whistle allows the player to auto-complete the battle on the world map. Thereby, skipping the process instantly. Why the heck wasn’t this item available in your first route? Honestly would’ve helped lessen the tedium and rinse-and-repeat battles.

Granted I get it is a Musou Fire Emblem. So I can’t expect great expectations. But it would’ve been nice to have a stellar musou-like game that knocks all areas out of the ballpark. And for me, I feel the element of reusing the same objectives, some maps, and enemies being the same could have been done better. Two specific enemies, in particular, are reused more than several times. This becomes especially egregious when reinforcements are the same enemy types with no real distinct features to differentiate them. Same enemy combat class again and again.

Artificial intelligence, for comrades at least, is decent but could be better. Many times during a battle, I had to micromanage units to attack an enemy then once they were done. My ally will sit in that same spot. Even when I have them set to attack. Orders would’ve been nice for them to follow through. For example, after defeating an enemy, move to a nearby enemy commander. If a player-controlled unit falls below 50% health, tell the healer to heal them. Prioritize map objectives over killing a single enemy.

Continuing on with S rank requirements I feel there is a missed opportunity to do extra. Like erasing the whole concept of s-rank. And only set different requirements such as: Manage 500 hits. Use ‘x’ warrior specials. Cannot use a single healing item during battle. No dodging. No switching to a different unit. Female/Male characters only. Use a single unit only. Use certain classes only. Fight with only disadvantaged units. And so much more I could list. Heck, the handicap battles you fight in each chapter, the developers could’ve taken handicap battles and implemented some of those handicaps for S-rank requirements. Instead, we are left with killing “xxx’ units by ‘x’ time while taking “xx%” damage.

One thing that I immensely enjoyed was strategies. At the end of a chapter, you will have to face the final chapter battle and it is here and only in this battle can you implement strategies. Various parameters can weaken the enemy, from giving your army reinforcements, allies to heal, units to protect, or special units to advance on the enemy, magic bombardment, special formations, and unique types I won’t get into because that's spoiler territory. But suffice it to say, I was very satisfied with how the developers implemented strategies to work in favor to spice up every final story battle in a chapter. These parameters you can activate greatly turn the tide of battle and can lead to one of Fire Emblem’s aspects of making a unit join you. Some strategies can even be unlocked by completing filler battles on the world map. So it pays to finish everything on a map to unlock more strategies.

Support conversations are such a relief, and a delight to see the Three Houses cast again. Which expands and greatly answers some lingering questions I had in the past game. And while this entry is contained in an alternate timeline. Pretty much all support conversations I’ve seen are an extension of what occurred in Three Houses or some cases provide much-needed context into a character’s background or relationship with other characters. It's one of the biggest backbones the game has to offer. And I laughed so hard in one conversation. Amused in some, puzzled in others, gained much-needed insight into the relationships and backgrounds of characters I rarely use, and broke a smile during moments of wholesome and endearing moments. The game also had plenty of quality-of-life enhancements like fast traveling to any unit, location, and building making it easy to get to the unit you need. Along with seeing current support levels with any unit during any activity requiring the two of them. This feature is a godsend in particular due to not needing to go back and check which unit is currently at a certain rank and then back to the food hall in FE3H.

My playthrough lasted over 93 hours and to be frank without the support conversations, I feel that number could’ve been cut by more than half if I didn’t pay attention to grinding for these conversations between my units as much as I possibly can. A buddy of mine took over 130 hours to complete all paths in the game. So your times may vary depending on how much or little you do in your base.

Storywise. Each route felt distinct enough with cool cutscenes, sweet character development with each house leader, and more. And each path had enough content to interest you further. However, each route did use a bit of copy-paste formula. Leaving me a sense of samey vibes a bit. But this occurred mainly in the middle ground of each path. The game makes up for this by displaying scenes you wouldn't otherwise see in each route. So if a major event is glossed over in one route, you will see the full extent in another route. Which makes comparisons between each path easier to conjure the bigger picture. While I do have some reservations about each route, the final act is a pay-off, I looked forward to. Could it have been better? Certainly, but the game accomplishes this in a manner I find good enough.

Overall, I feel 3 Hopes is a decent FE spin-off game. Could be better regarding objectives, AI, map design and a bit on the plot of each route. Nonetheless, the excellent support conversations, adequate base-building, and character conversations hold the game up strong. The soundtrack is fantastic and I love the new arrangements and new tracks. Especially the leitmotif dropping here and there. I feel the game does justice in some ways to three houses in that if you’re looking for more of the world of Fodlan you’ll find that here. Some plot points which were left unanswered there are answered here. So. If you’re looking for more Fire Emblem Three Houses content. And don’t mind the shift to action rpg hack and slash. Look no further than Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes. I hope you’ll like it just as I did. And if not, well that’s fine too.

8/10

Playing this entry after I played Armored Core For Answer is such a wild feeling. Since, I officially started the series with Armored Core 2 and have enjoyed all of the entries up to For Answer. Well… except Nine-Breaker, but that’s a story for another day. And so when I started to play Armored Core V. I wondered if I would enjoy this entry too. And is it worth playing for newcomers?

And the answer is very mixed…

First off, your mech is bulky and can’t fly high to the sky anymore like in past entries and the game maintains a mech altitude closer to the ground. If you want to go at a higher altitude you need to wall boost your way, by repeatedly jumping onto buildings.

Certainly, you can customize your AC with light parts, light load, and a big generator with a low-consumption booster. In becoming more mobile. But it's just not the same as the previous titles due to the other added features which I'll go into.

