There's a lot to say about this game that I don't know where to start. I suppose I'll start by saying the rating I'm giving it is not a measure of how good I think the game is but how much I enjoyed it. The game is extremely fun, in fact I had a blast with it that I didn't want to put it down until I completed it. In addition, it's extremely hilarious, I laughed out loud several times. From the start, it was clear that the tone of the game was supposed to be lighthearted and fun. For me, that's the biggest thing that matters about a game, the enjoyment factor, but there's still a lot of details about this game that make it far from perfect.
First of all, let's start with the obvious: the game is incomplete. It both feels incomplete, in that so many features feel missing or are in the game but are completely useless, and it literally is incomplete, with the whole messy history of the developer team going defunct, where they promised to patch many of the game's huge issues. The biggest one being the infamous glitch that locks you out of one of the monsters needed in a side quest to get one of the characters, Zahra, which now I'll never get to play her unless I start a new run.
Second of all, the story is not bad overall, but it could seriously be improved. I understand rushing the beginning to get players engaged in the game right away, but the whole beginning situation just didn't feel real. It doesn't make sense how OK Ajna becomes with bringing along Dhar in her head after he just killed her father, and how fast she disregards the whole inner realm thing too, not even having a goal to find help or someone to explain it to her (which I suppose fits with her character). And then it doesn't make sense how Dhar fights in her party now, and even fights the soldiers of Ravannavar's army, when realistically he should've refused to fight. There are big plot holes like this which are actual issues, but other ones I understand are just played for laughs and are just really funny, like when Ajna says a big bird will save them if they jump off the fortress and a big bird actually saves them. That was hilarious. There are no real issues for the plot in moments like those.
I could go on, but as many problems the game has (which are fixable), there are a lot of good things about it too. Number one is easily the endearing cast of unique and interesting characters. I loved all of them. Razmi was particularly interesting because she talked a lot the whole game since you picked her up early, and she was absolutely HILARIOUS. She's easily one of the characters that makes the game the game that it is. I thought Zebei summed up what I thought about the cast best when he said, "Frankly I don't know how you can all stand each other."
With such a big cast it only makes sense that only a select few would have any meaningful character arcs. Ajna was insufferable, but I suppose that was the point. She did learn from her mistakes in the end even though she made many of them time after time. Not everyone learns from one failure, sometimes it takes several. Dhar had a great arc and actually turned quite likable near the end of the game after he got past his naive phase (of which was also insufferable). Even Razmi had a small arc during your goodbye to her near the ending. Overall, the characters and their arcs were great.
The gameplay is split mainly into the combat sequences and platforming sequences. The combat gameplay is relatively unique from my understanding, being inspired by one other game in the past, and it is very fun. I've heard others say it can get repetetive which is totally true but if you're the type of person that likes to mix up things and deviate from optimal strategies for fun then it doesn't get boring at all. The fact that the developer made a fighting game before this one is all you need to know about the style of combat of the game. It's mashy, flashy, fast-paced, very engaging, and requires skill and good inputs. I enjoyed it a lot. But I believe it could have been harder, and I have two improvement ideas for that.
The first is to abolish the invisible enemy turns and let the enemy attack whenever they want to just like your party (but only to your idle party members). The battles are usually you mashing your attacks, then running out of action points so you wait for the enemy's attacks and then you block them. I imagined it would be more fun if as you attack with one party member, an enemy would attack another idle party member, and battles would be chaotic as you had to dish out damage and block attacks at the same time. I understand this would completely change the combat system and make it much more difficult, but it would be more fun for me personally.
The second would be to give enemies a variety of more gimmicks. There were plenty in the game, but I found that only once was I ever forced to actually switch up my party and strategy to win. That fight being, of course, the Slime Queen who damages any melee attackers who get close to her. Me losing the first time, learning that, and then making my whole party range attackers to counter it was good game design. That was making enemies difficult but not unfair, in contrast to just giving them more health and damage. If more enemies had gimmicks like that that forced me to strategize a bit more, I think the game would be more challenging overall and I would have enjoyed it more.
