wiill64
My first dive into the Endless Ocean series, does Luminous swim above my expectations or sink well below them?
In the current era of game development where more and more large publishers are finding development so expensive that they have to focus almost all of their time and resources into big, familiar, and proven ip, it is really nice to see Nintendo and Akira work together again on an ip whose last game was around 15 years ago on Wii. Seeing Endless Ocean return in the HD era was a nice surprise even as someone whose only interaction with the series before this was testing the Wii discs I own to make sure they work.
So what exactly is Endless Ocean? Well it's basically an ocean exploration game where you swim around and scan fish as well as pick up treasures you find sparkling away and that's about it. Honestly I think that's fine, it makes for a really good relaxing experience in a similar vein to Animal Crossing. It does mean you'll probably feel burnt out by the gameplay if you're playing for multiple hours at a time but if you play for an hour or so at a time and take your time with the game then there's a pretty fun experience to be had exploring the ocean and learning about the many creatures that call it home. Like I didn't know there was a fish called Thanatos that just loves killing things! There's also extinct and prehistoric creatures in the game to find as well as unique species called UML that appear when you scan a certain number of creatures marked by an orange dot.
There isn't anything like oxygen management or aggressive fish to worry about here either, this is literally all about getting you into the ocean to explore and learn and it's a pretty chill and relaxing experience.
There's a few modes in this game to choose from. A story mode that sees you learning about a special Coral Reef that provides life to the world of Endless Ocean that is slowly dying for some reason. It's fine for what it is but the biggest issue with it is that to unlock more chapters, you have to scan a LARGE number of fish. Like Chapter 2-1 is something like 500 fish you need to scan which is pretty close to the 570+ unique species in the game so it's clear from the beginning that you just need to scan the same creatures over and over and over again to make progress in the story mode which isn't that fun when you get no real incentive for doing that.
Solo dives see you dive into a randomly generated ocean space where you can take your time to explore and scan all you want. This could've been a good fun mode if it wasn't a large random open space because for one person, you don't feel like you're making much progress on a map due to how big they are. That and structurally you'll be seeing the same kind of shipwrecks, crevasses, and caves over and over, it just becomes pretty repetitive, pretty quickly for solo players.
So the real focus of the game is actually the group dives via the online mode where you and friends or randoms can work together to explore a randomly generated ocean space like how you would in solo dives. The difference here is with multiple people, you can have the creatures and map of these places explored at a good pace and have the UML show up a few times during a session. People can tag items and creatures they find as well and it's another pretty well done online experience where you get a pretty friendly and welcoming time. These dives are also time limited to an hour which also helps to keep the mode from outstaying its welcome. This is what the game feels like it was designed for and where I got the most enjoyment from.
There's also a Mystery Board where if you find certain objects during your dives, you uncover one of 99 squares on the board, you can learn about an ancient civilization that called this ocean its home. It's a neat extra thing to give you a little bit more to do on your dives.
Endless Ocean Luminous is an unexpected but welcome return to the series. There's a relaxing and chill experience to be had here exploring the ocean and learning about many different creatures but if you're playing solo then it can get repetitive real quickly unfortunately. Online players will get the most fun out of this one.
In the current era of game development where more and more large publishers are finding development so expensive that they have to focus almost all of their time and resources into big, familiar, and proven ip, it is really nice to see Nintendo and Akira work together again on an ip whose last game was around 15 years ago on Wii. Seeing Endless Ocean return in the HD era was a nice surprise even as someone whose only interaction with the series before this was testing the Wii discs I own to make sure they work.
So what exactly is Endless Ocean? Well it's basically an ocean exploration game where you swim around and scan fish as well as pick up treasures you find sparkling away and that's about it. Honestly I think that's fine, it makes for a really good relaxing experience in a similar vein to Animal Crossing. It does mean you'll probably feel burnt out by the gameplay if you're playing for multiple hours at a time but if you play for an hour or so at a time and take your time with the game then there's a pretty fun experience to be had exploring the ocean and learning about the many creatures that call it home. Like I didn't know there was a fish called Thanatos that just loves killing things! There's also extinct and prehistoric creatures in the game to find as well as unique species called UML that appear when you scan a certain number of creatures marked by an orange dot.
There isn't anything like oxygen management or aggressive fish to worry about here either, this is literally all about getting you into the ocean to explore and learn and it's a pretty chill and relaxing experience.
There's a few modes in this game to choose from. A story mode that sees you learning about a special Coral Reef that provides life to the world of Endless Ocean that is slowly dying for some reason. It's fine for what it is but the biggest issue with it is that to unlock more chapters, you have to scan a LARGE number of fish. Like Chapter 2-1 is something like 500 fish you need to scan which is pretty close to the 570+ unique species in the game so it's clear from the beginning that you just need to scan the same creatures over and over and over again to make progress in the story mode which isn't that fun when you get no real incentive for doing that.
Solo dives see you dive into a randomly generated ocean space where you can take your time to explore and scan all you want. This could've been a good fun mode if it wasn't a large random open space because for one person, you don't feel like you're making much progress on a map due to how big they are. That and structurally you'll be seeing the same kind of shipwrecks, crevasses, and caves over and over, it just becomes pretty repetitive, pretty quickly for solo players.
So the real focus of the game is actually the group dives via the online mode where you and friends or randoms can work together to explore a randomly generated ocean space like how you would in solo dives. The difference here is with multiple people, you can have the creatures and map of these places explored at a good pace and have the UML show up a few times during a session. People can tag items and creatures they find as well and it's another pretty well done online experience where you get a pretty friendly and welcoming time. These dives are also time limited to an hour which also helps to keep the mode from outstaying its welcome. This is what the game feels like it was designed for and where I got the most enjoyment from.
There's also a Mystery Board where if you find certain objects during your dives, you uncover one of 99 squares on the board, you can learn about an ancient civilization that called this ocean its home. It's a neat extra thing to give you a little bit more to do on your dives.
Endless Ocean Luminous is an unexpected but welcome return to the series. There's a relaxing and chill experience to be had here exploring the ocean and learning about many different creatures but if you're playing solo then it can get repetitive real quickly unfortunately. Online players will get the most fun out of this one.
The one Virtual Boy game published by Nintendo that people ever really talk about. The second title in the Wario Land series, Virtual Boy Wario Land offers it's own take on the formula the original game developed.
In a rare turn for games on the Virtual Boy, this is actually a proper, in depth game. Yes it may be a short experience, beatable in under an hour if you know what you're doing but this doesn't feel compromised by the hardware, this feels like a proper Wario Land game and my gosh I have been hoping to find a Virtual Boy game like this.
This is Wario Land at it's core. Wario has his dash attack and through a few power ups he can gain a glide ability, breathe fire, or make himself stronger to break certain blocks and do a screen shaking ground pound, stunning all enemies. Wario becomes tiny upon taking damage in any form and will die if hit in his tiny form. You've got that fun and unique Wario moveset but not quite developed to the point stuff like Wario Land II and beyond would take it.
A platforming title with exploration at it's core, VB Wario Land sees you exploring it's well crafted levels to find a key to unlock the exit and progress. Each level also contains a hidden treasure which will change your ending depending on the amount you've collected. It's fun to explore these levels with Wario's unique moveset, barging through enemies and discovering secrets but this is a VB game and so it needs to make use of the 3D somehow right?
Well in VB Wario Land, levels are designed with a background and a foreground and you can hop between them using certain platforms you can find. Now these days, background/foreground hopping in a 2D platformer isn't that crazy. In 1995 and in 3D where you can see an actual depth to it all? Excellent stuff, fantastic use of the hardware and done in a way that fits the Wario Land gameplay naturally. A lot of VB games like to change the viewing angles of games to make the 3D effect more pronounced but Wario Land is a 2D platformer at heart and they keep it like that. You probably won't appreciate the 3D effect layering as you're playing but as soon as you try and play this in 2D you'll see just how much clearer the game looks in 3D with everything at different depths. It's great stuff and is worked into the level design well, often making you search for a way to get to the background because you see something interesting in it.
Throughout it's 14 levels there are 4 boss fights, each making decent use of the background/foreground mechanic for you to dodge attacks and find an opening to hit them. The final boss can be a bit of a pain to hit at times but otherwise, these are pretty good fights and help break up the main levels.
Every level has a 20 minute timer for some reason, probably more to do with them not wanting people spending hours in a single level on the Virtual Boy. 20 minutes is more than generous for these levels, so don't worry, you'll have plenty time to explore thoroughly and find the treasure and exit.
Virtual Boy Wario Land is the peak of Nintendo's library they put out on Virtual Boy. Despite being relatively short, it's one of the few titles that feels like a game with depth to it, that feels like it fits within its series, and it's something I wish the VB had more of. It's a fantastic Wario Land title that finds a way to work well with the 3D effect and not compromise on its core gameplay to do so
In a rare turn for games on the Virtual Boy, this is actually a proper, in depth game. Yes it may be a short experience, beatable in under an hour if you know what you're doing but this doesn't feel compromised by the hardware, this feels like a proper Wario Land game and my gosh I have been hoping to find a Virtual Boy game like this.
This is Wario Land at it's core. Wario has his dash attack and through a few power ups he can gain a glide ability, breathe fire, or make himself stronger to break certain blocks and do a screen shaking ground pound, stunning all enemies. Wario becomes tiny upon taking damage in any form and will die if hit in his tiny form. You've got that fun and unique Wario moveset but not quite developed to the point stuff like Wario Land II and beyond would take it.
A platforming title with exploration at it's core, VB Wario Land sees you exploring it's well crafted levels to find a key to unlock the exit and progress. Each level also contains a hidden treasure which will change your ending depending on the amount you've collected. It's fun to explore these levels with Wario's unique moveset, barging through enemies and discovering secrets but this is a VB game and so it needs to make use of the 3D somehow right?