Controlling your AC, especially at the start, feels clunky and slow throughout the game. I even completed all the story and optional order missions and still felt that to some extent. I did update my build more than several times to see any difference or if my feelings would shift.

And upon reflection, they adjusted once I tried to see these new developments under different lenses and thematically I think it does work to some extent. Combat feels a bit more personal since you’re mostly fighting in cities and other open areas in a wasteland. But mostly the former than the latter. And it feels better winning close encounters with an AC than battling them from far away.

However, there are just too many changes here I did not like. Such as the implementation of online modes. But I can’t even access the online features since the servers are down which is a shame. I think there are some workarounds to it for pc and emulation, but I’m not sure on that front.

Moving on. Making scan mode mandatory to recover energy at a faster rate, seeing objective routes and the inability to attack is a weird compromise to make the gameplay more tactical. But I ultimately felt it was bothersome and distracted me from fighting. Even when I could activate and deactivate it at a moment's notice. The mechanic seems a bit weird to use and while I appreciate some moments for it. I just didn't like utilizing the feature throughout my playthrough.

I also didn’t like the multiple resistances here you have to remember. Its too complicated playing rock, paper, scissors, further confusing newcomers and perhaps veterans like me in wondering why my weapons aren’t effective. So it sucks when you’re already on a mission and can’t complete it because you don’t have the right weapon to be more effective in damaging the enemy. Sure you have workshop sites to change parts, but good luck changing that when you're facing off an enemy AC and can't find a workshop site available. And you can't enter a site if enemies are nearby. So these new elements are more of a chore.

Aside from these mixed feelings, I do have with the game. I do appreciate some other new changes like sorties. Which allows the player to restart from a saved checkpoint within story missions. This is a feature I super love and makes redoing missions less of a frustration and more of an easier way to retry attempts.

In addition to that, I love how you can go to multiple workshop sites in the game to replenish ammo, modify parts and recover your health. For a small price. It goes up as I consecutively use more workshop sites while in story missions. So it's very nice to diversify your build midway through a mission instead of having to do that each time before you head into battle.

The soundtrack is fire and demonstrates mechanized warfare for Armored Core standards to a T. Where fights are a bit more visceral and up close. And tracks becoming triumphant but also somber. Fitting for the game’s storyline to be so grimdark, dangerous, and full of chaos.

And the order missions are good, sometimes dropping lore bits and more since these missions take place after the main story. So you have 83 missions to dig into. All with different mission parameters ranging from defeating enemy ACs, destroying all enemy units, completing the mission within a time limit, and more.

Story is decent. Being serviceable and I like the villains here since they ooze personality.

So in the end is Armored Core V worth playing still?

A bit of a yes, a bit of a no. There are too many modifications this entry does which I didn’t appreciate at the end which makes combat a bit of a mess to enjoy and doesn’t leave a good first impression I think.

I still enjoyed my time with the game to some extent. I just wish the multiple resistances, scan mode, and online feature being implemented so heavily are tweaked or removed. Resistances just remove that. Or keep it simple to one not multiple. For scan mode. Make it so you can attack and tweak the overlay a bit to allow that or remove it and allow route markers to happen naturally. And allow some online modes playable with ai.

If you’re looking for another Armored Core entry by Fromsoftware to sink your teeth into since you already played the past entries, then I give a shaky thumbs up for this entry. And for newcomers I am hesitant to recommend this entry and would point you to Armored Core 4 or Armored Core: For Answer. Heck, I would even go so far as to recommend past PS2 titles like Armored Core 2, 3, or Nexus instead.


6/10

Is Atomic Heart worth your time? Let's find out.

The gunplay, crafting, and powers. Are a good mix to the gameplay providing a fresh and nice progression as you continue to become stronger. I only have mixed feelings about the role-playing progression, because it seemed like I spent a chunk of my time looting containers and enemies to upgrade my character’s abilities or my weapons. I believe a regular experience system with levels could’ve been a better alternative, but since the developers decided on a scavenge for loot, crafting & upgrading your character abilities or weapons via materials you find around the world. It is a decent attempt. I was thinking they could add reward tickets or some other equivalent to let you upgrade your weapons and character abilities. As an extra feature in the game to supplement the scavenging aspect. Like a reward system.

Moving on. I wish the game had extra vehicles because the open world felt huge and not enough vehicles to find. And when you do use a vehicle the durability is a bit low. It can take a decent amount of hits, but in my opinion, the degradation of the durability after hitting enemies feels too high. I had to avoid hitting robots to make it to my destination. And lord help me if I see a small group blocking the only path forward. I’ll have to run out of my burning vehicle after running them over. I hope the developers can fix the durability and make them withstand a bit more hits. Perhaps a 50-75% increase in toughness and I’d be satisfied and place extra vehicles around the world so you don't need to run so much. Since it feels uncommon to find one.

I kinda wish there was a quest log or at the very least, a logbook of summarized events that occurred to refresh the player on what happened so far. You can see clearly on the top left corner of your current quest, but looking through the menus, I don’t see a section for summarized events. And this is also me paying attention to the story’s narrative. The addition of a quest log or logbook could've helped players comprehend the plot a bit more. So I can see other players getting confused in the middle part of your playthrough. The beginning and final act are fine.

The game plays great when it's linear with fitting levels, but the open-world nature could use some work. I still enjoyed my time with the world of Atomic Heart. But I felt there needed to be a fast travel system in place to go back to old locations instead of driving back. Since I saw barely any drivable vehicles. Aside from that, there’s plenty of good Atomic Heart does well.

