In an IGN interview conducted last year, when asked about Armored Core VI’s approach to difficulty Masaru Yamamura(director of AC6) replied “...What we wanted to focus on was really intense and tough mecha battles. We have generally tried to keep it on the challenging side, but it's not to say that it's a flat difficulty line throughout. We wanted to have some nice tempo changes and some nice mix to the difficulty and the level of challenge.” My dude. You did it! I can’t get enough of these clashes! Intense 1v1 duels. Where overwhelming forces meet nimble mercenaries evading missile barrages and bullets galore. Minibosses are spared no expense either. Feeling menacing and tough to beat. Without the right setup, I probably would’ve sweated buckets straining my body and mind to the very limit. I’m so engrossed to the extent, I am reminiscing the good old days from AC Last Raven(ACLR) and AC For Answer(ACFA). Already completed everything I could within three playthroughs. Now I’m soaring across Rubicon’s skies again in my fourth run. Armored Core is back! Blazing, burning, and brightly across nearly all points. If that’s not enough to get your engines running hot, remember Rainn Wilson from ‘Mechless Mutual’ has you covered. Dude seems familiar… probably from some Office tv show.

For those who don’t know AC in general. It is primarily a third-person mecha shooting game. You control a silent protagonist who pilots an Armored Core(AC). Accepting corporate contracts, building up funds, and in doing so, retool their mech when needed. The story is not the strongest you could entice anyone to dip in my opinion. And the IP isn’t renowned to resonate with everyone due to mediocre scores. Outside of outliers. Yet despite all odds the latest installment blasts beyond the mediocre to land among the highest of highs. Penetrating through the nicheness of a twenty-six year long legacy. And still retain the number 1 spot in the UK. Proving without a shadow of doubt, FromSoftware has clearly learned from their past mistakes.

ACVI is no different from its predecessors. But there’s a catch. For the second time in the series, we're not on Earth huh? We're on Rubicon 3. So a new playground awaits us. Coral, a substance found on the planet, is discovered to be both an energy source and a data conduit. Becoming a hot item to advance humanity further by leaps and bounds in the technology sector. Perfect! Our plans proceed on the transhum- until their research causes the Fires of Ibis to occur, combusting the surrounding systems to flames. Fifty years later Coral has been detected once again on Rubicon. And so begins the rush of corporations heading there. To utilize Coral and restart their selfish endeavors regardless of the planet's inhabitants' wishes. As Augmented human C4-621, callsign Raven. You follow orders from a handler named Walter, accepting contracts in the hope you will become free someday. That’s the gist you need to know to get started.

ACVI's story pulverizes its way to being one of the strongest I’ve witnessed in the franchise. And it means a lot compared to previous plot beats. Past games in the story department are usually presented in a simple manner. With hardly any cast to back the main character. Offering no connections, no relatability and no personal motive in conjunction to the protagonist. Recent entries try to break the mold, but more or less most missions are too short and disconnected offering no before or after action report to connect both main/side cast to the narrative. And main objectives all too basic and not noteworthy for a mecha story. For ACVI in comparison, they have all those opposite qualities in spades. Not so much to expect from other powerful games with enthralling story hooks to tell. Here, no hand gently feeds the player, instead we must piece it together from the text given. 621 is offered choices on what divergent missions to accomplish. Therefore, impacting the outcome of the narrative. Equating to three different endings. I find it hauntingly similar to how the Nier series implements them. But not the same. Beyond the corporate duties is a slice of trans humanism and more I won't say due to spoilers. The beats detail unfamiliar roads the first path did not tread. So its a good incentive to keep going past the end credits and see what the rest have to offer. Personally I found it a must to see the fights, new dialogue, new mission structures etc. I like witnessing all the endings and the progression is slightly altered via the storytelling. If I were to rate them. I’d say NG++ = NG+ > NG. The NG is still good in my books. I’ll talk further later since I feel it is an improvement, but there are a few things to be concerned about.

A satisfying gameplay loop emerges in a multitude of factors: the extensive customization in equipping light, medium, and heavy parts to outfit your robot killing machine. Think of it as post-apocalypse deadly legos. Except building a mech twenty to fifty times the size of humans. Become a bulky tank capable of withstanding the hardest of blows. Go for a tetrapod Think crab legs and hover in the air taunting peons below who can’t reach you. Go bold and embrace the small and nimble builds to become an ace. Ace Combat?? Close man. Except you can pilot it, and shoot any kind of weapons you can think of: plasma blades, shotguns, gatling guns, rifles, missiles, bazookas, shields, etc. Forget the robots of the past. Moving at a sloth’s as if you’re a Mechwarrior. No man. Front Mission? While I’m excited we're getting FM2 soon. No sir! Not turn-based! Well, how about Xeno mechs? Getting warmer my friend! What Armored Core excels beautifully is the sheer mobility you can outfit in nearly any direction. They’re the only franchise I’ve played thus far within the genre to go insane in movement. Whereas others take a different approach going for heavy mechs. AC has no qualms about letting you fly like a Gundam or Macross unit and I for one am here for it! Combat is frenetic, chaotic, and incredibly dangerous. Show no mercy against hordes of mechanized enemies, head into a facility to wipe out pesky spider units. Blast foolish laser bugs in the air. Fight epic duels versus other mercenaries to the point of being outgunned and outmatched. Not always though. Face off in epic David vs. Goliath meets Shadow of the Colossus robot-type battles. Yeah, I kid you not. Look up at the big machines dwarfing your size to the point that if they land on you, the aftermath will show nothing but bent, broken machine parts lying on the ground.

Building on the older blueprints in the series, there are so many callbacks. AC2 to Verdict Day. And probably more from AC PS1 games, but I still need to play those one day I'm quite astounded at the sheer effort FromSoftware crafted. Not so much to inject nostalgia bait, but carefully done so I'm not in a reference-filled theme park. Taking lessons in the Soulsborne aspects, Sekiro and heck Daemon X Machina(DXM) An anime-like AC game in all but name, is spared no expense! And the result is quite remarkable. Sekiro’s posture and stagger are reformed. Called ACS(Attitude Control System) Once any enemy craft accumulates enough damage they are left in a ‘staggered’ state. Becoming immobilized and any incoming damage transforms into critical hits. Effectively harming the unit a great deal. After a short period, they can regain their normal status and thus you must break their ACS again. A wonderful rule to abuse against foolish adversaries. Personally haven’t seen such a regulation in older titles. Fights escalate becoming strategic and wary. You are not exempt from the rule. So watch the ACS bar! Moving on. Felt DXM inspiration. Which is ironic since they look at AC for inspiration heh. Mainly the banter and colorful cast. Full of interesting personalities and a pleasant range of voices to keep them distinct. Hearing Michigan’s voice akin to a drill sergeant praising you while delivering lines of “Maggot!” Lives in my head rent-free. Rubbing steel arms with fellow mercs. Becoming buddies. However every so often certain individuals are slow to the point of snails and irritating, bringing all the arrogance to show their superiority to you. Yet this doesn't detract from the personable buddies, which is such a rare sight to see in an AC. I love it! A better attempt than past operators sounding your ears off in a monotonous voice.