Well in VB Wario Land, levels are designed with a background and a foreground and you can hop between them using certain platforms you can find. Now these days, background/foreground hopping in a 2D platformer isn't that crazy. In 1995 and in 3D where you can see an actual depth to it all? Excellent stuff, fantastic use of the hardware and done in a way that fits the Wario Land gameplay naturally. A lot of VB games like to change the viewing angles of games to make the 3D effect more pronounced but Wario Land is a 2D platformer at heart and they keep it like that. You probably won't appreciate the 3D effect layering as you're playing but as soon as you try and play this in 2D you'll see just how much clearer the game looks in 3D with everything at different depths. It's great stuff and is worked into the level design well, often making you search for a way to get to the background because you see something interesting in it.
Throughout it's 14 levels there are 4 boss fights, each making decent use of the background/foreground mechanic for you to dodge attacks and find an opening to hit them. The final boss can be a bit of a pain to hit at times but otherwise, these are pretty good fights and help break up the main levels.
Every level has a 20 minute timer for some reason, probably more to do with them not wanting people spending hours in a single level on the Virtual Boy. 20 minutes is more than generous for these levels, so don't worry, you'll have plenty time to explore thoroughly and find the treasure and exit.
Virtual Boy Wario Land is the peak of Nintendo's library they put out on Virtual Boy. Despite being relatively short, it's one of the few titles that feels like a game with depth to it, that feels like it fits within its series, and it's something I wish the VB had more of. It's a fantastic Wario Land title that finds a way to work well with the 3D effect and not compromise on its core gameplay to do so
1995
A vertical scrolling shooter game and it's simplicity works well for the platform.
You know the drill here - move and dodge incoming enemies and bullets while fighting back with your own weapons to defeat the enemies. You've got your usual power ups that can power up your laser by splitting it into 3 directions or gain an AI ship partner and it delivers a solid shooter experience.
It does have a trick up it's sleeve though - you can hop down to a lower layer by pressing A which is a pretty unique and cool way to make use of the 3D effect.
Hopping between layers, blasting enemies and picking up power ups - it's a solid and satisfying experience through it's 5 levels. Bosses make good use of the layer hopping, chasing you down as you dodge attacks.
There's not much else to say about this one, it's a good scrolling shooter with a fun gimmick and sometimes that's all you need for a fun experience
You know the drill here - move and dodge incoming enemies and bullets while fighting back with your own weapons to defeat the enemies. You've got your usual power ups that can power up your laser by splitting it into 3 directions or gain an AI ship partner and it delivers a solid shooter experience.
It does have a trick up it's sleeve though - you can hop down to a lower layer by pressing A which is a pretty unique and cool way to make use of the 3D effect.
Hopping between layers, blasting enemies and picking up power ups - it's a solid and satisfying experience through it's 5 levels. Bosses make good use of the layer hopping, chasing you down as you dodge attacks.
There's not much else to say about this one, it's a good scrolling shooter with a fun gimmick and sometimes that's all you need for a fun experience
1995
Teleroboxer asks the question we were all thinking: what if Punch-Out was robots instead? It's a cool concept leading to some pretty out there character designs that can be animated in exaggerated ways and throw punches that feel like they're coming out of the screen thanks to the 3D effect.
Where I struggle with this one though is it's control scheme. It's a little bit like Arms where you control each arm independently. The left d-pad and trigger control the left arm while the right d-pad and trigger control the right arm. Holding a direction and pushing the trigger will throw a different type of punch, like holding down will give you uppercut shots for example. Holding the d-pads in different directions will also give you different guards. I'm not sure if it was because I was playing on 3DS but my brain struggled with trying to dodge and throw punches together. Part of me feels like I was struggling with having full control of movement over both arms using each side of the controller where typically in something like Punch-Out, you can quickly dodge left and right with the d-pad and throw punches with A and B which is very simple for quick reactive play. Here things are maybe a little bit too complex for it's own good. It might be something that when you get the hang of it, it becomes really satisfying (like I found with StarFox Zero) but unfortunately it wasn't clicking with my brain.
Outside of it's unique control scheme, this is a boxing game at heart. You face a multitude of out there opponents and whittle away their health by punching them in order to become the champion.
I can appreciate what Teleroboxer was going for, it's an impressive over the top robot boxing game but unfortunately I just couldn't vibe with the control scheme well enough to truly enjoy it
Where I struggle with this one though is it's control scheme. It's a little bit like Arms where you control each arm independently. The left d-pad and trigger control the left arm while the right d-pad and trigger control the right arm. Holding a direction and pushing the trigger will throw a different type of punch, like holding down will give you uppercut shots for example. Holding the d-pads in different directions will also give you different guards. I'm not sure if it was because I was playing on 3DS but my brain struggled with trying to dodge and throw punches together. Part of me feels like I was struggling with having full control of movement over both arms using each side of the controller where typically in something like Punch-Out, you can quickly dodge left and right with the d-pad and throw punches with A and B which is very simple for quick reactive play. Here things are maybe a little bit too complex for it's own good. It might be something that when you get the hang of it, it becomes really satisfying (like I found with StarFox Zero) but unfortunately it wasn't clicking with my brain.
Outside of it's unique control scheme, this is a boxing game at heart. You face a multitude of out there opponents and whittle away their health by punching them in order to become the champion.
I can appreciate what Teleroboxer was going for, it's an impressive over the top robot boxing game but unfortunately I just couldn't vibe with the control scheme well enough to truly enjoy it
1995
So this is a pretty cool title. It's pretty similar to StarFox where you're piloting a ship through a pretty on rails level (though your ship can be stopped and reversed if you want). You blast through enemies in these linear levels and they can drop upgrades that heal your ship or unlock a boost and it's all pretty fun.
Control wise this makes full use of the Virtual Boy controller. Movement is on the left d-pad while you can dash in a direction with the right d-pad. The left trigger allows for tighter movement to be made while the right trigger is the blaster. A and B will increase and lower your speed respectively and Select changes the viewpoint. It's a pretty fleshed out moveset which is nice to see in a Virtual Boy game.
You'll be making full use of your moveset with the bosses at the end of every stage. These fights are like StarFox all range boss battles where you fight in an open arena allowing for free feeling battles as you move all over the arena, trying to position yourself in a good position to shoot the boss. I think some loop options or something would be nice to shake off homing missiles in these fights but otherwise, these are surprisingly well fleshed out.
Graphically they've gone for a wire frame look which allows for pretty fleshed out level designs without hurting the eyes with the red and black colours but it does mean the 3D effect isn't the most impressive thing here.
Overall, Red Alarm is a pretty solid StarFox like game. There's an impressive amount of depth to it compared to other Virtual Boy titles and it makes good use of the unique controller.
Control wise this makes full use of the Virtual Boy controller. Movement is on the left d-pad while you can dash in a direction with the right d-pad. The left trigger allows for tighter movement to be made while the right trigger is the blaster. A and B will increase and lower your speed respectively and Select changes the viewpoint. It's a pretty fleshed out moveset which is nice to see in a Virtual Boy game.
You'll be making full use of your moveset with the bosses at the end of every stage. These fights are like StarFox all range boss battles where you fight in an open arena allowing for free feeling battles as you move all over the arena, trying to position yourself in a good position to shoot the boss. I think some loop options or something would be nice to shake off homing missiles in these fights but otherwise, these are surprisingly well fleshed out.
Graphically they've gone for a wire frame look which allows for pretty fleshed out level designs without hurting the eyes with the red and black colours but it does mean the 3D effect isn't the most impressive thing here.
Overall, Red Alarm is a pretty solid StarFox like game. There's an impressive amount of depth to it compared to other Virtual Boy titles and it makes good use of the unique controller.
1995
Had no idea what to expect from this one aside from recognising Bomberman on the cover. I was surprised to find a pretty fun puzzle game with a solid story mode to work through.
The core concept of this is a match 3 puzzle game where your blocks are linked in an L-shaped 3 blocks and you can rotate them as they fall. Once landed, if there's a gap below any blocks, they will fall onto the line below. It's kind of a mix between Tetris and Puyo Puyo in that way.
The better you do, the more you can fill you side up with bombs and by dropping a lit bomb onto that, you can explode a large portion of your field to send a bunch of junk blocks to your opponents side. It's incredibly satisfying and simple to pick up fun which is exactly what you want from a puzzle game. Throw in some chaotic items like giant bombs and making blocks fall much faster, and you've got a great puzzle game on your hands.
There's no messing with viewing angles to try and make an impressive 3D display here - this is exactly how a puzzle game would look in 2D but they added depth to a few layers like the characters in the middle of the screen or making explosions pop out of the screen and that simplicity, not complicating thing for the sake of being flashy, is what makes this on of the better Virtual Boy games.
Panic Bomber knows what it wants to be and doesn't compromise on that to chase a 3D effect that has minimal effect on the gameplay. It's simple puzzle fun and because of that it's a great experience.
The core concept of this is a match 3 puzzle game where your blocks are linked in an L-shaped 3 blocks and you can rotate them as they fall. Once landed, if there's a gap below any blocks, they will fall onto the line below. It's kind of a mix between Tetris and Puyo Puyo in that way.
The better you do, the more you can fill you side up with bombs and by dropping a lit bomb onto that, you can explode a large portion of your field to send a bunch of junk blocks to your opponents side. It's incredibly satisfying and simple to pick up fun which is exactly what you want from a puzzle game. Throw in some chaotic items like giant bombs and making blocks fall much faster, and you've got a great puzzle game on your hands.
There's no messing with viewing angles to try and make an impressive 3D display here - this is exactly how a puzzle game would look in 2D but they added depth to a few layers like the characters in the middle of the screen or making explosions pop out of the screen and that simplicity, not complicating thing for the sake of being flashy, is what makes this on of the better Virtual Boy games.
Panic Bomber knows what it wants to be and doesn't compromise on that to chase a 3D effect that has minimal effect on the gameplay. It's simple puzzle fun and because of that it's a great experience.
The most interesting thing about this game is that it has Nester from the Nintendo Power comics (whom I have no attachment to having never read those comics so......)
It's bowling! In 3D! and there's some really wacky American style humour animations after you take a shot! Gameplay for this is incredibly simple, you move left and right to line up a shot, press A as a bar moves left and right to determine the spin of your shot and then press A on a power meter to determine the power of your shot and that's it. It's the first bowling game I've played where you can't angle your stance so it feels really basic compared to other titles I've played.