Had plenty of "Prey" the 2017 game inspiration, and gunplay with powers. Same with Fallout on alternate history. So the world-building aspect, I think, is done decently well. There are cartoons and small animations detailing custom game-overs and modded weapon demonstrations. Using a cartoonish style. Which made me appreciate the little bits.

Speaking of the level design, there are plenty of puzzles here integrated pretty well. Not so much to be a chore, but enough for you to go off the beaten path if you so desire. What I love here, rather than other games that try to half-heartedly implement puzzles by using the same one again. There is no copy-paste. You have plenty of variety to look forward to and they don’t consume much time to finish. If anything, the mini-puzzles can be completed in less than 10 seconds or less. The game goes further by including extra unique puzzles and more to complete in the optional dungeons. I won’t say any specific examples, because I feel it's best to discover them on your own. And boy I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did. I should add each puzzle I completed in the story sections didn’t reach the lengths of scratching my head constantly. All of them seem to be reasonably well-designed to not be so hard. But also not too simple.

I do have to give special praise to the optimization here. The game runs almost like a dream on my old pc with a GTX 970 card. So playing on 60 fps and getting barely dips to 30 fps during very intense action moments is a major plus in my books. Graphics options are also extensive, so you can tweak them to your preference.

Your AI glove companion Charles is pretty cool. Growing alongside P-3. And you will encounter moments in which it’ll ask you questions and you can respond to Charles with dialogue options. Honestly, my playthrough without Charles would’ve made the game boring as hell without his candid commentary and challenging P-3 at times to question the moral quandary and critical thought. This doesn’t occur commonly, but when it does oh boy does the dialogue shine.

However, the inverse of that. Are moments where I dislike the main character whenever he speaks and doesn’t consider the advice Charles gives him and will act like a stubborn jerk to what Charles advises. And this occurs frequently from the beginning to the middle of the game. And I feel the interaction between the two may make newcomers quit early on. Be that as it may, I strongly encourage anyone willing to put up with those interactions to bear with it. Because the journey and ultimately what happens in the ending is worth seeing through the first hours of a dysfunctional relationship between P-3 and Charles. Into something more. Whether or not it’s good in the end or bad. I’ll leave it up to the player. But in my case, I found their moments from the middle to the endgame worth playing through.

The beginning and endgame have an amazing presentation and do a suitable job of making you become invested in the world and the events to come. And find what layers they’re hiding beyond the objective of finding Petrov. Nonetheless, the middle of the game could lose player interest since there aren't a lot of moments that could impress players to a degree where they’ll become further invested in the story. It comes to a lull so to speak. But, I think the final act does redeem the slow middle act to refocus the player back to the main plot.

In my 17-hour playthrough with Atomic Heart, and after the end credits are rolling I think the game has a lot of charm, personality and heart. There is passion in nearly every corner from how terminals give you a nugget of lore about the world, to the not-so-dead NPCs giving you context on the facility’s day to day before chaos struck. Has over and above simple antagonist. Yes, there is stuff that could be tweaked in regards to the beginning hours of P-3 and Charles, increasing vehicle durability, and expanded car limit. A proper quest log to not lose players in the narrative. And some minor bugs here and there which the developers are already fixing.

And finally, the story I feel is in the middle of satisfactory and excellent. It’s enough to hold your interest, but I found the world, characters, and subtle political commentary more fascinating. There are moral quandary questions and candid commentary from Charles which I particularly enjoy listening to when they ask deep questions and thankfully the P-3 embraces these questions with answers I found acceptable to move him from a one-note character into a proper protagonist undergoing development. And the A.I. Charles, too.

In the end, I believe Atomic Heart is worth your time. Especially for those interested in an alternate history of the 1955 Soviet Union with robots gone awry. And a jerk of a protagonist with a great A.I. companion along for the ride. Fantastic gunplay with powers against robots and more enemies I didn’t expect. An optimized game capable of running almost flawlessly on a low to a mid-tier computer I think. Level design is great when it is linear, not so much in the open-world aspect, but still passable to me. Excellent variety of puzzles and integrated well. Rock-solid Russian soundtrack with decent voice acting for the English voice actors.

So if you like any of that. Perhaps Atomic Heart might interest you.

8/10

Front Mission Evolved is weird. Started well, but a bevy of issues kept the game’s momentum from realizing its full potential. Despite some good ideas here.

For starters. I like the Wanzer(mechs you pilot) combat. Kinda like Armored Core(AC). Except you’re mainly fighting on ground level compared to sometimes flighty combat in the AC series. Which surprised me quite a bit. But good lord there are so many things wrong here.

The characters... I wish I could say they're good... Nope. They're garbage and hold no likeability. And granted I didn't expect a great character out the gate, but I still would've liked a character who actually develops or at least in some form retain a bit of interesting personality. And I still didn't see it by the time endgame rolled around. Extremely predictable too as you progress through each Act. Of which there are five, but there are multiple missions within. Acts can take about an hour to complete more or less. Boss battles are pretty good here. Like a puzzled way to beat them and each one is different from the last. Sometimes those battles will be unfair, but re-customizing your Wanzer setup can mean the difference between victory and defeat.

The levels are alright. Early on you mainly fight on street levels. As you progress in each act they’ll take you to new mission levels where the setting changes depending on the biome. So you won’t be fighting Wanzers every day. Level designs are linear, with some leeway to collect collectibles. When you start on-foot sections those are small and have samey corridors too. There is a bit of an arcadey feeling here in that you can go replenish your Wanzer’s ammo and health. I kinda like this feature, since it allows the player to keep the momentum going. And I felt there were enough of them around to manage most levels.

