Video review: https://youtu.be/TMbcl_T5pxE

Klonoa has made a grand return with not just one, but two remasters. I’m a big platformer fan, especially for games from this era, so I was excited to give it a shot.

[h2]Gameplay**
The games play as 2.5D platformers, although the second game does feature a lot more 3D stuff. Both are good at what they set out to do: straightforward, yet fun platforming. The game mechanics are introduced at a steady rate, the environments are easily some of the best I have seen in this genre in years, and I was a really big fan of the dual purpose that enemies serve. One one hand, they are enemies and can cause you damage, but on the other, most have some sort of unique ability that can be activated only after you grab them.

It’s a lot like Kirby in this way and it works really well with the level design, hiding just enough secrets to keep exploration interesting, but without going overboard to the point of tedium. There’s always something new to find, some new boss to take down, some new environment to explore - it’s pretty good at keeping up the variety, although it is also important to note that both games combined take roughly eight hours to clear. Sounds short, but honestly, it’s perfectly fine and might even be a bit longer than it needs to.

I say that because the second game does resort to a bit of backtracking with some of its levels. A bit disappointing to see in place of entirely new stuff, but again, it doesn’t go overboard there.

What it does go overboard on - at least in the second game’s case - is the story. There is easily like six or seven times more dialogue in the second game compared to the first and honestly, a lot of it is not necessary. Not to say that the story is bad, but maybe half of it could have been done away with and nothing of value would be lost.

So while the second game may be a massive upgrade in terms of general gameplay and level design, it does have some faults of its own and I’m still struggling to decide which of the two was my favorite with this in mind. Regardless, I had a great time with both and the good vastly outweighs the bad in both games.

[h2]Remaster[/h2]
On the remaster front, the game is solid. There's updated graphics, high resolution support, uncapped frame rates, customizable controls, and some new additions like difficulty options and a local co-op mode. I played it without any sort of technical issues at 4k 144fps and the controls are simple enough that it’s fine on both controller and keyboard and mouse.

A few things to note though. The anti-aliasing option appears to be broken as switching it between off and 16x does not produce any noticeable difference, even when zoomed in. I was also not a fan of how aggressive the bloom setting was and ended up keeping that toggled off. Otherwise, the settings are fine.

[h2]Overall[/h2]
Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series is a great remaster of two fun games. Solid platforming, fantastic level design, great music, and the remaster does a nice job touching things up for modern platforms. It’s a nostalgic experience for sure and one I would recommend to platforming fans.

Cut this game in half and I'm here for it until the end of time. The alien AI is largely excellent, but I'm just not invested in droids or randos -- it's just different enemies and the same need for stealth while tackling them.

When the alien is on-screen, tension is extreme and it's easy to get panicky and on-edge. But I'd take periods of tension alleviated by periods of moving between semi-safe areas over Fetch Quest #37 because every single person on Sevastopol is incompetent or lazy. Haven't tried the DLCs, but I'll probably give them a go at some point.

The game is 100% worth a look just for some solid AI design in the alien, if nothing else.