Modes are extremely limited too. You've got bowl, which is a regular 10 shots on ten pin bowling, practice, that let's you set up the pins how you want and try knocking them down, and finally challenge, which sees the pins set up in a manner where you would try and get a spare. There's also a 2 player mode where you alternate shots with another player but yeah.... this is another basic and bare bones Virtual Boy title except even the 3D effect is minimal too.
The novelty of Nester getting his own game aside, this is a pretty average bowling game that wears thin pretty quickly.
It's bowling! In 3D! and there's some really wacky American style humour animations after you take a shot! Gameplay for this is incredibly simple, you move left and right to line up a shot, press A as a bar moves left and right to determine the spin of your shot and then press A on a power meter to determine the power of your shot and that's it. It's the first bowling game I've played where you can't angle your stance so it feels really basic compared to other titles I've played.
Modes are extremely limited too. You've got bowl, which is a regular 10 shots on ten pin bowling, practice, that let's you set up the pins how you want and try knocking them down, and finally challenge, which sees the pins set up in a manner where you would try and get a spare. There's also a 2 player mode where you alternate shots with another player but yeah.... this is another basic and bare bones Virtual Boy title except even the 3D effect is minimal too.
The novelty of Nester getting his own game aside, this is a pretty average bowling game that wears thin pretty quickly.
1995
The very first Mario Tennis game!
As the first game in the series I think it does it's job well and plays a good solid game of tennis. The camera is pulled down to a lower level than your usual tennis game to make the 3D effect stand out more. Because of this, it can be hard to adjust to following the ball and timing your hits at first but once you get used to it, you'll get into the swing (sorry!) of things.
Shots are pretty limited in this with a basic shot on A and a lob shot on B. Smash returns are available if your opponent tries to lob you. Movement is on the d-pad and you have to be fairly accurate in your position and timing of your swing to hit the ball.
Mario's Tennis unfortunately suffers in a way similar to many of it's fellow Virtual Boy title - lacking in content. You've got 7 characters (the Super Mario Kart roster minus Bowser), singles and doubles modes and a tournament mode but without any trophies to win.... and that's it. It's quite telling how little content there is when the tournament brackets are uneven and doubles teams can't be filled out in a tournament without doubling up on a character. It's a shame because the core gameplay is solid, it would just be nice if there was a little more meat on the bones.
Mario's Tennis is a solid first entry in the Mario Tennis series, playing a solid game of tennis that is enjoyable in 3D. A lack of content however means there's little to keep you coming back to this for replaying which is unfortunate
As the first game in the series I think it does it's job well and plays a good solid game of tennis. The camera is pulled down to a lower level than your usual tennis game to make the 3D effect stand out more. Because of this, it can be hard to adjust to following the ball and timing your hits at first but once you get used to it, you'll get into the swing (sorry!) of things.
Shots are pretty limited in this with a basic shot on A and a lob shot on B. Smash returns are available if your opponent tries to lob you. Movement is on the d-pad and you have to be fairly accurate in your position and timing of your swing to hit the ball.
Mario's Tennis unfortunately suffers in a way similar to many of it's fellow Virtual Boy title - lacking in content. You've got 7 characters (the Super Mario Kart roster minus Bowser), singles and doubles modes and a tournament mode but without any trophies to win.... and that's it. It's quite telling how little content there is when the tournament brackets are uneven and doubles teams can't be filled out in a tournament without doubling up on a character. It's a shame because the core gameplay is solid, it would just be nice if there was a little more meat on the bones.
Mario's Tennis is a solid first entry in the Mario Tennis series, playing a solid game of tennis that is enjoyable in 3D. A lack of content however means there's little to keep you coming back to this for replaying which is unfortunate
1995
A sequel of sorts to the original Arcade Mario Bros. title, Mario Clash steps things up by adding a background layer to the fold that makes good use of the 3D effect.
Your goal in Mario Clash is to defeat enemies by throwing Koopa shells at them, with most enemies only hittable from the background or the foreground as you throw the shell towards or away from the screen. You can travel between background and foreground through the use of pipes which can also take you to the upper level too.
It's simple yet fun which is something most Mario games nail down. It can be difficult aiming throws to the background or foreground and I do wish there were other ways to defeat enemies at times.
Throughout the game's 40 levels, you'll come across a variety of enemies like spinies and boos to less conventional Mario enemies like snakes and toxic cubes on wheels that can throw poison balls at you. The snakes can be quite annoying as they have the ability to lay eggs and spawn more of them and pokey's can regenerate their bodies which can also be frustrating. Some levels are ice themed to add to the danger in them.
Overall, it's a fun experience though lacking depth in a few areas and frustrating at times. It's cool seeing the Mario Bros gameplay refined and iterated upon and the game does make good use of the Virtual Boy's 3D effect.
Your goal in Mario Clash is to defeat enemies by throwing Koopa shells at them, with most enemies only hittable from the background or the foreground as you throw the shell towards or away from the screen. You can travel between background and foreground through the use of pipes which can also take you to the upper level too.
It's simple yet fun which is something most Mario games nail down. It can be difficult aiming throws to the background or foreground and I do wish there were other ways to defeat enemies at times.
Throughout the game's 40 levels, you'll come across a variety of enemies like spinies and boos to less conventional Mario enemies like snakes and toxic cubes on wheels that can throw poison balls at you. The snakes can be quite annoying as they have the ability to lay eggs and spawn more of them and pokey's can regenerate their bodies which can also be frustrating. Some levels are ice themed to add to the danger in them.
Overall, it's a fun experience though lacking depth in a few areas and frustrating at times. It's cool seeing the Mario Bros gameplay refined and iterated upon and the game does make good use of the Virtual Boy's 3D effect.
1995
There's a decent game of Golf on offer here. 18 unique courses with Stroke and Tournament play modes and records for each course being recorded. The options for swinging are pretty in depth for a golf game of this era with direction, stances, and clubs all able to be set before a swing. The meter bar is hard to read with how they curve it out of the screen for the 3D effect and it makes it difficult to gauge how far you're going to hit the ball. Spin is also determined by pressing A while a marker zooms across the ball so if you stop it left or right of centre then you'll add spin to the ball. The core gameplay and what's on offer here is solid for a portable golf game of this era but there's one key area where it unfortunately all falls apart for me.
Graphically this is a headache inducing, eye straining mess of red and black lines, especially in 3D. There's just way too many lines for this kind of display with how they try to indicate different terrain and the slopes with the grid before you swing. I could barely stand playing for a few minutes in full 3D with the red and black display.
Thankfully, the Red Viper emulator on 3DS does allow you to change the colour scheme, with a black and white option being a standard. Unfortunately it doesn't help much with the 3D effect being an eyesore but turning that off on 3DS does make the game a bit more playable. It's still messy graphically to the point where it feels like it was rushed to market (which it probably was considering the Virtual Boy itself was) and it isn't enough to stop this being a sour experience overall for me
Graphically this is a headache inducing, eye straining mess of red and black lines, especially in 3D. There's just way too many lines for this kind of display with how they try to indicate different terrain and the slopes with the grid before you swing. I could barely stand playing for a few minutes in full 3D with the red and black display.
Thankfully, the Red Viper emulator on 3DS does allow you to change the colour scheme, with a black and white option being a standard. Unfortunately it doesn't help much with the 3D effect being an eyesore but turning that off on 3DS does make the game a bit more playable. It's still messy graphically to the point where it feels like it was rushed to market (which it probably was considering the Virtual Boy itself was) and it isn't enough to stop this being a sour experience overall for me
1995
There's a decent game of Golf on offer here. 18 unique courses with Stroke and Tournament play modes and records for each course being recorded. The options for swinging are pretty in depth for a golf game of this era with direction, stances, and clubs all able to be set before a swing. The meter bar is hard to read with how they curve it out of the screen for the 3D effect and it makes it difficult to gauge how far you're going to hit the ball. Spin is also determined by pressing A while a marker zooms across the ball so if you stop it left or right of centre then you'll add spin to the ball. The core gameplay and what's on offer here is solid for a portable golf game of this era but there's one key area where it unfortunately all falls apart for me.
Graphically this is a headache inducing, eye straining mess of red and black lines, especially in 3D. There's just way too many lines for this kind of display with how they try to indicate different terrain and the slopes with the grid before you swing. I could barely stand playing for a few minutes in full 3D with the red and black display.
Thankfully, the Red Viper emulator on 3DS does allow you to change the colour scheme, with a black and white option being a standard. Unfortunately it doesn't help much with the 3D effect being an eyesore but turning that off on 3DS does make the game a bit more playable. It's still messy graphically to the point where it feels like it was rushed to market (which it probably was considering the Virtual Boy itself was) and it isn't enough to stop this being a sour experience overall for me
Graphically this is a headache inducing, eye straining mess of red and black lines, especially in 3D. There's just way too many lines for this kind of display with how they try to indicate different terrain and the slopes with the grid before you swing. I could barely stand playing for a few minutes in full 3D with the red and black display.
Thankfully, the Red Viper emulator on 3DS does allow you to change the colour scheme, with a black and white option being a standard. Unfortunately it doesn't help much with the 3D effect being an eyesore but turning that off on 3DS does make the game a bit more playable. It's still messy graphically to the point where it feels like it was rushed to market (which it probably was considering the Virtual Boy itself was) and it isn't enough to stop this being a sour experience overall for me
1995
A pretty solid pinball offering
This one makes use of the 3D by tilting the viewing angle of the table so that the bottom end is closer and the top end is off in the distance. There's good use of layering with rails appearing on different levels and the 3D effect is quite good overall. They also decided to go with a puck instead of a ball, possibly because it might be easier to animate in 3D? I'm not sure but the puck slides along the table with the physics you would expect, almost like it's an air hockey puck. Each D-pad controls one of the flippers and it plays a good game of pinball.
Each of the 4 available tables offers their own gimmicks to help keep each table feeling fresh and each one carries a space theme.