I did not expect some new gameplay elements such as helicopter sections where you blast enemies to smithereens, which is also a nice way to earn income repeatedly if you’re short on cash.

And weirdly enough there are segments to fight on foot... Fighting outside your mech and having to duck behind boxes to eliminate enemies. Is… not good. Feels very janky for movement and combat making the experience not fun. On foot, enemies have basic a.i. Pop out of cover to shoot. Cover back to reload and repeat. You can use different weapons like a bazooka, SMG, shotgun, and more, but I didn’t feel the need since your setup is already powerful enough and enemies can be taken down in several shots. Honestly, the on-foot segments feel like the developers couldn’t realize the identity of the game and decided to mash different elements that feel half-baked. Can’t even try the multiplayer features since the online servers are down as far as I know. These half-measures make the single-player portion suffer and as a result, make the whole game have an identity crisis at times. I feel the developers should’ve stuck with Wanzer combat for every level and laid off on the on-foot combat and multiplayer to flesh out the single-player portion more since it does have some interesting boss fights and Wanzer customization where you can outfit your mech with different parts or weapons.

While not as intricate as Armored Core customization. I still like the developers' attempts for a lite outfit change here to equip different weapons and body parts. I just didn’t like some mission requirements where I had to equip different leg parts to start a mission. Feels forced and not very enjoyable since I wanted to outfit my Wanzer on a two-leg setup instead of a crab leg setup or the hover setup. In my opinion, removing the leg requirements would’ve allowed the player more freedom and thus made those particular missions more enjoyable than having to adjust how to use those leg setups.

The story is nothing to write home about except explosions with bigger explosions, however, I did appreciate how it held a narrative to follow from beginning to end... A narrative very thinly holding my interest. Despite the initial hook of the son trying to find his father. By endgame, all I cared about was whether the ending would redeem any of the critiques I have of the game. And sadly even that aspect failed.

There are so many things wrong here. But the Wanzer combat I feel the developers by Double Helix Games almost nails the feel of AC, but not quite there. Boss fights are interesting challenges. And Wanzer customization is the only nice things I could say about the game. And while I wish a lot of features in the game could’ve been cut and improved. The overall package feels like a janky-filled mess. I'd only recommend it for those who want to try more mecha games and for those who got the game on a solid deal.

6/10

This review of Fire Emblem Engage is going to be a bit unorthodox compared to how I usually structure my reviews. Particularly, because I don’t want to make this review longer than intended. I’ll dive into the main criticisms I have for the game then head into what the game does well.

For starters, the game does not have a lot of room to experiment with classes. And by this I mean there is a high cost at 2.5k to buy a master and second seals, to change into other classes. However, if you buy the DLC then. These seals among other items and armory items are 30% off. I find the high cost to experiment more with classes to be a detriment. There are A LOT of classes to choose from and I would’ve liked the ease to switch between any of them. The cost for either is simply too high. At 2.5k each the game simply doesn’t throw enough money at you to buy seals at your leisure. Granted the game does give you free seals sometimes when you open chests or finish a chapter, but you cannot count on either of these instances when both options are not available upon completing a chapter. Sure you can get bonus money from receiving military funds from each nation. But using them on donations seems a far better investment. By donating to a country you can see a higher gold yield in fighting skirmishes there. So your return on investment is pretty good. Although, this isn't balanced well, because you can be out of money to buy other materials you may need to upgrade weapons, buy items, healing items like vulnaries or staves first. And then what are you left with in the end? Zero money.

This leads me to another point. If the high cost is an issue then surely the game has a solution or band-aid for it right? You’re right. Except you need to pay the expansion pass for the first wave in granting you a silver card which reduces all prices in item and armory shops by 30%. Which comes out to 1750 seal price each. Which is better than having to pay 2.5k. But, the fact you have to buy the DLC to access the silver card is not a band-aid solution. It enforces a policy of buying into the expansion pass to reduce the shop prices by 30% and granting you other emblems, stat boosting items, and more. And sure some might see it as a worthy investment since you get more than you wanted as a whole package with DLC waves too. Be that as it may, it still doesn’t excuse the fact the silver card is an item exclusive to the DLC. And as far as I know you cannot obtain a silver card in the base game.

My suggestions to tweak this would be to lower seals to 1750 or lower and increase gold rewards. Whether by completing in-game story chapters or skirmishes to give a flat rate. Sure you can go up against skirmishes that drop gold. But what about normal skirmishes? In my playthrough, I had to rely on a certain character due to her skill granting me a chance for bonus gold. An increase in gold rewards and a decrease in pricing for seals would be nice. Perhaps in a patch? Well let's wait and see. Moving on.

Inheriting sp skills are too expensive for some skills. It takes 1-3k skill points to build enough for one unit and even then you may only get to inherit 1 skill right at the endgame. Sure you could pay a small amount of sp for skills below 1000 or below 3000. However, other skills can cost 4-5k. Yes, there are ways to increase sp points by using emblem skills like Great Sacrifice, and other skills. Yet, the cost in higher tier skills is simply too much. How can I experiment with my classes when the skills I want cost too much? An easy way to remedy this could’ve been lowering sp skills and increasing sp gain to offset this weird imbalance between heavily priced sp skills and a low gain to increase sp points.