Repair kits are awesome and something I never expected. But holy moly after using them, I’m 1000% onboard. Should be a mainstay in the franchise. Please, Hidetaka Miyazaki, I'm begging you. Granted pilots only hold three charges and no we can’t upgrade them like in the Souls IP. Like ten in our pouches to chug. Honestly I’m still in disbelief, we possess essentially mecha estus?! What?! A WD-40 mixed with an elixir of life?! But hey I’m not complaining. The inclusion of the feature works wonders to recover your extra armor points(AP) to live. Also, Human Plus is back, kinda. By defeating opponents in the Arena you gain operating system chips to buy and upgrade your mech. Granting passive skills you don’t need to equip except core expansions. Amplifying the damage done in various categories. Kinetics? Sure. Plasma? Sure. Explosions? Buddy… Sign. Me. Up! There’s more to unlock, but suffice it to say outside of these elements. All upgrades you buy are permanent. Meaning I see no reason not to undertake the Arena to finish off all opponents. And in turn, upgrade your body. Trust me. Increasing repair-kits recovery is a godsend. Moreover, missile superiority is packing heavy blows. Reminding me of AC2 missiles, fascinating villain presence makes a triumphant return. And solid variety in missions. Demonstrate consistent superb points across the board. To the extent objective parameters are given fair treatment: Defend against waves of enemies, stealth tasks, escaping a map, etc. My nostalgia is somehow stroked. Alongside certain themes cheekily reappears in another fashion. AC Nexus isn’t spared either, the soundtrack gives off the extremely high-quality tracks I'm already listening to outside of playing.

AC FA Primal Armor makes a wonderful return now called Assault Armor. Want to surprise attackers by making a 360 degree explosion around your AC? Boy oh boy are they in for one hell of a wake-up call. ACV and Verdict Day scan mode is by the gods gone. No longer a mandatory function, Instead serving as an optional scan mode to display details in your surrounding environment. Highlighting foes, caches for weaponry, data logs, etc. Last-generation games feature a resupply option called ‘Workshop sites’. Now reconfigured whenever a long operation occurs you can resupply and regain all ammo and AP. No cost is necessary.

Level design has changed to incorporate a denser, larger area to cover. Maps are wide and brimming with intricate detail. Broken machinery litter landscapes and factories in production continue to function even if a tourist is snooping where they shouldn’t. Complemented well by smooth transitions into small pathways, corridors instill a claustrophobic nature. Bringing spice to the environmental eye candy. And hell you might see a surprise or two when you see advanced setpieces. Ambushed by an AC duel outta nowhere!? Receive enemy reinforcements partway through a job or encounter divergent objectives throughout. Not all assignments are long to beat. A careful balance emerges to complete levels in less than five minutes or greater depending how many times you reload a checkpoint or comb every inch of a place. Simple objectives in the beginning, gradually increase in complexity as you delve further in a playthrough. Nudging the player to overcome challenges, testing them thoroughly to prove they have the skill and fortitude to go beyond. If one lacks in talent they can make up for it through different builds and playstyle. Of course, results may vary. Just because I had a fine time, isn’t the same for others. In addition to open zones, there are plenty of data logs to find. Detailing lore on individuals in the world, combat logs by defeating mobs of opponents. And I must say the opponent variety is plenty, so you won’t get bored seeing #1 then #2 then #3. No complaints about their design after fifty-nine assignments. I’m hungry to defeat anything in front of me.

The soundtrack composed by Kota Hoshino, Takashi Onodera, and Shoi Miyazawa is just as marvelous as their predecessors. Evoking senses of Bladerunner, Portal and The Division. Hearing Things and New Era convey robust unity and constantly reinforce the numerous allusions and references I found to excellent effect. Inserting Elden Ring vibes into the mix sneakily. I’m astounded at the level of quality. Post-punk, trance, monosynth, and dark synth waves combine in an unexpected product resulting in an eerie, yet soulful and tranquil sound. A consistent flow in haunting rhythms I found to be oddly mesmerizing. Luring me deeper to embrace not only the twisted sense of tension throughout, yet doesn’t detract at all by transforming the whole soundtrack into pleasant humming heavens. A small number of tracks are jazzy and uplifting to the beat. A wonderful surprise, providing a nice change of pace in the otherwise somber and atmospheric themes permeating. Overall, I believe the soundtrack largely succeeds in conveying a “sense of loneliness, nostalgia wrapped in a dark old sci-fi feel.” Well done!

Very satisfied with the console port on my PlayStation Four Pro. Had one crash in my 3rd playthrough, but the rest of my runs have been smooth. So maybe an outlier. Did not experience any bugs or glitches. Which I am super thankful for. And I am extremely impressed by how fast menus load. ACV and ACVD took their sweet time from the starting screen to the main menu and the following notifications popping up. Connecting to the internet and adding unnecessary filler. Thankfully none of that bull is here. Enter the menu and bam! We're in the garage! Sick!

Despite all the praise I've been endlessly pulling, I must talk about my mixed feelings. Not a positive or a negative, but for the sake of transparency I’ll state them below. First, the implementation of new game cycles could be better. Players need to take certain missions in a manner to achieve the NG/NG+ ending. Taking the opposite operations in the 2nd run for the others. Once these two requirements are met a new path will emerge to unlock NG++. It should be noted, starting a 2nd playthrough upon beating NG. Reinstates the protagonist right after the tutorial. Requiring them to complete old missions and adding more than a handful of unfamiliar assignments included. Finishing NG+ rewards extra exclusive missions to complete. I had to follow Powerpyx’s guides, for all endings and one to make sure I finished all the engagements correctly in a manner leaving no doubt for me to head to the final route. I highly recommend looking up a guide for both to not mess up. I feel the punishment for not going in the manner intended will cause possible frustration. To restart and play an unnecessary fourth operation. During my time playing, I was ruminating possible alternatives. Highlight completed ones, and include a warning or another tutorial to inform mercenaries of the unique quests. There are no multiple saves to rely on. You get one save, so make it count. Unless you like backing up your save constantly. Wish the method was easier to prevent accidents. Therefore, allowing anyone to start a fresh operation painlessly.

The illusion of safe ‘difficulty’ throughout is blown to bits upon encountering the 1st boss. The devs have little sympathy whatsoever for throwing you to the pits. In one of the hardest fights in the beginning and asked us to defeat them with starting equipment. Imagine an armed Megatron versus a no weapon Bumblebee. Such a decision seems to be deliberate to convey how future encounters can be, aligning with Yamamura’s decision earlier. And he does succeed. Since I’ve read countless rants, criticism, angry responses, and complaints ad nauseam. The developer team's intention doesn’t always pan out to the masses. So what's the solution? Another mode? Easy mode? Hmmm. Doubt it. Soulsborne + Sekiro and AC I’ve played don’t contain those options available. So what’s next? Well, they contain an in-depth tutorial archive alongside training quests to bring fresh pilots up to speed. And I found their inclusion to be extremely welcoming. Easy accessibility to refer to the archive and see mechanics I can take advantage of. They specifically mention changing your build, if you’re having trouble. Past entries had players accruing debt. Now it is not possible any longer. Retry errands to your heart's content to earn sufficient funds. The added checkpoints, assembly of parts, repair kits, and passive skills via ‘OS Tuning’ create a fair parameter to redo engagements. Lessening the tediousness and frustration by starting square one again. In effect, the quality of life features make the hard-as-nails bouts fairer than before. I still maintain Last Raven is the hardest entry in the franchise. ACVI by comparison hits the halfway point to the zenith of ACLR. Moving on, to remove any misconceptions I am not defending Yamamura’s decision, merely trying to explain there are avenues within to help consumers interested in buying or trying out the newest installment. I didn’t come out unscathed either. The 1st boss and each chapter's end baddie demonstrate a higher ceiling to break through. So I’m worried the latest title might be a little too hard. Nevertheless, I am not saying ‘git gud.’ I hate the phrase a lot when a person who needs help asks genuinely and is given a troll/meme response. Let us be better and lend a helping hand to those who wish to pilot an AC alongside us. Who continues to struggle. Responses such as I wish you luck! Keep on trying! Don’t lose hope! Change your builds. Sell equipment and try other weapons. Replaying operations is a great way to earn money and some can be done in less than two to three minutes. These are far better responses.