Cosmic is a pretty basic table, There's a planet like object in the top left you can enter for bonuses and bumpers in the top right but otherwise it is your standard pinball table
Colony is the the standout for me. A list of locations appear in the middle of the table and there's arrows pointing to which hole you need to hit the ball into to progress to the next area which helps keep you going for things other than a high score. On top of that you'll be attacked by asteroids every so often and your puck will lift off the table and transform into a shooter that will let you shoot the asteroids for bonus points. It's a really engaging table and I love it.
UFO starts off with a giant UFO at the top and you can earn bonus points by entering the left hole before it flies off. Otherwise it's a pretty standard table and may be a bit too small.
Alien is the other highlight. This one seems like your standard double flipper table but if you can get the ball into the hole at the top, you can cause the bumpers to morph into an alien that will net you plenty bonus points if you can hit it enough times and enter the right hole. It's a fun and engaging table overall.
4 tables for a pinball game from around this era isn't too bad and each one offering a unique experience is pretty cool too. On top of that Galactic Pinball makes pretty good use of the 3D effect, helping emphasise the layers of each table and making this a pretty solid Virtual Boy title
This one makes use of the 3D by tilting the viewing angle of the table so that the bottom end is closer and the top end is off in the distance. There's good use of layering with rails appearing on different levels and the 3D effect is quite good overall. They also decided to go with a puck instead of a ball, possibly because it might be easier to animate in 3D? I'm not sure but the puck slides along the table with the physics you would expect, almost like it's an air hockey puck. Each D-pad controls one of the flippers and it plays a good game of pinball.
Each of the 4 available tables offers their own gimmicks to help keep each table feeling fresh and each one carries a space theme.
Cosmic is a pretty basic table, There's a planet like object in the top left you can enter for bonuses and bumpers in the top right but otherwise it is your standard pinball table
Colony is the the standout for me. A list of locations appear in the middle of the table and there's arrows pointing to which hole you need to hit the ball into to progress to the next area which helps keep you going for things other than a high score. On top of that you'll be attacked by asteroids every so often and your puck will lift off the table and transform into a shooter that will let you shoot the asteroids for bonus points. It's a really engaging table and I love it.
UFO starts off with a giant UFO at the top and you can earn bonus points by entering the left hole before it flies off. Otherwise it's a pretty standard table and may be a bit too small.
Alien is the other highlight. This one seems like your standard double flipper table but if you can get the ball into the hole at the top, you can cause the bumpers to morph into an alien that will net you plenty bonus points if you can hit it enough times and enter the right hole. It's a fun and engaging table overall.
4 tables for a pinball game from around this era isn't too bad and each one offering a unique experience is pretty cool too. On top of that Galactic Pinball makes pretty good use of the 3D effect, helping emphasise the layers of each table and making this a pretty solid Virtual Boy title
1996
Finally having the opportunity to go through Nintendo's Virtual Boy library for the first time we begin with 3D Tetris and well it's functional I guess.
This is Tetris but the twist is you're viewing it from this awkward top down view that shifts around to give you a better view of the sides. Instead of being a flat 2D plane that your blocks build on, you now get a full cuboid like arena to put your blocks in. The aim is the same, fill one line of the cuboid to clear that line and earn points. You can build the stack higher to clear more lines at once and you can now rotate the blocks in full 3D directions by using the right d-pad.
It's a good idea on paper but when you need a simplified view to the right to show where your blocks are lined up, it kinda shows how awkward the constantly shifting view of the main arena.
There's a puzzle mode in addition to the main one where you use a set number of blocks to build a shape shown at the start. It's.... fine I guess.
The other mode places a spike like object in the centre that will delete blocks you place there so you can't place anything until the final block to clear the line. It's an interesting idea and it works well enough.
But yeah, puzzle games are at their best when they're simple and this one unfortunately complicates things a little too much to try and make it work in 3D. The shifting view point and everything being just red and black makes it awkward to keep track of where your blocks are and with higher speeds it's difficult to manage rotating your blocks quickly in a 3D space. Good idea on paper, just a little bit too complex to pull off on such limited hardware
This is Tetris but the twist is you're viewing it from this awkward top down view that shifts around to give you a better view of the sides. Instead of being a flat 2D plane that your blocks build on, you now get a full cuboid like arena to put your blocks in. The aim is the same, fill one line of the cuboid to clear that line and earn points. You can build the stack higher to clear more lines at once and you can now rotate the blocks in full 3D directions by using the right d-pad.
It's a good idea on paper but when you need a simplified view to the right to show where your blocks are lined up, it kinda shows how awkward the constantly shifting view of the main arena.
There's a puzzle mode in addition to the main one where you use a set number of blocks to build a shape shown at the start. It's.... fine I guess.
The other mode places a spike like object in the centre that will delete blocks you place there so you can't place anything until the final block to clear the line. It's an interesting idea and it works well enough.
But yeah, puzzle games are at their best when they're simple and this one unfortunately complicates things a little too much to try and make it work in 3D. The shifting view point and everything being just red and black makes it awkward to keep track of where your blocks are and with higher speeds it's difficult to manage rotating your blocks quickly in a 3D space. Good idea on paper, just a little bit too complex to pull off on such limited hardware
Trails into Reverie, the 10th entry into the long running continuous narrative that is the Trails series and a title that aims to wrap up loose threads from the Crossbell and Erebonia arcs. In fact it's so important that you have at least played those games that NISA went out of their way to localise Trails from Zero and to Azure before getting Reverie localised. While it seems publishing issues holds things up in the West, Falcom did port all 4 of the Cold Steel titles onto Switch in Japan. Both of those insinuate just how important it is to have at least played the Crossbell and Erebonia games before Reverie and on top of that the in game novel from Cold Steel IV, 3 & 9, also plays a huge part in Reverie, leading to it getting included on the main menu of Reverie too, to allow players to catch up. All this to say that talking about elements of Reverie is near impossible without spoiling some elements from previous arcs so keep that in mind if you plan on reading this review for it. With that out of the way….. let's see how this Trail ends.
As usual it is always easier to go into the incremental changes in gameplay and what we have here is very much a culmination of the Cold Steel battle system in all its glory. Arcus Links, Brave Orders, and all that good stuff is back with one new major addition to the system - United Fronts. Cold Steel III first introduced these purple icons at the bottom right of your screen that allowed you to instantly break a foe before entering battle with them. Well now these Charges as they're called can be used in battle to unleash a United Front, where all of your active party members and reserve members combine to unleash a powerful group attack or heal. You can choose between an Art based or physical attack as well in these United Fronts, giving you options which is handy in case you don't have optimal set ups on your characters. With 50+ playable characters in the game, accessible throughout most of the game, sharing the same resources… yeah, unless you have a lot of patience to move your equipment about, you're probably gonna have moments where your characters aren't set up how you want and these United Fronts offer a good option in case you don't have healing set up properly or you're lacking a powerful arts attacker etc. With battles you have more options than ever and a near infinite set of possible character combinations and orbment sets to explore and it's all wrapped up in combat being the culmination of years of additions and improvements, leading to a very satisfying and engaging experience.
Falcom have also taken the opportunity to test out a new engine here, with it getting used for a few select cutscenes and wow, what a difference! You can tell when it gets pulled out because all of a sudden characters move much more fluidly, the camera is much more dynamic and the scenes are much more kinetic. I could live with the old stilted robotic scenes but when you see how much of a difference having that dynamic, kinetic action makes, gosh does it look fantastic.
Where Reverie mostly differs from previous Trails experiences is how it handles its story. Similar to Trails in the Sky the 3rd, it's an epilogue game to wrap up some loose ends and tease for the future but unlike Sky the 3rd, this game features a more traditional Trails style story outwith a Phantasma dungeon like set up with its new Trails to Walk system where the story follows 3 different protagonists in an intertwining story. We do lose the traditional Trails side quests but we still get to explore the world and revisit old areas as well as redone areas for a more traditional RPG experience compared to Sky the 3rd that was mostly focused on dungeon crawling.
Starting the game up you're thrown into a prologue section where the SSS are in the process of liberating Crossbell from the remaining EDF members who are disappointed with how Erebonia ended up after the Great War and are clinging onto Osborne's old ambitions. It's a great start to the game and helps further emphasise that even though the curse of Erebonia did influence people into craving war and conflict, that deep rooted desire was always there in some people and that ending the curse doesn't automatically stop all Erebonian’s from ever wanting conflict again. The SSS carry out their mission in Orchis Tower in style, including help from a lot of returning Crossbell based faces like Noel and Wazy who are so nice to see again after so long.
With SSS success, Crossbell is free again and prepares to celebrate its hard fought independence… only for a few familiar faces to gatecrash the event and reclaim Crossbell under the EDF and a man calling himself the Supreme Leader of the United Nation of Crossbell, proclaiming the lofty goal of uniting all of Zemuria. The SSS are soundly beaten by this man and Crossbellans watching the event lose hope, their heroes defeated and independence snatched from them yet again, they give into despair and believe in the United Nation dream being sold to them.
The prologue kicks off the events that split into the three storylines that the Trails to Walk system follows. In your first playthrough you'll experience each act 1 in a set order and that's the order I'll be going through them.
First up is Lloyd's route which follows on directly from the prologue events. Having recovered from the events there thanks to Rixia looking after him, it's up to him to find where the rest of the SSS have dispersed to and once again get over the barrier to Crossbell’s independence. The core plot of Lloyd’s route does go through similar elements as Azure did and Crossbell's fight for independence has been something that has been going on for many a game but I think that is oversimplifiing and underselling the story here. Now that we're free from the complex Cold Steel story that was trying to carry and weave together a few too many plot points and way too many characters to give satisfying arcs to, Reverie returns to what I'd say Trails is so good at - compelling character driven stories. While Lloyd's route does cover similar beats to Azure, the core character drama of the SSS having lost sight of what they were originally for is what makes this route so good. The exploration of how people's weight of expectations and idolising of you can cause you to lose sight of yourself and lose your way. For Lloyd he was a simple detective who supported those in need and in turn the people of Crossbell supported the SSS, they relied on each other. 2 years of Imperial rule however had changed the dynamic to where Crossbellans felt they needed a hero to save them and they looked to the SSS to be those heroes. It's such an interesting look on how people's emotions can have an effect on each other and we'll be going into that more with the other two routes, don't you worry.