The story is subpar and has a lot of lows. When I mean the story is subpar and has a lot of lows I mean it. The game primarily holds the player into a fantasy world too entrenched in the nostalgia-bait nature of previous titles in the series from FE1->FE3H. Sure it's a new world with new characters and with their history. With stakes and consequences that do occur in the game. Nonetheless, The story relies too heavily on the divine dragon to solve every single problem throughout Elyos. I found the formula and other structures which I won’t go into too much detail about due to spoilers. Copy and paste throughout. And this is repeated again and again as you travel to each new area until you make a full circle back to your starting location once again in Elyos.

Granted there are moments I’ll give the story where I was surprised and didn’t expect, but having silly solutions you can see a mile away from teasing you early on, simply doesn’t work. When I look at a plot, especially in an early game, there will come a point where too many cards are shown where the next plot device such as villains/antagonists and revelations nearly becomes transparent to the naked eye. And while some may favor this approach like I do. The execution here leaves much to be desired.

As if I'm being held by the hand. Or fed breadcrumbs to a door where I can see what will happen next. I’m not all-knowing however, and I can’t predict everything, but I kid you not when you have a mysterious hooded person + another unknown character in the next following scene that doesn’t show a great amount of subtlety(And this is displayed pretty early on). There are also I would say two points during the endgame where I was shaking my head by introducing a trope I love, but poorly executed in a vain attempt to come back to the roots of where we started. And another issue where the problem could not be resolved without the divine dragon once again coming to save the day or figure out the solution to said problem/s.

Some suggested improvements I could think of off the top of my head I'll say later on the review.

World-building is too simple. And doesn’t engage the player enough. Overworld map structure is indicative of this. When I mean world-building is too simple. I mean how the world of Elyos when looking at the map is just lazy writing in general. It's constructed as a circle and we get an early exposition of how the world came to be and the emblems. Another game that had a different shape was "Triangle strategy." For you guessed it triangle in the overworld map. Which upon looking at the overworld also conforms under a triangle. I had the same critique for that game but for different reasons. But that’s a story for another day. Back to Engage, we don’t get enough on the world’s politics if any. We don’t get much character background or relationship between each nation’s leaders and their current agenda beyond the early exposition again. When a leader is mentioned they are quickly forgotten for the sake of the plot and of course the main character's party to move on. I wanted to know more about Brodia’s lifestyle. Uh, any information on Firene’s king? Or another nation’s leader’s missing spouse or wife? Why aren’t pets used more in the lore? You just adopt then that's it? History of the emblems and more is given in the game, but what about any instances of emblem usage in the past? Like, show me past battles where so-so nations fought for an emblem. There is always discussion or mention of events a thousand years ago. What about flashbacks and more? Like seeing how Brodia attacks Elusia. Or Solm and Firene’s relationship? No deities? No unnatural events upsetting gods? Oh wait, never mind we need to worship the divine dragon. Who cares about all that other stuff? Let us pray to the divine dragon.

The game plays way too safe with copy-paste formulas. Not going to say exactly what they are in case of spoilers. But there is a rinse-and-repeat formula as you delve deeper into chapters. And I already said what I needed to say earlier in the story section. Honestly, the game would have benefited a lot more with more risks to the story and sequence of events that follow. As I continued on to each new nation, it quickly became apparent what will happen next. In a rinse-and-repeat fashion.

Recruits you come across throughout the game. Don’t test the main character enough. Due to their divinity. Should’ve deconstructed the divinity aspect. Made them have more flaws. Make them struggle and keep them from being so perfect. This ties back to the divine dragon solving everyone’s problems. I can remember moments in the game where the main character will falter, but guys don’t worry the power of friendship will make them overcome their failings so they can give us ideas and we just follow him/her. Don’t question it. He/she is the divine dragon! He/she can do it! We just need to follow them! We’ll beat everyone with him by our side! OH MY GOD, IT'S THE DIVINE DRAGON! FORGIVE MY CANDOR PLEASE. Oh, divine dragon? Please help us. Good lord, there is too much of this reverence and worship of the very ground he/she walks. This isn’t exactly what is said in the game, merely paraphrased.

Honestly, the game would have benefited a lot more if we didn’t worship the guy/lady and focused more on each character’s flaws. Give me someone who hates the divine dragon in our party, who will constantly butt heads. Heck, a rival or other divine dragon that is too casual and selfish and everything, not the main character. To be a foil. Make our new allies test the main character constantly. Leave our party, gather support against his idea to go with their idea. Give me moments when our divine dragon isn’t so divine. Despair in these scenes. Show the consequences of his flaws more. Make party members desert them or anything to make the divine dragon more than a goody-two-shoes out to save every nation and recruit everyone to their cause. I could list more, but I think you all get the picture. It’s like the developers stuck everything positive and can do no wrong with the main character, gave very slight flaws that could be easily overcome and BAM he/she can do it and solve your problem.

This is where the story, plot, and more start to fall apart and where the crevices become even larger to see the shallowness. All of the above tied together demonstrate a game where the main character is interconnected and used in such a way where they will solve numerous issues as you progress through the story. Again and again, we come upon a new solution from the one and only holy divine dragon!!! And sure I get the game is geared to be less so serious and more lighthearted compared to their predecessors. But its repetitive and overused. And honestly fails to capture my interest. Since I already know what will happen next. And because of my suspension of disbelief, being blasted into space.

Less incentive to see more support conversations. In part due to a lack of options in the hub. One meal? Come on… There are so many support conversations. And very little activities to create more bonding moments with my allies to unlock a new support rank. Sure I could grind endless skirmishes to get support conversations easily by auto-battling, but that’s not as efficient as manual control on every unit. And sure I could get quick supports with my main character and everyone else using gifts I could buy and find. But what about support conversations from one of my units to another? There is no quick way to see that. This could’ve been easily remedied if meal times were more than one time activities, every time you visited the Somniel after a battle. The fact you can only do one meal with two other units in your army is crazy. You have a lot of support logs for each unit.