Arena I think could’ve had more substance. Felt it was lacking compared to previous ones. Push the AI to its limits to challenge us further. Expose us to similar adversaries like Z, N, K, J? or throw a big wrench and add 2v1, 3v1, or 4v1 conflicts to truly test a player's capabilities. A boss rush mode to practice against arduous enemies. Instead of having to restart from the beginning during a task before combatting the big baddy. Additionally, I wish multiplayer was expanded instead of 1v1 or 3v3 duels. Grant us co-op missions online/offline, and set up super bosses, and SOTC-like robots. In ACVD we faced off a version of Motherwill as a team. Why can’t we do the same in the latest title? I’d love to face our previous opponents beside my teammates. DXM had co-op super clashes to tackle and I thought they were incredibly eye-candy, altered elements and most of all were not present at all in the regular story. They push pilots to cooperate and in doing so defeat them. Makes me think much of the effort was in the single-player portion. A factor I deeply appreciate.

In the end all of these hurdles, doesn’t diminish the sheer strengths too much. AC6 takes all the best qualities since its inception and hones the edge of its moonlight blade so hard I am in awe of it. Bear witness and see how ravens fly above blood-red skies fearlessly. Embracing stronger than usual story, gratifying content in both gameplay options and combat, an excellent soundtrack, and worthwhile quality-of-life options, rides the fine line of integrating nostalgia, but has enough to stand on its own. Expansive levels to explore, fight, and discover hidden secrets. Memorable cast. Both likable and destable. Fair, but challenging difficulty next to an expansive number of customization options for your robot body. High replayability and little to no performance/bugs/glitches mishaps. All collide to a must-play for any newcomer or veteran. Easy recommendation to fans and enthusiasts within the niche genre to see all endings. Overcoming multiple tall walls to reach what I firmly believe is one of the best AC entries I've played thus far. A return to form by FromSoftware. Bravo Masaru Yamamura and his team. Looking forward to your future works as director! This title boldly demonstrates there is still a thriving market for the genre in the videogame industry and I for one am standing right beside them waving in my cheerleading outfit to ask other devs to achieve similar levels of greatness. And while there are plenty of mecha titles to watch out for. I for one highly anticipate a sequel since history has shown evidence to import our equipment and continue the storyline. Good chance to expect one. Excuse me, while I play Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon for a 4th bloody time!

9/10

Additional Material:
Z N K J - names & somewhat spoilers throughout the series. With final thoughts on the endings of AC6 - MAJOR spoilers on the endings.
Slight Gundam Witch from Mercury similarities
All Endings guide
All Missions List
VaatiVidya - Souls Lore Guru Makes an AC6 Beginner's Guide?!
Advance Tips from Vaati on AC6

Edited 9-9-23 & 10-20-23 - Adding a proper story section, cleaned up some text formatting, replaced a word.

Enter Ashley Riot, Riskbreaker
Basic premise/Story

From developer studio Square, and directed by Yasumi Matsuno. You play as Ashley Riot, a Riskbreaker who travels to Leá Monde to investigate the connection between a cult leader and duke Bardorba. A simple investigation right? Oh, I wish. There is more at work here in the dark and a story worth uncovering.

Battle Mode Please
Unique Gameplay

Vagrant Story's gameplay is one of the most innovative or convoluted systems of systems I have ever had the pleasure of playing. But, I feel the game has some of the weirdest design decisions regarding those systems in place. So I sympathize with the sentiments of those, who feel the combat/crafting is clunky and cumbersome. I certainly felt them. However, I feel these two systems along with the progression of how to increase stats and gain affinities to be more effective against enemies is a neat twist against the traditional level-up by grinding enemies endlessly.

Here, you have to be smart since enemies feel deadlier. Encounter an undead enemy and you may find yourself having a tough time without a silver weapon or a certain type of weapon like blunt, edged, or pierce. Each monster is weak to a certain type or more. So you have to figure out their weaknesses by analyzing enemies or through trial and error. You cannot simply bash every enemy you see with your strongest weapon. The game simply doesn’t work that way.

Nonetheless, not only do you have to figure out what weapon the enemies are weak to, but their base characteristics give a hint or sign of what else they could be weak to. Such as phantoms. Weak to weapons with a high affinity to phantoms or any other element. Humans and other creatures you face become increasingly more susceptible to their nature. As long as you use the same weapon continuously to create a high affinity with the weapon. You can become more effective in dishing out more damage to the creature/humanoid/or other abominable nightmares you face.

And this is where the game truly starts to shine. As you use the same weapon since the beginning. You become more in tune and more effective at using it. Making it deadlier against say 'dragons' if you continue to kill more dragons or combat them. You gain affinity incrementally as you fight each type of enemy. And thus your weapon can become stronger. If you’re worried that the main weapon you have been using will fall behind in damage you can combine that equipment with another blade to create a more powerful blade. The catch is you need to be in a workshop with the right type as well as make sure the resulting weapon is stronger and not an inferior weapon.

As long as players pay attention to stat values in the bottom right corner and make sure your affinities are intact. Because combined weapons combined each blade's affinities. So using a piece of old equipment with a piece of new equipment and the resulting equipment will maintain the gained values and negative values the item has. So in theory and practice, you can use an old weapon you have been using since the beginning and use that weapon by endgame. Well… It’s going to be combined with other weapons, so the merged weapon would contain all the affinities you built up since the beginning. Weapons don’t degrade after continuous use either.

So then what’s the main appeal to the battle system beyond fighting and defeating enemies to make our current weapons stronger? The answer is the battle system or more aptly named ‘Battle Mode.’ With one button press Ashley can unsheathe his weapon and or shield he has equipped and a sphere starts to spread from his character. Any enemy caught within the sphere can then be attacked by Ashley on any limbs the target has. The body and head are included. This simple mode is enjoyable throughout the game to choose which area of the enemy you’re facing is weakest. Kinda like the V.A.T.S. system in Fallout, the mechanic is very similar here. With each limb/part detailing the chance to hit and how much damage Ashley can inflict. The game has buffs and debuffs as well which can increase your strengths and accuracy among other values to your benefit. Although, the enemy is pretty smart in their own right and can dish out debuffs to make you weaker. You won’t see this in every fight, but it is something to watch out for.

You don’t gain stats traditionally like other Jrpgs. Instead, every time you defeat a boss you have a slot machine with various stat increases scrolling by. And when you hit a button on the controller the scrolling will stop and whatever stat is displayed will increase your base stats. So if the last section that the scrolling stopped on was MP +2 then your mana pool will increase by 2. HP, str, agi, and int, are also possible results with the number varying. You can also find stat-boosting items whenever you delve deeper into the Leá Monde. By endgame, I had a good spread of my stats and didn’t find too much trouble in the end.

Leá Monde's Secrets
Final thoughts/Ruminations

I’ve heard of Vagrant Story over the years. Usually regarded as tough and complex for the gameplay mechanics to understand and sometimes having one of the most compelling stories out there for a JRPG. And now when the end credits are rolling, I cannot help but agree with those statements.

Despite some of the combat systems being a bit of a learning curve to understand, for the most part. The game is largely self-contained to give you the information and help you understand it. Additionally, there is a quick manual within the game, you can pull up whenever you need to. I found this helpful whenever I needed a refresher on a mechanic I needed a bit more information on.