For those that have played the Crossbell games, Lloyd’s route offers a lot of satisfying catching up with characters who we haven't seen in a while, as well as seeing just about all of Crossbell fully modelled in a 3D environment to scale having had bits and pieces done throughout the Cold Steel games. Seeing not only characters like Wazy and Noel but also Chief Sergei, Dudley, Zeit and Wald as well as locations like the Mainz Mining Village all back again after so long is a special treat for long-time Crossbell fans. That's what this route is mainly about really, giving Crossbell fans the closure they've been craving since Azure and it's done really well that it's hard to complain.
Our second route follows Rean, who after his heroics in stopping the Great Twilight, is taking the chance to relax at his home village of Ymir with a few members of new Class VII. The core plotline of his route is mainly about investigating the mysterious disappearance of the Courageous II, which was carrying the newly wed Olivert and Scherazard on it. Rean's route follows a Class VII style investigation of each area you visit, meeting people and learning about what's happening in the area, etc. Again, like how Lloyd's route followed Azure plot beats, those familiar with Cold Steel will find Rean's route familiar. However, being free from bonding events, meandering plotlines, and every single girl fawning over Rean, Rean's route feels pretty fresh. Being free from that stuff helps the writing feel a lot more focused and again, that means the character specific stuff gets to shine. For example Claire shows up early in Rean's route and she was a character I had a few issues with in Cold Steel IV but Reverie takes the opportunity to sit down with the character and actually explores how she feels. She and Rean have this heart to heart where she admits that she's throwing herself into her work because she's struggling with liking herself for what she's done. Rean is a parallel of sorts where he doesn't feel like he deserves happiness because of how he was the one who unleashed the Great Twilight. It's great stuff and something Cold Steel fumbled with a bit because of how much it was juggling with its main plot.
There's also Juna struggle with the news that Crossbell has been occupied again and she's trying to deal with it on her own because she doesn't want to be a burden to everyone else and Rean picks up on that, telling her that everyone wants to help her, only for her to point out he does the same thing and it leads to this great moment where Rean admits he has a problem and needs to work on it. Yeah it's something he's been struggling with for 4+ games now but Reverie actually takes the time to explore his issues properly and let him work through it and that is so appreciated as someone who goes through a similar thing.
As you may have picked up on by now, Rean's route explores how thinking about dealing with your problems yourself and being willing to sacrifice yourself affects the people you love in negative ways. We may think we're not burdening others by doing that but in reality our bonds carry our emotions to each other so bottling things up only causes pain and suffering to those worried about you and willing to help.
A few plot elements from the Cold Steel arc do reappear here and I was worried when I first saw them because I was at the point where I was done with them and thought we had moved past it but thankfully these elements are not used in a convoluted way and are handled a lot neater, keeping things simple.
This route is mostly about wrapping up Rean’s character arc so if that's up your alley then you'll find this to be a pretty satisfying route though I do understand for many, going through more Rean stuff for the fifth game in a row could be tiresome.
Finally we have the mysterious C route, focusing on new characters introduced through the 3 & 9 novel as well as a mysterious doll and of course our masked man donning the persona of the old Imperial Liberation Front’s main terrorist. The combination of characters in this route make for a fascinating quadlet, each one feeling like outcasts in a world that has shunned them.
C, while difficult to go into while avoiding spoilers on his true identity, is probably the best character in the game which I was not expecting going in. He has no qualms about using people to achieve his goals, happy to take on the mantle of villain, and has no regrets about the crimes he has committed. He walks a path in the shadows compared to previous Trails protagonists who have always shone bright, like the goody two shoes they are but my gosh, what a breath of fresh air that makes C. What's even better is watching his relationship with Lapis, the sentient doll that Swin and Nadia were tasked on delivering to him, develop and have a profound effect on him. C is very much a man who has lost his purpose in life, alone because he had no need for relationships and felt like his crimes had denied him from being allowed any relationships and then along comes this doll, with no idea on how the world works, no real sense of what makes a person good or bad or how someone's history weighs on them, and she just sees him for him. Lapis doesn't know what he's done, C is just C to her and that slowly has an effect on him to where his life finally gains a meaning again.
Lapis is on the other end of the scale. She's a doll with no memories and as such, she has no idea how she fits in this world and that comes with a heavy dose of existential dread. Nadia is very quick to treat her like a little sister, showing her around Heimdallr and treating her to food as the two form a bond. It's her dynamic with C that shines brightest though, just as she helps him discover his sense of self again, so too does he with her. He reuses her speech to him about how Lapis is Lapis and no one else can be Lapis Rosenberg. There's other fantastic moments with Lapis as her experiences with the Imperial Picnicking Front (as Nadia calls the group) shapes her view and allows her to make a definitive choice late on in the final battle.
Swin and Nadia are our 3 & 9 from the novel. Reading that is essential for understanding their backstory as two assassins who had escaped an organisation and killed the leader of it in doing so. This has meant their lives now have them constantly looking over their shoulder as they try to find somewhere they can belong and just be people instead of tools. The two make a great yin yang duo in traditional peak Trails dynamic writing. Swin is very much the reserved of the two, keeping an eye on Nadia while being dragged into her shenanigans. He provides the rational head and is the responsible one, always being on top of what he's getting involved in. Nadia is much more free spirited and will generally do what she wants. She has this wonderful dichotomy going on with this cute girl carrying a teddy bear look that hides the horrors she has suffered from being in the organisation. She's no frail little girl and there's an impactful scene where she very graphically describes how she would torture someone to gain information from them and it's quite terrifying imagining what a 13 year old girl has been through to know stuff like that. It's clear though that life in the organisation has traumatised her in ways as Swin is the only person she can feel comfortable enough around to sleep. Swin and Nadia make a fantastic duo, a pair of people who have through so much together at such a young age, working perfectly in sync together covering each other's weak points.
Character wise, C route offers what has been my favourite group of characters since the Crossbell games and story wise it's pretty strong too.
This route deals with C being gifted Lapis and hiring Swin and Nadia to help him achieve his goals. Part of that ends up including helping Lapis regain her memories and this route really shines when they take on the role of villains to push people like Rean and Class VII into the direction of the real issues at hand as they're much more well equipped for taking on the role of heroes. The core theme of finding your place in a world where you don't feel like you belong is the fantastic pillar of the route and it goes a long way into making it my favourite of the three.
Each route is split into 4 acts before everyone comes together for the finale and these stories are intertwined with one another where you'll be locked out of a route until another one catches up. Sometimes they directly overlap and you'll be jumping from doing a boss battle in one route before switching perspective and doing it in the other route, or you'll be progressing through a dungeon in one route before needing another route to work through a different dungeon connected to that one so that they can both open a door at the same time. It's really cool stuff and I haven't seen a game pull off a multiple route story quite with this level of interconnectivity between each route. The Trails to Walk system also lets you pause one route and jump into another whenever you want after a certain point and when you jump back to that route you paused, it's right from where you left off, no progress lost or anything. It's a brilliant system and when you have this many characters with so many different perspectives in the series, I can really appreciate the multiple route approach to the story telling.
As everyone comes together for the finale, the story wraps up in the spectacular way you're probably used to by now. The stakes get raised higher and higher and the finale explores some really cool ideas, using elements from both Azure and Cold Steel IV in a really satisfying way. There's really great moments as characters like Rean finally understand how taking on the burden themselves affects the people they love and there's this absolutely incredible scene between Lloyd and C with a line of dialogue that will probably stick with me forever. It's a fantastic end to one of the most well paced Trails stories to date.
Now it's time to get into the other side of Reverie, the part that borrows from Phantasma in Sky the 3rd - The True Reverie Corridor. Around act 2 of the story, characters start finding a shard of a purple mirror in their pocket and are whisked away to another plane called the True Reverie Corridor, a space set up to essentially allow you to level up your characters as the main story moves at a pace where some people will end up falling behind. The TRC has multiple stratums that are randomly generated dungeons and you get to use all the characters you've met up to that point in the story, as well as special guest characters, to build a party in whatever way you want to tackle these dungeons and level up your characters. But grinding on its own would be kinda boring, so the game incentivises you by rewarding you with Sealing Stones for taking on mini bosses and stuff. Returning from Sky the 3rd, these Sealing Stones come in multiple varieties. Silver offers random items, Red offers minigames, Blue offers Daydreams, and Gold offers new playable characters. The minigame assortment provides a nice break from the dungeon crawling and there's some fun stuff like a Magical Girl rail shooter and the return of Who Wants to be a Mirrannaire, a quiz about various Trails things.
Daydreams act much like the doors did in Sky the 3rd, where you'll get glimpses of events from the past and learn about stuff that happened off screen. While there isn't anything quite as hard hitting as Renne’s backstory, there's still plenty to enjoy here, like Olivert and Scherazard preparing for their wedding, Claire struggling with her family problems, Lechter trying to find his place in the world. A lot of good stuff to enjoy and a good variety of silly light-hearted ones as well as powerful emotional ones providing much needed character growth.
Throughout your time in the TRC, you'll find Trial Keys that can be used in the main hub area to unlock specific challenge battles for specific characters at specific levels. It does mean you'll have to do a little bit of level grinding if you want to fight all of these but you do get a reward of a better S-Craft for each character who partook in that battle.
These stratum levels unlock as you progress through the game up to around half of level 4 where something goes wrong with the TRC trying to shut down the space as it's no longer needed but events in the main story prevents that from happening. Instead a meaty post game of exploring the depths of TRC becomes available with even more Daydreams and characters to unlock, with some of these Daydreams even providing a glimpse into what's to come from the Calvard arc. The post game story continues on from the main game, linking in even more elements from Azure and nicely wraps up just about everything, even if all the talk about causality and stuff can be a little hard to follow at times.