I want to see what everyone has to offer. If the developers were worried about stat buffs you get from 1 meal, then make every consecutive meal after that give no bonuses. Heck, give me meal tickets based on how I do after each battle to spend in the cafe. That way I don’t use precious meat/vegetable ingredients if you want. Meal tickets for wiping every unit. Meal tickets for grabbing all chests, meal tickets for not losing any unit while on a map, meal tickets for recruiting all units possible on a map, etc. I could list at the top of my head. The real meat of the game is in the supports and I dearly loved watching the ones I wanted to see. So it’s a shame you can’t spend more time with your fellow allies with one meal. Arena doesn’t even help matters since it's randomized and you can only do 3 battles. And here’s the kicker: sometimes the selected unit you want to train with will select a unit to train against where they have no support conversations with. Good lord...

Spoilers abound for past FE characters from their respective games in paralogues. Some spoil more than others. I did not appreciate a big spoiler drop without any warning after ch 3 story battle, in my honest opinion. There is a point, especially in a post-chapter 3 battle where a character from an earlier titles spoils something from their respective game. I haven’t personally played that Fire Emblem entry. So I was incredibly frustrated. Since I was already careful, not playing the mobile game, I actively avoided reading in the wiki, and the internet on spoilers of past games. Only for the newest game to blurt it out. Unforgivable. Especially in a story cutscene. I was looking forward to playing that specific game in the near future in a blind playthrough. So my feelings were soured by this.

Some paralogues spoil some events from their respective games. Via dialogue. Since I haven’t even played every title in the series it’s unreasonable to assume every newcomer will play every game. Especially since some old games can only be played via fan translations and the rest via emulation or buying in their respective digital stores. To be transparent. I have not played FE4, FE5, Marth games, Fates, or Valentia. The rest I have played.

For the paralogues I think that are safe they are FE7 and FE3H.

Paralogues somewhat spoilery? I feel this can depend on the person if they don’t mind or do mind certain aspects. But the paralogues are FE6 & FE8.

For paralogues that do spoil some important elements from their games, they are FE Awakening and FE9 - FE10.

I understand Engage has main characters from past titles and will utilize them to some degree within the game. However I did not expect huge spoiler bombs. All I ask is a simple indicator or warning on the screen to let me know about information related to their respective games and if they have anything concerning their plot, character, or more. And prepare myself to avoid those important pertinent details. Fire Emblem Engage gives no warnings about this. For titles I haven’t played, I did not play their respective paralogues in fear of something spoiling me of their plots, story, important details in regards to their character, etc. I’d rather find out what happens in their respective games.

Granted some do not mind spoilers. This is fine. On the other hand, some are more sensitive to that type of information. Like me. Case in point, Players who like to dive into games completely blind and semi-blind players who do not mind certain aspects of a game to know.

OST for music isn’t a high bar here. The music in the game isn’t all that memorable outside of perhaps a handful of tracks. There are too many melodies or tunes that I find didn’t mesh well with the scenes or tried too hard to be epic and moving with the orchestral instruments. But it fails to capture me in the spirit during the game.

2 early game characters did not endear me at all. Why? Fan-club and their devotion to the divine dragon. They were watching the main character wake up and talk to him/her is a red flag. The fact you get these two characters right at the beginning of the game did not help matters at all. I didn’t want to label them as fanboy and fangirl of the divine dragon since I didn’t see their supports yet… But when I did and granted, I didn’t see all the support logs and I’m sure they have other qualities outside of a fan club for the divine dragon. But seeing these conversations where they’re trying to garner more fans for the Divine Dragon fan club shows how there is a weird devoted fan aspect to the main character. This also extends to mostly every character I've met/recruited in the game so far to worship them to varying degrees.

Which is kinda disturbing to a degree. These matters don’t help at all when the game includes wake-up events when you sleep at the Somniel where characters will go into your room where the main character sleeps and talk your ear off. It's more divine dragon worship, sometimes it's about prayers, sometimes it's about them and sometimes conversations will continue on and on back to how to serve the divine dragon. As if the man/woman is something to be gawked at with conversations in an art museum. I found this aspect of the game creepy and honestly the game could’ve done without it. This is also me watching as many as I could to find any redeeming factors and I can only say it's better here by a small margin than in FE3H tea events. Since they can talk about their lives. And you learn more about the character a bit. But the fact they talk to him/her and pray while they're sleeping only to wake up to no one's surprise why. Each time is frankly weird and again not right. Let them sleep for goodness sake, man. I wouldn’t want someone to talk my ear off when I’m trying to sleep…

Don’t like how the DLC/NSO seems geared to incentivize consumers to pay for membership/DLC. For the DLC if you buy it now you get stat items, 30% off in item/ armor shops, emblem rings and more in the coming waves along with story content. NSO online features two modes you cannot play without going online, seeing deployment rankings, and other stuff you couldn’t use without being online. And while this can be remedied using a 7 day free trial of NSO. What if you already did use the 7-day free trial on an earlier game?