In my case, I found the combat challenging and rewarding since they give the players so many options to dispatch enemies as I see fit. I could chain attack, my enemies, to death without giving them any moment of reprieve as long as I time my attacks to the big red exclamation point. Could switch to a mage-type build and blast my enemies with devastating spells. Or switch to any of my weapons and blast them with break arts. Using only my HP as the cost if I didn’t want to chain attack them. Defend Ashley with Defensive abilities, so the damage my enemies deal to me isn’t as severe. Switch weapons during combat anytime and rebuff/debuff my enemies before they can get a single hit and more. Heck, I can even position myself so the enemy will hit his/her comrade. And the game will let it occur! So friendly fire does exist! Sucks to be them honestly. Luckily Ashley is a solo man. So you don’t need to worry about hitting party members.

I love the freedom the devs give to the players and it shows so much. If you have the options, abuse it to your heart's content. And Vagrant Story does so magnificently in its own right. While making the enemies challenging and fair to fight. You are never in an insurmountable fight, only unprepared with the wrong equipment being used. As long as you know which type of weapon and shield to use against your enemies you should be able to breeze through the game.

Since the game doesn’t have wide open fields like the team’s previous game with Final Fantasy Tactics. The game largely takes place in box-sized levels. So you don’t have lots of room to explore. I feel the devs used this to their advantage by creating lots of rooms with purpose. Some even go so far as to include no enemies with only boxes where you will have to place them in certain ways to get to the other areas of the room or activate mechanisms to unlock the door. There are even timed events where you need to run across a series of rooms to get to the other side, making combat, not the end all be all for the game. I love this type of breather room so to speak to give players a rest and just run to another room. Granted there aren't a lot of these rooms, but their inclusion of them is still appreciated throughout the game. And while I would’ve liked more interesting rooms to use a different art palette. And a bit more differentiation from some similar corridors. I think the game still has enough surprises in store to alleviate those concerns. One aspect I didn’t see was a decent spread of platforming involved to get to the other side of the room which I took as a personal challenge to do in some rooms. It’s awesome how there is a dedicated jump button so you can evade enemies at your leisure. And the game makes full use of that.

The sound is impeccably well-tuned to the cinematic graphics for the game. Where the story would transition into a cutscene moment between antagonists or with Ashley in the picture. The music is fitting here providing the right amount of tension, anxiety, momentum, and vigor to shift the player’s mood. In my case to great success. I felt intrigued by some scenes. Worried in others, anxious in other cases, and pumped in ensuing fight scenes about to occur. All in all the music and sound effects were intricately linked with the game and I found it enjoyable to listen.

Graphics also share the teamwork load by providing excellent use of cinematic direction to push the PlayStation hardware to its absolute limits of rendering everything in 3D. And while this did limit the game in some areas. I was impressed throughout my playthrough by how the devs were able to circumvent these issues with clever lighting, camera angles, and comic book-styled visual design to accentuate the narrative and keep it intriguing. I felt rooted in my seat in anticipation for the next scene to occur and wondering what will happen next. I also liked the gritter atmosphere the game conveyed of Leá Monde and the surrounding levels and enemies reflected that greatly enhancing the immersion of something more at work here.

I wish the game had some quality-of-life improvements to make the combat a bit more fresh and more modern for newcomers. Having the menu not be slow, removing hard limits on inventory, and connecting it to the storage. Crafting/combining using your whole inventory including the storage chest to eliminate backtracking and going back and forth to the chest. A detailed map of combinations to combine weapons, armor, and shields without consulting a chart online. To help newcomers on what equipment to keep based on stat values. Saving anytime instead of within save circles. And a tiny bit more differentiation between corridors

If there is one last thing to touch on for Vagrant Story. It is how the story is detailed. Through expositional dialog. So you won’t find any factual information to peruse like lorebooks or conversing with NPCs. Pretty much everything you need is through the scenes occurring in the game. And perhaps some item descriptions you find here and there for worldbuilding.

I feel the story closes all important plot points and loose ends pretty well within Leá Monde; the place where all the events take place. It can be slow in the beginning to understand the early scenes being shown, but stick around and you'll probably be engrossed as I did with intrigue and curiosity to learn more. With clever twists and turns I didn't expect and moments I was genuinely shocked to learn as the plot moved forward. There is no cliffhanger ending either and I was quite satisfied with the ending scenes. I will admit the game can make the early scenes confusing if you skip an important cutscene by lingering at the start menu screen and don’t skip any of the following scenes after starting the game. So I recommend not skipping anything.

Be that as it may, there is something quite special here I haven't quite seen, since the time I played Final Fantasy Tactics and Xenogears. To show players something entirely new and bold to the audience without any wasted dialogue. Demonstrating a clever balance of wit in writing. Striving and succeeding in holding my interest throughout by shifting the pendulum in favor of the antagonists or the hero of the story. A fun combat system reminiscent of my time playing games from the Mother series/Witcher 1. With timing my chain attacks. An intriguing story from the beginning, middle, and end. Well-rounded antagonists to boot. Impressive cinematic direction. And takes regular tropes we associate with JRPGs and flips them on its head. To great effect.

All of this is a remarkable achievement for a Playstation 1 title. And despite some criticisms, I have with the game. I think I can safely say it's one of those PlayStation 1 gems that is a must-play for anyone looking for a nuanced story outside the scope of Final Fantasy then look no further than Vagrant Story.

Here is a quote from the director Yasumi Matsuno. I feel this sums up what Vagrant Story is.

"If FF is the game industry version of a major Hollywood movie, then VAGRANT STORY is an independent movie to be watched quietly in a small movie theatre. The scale is different, but the burning enthusiasm and the dreams behind the scenes are the same as in the majors."

Score: 9/10

"We fight to live!"
Starting Thoughts

After 150+ hours with the game, I think I can safely say the Tactics Ogre: Reborn(TO:R) shot up to one of my absolute favorite strategy role-playing games. There is enough nuance here in how worldbuilding is constructed and politics I found realistic and surprising to a degree where my suspension of disbelief was held at bay. Pulling my interest from the beginning to the very end. As well as a host of other great features in the game like fun gameplay, freedom to customize units/classes, and a multiple route system is enough to sink many hours into the game.

The game has so much content in terms of multiple routes involved and exclusive units to recruit. And not only that, there is a people lorebook here which can constantly update based on the current events in each chapter. A propagandistic newspaper of events happening outside of your sphere of influence. A wealth of classes to choose from and easily switch into. Some are cleverly hidden, but for the most part, I felt all classes are viable depending on how you use your troops.

Impactful decisions throughout the plot and one where you can see the immediate consequences. So be wary of making hasty choices, take your time, and decide the best course of action. Since the plot will change drastically as you delve deeper into the game. Likewise, recruits and events will also change depending on what choice you made in earlier chapters. These can lead to different outcomes and events. There is a useful feature after you beat the game to see what happens in other routes.

"....True Victory is won in the heart, not on the battlefield"
Some Thoughts

Love the gameplay where you can create your party. Assemble a team of tanks with healers and you can make a tanky phalanx crew to mop up enemies ahead. Or mix things up and create a team of twelve, with every unit as a different class to spice up the class variety. Heck, you can even make a party full of casters if you so desire. And there are plenty of classes to choose from. Like frightening enemies with a terror knight. Unleash devastating spells using a warlock/witch/wizard. Recruit hybrid classes like valkyrie/fencer/enchantress and more. Dish out so much damage as a berserker in a 180-degree radius. And even stock up your healers with spells to attack and buff your allies with faster speed. Or take up the sword and become a swordmaster or the ninja class to strike enemies with ninjutsu. There are so many class combos you can try, the only limit is your imagination.

Great map variety where you can start from atop a hill and fight your way down to the enemy below or vice-versa. Where you start from the very bottom and must fight your way to the top. Elevation matters here a lot and weather can change how you approach a battle. So bringing a winged unit would be great to travel to high places easily, but will be hampered in accuracy due to rain or snowy weather. So keep an eye on the weather and the terrain you will fight on. To turn the tide against your enemies.