While I absolutely love Reverie I do have a couple of minor gripes with it, mostly relating to playable characters and a few that have unfortunately been excluded. Mueller, despite being playable in Sky the 3rd and having a model to use in all of the Erebonia arc games, is for some reason not playable. Dudley was one of my favourite surprise party members from the Crossbell arc and he's got a new model for this game but he isn't playable. Kevin is unfortunately still MIA, not even getting a new model yet still being mentioned throughout. Kloe is another character who does have a model but is unavailable to fight. I feel like when you have 50+ playable characters then it's like, well what's wrong with throwing in one or two more y’know? Especially in the post game, where some of the playable characters choices are fun and a little bit out there, I think it would've been nice to have the ones that have models but aren't playable at least. It's a small gripe though and it's not like you're lacking from characters to pick from at least.
Now on the technical side of things, my stubbornness of playing things on Switch because it's my preferred platform did throw a handful more issues into the mix. The Switch has never been great at running Crossbell through the Cold Steel games, with obvious framerate dips, especially in the Harbor District area. So when you have scenes that take place in Crossbell but they decide to pack in 50+ character models hoo boy does that framerate start to crawl… and it's the same in later scenes outside of Crossbell when nearly every single playable character is amassed. Now luckily, aside from the general Crossbell dips, all of these egregious drops take place in cutscenes and not actual gameplay so if you can live with that, then the Switch port offers a mostly competent experience. I had one crash while shuffling through the characters in the main menu screen instead of the character select screen but aside from that, it was fine. Obviously the other platforms are recommended and you can pick your previous game choices at the start of this one so you aren't missing out on much if you do change platform choice for this game. The PS5 version even just gives you all the save data bonuses anyway!
Trails into Reverie is a return to peak form for the series. It manages to keep its story moving at a brisk pace throughout its three routes with a beautiful story whose themes line up throughout each route. Bringing together almost all of the gang from across Liberl, Crossbell, and Erebonia, Reverie gives them all one big send off with a smile, reminding us every step of the way that your existence does matter and you are more loved than you realise.
As usual it is always easier to go into the incremental changes in gameplay and what we have here is very much a culmination of the Cold Steel battle system in all its glory. Arcus Links, Brave Orders, and all that good stuff is back with one new major addition to the system - United Fronts. Cold Steel III first introduced these purple icons at the bottom right of your screen that allowed you to instantly break a foe before entering battle with them. Well now these Charges as they're called can be used in battle to unleash a United Front, where all of your active party members and reserve members combine to unleash a powerful group attack or heal. You can choose between an Art based or physical attack as well in these United Fronts, giving you options which is handy in case you don't have optimal set ups on your characters. With 50+ playable characters in the game, accessible throughout most of the game, sharing the same resources… yeah, unless you have a lot of patience to move your equipment about, you're probably gonna have moments where your characters aren't set up how you want and these United Fronts offer a good option in case you don't have healing set up properly or you're lacking a powerful arts attacker etc. With battles you have more options than ever and a near infinite set of possible character combinations and orbment sets to explore and it's all wrapped up in combat being the culmination of years of additions and improvements, leading to a very satisfying and engaging experience.
Falcom have also taken the opportunity to test out a new engine here, with it getting used for a few select cutscenes and wow, what a difference! You can tell when it gets pulled out because all of a sudden characters move much more fluidly, the camera is much more dynamic and the scenes are much more kinetic. I could live with the old stilted robotic scenes but when you see how much of a difference having that dynamic, kinetic action makes, gosh does it look fantastic.
Where Reverie mostly differs from previous Trails experiences is how it handles its story. Similar to Trails in the Sky the 3rd, it's an epilogue game to wrap up some loose ends and tease for the future but unlike Sky the 3rd, this game features a more traditional Trails style story outwith a Phantasma dungeon like set up with its new Trails to Walk system where the story follows 3 different protagonists in an intertwining story. We do lose the traditional Trails side quests but we still get to explore the world and revisit old areas as well as redone areas for a more traditional RPG experience compared to Sky the 3rd that was mostly focused on dungeon crawling.
Starting the game up you're thrown into a prologue section where the SSS are in the process of liberating Crossbell from the remaining EDF members who are disappointed with how Erebonia ended up after the Great War and are clinging onto Osborne's old ambitions. It's a great start to the game and helps further emphasise that even though the curse of Erebonia did influence people into craving war and conflict, that deep rooted desire was always there in some people and that ending the curse doesn't automatically stop all Erebonian’s from ever wanting conflict again. The SSS carry out their mission in Orchis Tower in style, including help from a lot of returning Crossbell based faces like Noel and Wazy who are so nice to see again after so long.
With SSS success, Crossbell is free again and prepares to celebrate its hard fought independence… only for a few familiar faces to gatecrash the event and reclaim Crossbell under the EDF and a man calling himself the Supreme Leader of the United Nation of Crossbell, proclaiming the lofty goal of uniting all of Zemuria. The SSS are soundly beaten by this man and Crossbellans watching the event lose hope, their heroes defeated and independence snatched from them yet again, they give into despair and believe in the United Nation dream being sold to them.
The prologue kicks off the events that split into the three storylines that the Trails to Walk system follows. In your first playthrough you'll experience each act 1 in a set order and that's the order I'll be going through them.
First up is Lloyd's route which follows on directly from the prologue events. Having recovered from the events there thanks to Rixia looking after him, it's up to him to find where the rest of the SSS have dispersed to and once again get over the barrier to Crossbell’s independence. The core plot of Lloyd’s route does go through similar elements as Azure did and Crossbell's fight for independence has been something that has been going on for many a game but I think that is oversimplifiing and underselling the story here. Now that we're free from the complex Cold Steel story that was trying to carry and weave together a few too many plot points and way too many characters to give satisfying arcs to, Reverie returns to what I'd say Trails is so good at - compelling character driven stories. While Lloyd's route does cover similar beats to Azure, the core character drama of the SSS having lost sight of what they were originally for is what makes this route so good. The exploration of how people's weight of expectations and idolising of you can cause you to lose sight of yourself and lose your way. For Lloyd he was a simple detective who supported those in need and in turn the people of Crossbell supported the SSS, they relied on each other. 2 years of Imperial rule however had changed the dynamic to where Crossbellans felt they needed a hero to save them and they looked to the SSS to be those heroes. It's such an interesting look on how people's emotions can have an effect on each other and we'll be going into that more with the other two routes, don't you worry.
For those that have played the Crossbell games, Lloyd’s route offers a lot of satisfying catching up with characters who we haven't seen in a while, as well as seeing just about all of Crossbell fully modelled in a 3D environment to scale having had bits and pieces done throughout the Cold Steel games. Seeing not only characters like Wazy and Noel but also Chief Sergei, Dudley, Zeit and Wald as well as locations like the Mainz Mining Village all back again after so long is a special treat for long-time Crossbell fans. That's what this route is mainly about really, giving Crossbell fans the closure they've been craving since Azure and it's done really well that it's hard to complain.
Our second route follows Rean, who after his heroics in stopping the Great Twilight, is taking the chance to relax at his home village of Ymir with a few members of new Class VII. The core plotline of his route is mainly about investigating the mysterious disappearance of the Courageous II, which was carrying the newly wed Olivert and Scherazard on it. Rean's route follows a Class VII style investigation of each area you visit, meeting people and learning about what's happening in the area, etc. Again, like how Lloyd's route followed Azure plot beats, those familiar with Cold Steel will find Rean's route familiar. However, being free from bonding events, meandering plotlines, and every single girl fawning over Rean, Rean's route feels pretty fresh. Being free from that stuff helps the writing feel a lot more focused and again, that means the character specific stuff gets to shine. For example Claire shows up early in Rean's route and she was a character I had a few issues with in Cold Steel IV but Reverie takes the opportunity to sit down with the character and actually explores how she feels. She and Rean have this heart to heart where she admits that she's throwing herself into her work because she's struggling with liking herself for what she's done. Rean is a parallel of sorts where he doesn't feel like he deserves happiness because of how he was the one who unleashed the Great Twilight. It's great stuff and something Cold Steel fumbled with a bit because of how much it was juggling with its main plot.
There's also Juna struggle with the news that Crossbell has been occupied again and she's trying to deal with it on her own because she doesn't want to be a burden to everyone else and Rean picks up on that, telling her that everyone wants to help her, only for her to point out he does the same thing and it leads to this great moment where Rean admits he has a problem and needs to work on it. Yeah it's something he's been struggling with for 4+ games now but Reverie actually takes the time to explore his issues properly and let him work through it and that is so appreciated as someone who goes through a similar thing.
As you may have picked up on by now, Rean's route explores how thinking about dealing with your problems yourself and being willing to sacrifice yourself affects the people you love in negative ways. We may think we're not burdening others by doing that but in reality our bonds carry our emotions to each other so bottling things up only causes pain and suffering to those worried about you and willing to help.
A few plot elements from the Cold Steel arc do reappear here and I was worried when I first saw them because I was at the point where I was done with them and thought we had moved past it but thankfully these elements are not used in a convoluted way and are handled a lot neater, keeping things simple.
This route is mostly about wrapping up Rean’s character arc so if that's up your alley then you'll find this to be a pretty satisfying route though I do understand for many, going through more Rean stuff for the fifth game in a row could be tiresome.
Finally we have the mysterious C route, focusing on new characters introduced through the 3 & 9 novel as well as a mysterious doll and of course our masked man donning the persona of the old Imperial Liberation Front’s main terrorist. The combination of characters in this route make for a fascinating quadlet, each one feeling like outcasts in a world that has shunned them.
C, while difficult to go into while avoiding spoilers on his true identity, is probably the best character in the game which I was not expecting going in. He has no qualms about using people to achieve his goals, happy to take on the mantle of villain, and has no regrets about the crimes he has committed. He walks a path in the shadows compared to previous Trails protagonists who have always shone bright, like the goody two shoes they are but my gosh, what a breath of fresh air that makes C. What's even better is watching his relationship with Lapis, the sentient doll that Swin and Nadia were tasked on delivering to him, develop and have a profound effect on him. C is very much a man who has lost his purpose in life, alone because he had no need for relationships and felt like his crimes had denied him from being allowed any relationships and then along comes this doll, with no idea on how the world works, no real sense of what makes a person good or bad or how someone's history weighs on them, and she just sees him for him. Lapis doesn't know what he's done, C is just C to her and that slowly has an effect on him to where his life finally gains a meaning again.