This ties back into the classes. But this time I’ll focus on NSO. Since you had to pay or use a limited 7-day free trial to access online components like coop with another partner and challenge maps in relay trials, Battle against other players on edited maps in outrealm trials, profile cards you can’t send unless you’re online and deployment rankings, so if you want to access these features. You better cough up the money to Nintendo. Certainly, they have a right to manage how they price their downloadable content and pricing their online functionality. It just grinds my gears to see content that could’ve been available for others, being withheld until you cough up money for the company. Especially for online features. Can you imagine if Nintendo only allowed you to use your amiibos for a game. Only if you are currently an NSO subscriber? I love Nintendo, but sometimes some of their decisions leave me shaking my head at times. Anyway, moving on

Villains are flat garnering weak sympathy to think of them as human when they’re not. To expand on this, some scenes showcase the villains and demonstrate their power to a decent degree. However, without going into too specific detail. The execution of their villainous ways leaves much to be desired. I could not help but feel their actions in some maps can be terrifying. But on other maps leave me puzzled since they can do this extent using their power, so why don’t they do it again? This ties back into the plot and how the divine dragon will overcome everything if we listen to them.

I also did not like one villain who kept being a broken record saying the first letter “F” with the last letter “Y” in nearly all the scenes when they would come up. Come on man, don’t guilt trip me with that word. It does not work at all. And it is incredibly repetitive to continue using that word as if the player will miraculously forgive every single one of your atrocities. Granted not all villains fit this mold and I found some more than others who rise above this occasion. However, it does not excuse the fact the villains could’ve been more compelling. I get the point the developers were trying to make with the characters, but it just seems short. Give us scenes making them more human. Give me scenes showing the struggle and demonstrate their villainous ways without remorse. That's all I have to say for my critique of the game. Now let's move onto what the game does well to offset the boatload of criticism i've talked about so far.

The game is a wonderful return to classic Fire Emblem revitalizing the weapon triangle with a "break" system in place. Making enemies feel challenging even on normal. The overworld is gorgeous and I had fun using the free camera to inspect the whole world and see what nooks and crannies our main party could potentially travel to.

A large number of recruits even towards the endgame are fleshed out with full support conversation logs you can see. Out of my whole playthrough, I only completed 1 character support conversation. The rest I was only to get a small-decent chunk for my army alone.

Love the no durability of weapons. So I can keep on using them without fear of them breaking down on me. Except for staves of course, those you will need to buy again.

The voice acting is pretty good. A good majority of the cast has a decent amount of range throughout the game and I didn’t find any bad voice acting at all.

The emblems are really powerful and I love using them throughout my playthrough. Never gets old attaching a lord or not lord on a unit and letting them go attack a decent army against them. Only for my unit to emerge wounded, but still okay. There are various powers in each emblem and I used each of them to their fullest effect throughout my playthrough.

I had fun splitting my armies and designating whichever unit needs an emblem more. And a lot of maps give you the option to split your armies two ways or three ways. The combat is enjoyable to try out different strategies. Thankfully there’s quite a bit of good map design here to give players much freedom to do what they want. Especially when you have resources on that map that could turn the tide of battles like cannons or ballista. Some maps have interesting gimmicks, so those were pretty cool to play in.

I am impressed at the level of polish here, not just in animations and support conversation scenes. But the cutscenes, stills, artwork and opening. The background and colors used throughout the game are vivid and varied. And I have no complaints in seeing every color of the rainbow here. I also had no slowdown, bugs, glitches, or crashes throughout my playthrough and pretty much every battle and more were smooth.

For what it’s worth. I did enjoy some good story beats as I progressed through the game, and there were a couple of surprises I didn’t expect. Some paralogues, at least the ones I finished, were a very nice touch in seeing my old favorites come back to life(in Emblem form) and fighting on their maps from their respective games filled my nostalgia with great joy.

I feel the game is worthy of playing, if you’re still hungry for more Fire Emblem. And despite my long critique of the game above.

I hope my review still gets you to buy the game. My intention is never to gatekeep it. But merely to inform others what I feel could’ve been done better, with evidence, and move on from there. And while Fire Emblem Engage is an all right experience for me. Other’s out there rate the game higher than me and that's fine. That's their experience of what the game means to them and that’s fair. I have loved the series since starting with Awakening, and while I haven’t played the rest in the franchise, it is still a favorite of mine in the turn-based genre. I’m just disappointed at the potential this game could’ve been and held solid throughout. And while I still have those feelings, it does not discourage me from telling every soul I can to buy games in the franchise to keep it afloat. And I encourage anyone who has bought Fire Emblem Engage, to play to the end(if you can). Make your own voice heard on what your experience is for Engage. And type out your thoughts. Doesn’t even have to be as long as this. Short impressions are perfectly acceptable.

Anyway, that’s enough for me. This review got too long for my liking. But I feel I needed to type out what I wanted to say.

7/10

Edited: Due to 1.2 version adding more recreational activities. Thereby allowing you to boost supports between units. So I did a strikethrough on those sections in my review.

I’ve waited several years for Phantom Brigade and after being on Epic Store early access for quite some time now. The game has finally launched in steam on version 1.0. So I had to play it. This means retaking the capital city or clearing every province. I only completed the former since the latter takes up way too much time. And is it worth the wait? Well…

Maybe. It has some things to be concerned about.

First, the game is set in a sandbox fictional world where you control a group of mechs who can use a prototype device to see a bit into the future and “predict” what the enemy will do for the next five seconds. In those five seconds, you may position your mech squad to run, dash, shield, or attack the enemy within that time frame. Once you’re sure of your commands, you can lock in your planning phase and let the real-time kick in and watch as your mechs go toe to toe against hostile enemies. If your enemies are still alive, you’ll have to plan for the next five seconds on the timeline and continue inputting your planning phase before executing. This will repeat until all enemy hostiles are eliminated.