A bunch of side content you can do. While most of them occur in the final chapter I spent a good chunk of my hours completing a great majority of them. There is even a post-game included which can take even more hours of your time to complete. But I recommend it all the same. Especially to see the epilogue and what happens after the final boss is defeated. Very rare to see this among other games nowadays.

Health and fortune to you all
Final Thoughts

To balance all the glowing praise I've given to Tactics Ogre: Reborn. There are a couple of things I wish the game did better to elevate it a bit more to perfection.

Additional cutscenes to develop characters more. While I consider the main cast and villains pretty good. What would elevate them more would be additional cutscenes to flesh them out. Sure there is dialogue during battles and it is fantastic to learn more about your units as you fight. But I feel some more optional cutscenes could’ve given a bit more room to turn characters into more human and complex characters. More unique battle dialogue would be appreciated. Perhaps sprinkling some of their backgrounds after reaching an ‘x’ amount of battles with the said unit or some other suggestion would be nice to see.

Easier means to recruit hard-to-acquire units in each route. Or at least vaguely say what to do to recruit a unit. Had to follow a guide to make sure I didn’t mess up on some characters to recruit them. I imagine blind players can be frustrated if they unknowingly messed up a key requirement midway through recruiting a character. Especially if a unit can be important to receiving certain cutscenes and background with another character and further character development.

Aside from the criticisms, I listed above. I feel TO:R is an incredibly deep game for SRPGs. It touches on heavy topics on war and doesn't shy away from the brutality of it. While subjecting our main cast(the three units you start with) to the machinations of people in power. What to do with said power, what changes come from our protagonists, and who suffers the most in war. Where their beliefs will be tested and their strength of character checked constantly to see if they can overcome or succumb to the consequences of battles and skirmishes. Both physical and mental.

The game doesn’t have an amazing visual style, and yet the game’s graphics still hold up quite well today. And while there isn’t deep character development to the point I would be shouting across the rooftops for everyone to play TO:R. I feel the developers do a good enough job selling the characters enough since our main cast is intertwined with the plot and what becomes of them in the end, as well as any characters I recruit too. There is enough variation and differences in each route to see. And exclusive content you could only find in their respective routes. The soundtrack is great and I have nothing bad to say about it. If anything, I will say the music composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto & Masaharu Iwata made many tracks that fit in many places during battle and outside. Making me feel immersed in the world and battles ahead. The gameplay is really fun and my hours flew by as I continued to fight on every map I could and if need be, I could take a break and let the AI fight for me.

If you are looking for a game about war and political factions vying for power along with the usual tropes of protagonists coming to save the day. Then you won’t find that here. The game goes deeper into what you find in war and it ain't pretty. What happens when politics and other factions come into the equation and how that can affect the main cast, side-cast and innocent people. You’ll find out what exactly happens to our young trio at the end of the game and the events to come based on your decisions. So if you are looking for any of that, I feel Tactics Ogre: Reborn could be the right game for you.

Score: 9.75/10

"Even in times of peace, one is not spared from the cruelty of man.”

Every time I play a game I always ask myself if this game is the one that will wow and impress me. And most of the time I'm usually left with good, great, all right, meh and other regular platitudes to describe my experience after the end of a game. Chained Echoes is none of that. The game strives to become something bold and new all while standing tall on its own and merely showing what it has to offer. Matthias Linda who created the game and Eddie Marianukroh who composed the soundtrack have remarkably impressed me to a degree I haven’t seen since I played Omori. So yes this is one hell of a bar they raised.

The game doesn’t boast to wear its proud laurels touting the best of the best jrpgs of the past. Instead, the game simply describes itself as a “16-bit SNES style RPG set in a fantasy world where you follow a group of heroes traveling around the continent of Valandis to bring an end to the war between its three kingdoms.”

Not the most exciting catch to pull every consumer, but I feel it gets the job done. Because right off the bat, it is not saying they’re going to be the next classic since the time of Chrono Trigger or whatever RPG that is simply the best. Nor are they comparing their game to the JRPGs of old like other games on Steam. The devs are merely detailing what their game is going to be about. And that’s it. The game will show what it has to offer through the gameplay, story, music, characters, and more. And so the question remains. Does the game deliver? And is there a lot of content?

Chained Echoes does have a lot to offer. You have mecha gameplay. A big colorful cast of party members. The gorgeous visual style and soundtrack are worth listening to. An engrossing story, with a plot that is grounded and paced well. And scenes that left me shocked and unpredictable throughout. All of these hit me in such a way, I couldn’t stop myself from seeing one more scene, one more battle, and one more secret to find. I lost myself in the game and was chained, not willing to let me go.

Before I start, I need to preface this with some critique of the game. While excellent and remarkable in its own right, I feel the game could’ve used a bit more scenes to flesh out the characters. Not bad mind you. About three moments in the game, I feel could’ve transitioned better. Possibly, been padded a bit more to allow players to digest what happened from moment to moment between party members. It wasn’t jarring or abrupt. I just felt some scenes needed a bit more oomph in a way to let players digest a bit more context and exposition. Although, I find myself battling this point because if there is too much or too little it could break the pacing or remove the player from being immersive in the game. I equate this to deleted scenes in movies. While not strictly necessary, some additional scenes could've explained or refocused the scene differently.

Secondly, several villains except for some since they’re brilliant. Could’ve been fleshed out a bit more to make them more compelling. I noticed in their dialogue they would be in their role to be evil and explain motives and more etc. Except, during their final moments. Their character shifts in a way that is acceptable and decent, but I feel can be perceived as a tad abrupt. Not horrendous or bad. But my mind couldn’t help but consider alternatives if the scenes were rewritten or tweaked a bit. It's not a knock on the character as a whole since they performed as expected and in some cases unexpectedly, but the dialogue felt off and forced in a way. So more scenes to flesh them out really.

That’s all I can name off the top of my head.

Now let's dig into the real good stuff.

The story, caught me off-guard because I expected a standard JRPG trope affair full of references non-stop along the lines of Ready Player One. Instead, I got something the likes of Xenogears except much more grounded and taking me on a roller coaster ride. As if Chrono Trigger devs blessed the team to perfect the formula of introducing scenes to intrigue players, quick meaningful battles, excellent usage, and placement of antagonists scenes with well-placed humor sprinkled here and there that is fun and not forced.

The gameplay is fun and fresh and not all that complicated. Get into overdrive and stay there. Don’t overheat. And as I continued to gather more party members and when the game introduced mech gameplay, oh boy my grin was ear to ear. Plenty of bosses and unique enemies to fight, along with encountering a host of different creatures and beasts and humanoids here. Whereas, other games would usually change the color of an enemy and call it a day. None of that lazy stuff is in Chained Echoes. Each enemy fits their environment. Hell, there is a reward board ala FF12 style. So you can complete tasks while out on the field and get rewarded for doing so. None of the simple fetch quest and kill ‘x’ creatures stuff here. You have sidequests, buried treasure, hidden caves, unique requirements to finish off a group of enemies, defeating unique monsters, and more. Heck, the game doesn’t even have a level system so you don’t need to grind!

The game felt balanced since there are options to manage skills and upgrade them. And options to reduce enemy health and aggressiveness if you so desire. Overall, I didn’t feel tired from the combat system since the whole package of the game from reward boards, mecha gameplay, and unique enemies and bosses made the experience all the more satisfying to complete.