Lapis is on the other end of the scale. She's a doll with no memories and as such, she has no idea how she fits in this world and that comes with a heavy dose of existential dread. Nadia is very quick to treat her like a little sister, showing her around Heimdallr and treating her to food as the two form a bond. It's her dynamic with C that shines brightest though, just as she helps him discover his sense of self again, so too does he with her. He reuses her speech to him about how Lapis is Lapis and no one else can be Lapis Rosenberg. There's other fantastic moments with Lapis as her experiences with the Imperial Picnicking Front (as Nadia calls the group) shapes her view and allows her to make a definitive choice late on in the final battle.
Swin and Nadia are our 3 & 9 from the novel. Reading that is essential for understanding their backstory as two assassins who had escaped an organisation and killed the leader of it in doing so. This has meant their lives now have them constantly looking over their shoulder as they try to find somewhere they can belong and just be people instead of tools. The two make a great yin yang duo in traditional peak Trails dynamic writing. Swin is very much the reserved of the two, keeping an eye on Nadia while being dragged into her shenanigans. He provides the rational head and is the responsible one, always being on top of what he's getting involved in. Nadia is much more free spirited and will generally do what she wants. She has this wonderful dichotomy going on with this cute girl carrying a teddy bear look that hides the horrors she has suffered from being in the organisation. She's no frail little girl and there's an impactful scene where she very graphically describes how she would torture someone to gain information from them and it's quite terrifying imagining what a 13 year old girl has been through to know stuff like that. It's clear though that life in the organisation has traumatised her in ways as Swin is the only person she can feel comfortable enough around to sleep. Swin and Nadia make a fantastic duo, a pair of people who have through so much together at such a young age, working perfectly in sync together covering each other's weak points.
Character wise, C route offers what has been my favourite group of characters since the Crossbell games and story wise it's pretty strong too.
This route deals with C being gifted Lapis and hiring Swin and Nadia to help him achieve his goals. Part of that ends up including helping Lapis regain her memories and this route really shines when they take on the role of villains to push people like Rean and Class VII into the direction of the real issues at hand as they're much more well equipped for taking on the role of heroes. The core theme of finding your place in a world where you don't feel like you belong is the fantastic pillar of the route and it goes a long way into making it my favourite of the three.
Each route is split into 4 acts before everyone comes together for the finale and these stories are intertwined with one another where you'll be locked out of a route until another one catches up. Sometimes they directly overlap and you'll be jumping from doing a boss battle in one route before switching perspective and doing it in the other route, or you'll be progressing through a dungeon in one route before needing another route to work through a different dungeon connected to that one so that they can both open a door at the same time. It's really cool stuff and I haven't seen a game pull off a multiple route story quite with this level of interconnectivity between each route. The Trails to Walk system also lets you pause one route and jump into another whenever you want after a certain point and when you jump back to that route you paused, it's right from where you left off, no progress lost or anything. It's a brilliant system and when you have this many characters with so many different perspectives in the series, I can really appreciate the multiple route approach to the story telling.
As everyone comes together for the finale, the story wraps up in the spectacular way you're probably used to by now. The stakes get raised higher and higher and the finale explores some really cool ideas, using elements from both Azure and Cold Steel IV in a really satisfying way. There's really great moments as characters like Rean finally understand how taking on the burden themselves affects the people they love and there's this absolutely incredible scene between Lloyd and C with a line of dialogue that will probably stick with me forever. It's a fantastic end to one of the most well paced Trails stories to date.
Now it's time to get into the other side of Reverie, the part that borrows from Phantasma in Sky the 3rd - The True Reverie Corridor. Around act 2 of the story, characters start finding a shard of a purple mirror in their pocket and are whisked away to another plane called the True Reverie Corridor, a space set up to essentially allow you to level up your characters as the main story moves at a pace where some people will end up falling behind. The TRC has multiple stratums that are randomly generated dungeons and you get to use all the characters you've met up to that point in the story, as well as special guest characters, to build a party in whatever way you want to tackle these dungeons and level up your characters. But grinding on its own would be kinda boring, so the game incentivises you by rewarding you with Sealing Stones for taking on mini bosses and stuff. Returning from Sky the 3rd, these Sealing Stones come in multiple varieties. Silver offers random items, Red offers minigames, Blue offers Daydreams, and Gold offers new playable characters. The minigame assortment provides a nice break from the dungeon crawling and there's some fun stuff like a Magical Girl rail shooter and the return of Who Wants to be a Mirrannaire, a quiz about various Trails things.
Daydreams act much like the doors did in Sky the 3rd, where you'll get glimpses of events from the past and learn about stuff that happened off screen. While there isn't anything quite as hard hitting as Renne’s backstory, there's still plenty to enjoy here, like Olivert and Scherazard preparing for their wedding, Claire struggling with her family problems, Lechter trying to find his place in the world. A lot of good stuff to enjoy and a good variety of silly light-hearted ones as well as powerful emotional ones providing much needed character growth.
Throughout your time in the TRC, you'll find Trial Keys that can be used in the main hub area to unlock specific challenge battles for specific characters at specific levels. It does mean you'll have to do a little bit of level grinding if you want to fight all of these but you do get a reward of a better S-Craft for each character who partook in that battle.
These stratum levels unlock as you progress through the game up to around half of level 4 where something goes wrong with the TRC trying to shut down the space as it's no longer needed but events in the main story prevents that from happening. Instead a meaty post game of exploring the depths of TRC becomes available with even more Daydreams and characters to unlock, with some of these Daydreams even providing a glimpse into what's to come from the Calvard arc. The post game story continues on from the main game, linking in even more elements from Azure and nicely wraps up just about everything, even if all the talk about causality and stuff can be a little hard to follow at times.
While I absolutely love Reverie I do have a couple of minor gripes with it, mostly relating to playable characters and a few that have unfortunately been excluded. Mueller, despite being playable in Sky the 3rd and having a model to use in all of the Erebonia arc games, is for some reason not playable. Dudley was one of my favourite surprise party members from the Crossbell arc and he's got a new model for this game but he isn't playable. Kevin is unfortunately still MIA, not even getting a new model yet still being mentioned throughout. Kloe is another character who does have a model but is unavailable to fight. I feel like when you have 50+ playable characters then it's like, well what's wrong with throwing in one or two more y’know? Especially in the post game, where some of the playable characters choices are fun and a little bit out there, I think it would've been nice to have the ones that have models but aren't playable at least. It's a small gripe though and it's not like you're lacking from characters to pick from at least.
Now on the technical side of things, my stubbornness of playing things on Switch because it's my preferred platform did throw a handful more issues into the mix. The Switch has never been great at running Crossbell through the Cold Steel games, with obvious framerate dips, especially in the Harbor District area. So when you have scenes that take place in Crossbell but they decide to pack in 50+ character models hoo boy does that framerate start to crawl… and it's the same in later scenes outside of Crossbell when nearly every single playable character is amassed. Now luckily, aside from the general Crossbell dips, all of these egregious drops take place in cutscenes and not actual gameplay so if you can live with that, then the Switch port offers a mostly competent experience. I had one crash while shuffling through the characters in the main menu screen instead of the character select screen but aside from that, it was fine. Obviously the other platforms are recommended and you can pick your previous game choices at the start of this one so you aren't missing out on much if you do change platform choice for this game. The PS5 version even just gives you all the save data bonuses anyway!
Trails into Reverie is a return to peak form for the series. It manages to keep its story moving at a brisk pace throughout its three routes with a beautiful story whose themes line up throughout each route. Bringing together almost all of the gang from across Liberl, Crossbell, and Erebonia, Reverie gives them all one big send off with a smile, reminding us every step of the way that your existence does matter and you are more loved than you realise.
2024
Vanillaware take a shot at the strategy genre with Unicorn Overlord, a game boasting the “rebirth of the tactical fantasy genre”. A bold claim to make but after managing to get me to enjoy tower defence gameplay with 13 Sentinels, could Vanillaware cook up something that captured my imagination again?
Well on the gameplay front this is a fantastically well put together game. The bulk of the gameplay sees you take on real time strategy battles where you command your units on a map to capture locations and defeat enemies in combat along the way. Each of your units are made up of multiple characters (starting at around 1 or 2 and able to be increased to a maximum of 5) and battles see two units clash going through a set of initiatives and objectives you can set (like what kind of attack to prioritise, when to heal, etc) and whichever unit loses more HP is knocked back and stunned for a set amount of time, allowing you to capitalise or be put in grave danger depending on if you win or lose. Setting up each of your units is immensely satisfying as you unlock more and more characters giving you more and more options to play about with. Which character is your leader can make a huge difference too, with flying units able to fly over terrain and mounted units moving much faster than other units.
Map set ups tend to be quite small and simple for side chapters but the main ones are much larger, seeing you require to take multiple different points and split up your units to effectively progress through each battle. There’s a time limit on each map too, so managing and using your units effectively is a key part of battles. There’s a lot to consider as more mechanics get added to the fold like ballista and catapults, barricades, and even spiked traps to navigate round. The bigger maps are a lot of fun to play through and remind me a lot of how Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War plays with how you need to manage your units effectively on massive sprawling maps, only your units are all moving at the same time in Unicorn Overlord, offering a much more fluid experience.
Another aspect to battles are Valor Points, earned through winning combat and capturing locations. These can be spent to summon more units to battle from your maximum of 10, but their main use is special abilities you can use. For example you can use Arrow Rain to rain arrows on your enemies causing massive damage without engaging in combat or Gravity to slow enemies down. You can only hold up to 10 Valor Points at a time and each action can cost between 1-3 points so you have to manage your use of them effectively and on top of that, enemies can use these moves too so there’s a lot to be aware of.
So yeah, on the battle side of things Unicorn Overlord delivers an immensely satisfying experience that can be a lot to take in and understand but once you’ve wrapped your head around it, Vanillware’s earlier claim starts to make a bit more sense.