This is the main hook of the combat of Phantom Brigade and honestly, it is satisfying going into combat and watching those moves play out. Especially, when I had to face off multiple enemies against a small squad. Making my chances for victory slim, but with careful planning, positioning, and knowledge of what my weapons could do and how far my mechs could move. Anything is possible to achieve victory.

I’d say it took me between one to three hours before I got the hang of things and once I had unlocked 4 mechs in my squad. You don’t unlock a full squad off the bat. You need to unlock it from the upgrade menu in the overworld. Once I had a full squad, I became more confident in conquering new territories.

Or as the game likes to call it, provinces. At the start, you and your crew hold no provinces at the start. And as you look at the world map. You can see quite a lot of enemy territory. Each with their levels marking how dangerous they are and the capital.

It may look easy at first glance to retake a province, but you’ll need to contest the area first. Where you'll need the Homeguard to help. Think of them as allies. From there a meter of your forces and the enemies is displayed. Winning battles in the contested area or taking a key objective like cities, outposts, patrols and more will reduce the enemy meter. Do enough battles, and soon enough you can take back the province from enemy hands.

This is the rinse and repeat of Phantom Brigade and one of the key points of my following critique of the game.

First, taking provinces, I enjoyed in the beginning to mid-game until I got bored of doing the same thing again. And again. And again. I became fatigued as my pilots do since nearly every battle became samey after retaking a province. Sure, there are other features the game has, like enemy patrols and different units defending caches and key locations, which do a bit to randomize the back-and-forth battles.

But there just isn’t enough of a main hook to appeal to me more. And granted I admit I'm more of a story player, instead of gameplay first. However, I still enjoy games on the opposite side. And this game hits some of those notes well. Except it could be better.

Second, it would’ve been nice to replay the whole battle. Yes, there is a replay feature, but that only works after 1 turn. So if a battle took an ‘x’ amount of turns the player has the option to see the whole mission play out in real-time without any interruptions. Kinda like how Super Meat Boy does it.

Third, inject some story narrative in me to care more about ‘player-driven stories.’ This is ripped straight from the steam description. And I find it a bit misleading. Since, the game shows random events happening on the world map which can make the player choose various decisions from helping the townspeople, investigating, and even espionage outcomes like holding a captive. But, outside of the overlying objective of retaking the capital or retaking all provinces. There just isn’t enough within the contents of the game to make the player relate more to those objectives.

Fourth, there is no pilot progression at all. So taking your pilots into continuous battles will not yield them any bonus skills or hidden passive they’ll unlock later on. They’ll lose health if they sustain enough damage in combat and you can recruit more pilots. But that’s it. The only thing they’re good for is being substituted if my pilot has low health after repeated engagements with the enemy. Make pilots matter.

Fifth, the battles in provinces use the same dialog for beginning intro into battles and good lord does it get tiresome to see again and again? I didn’t skip any of the intro battles for each of them to see some variation and to be frank very few changes. Some more flavorful text injected would’ve helped liven up battles a bit. Like: “Hey rebels are holding out here. Take them out,” “There was a drunk party and a lot of enemy pilots are in mechs doing crazy stunts. Take advantage of that and eliminate them," This mission will be a bit difficult, and honestly I recommend you don't enter this battle and retreat. But if you are insane, by all means, go ahead and fight this near unwinnable battle.” You can go further and extend this by adding witty, sarcastic, grumpy, cheerful, and more voices here. Just about anything will do to liven up text in intro battles.

Sixth. Please diversify main objectives in battles. Instead of fighting, have my squad sneak around the map to obtain the cache supplies. Hold out against waves of enemies and escort missions. Additional random elements like helicopters, bigger tanks, very huge mechs or super tiny mechs, implemented to prevent it from being copy paste. Heck, you can even add optional objectives like going into battles with only melee and shields. Win using only missile weapons or sniper etc.

And that’s it. I could say more, but I'll withhold the laundry list. But, I hope you all get the picture with my six points.

Excusing my critique, I would like to say there is a great deal of customization here I enjoyed a great deal. You can set up your mechs with a variety of weapons and body parts. It’s not quite as extensive as Armored Core, but for folks coming from Battletech and Into the Breach, you’ll notice a bit of similarity between the two. Xcom as well. It’s pretty cool after a battle to see what parts you can salvage from the enemy mechs and then using those new parts and weapons to outfit my squad is a great feeling.

To my absolute delight, destructible environments like buildings and destroyable parts for your mechs and enemies add a strategic layer to combat. Since you can see enemies' projectiles and where they’ll hit in the timeline. You can manipulate their a.i. For them to hit buildings or a small cliff in the environment. Thereby saving your unit if they don’t have shields and allowing your squad to mop up the ai’s grave mistake. Once I realized the enemies couldn’t do anything more advanced than following through with their actions, the game became easier.

And this was after I had lowered the difficulty already.

Speaking of difficulties. I have to give the developers praise for making a good list of options available to tweak how hard or easy the game can be. And it is worth editing for any players having trouble with enemies dealing too much damage or your squad overheating due to using their weapons too much.

The music is good. Don’t have any complaints about that, if anything the soundtrack complements the battles, overworld, briefings, and more. It’s subtle and doesn’t detract from the experience.

Overall, I’d say Phantom Brigade is something I’d recommend for those interested in mech games, without a story narrative and purely for gameplay first and a sandbox experience. And even then I hesitate because of the price. So you may be better off waiting to buy the game on a sale. However, it does feature a lot of hours to sink into if you enjoy the gameplay loop of battles, salvage, customizing your mech squad, and retaking provinces. Then this game might be for you.

6/10