Visually the game is stunning and the art style works to its favor, a great deal. I was constantly impressed not seeing copy-paste areas and looking for templates where Mathias cut corners and I could not find one! Every environment is unique with a gimmick to earn your way out through small puzzles or clever switches and hidden areas to traverse. And these puzzles are implemented in such a way I wasn't truly frustrated. A nice change of pace and a breather from the regular travel and battle. Enemy design is terrifying and cute in some ways. The scenes throughout the game felt natural with animations not too sudden or too rigid. Smooth is key here and I can’t for the life of me recall a bad scene or egregious bugs.

On the soundtrack, I am just in awe of Eddie's work. It’s not the greatest thing since Mitsuda or Okabe. But holy hell does Eddie demonstrate MAXIMUM EFFORT here. I felt so much passion and emotion in Eddie’s soundtrack. Field themes that left me breathless and where all I wanted was to listen to the track on a loop. Catchy battle themes I never got tired of listening to these. Feeling pumped and invigorated to hear this again and again. And appropriate themes in cutscenes leave me shifting my mood to what is currently happening in the game. Serious scene. Cue slow track. Sad scene. Cue sad track. Funny moment. Cue funny track, and so on. And these cases were placed with such care I couldn’t predict what was coming next. Yet, transitioned well to match what is shown on the screen. Brilliant synergy to know what scene and track to use and display that to the player enhances their experience. Excuse me as I go back to listening to Iron Scraps for Breakfast and Flower Fields of Perpetua and so much more on repeat.

It is this pacing I want to talk about next. There is a great deal of freedom given to the player in the middle of the game that doesn’t ruin the pacing of the game at all. I feel Mathias managed to balance player freedom with nudges here and there on the main plot to give you just enough to be satisfied with your optional content and then focus back on the real task at hand. And this is exemplified again and again when I was played like a damn fiddle. Since I wasn’t exposed to constant exposition or repeated reminders of what to do, nor were there scenes where villains regurgitated lines they said previously. Character development was the answer here. Nothing too crazy and none too ambiguous or slow to manifest. Instead, used in such a way I found myself nodding. The cast struggles and learns, fails, succeeds, tries to learn to be better, fails again, and yet keeps trying is admirable and moving. It's not exactly what happens in the game, but just a rough estimate. Other elements can be injected of course like other cast members' motivations, feelings, history, and current relationships can tip the scales quite a bit to create drama or more. Keeping you the player invested in what happens next.

And this is what Chained Echoes demonstrates to an excellent degree. The pacing coupled with character development balanced it with optional content.

Before I forget, I have to give praise to the characters. Since, I doubted every single one of them and by the end of the game came away very impressed by how far each has come. Some more so than others, but for the most part, I felt attached to my characters. I hated one character quite a bit for a good chunk of the game. And yet by the end after seeing said character's struggles and scenes I couldn’t help but begrudgingly admit how hard they suffered and what they had to go through to see what becomes of them in the end. And this extends to my other party members who more or less undergo remarkable development throughout. In a manner, I found realistic without taking my suspension of disbelief to a whirlpool and flushing it down the ocean. There is a heartwarming amount of care Mathias has done to create characters with feelings that are so human and in the opposite spectrum create characters, so twisted and disgusting I can’t help but feel conniptions towards them.

Still what remains is a loveable cast of quirky characters and antagonists who are more than a simple villain here and there. A riveting story the likes I haven’t seen since Chrono Trigger and Xenogears and other wonderful JRPGs of old. Very fun and satisfying gameplay loop taking me over 40+ hours to 100% the game without being tired. Visuals aesthetically pleasing with no copy-paste artwork and unique enemies/characters/environments everywhere. The soundtrack is very satisfying to listen to, taking my breath away every time I listen to the main theme and more. Pacing and character development are balanced and excelled with nothing coming to my mind that felt forced or unnatural. And while it could’ve been improved on some villains and moment-to-moment scenes, I can forgive that since the game as a whole more than makes up for those very minor critiques.

Chained Echoes isn’t trying to become good nor does it profess to become one of the greats as classic well regarded JRPGs have done in the past of which we hold them fondly as favorites and more. Chained Echoes is one man’s vision with the help of a fantastic composer to bring to life an indie RPG with a story they want others to experience.

It’s a humbling, heartwarming game in homage to old JRPGs of the past. With enough content to stand tall with the greats. If you love JRPGs, Indie RPGs, or have a desire for a starter in the genre. And wish to be wowed like I did, to a point where you hold your favorite games close to your heart. Perhaps Chained Echoes will be that one game to impress you just as it had with me.

This review of Fire Emblem Engage is going to be a bit unorthodox compared to how I usually structure my reviews. Particularly, because I don’t want to make this review longer than intended. I’ll dive into the main criticisms I have for the game then head into what the game does well.

For starters, the game does not have a lot of room to experiment with classes. And by this I mean there is a high cost at 2.5k to buy a master and second seals, to change into other classes. However, if you buy the DLC then. These seals among other items and armory items are 30% off. I find the high cost to experiment more with classes to be a detriment. There are A LOT of classes to choose from and I would’ve liked the ease to switch between any of them. The cost for either is simply too high. At 2.5k each the game simply doesn’t throw enough money at you to buy seals at your leisure. Granted the game does give you free seals sometimes when you open chests or finish a chapter, but you cannot count on either of these instances when both options are not available upon completing a chapter. Sure you can get bonus money from receiving military funds from each nation. But using them on donations seems a far better investment. By donating to a country you can see a higher gold yield in fighting skirmishes there. So your return on investment is pretty good. Although, this isn't balanced well, because you can be out of money to buy other materials you may need to upgrade weapons, buy items, healing items like vulnaries or staves first. And then what are you left with in the end? Zero money.

This leads me to another point. If the high cost is an issue then surely the game has a solution or band-aid for it right? You’re right. Except you need to pay the expansion pass for the first wave in granting you a silver card which reduces all prices in item and armory shops by 30%. Which comes out to 1750 seal price each. Which is better than having to pay 2.5k. But, the fact you have to buy the DLC to access the silver card is not a band-aid solution. It enforces a policy of buying into the expansion pass to reduce the shop prices by 30% and granting you other emblems, stat boosting items, and more. And sure some might see it as a worthy investment since you get more than you wanted as a whole package with DLC waves too. Be that as it may, it still doesn’t excuse the fact the silver card is an item exclusive to the DLC. And as far as I know you cannot obtain a silver card in the base game.

My suggestions to tweak this would be to lower seals to 1750 or lower and increase gold rewards. Whether by completing in-game story chapters or skirmishes to give a flat rate. Sure you can go up against skirmishes that drop gold. But what about normal skirmishes? In my playthrough, I had to rely on a certain character due to her skill granting me a chance for bonus gold. An increase in gold rewards and a decrease in pricing for seals would be nice. Perhaps in a patch? Well let's wait and see. Moving on.

Inheriting sp skills are too expensive for some skills. It takes 1-3k skill points to build enough for one unit and even then you may only get to inherit 1 skill right at the endgame. Sure you could pay a small amount of sp for skills below 1000 or below 3000. However, other skills can cost 4-5k. Yes, there are ways to increase sp points by using emblem skills like Great Sacrifice, and other skills. Yet, the cost in higher tier skills is simply too much. How can I experiment with my classes when the skills I want cost too much? An easy way to remedy this could’ve been lowering sp skills and increasing sp gain to offset this weird imbalance between heavily priced sp skills and a low gain to increase sp points.

The story is subpar and has a lot of lows. When I mean the story is subpar and has a lot of lows I mean it. The game primarily holds the player into a fantasy world too entrenched in the nostalgia-bait nature of previous titles in the series from FE1->FE3H. Sure it's a new world with new characters and with their history. With stakes and consequences that do occur in the game. Nonetheless, The story relies too heavily on the divine dragon to solve every single problem throughout Elyos. I found the formula and other structures which I won’t go into too much detail about due to spoilers. Copy and paste throughout. And this is repeated again and again as you travel to each new area until you make a full circle back to your starting location once again in Elyos.