The game is structured in a very open way, where you are free to traverse the world map that is the continent of Fevrith and its many nations, taking part in liberating areas as you go. The only thing really preventing you from fully going anywhere is the enemies being much higher levels than you in areas but you can totally stumble upon the final battle very early on if you so choose. Traversing the overworld has a few side quests to take part in like mending bridges or visiting resting areas and each town requires deliveries to fix them up. Doing these and battles will grant you Honors which can be used to unlock more Units, more spaces in your Units and promoting characters. You’re limited on how far you can expand your Units and stuff by your renown which also goes up as you do these tasks. It’s a nice break from the battles but it is mostly busywork. What is cool though is that every battle takes place on this world map which helps make everything feel interconnected and as you explore the map, you’ll uncover it in your map screen which really tickles my brain in a way that made me explore 100% of the map because I wanted to uncover the whole thing.
Surprisingly for me, the weakest aspect of the game was the story and characters which I wasn’t expecting when that was the strongest aspect of 13 Sentinels. What we have here is a very generic fantasy tale where Zenoira has conquered all of Fevrith and now it’s up to our blue-haired lord Alain to build an army and rebel against Zenoiran rule to free the people of Fevrith. There’s clearly an inspiration from Fire Emblem with some of the character archetypes, like Josef being our early pre promote Jagen or Hilda being our red haired Dracoknight Minerva style character. There are a lot of cool unique races too here, with angels, elves, and beasts which is really nice. Ultimately though, the story didn’t really hook me, the characters didn’t do much for me, and everything felt like it was lacking depth, like very little was explored beyond the surface level. Each nation has a few important characters but outside of their relationship with Alain’s nation of Cornia, they don’t really have much of a relationship with each other. So many of the enemies and characters you meet along the way are mind controlled and so don’t really have much motivation for why they’re fighting against you and after the early portion where our main villain Galerius captures Scarlett, he doesn’t really show up again until the finale. I think a large problem with the narrative is the open ended structure of the game as it doesn’t allow for a natural flowing story and instead all you get is a little set up for each battle and a little conclusion and everything feels a bit too loose and disjointed. The localisation does a great job at trying to liven things up with colourful dialogue but ultimately they were given so little to work with and even the supports between the characters couldn’t hook me in enough. My favourite characters tended to be the ones that did well for me in battle like Fran and her group. I will say there’s an interesting reveal towards the end for Galerius’ motivations which was actually pretty good stuff but yeah, aside from that, there’s little here that I can say was memorable for me.
The big problem with the generic story is that the incredible gameplay can only carry the game for so long before it starts to run out of steam and feel a little repetitive. Towards the 25-30 hour mark, after clearing through Elheim and starting Bastorias, the game started to lose its charm for me. My character set ups were pretty much set in stone, I had seen basically every gimmick the maps were using and the story had long since lost my interest. It results in the game feeling like it’s longer than it needs to be. Like 20-30 hours, I think is a good runtime for a game like this, where even if the story isn’t that appealing, the gameplay is generally enough to carry a strategy game like this throughout a 20-30 hour experience. Unicorn Overlord took me around 50 hours to beat. Almost doubling the time where I had felt fatigued with the games loop. Now it did pull me back in towards the end, reaching Albion and getting a bit more interesting story stuff with Scarlett being back home was cool but I still think the game is a bit too long for its own good.
Getting back into the positives, Vanillware really does know how to deliver a beautiful looking game. The 2D artwork is similar to their previous games and everything is well detailed and animated, running well on the Switch (the platform I played it on) with no issues. Some of the female characters are unfortunately a little over animated in some areas which is a shame but outside of that the game looks and runs beautifully. The music is also well done, crafting excellent battle tunes and atmospheric exploration music.
Unicorn Overlord is a fantastic strategy experience held back by a generic story which makes the game feel like it drags on at points. Getting to grips with its in depth gameplay, experimenting with the many different possible unit set ups and engaging in the hour plus long story maps offers a brilliant experience that few games in the genre can match. While it does run out of steam around halfway through, I think if you can push through that then there’s still plenty to enjoy with this one.
Well on the gameplay front this is a fantastically well put together game. The bulk of the gameplay sees you take on real time strategy battles where you command your units on a map to capture locations and defeat enemies in combat along the way. Each of your units are made up of multiple characters (starting at around 1 or 2 and able to be increased to a maximum of 5) and battles see two units clash going through a set of initiatives and objectives you can set (like what kind of attack to prioritise, when to heal, etc) and whichever unit loses more HP is knocked back and stunned for a set amount of time, allowing you to capitalise or be put in grave danger depending on if you win or lose. Setting up each of your units is immensely satisfying as you unlock more and more characters giving you more and more options to play about with. Which character is your leader can make a huge difference too, with flying units able to fly over terrain and mounted units moving much faster than other units.
Map set ups tend to be quite small and simple for side chapters but the main ones are much larger, seeing you require to take multiple different points and split up your units to effectively progress through each battle. There’s a time limit on each map too, so managing and using your units effectively is a key part of battles. There’s a lot to consider as more mechanics get added to the fold like ballista and catapults, barricades, and even spiked traps to navigate round. The bigger maps are a lot of fun to play through and remind me a lot of how Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War plays with how you need to manage your units effectively on massive sprawling maps, only your units are all moving at the same time in Unicorn Overlord, offering a much more fluid experience.
Another aspect to battles are Valor Points, earned through winning combat and capturing locations. These can be spent to summon more units to battle from your maximum of 10, but their main use is special abilities you can use. For example you can use Arrow Rain to rain arrows on your enemies causing massive damage without engaging in combat or Gravity to slow enemies down. You can only hold up to 10 Valor Points at a time and each action can cost between 1-3 points so you have to manage your use of them effectively and on top of that, enemies can use these moves too so there’s a lot to be aware of.
So yeah, on the battle side of things Unicorn Overlord delivers an immensely satisfying experience that can be a lot to take in and understand but once you’ve wrapped your head around it, Vanillware’s earlier claim starts to make a bit more sense.
The game is structured in a very open way, where you are free to traverse the world map that is the continent of Fevrith and its many nations, taking part in liberating areas as you go. The only thing really preventing you from fully going anywhere is the enemies being much higher levels than you in areas but you can totally stumble upon the final battle very early on if you so choose. Traversing the overworld has a few side quests to take part in like mending bridges or visiting resting areas and each town requires deliveries to fix them up. Doing these and battles will grant you Honors which can be used to unlock more Units, more spaces in your Units and promoting characters. You’re limited on how far you can expand your Units and stuff by your renown which also goes up as you do these tasks. It’s a nice break from the battles but it is mostly busywork. What is cool though is that every battle takes place on this world map which helps make everything feel interconnected and as you explore the map, you’ll uncover it in your map screen which really tickles my brain in a way that made me explore 100% of the map because I wanted to uncover the whole thing.
Surprisingly for me, the weakest aspect of the game was the story and characters which I wasn’t expecting when that was the strongest aspect of 13 Sentinels. What we have here is a very generic fantasy tale where Zenoira has conquered all of Fevrith and now it’s up to our blue-haired lord Alain to build an army and rebel against Zenoiran rule to free the people of Fevrith. There’s clearly an inspiration from Fire Emblem with some of the character archetypes, like Josef being our early pre promote Jagen or Hilda being our red haired Dracoknight Minerva style character. There are a lot of cool unique races too here, with angels, elves, and beasts which is really nice. Ultimately though, the story didn’t really hook me, the characters didn’t do much for me, and everything felt like it was lacking depth, like very little was explored beyond the surface level. Each nation has a few important characters but outside of their relationship with Alain’s nation of Cornia, they don’t really have much of a relationship with each other. So many of the enemies and characters you meet along the way are mind controlled and so don’t really have much motivation for why they’re fighting against you and after the early portion where our main villain Galerius captures Scarlett, he doesn’t really show up again until the finale. I think a large problem with the narrative is the open ended structure of the game as it doesn’t allow for a natural flowing story and instead all you get is a little set up for each battle and a little conclusion and everything feels a bit too loose and disjointed. The localisation does a great job at trying to liven things up with colourful dialogue but ultimately they were given so little to work with and even the supports between the characters couldn’t hook me in enough. My favourite characters tended to be the ones that did well for me in battle like Fran and her group. I will say there’s an interesting reveal towards the end for Galerius’ motivations which was actually pretty good stuff but yeah, aside from that, there’s little here that I can say was memorable for me.
The big problem with the generic story is that the incredible gameplay can only carry the game for so long before it starts to run out of steam and feel a little repetitive. Towards the 25-30 hour mark, after clearing through Elheim and starting Bastorias, the game started to lose its charm for me. My character set ups were pretty much set in stone, I had seen basically every gimmick the maps were using and the story had long since lost my interest. It results in the game feeling like it’s longer than it needs to be. Like 20-30 hours, I think is a good runtime for a game like this, where even if the story isn’t that appealing, the gameplay is generally enough to carry a strategy game like this throughout a 20-30 hour experience. Unicorn Overlord took me around 50 hours to beat. Almost doubling the time where I had felt fatigued with the games loop. Now it did pull me back in towards the end, reaching Albion and getting a bit more interesting story stuff with Scarlett being back home was cool but I still think the game is a bit too long for its own good.
Getting back into the positives, Vanillware really does know how to deliver a beautiful looking game. The 2D artwork is similar to their previous games and everything is well detailed and animated, running well on the Switch (the platform I played it on) with no issues. Some of the female characters are unfortunately a little over animated in some areas which is a shame but outside of that the game looks and runs beautifully. The music is also well done, crafting excellent battle tunes and atmospheric exploration music.
Unicorn Overlord is a fantastic strategy experience held back by a generic story which makes the game feel like it drags on at points. Getting to grips with its in depth gameplay, experimenting with the many different possible unit set ups and engaging in the hour plus long story maps offers a brilliant experience that few games in the genre can match. While it does run out of steam around halfway through, I think if you can push through that then there’s still plenty to enjoy with this one.