Descending suddenly on the world, the macabre Mort armies destroy nation after nation, leaving humanity decimated in their wake. Among the forces resisting the Mort is a small band of mercenaries known as the Ashen Hawk Brigade.
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At about 20 hours with very little repeating of Skirmish battles for grinding, Redemption Reapers is fairly short for a SRPG game. The story is unusual since most of the focus is on the mercenary squad as a group and their familial bonds. There's the constant threat by the Mort race, but the story never develops much more than that.
The worldbuilding as a whole is surprisingly lacking which may be intentional. Despite being the main threat in the game, I never learned more about the Mort than what was shown at the beginning of the game. They are simply an enemy force that kills everything in their path.
Other than the some references of fallen kingdoms, there isn't much else to the worldbuilding. You can find journals and documents on battle stages which reveals some information about the people that had lived in the area. While some of the entries are interesting to read, it's hard to connect with characters you never see or meet. The main characters don't interact with anybody else outside of their group other than a handful of NPCs.
The main characters have interesting personalities and while they also have interesting backstories too, the execution isn't all that great. Their backstories are often revealed in short conversations with greater detail later provided in their bio texts. In short, their backstory never felt like it made any difference in the actual story.
The gameplay and combat is pretty fun however. On the Normal difficulty (Hard is unlocked on NG+), the game is quite punishing at times. Careful positioning and team work is needed to clear battles. The margin of error is small with just one mishap can quickly cause the team to fall like dominos. Other than one character, nobody else can actually tank a lot of hits, most often dying in just 2-3 hits. Enemy reinforcements occurs nearly every battle which keeps me on my toes. The enemy A.I. overall is fairly smart. They will target the most fragile party members within range. Oftentimes, the enemy would just send overwhelming numbers towards your location. Overall, very few battles were a cakewalk for me and many were on the challenging side.
There isn't any real character customization. Each of the 5 character's have fixed roles and unlocking new passives and abilities just reinforces their roles. Fortunately, the way their character roles are built does make them interesting to use especially in conjunction with the other members.
The use of AP for each individual action does allow further consideration on what skills to use and whether remaining AP should be used for an additional attack or not. A fixed 7 AP is recovered each turn.
While the game's mechanics can be punishing, there isn't any permadeath. Fallen allies however can't be revived during battle whatsoever. The only healing at the start is a potion that everybody carries and is one time use per battle. Some characters get healing skills later, but at a high AP cost per use and can't be used on the user.
The game's soundtrack is a highlight. There's a lot of somber and melancholic melodies which reflected the bleak world and situation the characters are in. The battle themes are not overly bombastic, but with decent intensity to match the battle conditions.
Overall, the combat and battles were fun and challenging, but the story leaves a lot to be desired.
The worldbuilding as a whole is surprisingly lacking which may be intentional. Despite being the main threat in the game, I never learned more about the Mort than what was shown at the beginning of the game. They are simply an enemy force that kills everything in their path.
Other than the some references of fallen kingdoms, there isn't much else to the worldbuilding. You can find journals and documents on battle stages which reveals some information about the people that had lived in the area. While some of the entries are interesting to read, it's hard to connect with characters you never see or meet. The main characters don't interact with anybody else outside of their group other than a handful of NPCs.
The main characters have interesting personalities and while they also have interesting backstories too, the execution isn't all that great. Their backstories are often revealed in short conversations with greater detail later provided in their bio texts. In short, their backstory never felt like it made any difference in the actual story.
The gameplay and combat is pretty fun however. On the Normal difficulty (Hard is unlocked on NG+), the game is quite punishing at times. Careful positioning and team work is needed to clear battles. The margin of error is small with just one mishap can quickly cause the team to fall like dominos. Other than one character, nobody else can actually tank a lot of hits, most often dying in just 2-3 hits. Enemy reinforcements occurs nearly every battle which keeps me on my toes. The enemy A.I. overall is fairly smart. They will target the most fragile party members within range. Oftentimes, the enemy would just send overwhelming numbers towards your location. Overall, very few battles were a cakewalk for me and many were on the challenging side.
There isn't any real character customization. Each of the 5 character's have fixed roles and unlocking new passives and abilities just reinforces their roles. Fortunately, the way their character roles are built does make them interesting to use especially in conjunction with the other members.
The use of AP for each individual action does allow further consideration on what skills to use and whether remaining AP should be used for an additional attack or not. A fixed 7 AP is recovered each turn.
While the game's mechanics can be punishing, there isn't any permadeath. Fallen allies however can't be revived during battle whatsoever. The only healing at the start is a potion that everybody carries and is one time use per battle. Some characters get healing skills later, but at a high AP cost per use and can't be used on the user.
The game's soundtrack is a highlight. There's a lot of somber and melancholic melodies which reflected the bleak world and situation the characters are in. The battle themes are not overly bombastic, but with decent intensity to match the battle conditions.
Overall, the combat and battles were fun and challenging, but the story leaves a lot to be desired.
decent story, graphically can be a little janky. the story is dark and interesting but the stakes of each level are a little low. perma-death would've been cool in this game but I can see why they did not use it. worth a play through if you can get it for cheap and you are looking to scratch an srpg itch.
[European Portuguese - PlayStation 5 - Dated 08/05/2023]
"O esforço da Binary Haze Interactive em desbravar terreno desconhecido não passa despercebido, e das mãos de vários talentos na indústria nasce Redemption Reapers, um dos RPGs táticos mais deprimidos e brutais em memória recente. Nota-se que é um projeto criado com paixão pelo género, mas é um título que necessita de mais umas afinações, outrora não tivesse ele já sofrido umas quantas atualizações. Quiçá um foco no drama do grupo e menos nas banalidades da guerra seria bem vindo, assim como um sistema que não fosse tão punitivo e mais abrangente com a composição das personagens principais. Dito isso, embora seja limitativo e repetitivo, é algo divertido adotar uma estratégia mais lenta em combate, apreciando o desenrolar do enredo (quando este finalmente abre) para obter as respostas necessárias às questões colocadas vezes sem conta."
See more @ https://squared-potato.pt/redemption-reapers-ps4-analise/
"O esforço da Binary Haze Interactive em desbravar terreno desconhecido não passa despercebido, e das mãos de vários talentos na indústria nasce Redemption Reapers, um dos RPGs táticos mais deprimidos e brutais em memória recente. Nota-se que é um projeto criado com paixão pelo género, mas é um título que necessita de mais umas afinações, outrora não tivesse ele já sofrido umas quantas atualizações. Quiçá um foco no drama do grupo e menos nas banalidades da guerra seria bem vindo, assim como um sistema que não fosse tão punitivo e mais abrangente com a composição das personagens principais. Dito isso, embora seja limitativo e repetitivo, é algo divertido adotar uma estratégia mais lenta em combate, apreciando o desenrolar do enredo (quando este finalmente abre) para obter as respostas necessárias às questões colocadas vezes sem conta."
See more @ https://squared-potato.pt/redemption-reapers-ps4-analise/