Granted there are moments I’ll give the story where I was surprised and didn’t expect, but having silly solutions you can see a mile away from teasing you early on, simply doesn’t work. When I look at a plot, especially in an early game, there will come a point where too many cards are shown where the next plot device such as villains/antagonists and revelations nearly becomes transparent to the naked eye. And while some may favor this approach like I do. The execution here leaves much to be desired.

As if I'm being held by the hand. Or fed breadcrumbs to a door where I can see what will happen next. I’m not all-knowing however, and I can’t predict everything, but I kid you not when you have a mysterious hooded person + another unknown character in the next following scene that doesn’t show a great amount of subtlety(And this is displayed pretty early on). There are also I would say two points during the endgame where I was shaking my head by introducing a trope I love, but poorly executed in a vain attempt to come back to the roots of where we started. And another issue where the problem could not be resolved without the divine dragon once again coming to save the day or figure out the solution to said problem/s.

Some suggested improvements I could think of off the top of my head I'll say later on the review.

World-building is too simple. And doesn’t engage the player enough. Overworld map structure is indicative of this. When I mean world-building is too simple. I mean how the world of Elyos when looking at the map is just lazy writing in general. It's constructed as a circle and we get an early exposition of how the world came to be and the emblems. Another game that had a different shape was "Triangle strategy." For you guessed it triangle in the overworld map. Which upon looking at the overworld also conforms under a triangle. I had the same critique for that game but for different reasons. But that’s a story for another day. Back to Engage, we don’t get enough on the world’s politics if any. We don’t get much character background or relationship between each nation’s leaders and their current agenda beyond the early exposition again. When a leader is mentioned they are quickly forgotten for the sake of the plot and of course the main character's party to move on. I wanted to know more about Brodia’s lifestyle. Uh, any information on Firene’s king? Or another nation’s leader’s missing spouse or wife? Why aren’t pets used more in the lore? You just adopt then that's it? History of the emblems and more is given in the game, but what about any instances of emblem usage in the past? Like, show me past battles where so-so nations fought for an emblem. There is always discussion or mention of events a thousand years ago. What about flashbacks and more? Like seeing how Brodia attacks Elusia. Or Solm and Firene’s relationship? No deities? No unnatural events upsetting gods? Oh wait, never mind we need to worship the divine dragon. Who cares about all that other stuff? Let us pray to the divine dragon.

The game plays way too safe with copy-paste formulas. Not going to say exactly what they are in case of spoilers. But there is a rinse-and-repeat formula as you delve deeper into chapters. And I already said what I needed to say earlier in the story section. Honestly, the game would have benefited a lot more with more risks to the story and sequence of events that follow. As I continued on to each new nation, it quickly became apparent what will happen next. In a rinse-and-repeat fashion.

Recruits you come across throughout the game. Don’t test the main character enough. Due to their divinity. Should’ve deconstructed the divinity aspect. Made them have more flaws. Make them struggle and keep them from being so perfect. This ties back to the divine dragon solving everyone’s problems. I can remember moments in the game where the main character will falter, but guys don’t worry the power of friendship will make them overcome their failings so they can give us ideas and we just follow him/her. Don’t question it. He/she is the divine dragon! He/she can do it! We just need to follow them! We’ll beat everyone with him by our side! OH MY GOD, IT'S THE DIVINE DRAGON! FORGIVE MY CANDOR PLEASE. Oh, divine dragon? Please help us. Good lord, there is too much of this reverence and worship of the very ground he/she walks. This isn’t exactly what is said in the game, merely paraphrased.

Honestly, the game would have benefited a lot more if we didn’t worship the guy/lady and focused more on each character’s flaws. Give me someone who hates the divine dragon in our party, who will constantly butt heads. Heck, a rival or other divine dragon that is too casual and selfish and everything, not the main character. To be a foil. Make our new allies test the main character constantly. Leave our party, gather support against his idea to go with their idea. Give me moments when our divine dragon isn’t so divine. Despair in these scenes. Show the consequences of his flaws more. Make party members desert them or anything to make the divine dragon more than a goody-two-shoes out to save every nation and recruit everyone to their cause. I could list more, but I think you all get the picture. It’s like the developers stuck everything positive and can do no wrong with the main character, gave very slight flaws that could be easily overcome and BAM he/she can do it and solve your problem.

This is where the story, plot, and more start to fall apart and where the crevices become even larger to see the shallowness. All of the above tied together demonstrate a game where the main character is interconnected and used in such a way where they will solve numerous issues as you progress through the story. Again and again, we come upon a new solution from the one and only holy divine dragon!!! And sure I get the game is geared to be less so serious and more lighthearted compared to their predecessors. But its repetitive and overused. And honestly fails to capture my interest. Since I already know what will happen next. And because of my suspension of disbelief, being blasted into space.

Less incentive to see more support conversations. In part due to a lack of options in the hub. One meal? Come on… There are so many support conversations. And very little activities to create more bonding moments with my allies to unlock a new support rank. Sure I could grind endless skirmishes to get support conversations easily by auto-battling, but that’s not as efficient as manual control on every unit. And sure I could get quick supports with my main character and everyone else using gifts I could buy and find. But what about support conversations from one of my units to another? There is no quick way to see that. This could’ve been easily remedied if meal times were more than one time activities, every time you visited the Somniel after a battle. The fact you can only do one meal with two other units in your army is crazy. You have a lot of support logs for each unit.

I want to see what everyone has to offer. If the developers were worried about stat buffs you get from 1 meal, then make every consecutive meal after that give no bonuses. Heck, give me meal tickets based on how I do after each battle to spend in the cafe. That way I don’t use precious meat/vegetable ingredients if you want. Meal tickets for wiping every unit. Meal tickets for grabbing all chests, meal tickets for not losing any unit while on a map, meal tickets for recruiting all units possible on a map, etc. I could list at the top of my head. The real meat of the game is in the supports and I dearly loved watching the ones I wanted to see. So it’s a shame you can’t spend more time with your fellow allies with one meal. Arena doesn’t even help matters since it's randomized and you can only do 3 battles. And here’s the kicker: sometimes the selected unit you want to train with will select a unit to train against where they have no support conversations with. Good lord...

Spoilers abound for past FE characters from their respective games in paralogues. Some spoil more than others. I did not appreciate a big spoiler drop without any warning after ch 3 story battle, in my honest opinion. There is a point, especially in a post-chapter 3 battle where a character from an earlier titles spoils something from their respective game. I haven’t personally played that Fire Emblem entry. So I was incredibly frustrated. Since I was already careful, not playing the mobile game, I actively avoided reading in the wiki, and the internet on spoilers of past games. Only for the newest game to blurt it out. Unforgivable. Especially in a story cutscene. I was looking forward to playing that specific game in the near future in a blind playthrough. So my feelings were soured by this.

Some paralogues spoil some events from their respective games. Via dialogue. Since I haven’t even played every title in the series it’s unreasonable to assume every newcomer will play every game. Especially since some old games can only be played via fan translations and the rest via emulation or buying in their respective digital stores. To be transparent. I have not played FE4, FE5, Marth games, Fates, or Valentia. The rest I have played.

For the paralogues I think that are safe they are FE7 and FE3H.

Paralogues somewhat spoilery? I feel this can depend on the person if they don’t mind or do mind certain aspects. But the paralogues are FE6 & FE8.

For paralogues that do spoil some important elements from their games, they are FE Awakening and FE9 - FE10.