The platforming was also really fun. The controls were buttery smooth and satisfying, which is all you need to have fun for a platformer. That and good level design, which I feel this game accomplished well. I didn't find any major issues in the level design, no major cheats to bypass locked areas I wasn't supposed to reach yet or anything. Mount Sumeru particularly stood out, forcing you to use every platforming ability you gained throughout the whole game. The backtracking could be annoying for some, but that's the point of a Metroidvania-style game and it was done really well here. I've heard others claim that the platforming gets hard later on, which is true, but it's not extremely difficult by any standards. Sure I was frustrated at times but it's mostly due to my skill issue and not the game itself.
Finally, the setting of the game is another thing that completely sets this game apart and makes it stand out. Many other reviews do claim that it truly is an underrepresented setting. The cultures shown in this game are distinctly South Asian, Central Asian, Southeast Asian, African, Native South American, as well as a mix of many others. Though the world is fictional, I still got that buzz of exploring different cultures I'm not usually exposed to in any form of media while playing the game. With Ajna, her village, the save bells, Kala, Heruka, Tungar, rebirth and reincarnation being distinctly Indian; with Tai Krung being distinctly, well, Hong Kong, with Ohma being the most obvious reference to the Opium crisis ever made (and a beloved Jollibee reference for the Filipinos!) and Baozhai reminding me a lot of the real pirate Zheng Yi Sao; with Zebei, Mushi, and Lhan being distinctly Mongolian or Tibetan, with Nuna and Kaanul being distinctly ancient native american; with Port Maerifa reminding me a lot of Morocco, and much, much more. In fact, someone had asked me, "What time period even is this game?" as I played. It's cool seing that many cultures blended together to make a fictional world that simply works. Plus, one of the playable characters is a pettable Tibetan Mastiff dog, which ultimately, immediately, definitively makes this one of the best games ever.
Overall, this game's unparalleled fun dishing out devastating combos as if it were a fighting game, along with its great platforming design, along with the huge cast of endearing, lovable, hilarious characters, along with its great art, along with its super unique setting, and more, conquers any real hate I have for this game and its big issues. I don't know anything about the whole controversy that the developer team went through which left this game in the dust for any hope of future patches and game quality improvements. I don't know what's true or not true about the situation, but all I know is that the bugs will likely never get fixed and this good game will lose out on all that massive potential to be a really great game. But despite that, I really enjoyed this game so it's still a favourite of mine. It would be a five star if it does get improved a lot and it actually gets completed. For now, enjoy it as it is.
First of all, let's start with the obvious: the game is incomplete. It both feels incomplete, in that so many features feel missing or are in the game but are completely useless, and it literally is incomplete, with the whole messy history of the developer team going defunct, where they promised to patch many of the game's huge issues. The biggest one being the infamous glitch that locks you out of one of the monsters needed in a side quest to get one of the characters, Zahra, which now I'll never get to play her unless I start a new run.
Second of all, the story is not bad overall, but it could seriously be improved. I understand rushing the beginning to get players engaged in the game right away, but the whole beginning situation just didn't feel real. It doesn't make sense how OK Ajna becomes with bringing along Dhar in her head after he just killed her father, and how fast she disregards the whole inner realm thing too, not even having a goal to find help or someone to explain it to her (which I suppose fits with her character). And then it doesn't make sense how Dhar fights in her party now, and even fights the soldiers of Ravannavar's army, when realistically he should've refused to fight. There are big plot holes like this which are actual issues, but other ones I understand are just played for laughs and are just really funny, like when Ajna says a big bird will save them if they jump off the fortress and a big bird actually saves them. That was hilarious. There are no real issues for the plot in moments like those.
I could go on, but as many problems the game has (which are fixable), there are a lot of good things about it too. Number one is easily the endearing cast of unique and interesting characters. I loved all of them. Razmi was particularly interesting because she talked a lot the whole game since you picked her up early, and she was absolutely HILARIOUS. She's easily one of the characters that makes the game the game that it is. I thought Zebei summed up what I thought about the cast best when he said, "Frankly I don't know how you can all stand each other."
With such a big cast it only makes sense that only a select few would have any meaningful character arcs. Ajna was insufferable, but I suppose that was the point. She did learn from her mistakes in the end even though she made many of them time after time. Not everyone learns from one failure, sometimes it takes several. Dhar had a great arc and actually turned quite likable near the end of the game after he got past his naive phase (of which was also insufferable). Even Razmi had a small arc during your goodbye to her near the ending. Overall, the characters and their arcs were great.
