At the time of review I'm taking a break from the game in the final tier of postgame (groudon gauntlet can suck my dick). I think it's safe to say that this is my favorite pokemon fangame and maybe the best pokemon game. Everything in the game for the most part is lined out to teach you how to be a better pokemon player, to learn and grow. It's really cool to see a pokemon game that forces you to interface with every aspect of the combat system rather than just building a team of blorbos and rolling the entire game. It's an insanely compelling rpg and unfortunately it does kind of lose steam at the end. Tbh the entirety of Episode 19 up until the postgame feels like a dud and the postgame doesn't exactly salvage the story unless you really like Lin. I do not. I think Lin is really annoying in adult form and really really annoying in kid form and the entire last quarter of the game focusing on how cool she is really takes a lot of the wind out of the story's sails. Despite this gripe, it's still a fantastic game, it just doesn't really stick the landing. If you do plan to play it I can recommend a few passwords that'll give you the "legit" reborn experience without sacrificing your sanity.
-easyhms
-hardcap
-flatevs
First two are pretty self explanatory and should be uncontroversial. The third removes the hackmon stat buff given to certain fights later in the game (also mainly in e19) that imo is not very fun to deal with. Can't recommend enough for anyone who wants a pokemon game that will kill them.

I used to hate this game when I first completed it when EP19 came out with a friend. It was tedious, the puzzles were more infuriating than fun and the fields felt less like a gimmick and more just a win more for certain opponents.

However I think nowadays this is actually the best Pokemon fangame to date. There are problems here and there that are unavoidable but it's also partly a product of it's time.

While I don't know if this should be allowed, I'm going to talk in this review with the AllGen mod in mind and some other QoL mods in mind. Since that's how I'm getting my replay value and imo is the best way to experience this game.

Story is actually pretty okay, I used to think it was shit but considering what it started out as I think it did a good job. That doesn't mean it's perfect though, there's a lot of characters who only get their development postgame and the story feels incomplete partly without playing that. However considering what they were trying to do, put a more dark spin on the Pokemon formula they succeeded, ofcourse there were still "cringe" escue elements but atleast it's not like Insurgence or generic like most other fangames which don't even try.

Characters are probably the biggest weak point of this game. The main cast and side characters actually feel pretty strict until Gym 9 or so where they introduce like 10+ characters at once whom also are hard to sometimes to tell apart. So at times it can feel like there's multiple copies of the same character on the screen.

Honestly the highlight here has to be Cain who doesn't even feel like he should be in this game. He's like a joke character who one of the developers snuck in trying to make fun of the game by being as disconnected from the narrative as possible but then you remember he exists cause his dialogue is absolute garbage. Which is explained a bit more postgame but I don't think it's valid reasoning. He's simultaneously the best and worst character. Speaking about postgame, the fact that so many characters backstory is relegated to it is a bit unfortunate but it is what it is. Sigmund for example is probably one of my favourite characters but you don't really get any of his motivations till midway postgame, so your essentially grasping at straws and he just feels like someone who does things cause they needed such a character in the story till then.

Battles are mostly balanced, there's some fields that are pretty bullshit though, mostly the fairy field. I think most other fields are fair with maybe the exception of any which lower speed if your not flying or water. Cause they essentially force u to always be slower. Field transitions are healthy for the game though, it's just unfortunate that often they are extremely specific to achieve.

Pokemon wise, basegame includes up till gen 7 which is a decent roster. If u play with AllGen which is the definitive experience in my opinion. You'll be seeing pretty much every pokemon appear in some way. (7.2a at the time of this review includes every pokemon) plus custom content which is always a plus. Custom megas in that mod also exist and dynamax forms are also added to give more spice to your team. The Future of AllGen all in all is looking pretty promising with Tera on the horizon and the development of the AG switches to make the game even more difficult.

Visually the game is pretty good, had me suprised sometimes even on how the sprites for the legendaries are rendered so well in postgame. My only complaint visually is probably the characters, often from top down they look very samey if their hair colour is the same.

OST is phenomenal. I didn't actually realize how many of the infuriating puzzles in this game are atleast doable cause the music keeps you going. There's a ton of original soundtrack which is well made, "Splash" for example pretty much saves that entire sewer area. "Crystal" is a great track if given time to build up. Not to mention the many amazing battle songs. "Umbral" and "Elite 4 Battle" to mention a few. Some of the tracks are remixes of some other Pokemon games but they're far and between.

Overall I can't believe I'm giving this a 4.5* years later. Probably one of the most solid Pokemon experiences you can find assuming you can deal with some of the puzzles. At worst u can just use wallhacks on subsequent playthroughs.

Quickly overtook Pokemon White and Pokemon Conquest in being a fav Pokemon game. Gives you so many options and so many opportunities to try new things, especially for me, someone who had competitive pokemon. Reborn is geared towards high-level play, but with a couple easy mode options enabled I found it perfect for my experience. I hate how easy basic Pokemon games are, and I hate playing Pokemon Showdown, and this ended up sinking right in between both of those in difficulty level.

That isn't even to mention the incredible plot, too! Aside from like- a handful of eyerolling interactions, this is incredibly well-written and makes it's eccentricities rlly fun to engage with. Imagine all the god awful shit you'd expect from something that's an "edgy, mature Pokemon game". Now imagine that shit actually written well. It's genuinely a shock any of it 'works' as well as it does! Stuff like murder, divorces, and animal abuse, which should in any other case come off like an awful attempt at edgelord-ism, actually turns out rather emotionally engaging. I got pretty emotional at points, even! How fucking wild is that!?

And that isn't even touching the post-game stuff. Supposedly, it's gonna be a tough time. I'm so excited to try it soon! For now, I'll remain just the Reborn City champion. Finished the game with Rotten (Skuntank), DIsh (Klinklang), Meals (Aggron), Chicken Parm (Galvantula), Breakfast (Walrein), and Eggshell (Kricketune).

Victory road and honestly the entire second half of this game was dragged through shit. The story whilst not being great in the beginning had potential but just turned into this mess of introducing trans characters with different hair colors for a statement rather then trying to make likable characters.

Terrains while initially seeming like a good idea and can be a fun gimmick early on. The developers went too hard with this gimmick and started making terrains which straight up are unfair in so many ways (Primarily water gym). I wouldn't mind adjusting my strategies in this game. But the lack of any type of legit training areas makes this impossible, i don't know how this wasn't considered whilst making the game considering the sheer difficulty. The game wouldn't even be difficult if it weren't for the terrains.

Incase it matters, i played this through EP17 to EP19

The only positive i can give this game is the fact that the redrawn/recolored shinies look very good.