The gameplay is split mainly into the combat sequences and platforming sequences. The combat gameplay is relatively unique from my understanding, being inspired by one other game in the past, and it is very fun. I've heard others say it can get repetetive which is totally true but if you're the type of person that likes to mix up things and deviate from optimal strategies for fun then it doesn't get boring at all. The fact that the developer made a fighting game before this one is all you need to know about the style of combat of the game. It's mashy, flashy, fast-paced, very engaging, and requires skill and good inputs. I enjoyed it a lot. But I believe it could have been harder, and I have two improvement ideas for that.
The first is to abolish the invisible enemy turns and let the enemy attack whenever they want to just like your party (but only to your idle party members). The battles are usually you mashing your attacks, then running out of action points so you wait for the enemy's attacks and then you block them. I imagined it would be more fun if as you attack with one party member, an enemy would attack another idle party member, and battles would be chaotic as you had to dish out damage and block attacks at the same time. I understand this would completely change the combat system and make it much more difficult, but it would be more fun for me personally.
The second would be to give enemies a variety of more gimmicks. There were plenty in the game, but I found that only once was I ever forced to actually switch up my party and strategy to win. That fight being, of course, the Slime Queen who damages any melee attackers who get close to her. Me losing the first time, learning that, and then making my whole party range attackers to counter it was good game design. That was making enemies difficult but not unfair, in contrast to just giving them more health and damage. If more enemies had gimmicks like that that forced me to strategize a bit more, I think the game would be more challenging overall and I would have enjoyed it more.
The platforming was also really fun. The controls were buttery smooth and satisfying, which is all you need to have fun for a platformer. That and good level design, which I feel this game accomplished well. I didn't find any major issues in the level design, no major cheats to bypass locked areas I wasn't supposed to reach yet or anything. Mount Sumeru particularly stood out, forcing you to use every platforming ability you gained throughout the whole game. The backtracking could be annoying for some, but that's the point of a Metroidvania-style game and it was done really well here. I've heard others claim that the platforming gets hard later on, which is true, but it's not extremely difficult by any standards. Sure I was frustrated at times but it's mostly due to my skill issue and not the game itself.
Finally, the setting of the game is another thing that completely sets this game apart and makes it stand out. Many other reviews do claim that it truly is an underrepresented setting. The cultures shown in this game are distinctly South Asian, Central Asian, Southeast Asian, African, Native South American, as well as a mix of many others. Though the world is fictional, I still got that buzz of exploring different cultures I'm not usually exposed to in any form of media while playing the game. With Ajna, her village, the save bells, Kala, Heruka, Tungar, rebirth and reincarnation being distinctly Indian; with Tai Krung being distinctly, well, Hong Kong, with Ohma being the most obvious reference to the Opium crisis ever made (and a beloved Jollibee reference for the Filipinos!) and Baozhai reminding me a lot of the real pirate Zheng Yi Sao; with Zebei, Mushi, and Lhan being distinctly Mongolian or Tibetan, with Nuna and Kaanul being distinctly ancient native american; with Port Maerifa reminding me a lot of Morocco, and much, much more. In fact, someone had asked me, "What time period even is this game?" as I played. It's cool seing that many cultures blended together to make a fictional world that simply works. Plus, one of the playable characters is a pettable Tibetan Mastiff dog, which ultimately, immediately, definitively makes this one of the best games ever.
Overall, this game's unparalleled fun dishing out devastating combos as if it were a fighting game, along with its great platforming design, along with the huge cast of endearing, lovable, hilarious characters, along with its great art, along with its super unique setting, and more, conquers any real hate I have for this game and its big issues. I don't know anything about the whole controversy that the developer team went through which left this game in the dust for any hope of future patches and game quality improvements. I don't know what's true or not true about the situation, but all I know is that the bugs will likely never get fixed and this good game will lose out on all that massive potential to be a really great game. But despite that, I really enjoyed this game so it's still a favourite of mine. It would be a five star if it does get improved a lot and it actually gets completed. For now, enjoy it as it is.