I understand Engage has main characters from past titles and will utilize them to some degree within the game. However I did not expect huge spoiler bombs. All I ask is a simple indicator or warning on the screen to let me know about information related to their respective games and if they have anything concerning their plot, character, or more. And prepare myself to avoid those important pertinent details. Fire Emblem Engage gives no warnings about this. For titles I haven’t played, I did not play their respective paralogues in fear of something spoiling me of their plots, story, important details in regards to their character, etc. I’d rather find out what happens in their respective games.

Granted some do not mind spoilers. This is fine. On the other hand, some are more sensitive to that type of information. Like me. Case in point, Players who like to dive into games completely blind and semi-blind players who do not mind certain aspects of a game to know.

OST for music isn’t a high bar here. The music in the game isn’t all that memorable outside of perhaps a handful of tracks. There are too many melodies or tunes that I find didn’t mesh well with the scenes or tried too hard to be epic and moving with the orchestral instruments. But it fails to capture me in the spirit during the game.

2 early game characters did not endear me at all. Why? Fan-club and their devotion to the divine dragon. They were watching the main character wake up and talk to him/her is a red flag. The fact you get these two characters right at the beginning of the game did not help matters at all. I didn’t want to label them as fanboy and fangirl of the divine dragon since I didn’t see their supports yet… But when I did and granted, I didn’t see all the support logs and I’m sure they have other qualities outside of a fan club for the divine dragon. But seeing these conversations where they’re trying to garner more fans for the Divine Dragon fan club shows how there is a weird devoted fan aspect to the main character. This also extends to mostly every character I've met/recruited in the game so far to worship them to varying degrees.

Which is kinda disturbing to a degree. These matters don’t help at all when the game includes wake-up events when you sleep at the Somniel where characters will go into your room where the main character sleeps and talk your ear off. It's more divine dragon worship, sometimes it's about prayers, sometimes it's about them and sometimes conversations will continue on and on back to how to serve the divine dragon. As if the man/woman is something to be gawked at with conversations in an art museum. I found this aspect of the game creepy and honestly the game could’ve done without it. This is also me watching as many as I could to find any redeeming factors and I can only say it's better here by a small margin than in FE3H tea events. Since they can talk about their lives. And you learn more about the character a bit. But the fact they talk to him/her and pray while they're sleeping only to wake up to no one's surprise why. Each time is frankly weird and again not right. Let them sleep for goodness sake, man. I wouldn’t want someone to talk my ear off when I’m trying to sleep…

Don’t like how the DLC/NSO seems geared to incentivize consumers to pay for membership/DLC. For the DLC if you buy it now you get stat items, 30% off in item/ armor shops, emblem rings and more in the coming waves along with story content. NSO online features two modes you cannot play without going online, seeing deployment rankings, and other stuff you couldn’t use without being online. And while this can be remedied using a 7 day free trial of NSO. What if you already did use the 7-day free trial on an earlier game?

This ties back into the classes. But this time I’ll focus on NSO. Since you had to pay or use a limited 7-day free trial to access online components like coop with another partner and challenge maps in relay trials, Battle against other players on edited maps in outrealm trials, profile cards you can’t send unless you’re online and deployment rankings, so if you want to access these features. You better cough up the money to Nintendo. Certainly, they have a right to manage how they price their downloadable content and pricing their online functionality. It just grinds my gears to see content that could’ve been available for others, being withheld until you cough up money for the company. Especially for online features. Can you imagine if Nintendo only allowed you to use your amiibos for a game. Only if you are currently an NSO subscriber? I love Nintendo, but sometimes some of their decisions leave me shaking my head at times. Anyway, moving on

Villains are flat garnering weak sympathy to think of them as human when they’re not. To expand on this, some scenes showcase the villains and demonstrate their power to a decent degree. However, without going into too specific detail. The execution of their villainous ways leaves much to be desired. I could not help but feel their actions in some maps can be terrifying. But on other maps leave me puzzled since they can do this extent using their power, so why don’t they do it again? This ties back into the plot and how the divine dragon will overcome everything if we listen to them.

I also did not like one villain who kept being a broken record saying the first letter “F” with the last letter “Y” in nearly all the scenes when they would come up. Come on man, don’t guilt trip me with that word. It does not work at all. And it is incredibly repetitive to continue using that word as if the player will miraculously forgive every single one of your atrocities. Granted not all villains fit this mold and I found some more than others who rise above this occasion. However, it does not excuse the fact the villains could’ve been more compelling. I get the point the developers were trying to make with the characters, but it just seems short. Give us scenes making them more human. Give me scenes showing the struggle and demonstrate their villainous ways without remorse. That's all I have to say for my critique of the game. Now let's move onto what the game does well to offset the boatload of criticism i've talked about so far.

The game is a wonderful return to classic Fire Emblem revitalizing the weapon triangle with a "break" system in place. Making enemies feel challenging even on normal. The overworld is gorgeous and I had fun using the free camera to inspect the whole world and see what nooks and crannies our main party could potentially travel to.

A large number of recruits even towards the endgame are fleshed out with full support conversation logs you can see. Out of my whole playthrough, I only completed 1 character support conversation. The rest I was only to get a small-decent chunk for my army alone.

Love the no durability of weapons. So I can keep on using them without fear of them breaking down on me. Except for staves of course, those you will need to buy again.

The voice acting is pretty good. A good majority of the cast has a decent amount of range throughout the game and I didn’t find any bad voice acting at all.

The emblems are really powerful and I love using them throughout my playthrough. Never gets old attaching a lord or not lord on a unit and letting them go attack a decent army against them. Only for my unit to emerge wounded, but still okay. There are various powers in each emblem and I used each of them to their fullest effect throughout my playthrough.

I had fun splitting my armies and designating whichever unit needs an emblem more. And a lot of maps give you the option to split your armies two ways or three ways. The combat is enjoyable to try out different strategies. Thankfully there’s quite a bit of good map design here to give players much freedom to do what they want. Especially when you have resources on that map that could turn the tide of battles like cannons or ballista. Some maps have interesting gimmicks, so those were pretty cool to play in.

I am impressed at the level of polish here, not just in animations and support conversation scenes. But the cutscenes, stills, artwork and opening. The background and colors used throughout the game are vivid and varied. And I have no complaints in seeing every color of the rainbow here. I also had no slowdown, bugs, glitches, or crashes throughout my playthrough and pretty much every battle and more were smooth.

For what it’s worth. I did enjoy some good story beats as I progressed through the game, and there were a couple of surprises I didn’t expect. Some paralogues, at least the ones I finished, were a very nice touch in seeing my old favorites come back to life(in Emblem form) and fighting on their maps from their respective games filled my nostalgia with great joy.

I feel the game is worthy of playing, if you’re still hungry for more Fire Emblem. And despite my long critique of the game above.

I hope my review still gets you to buy the game. My intention is never to gatekeep it. But merely to inform others what I feel could’ve been done better, with evidence, and move on from there. And while Fire Emblem Engage is an all right experience for me. Other’s out there rate the game higher than me and that's fine. That's their experience of what the game means to them and that’s fair. I have loved the series since starting with Awakening, and while I haven’t played the rest in the franchise, it is still a favorite of mine in the turn-based genre. I’m just disappointed at the potential this game could’ve been and held solid throughout. And while I still have those feelings, it does not discourage me from telling every soul I can to buy games in the franchise to keep it afloat. And I encourage anyone who has bought Fire Emblem Engage, to play to the end(if you can). Make your own voice heard on what your experience is for Engage. And type out your thoughts. Doesn’t even have to be as long as this. Short impressions are perfectly acceptable.

Anyway, that’s enough for me. This review got too long for my liking. But I feel I needed to type out what I wanted to say.

7/10

Edited: Due to 1.2 version adding more recreational activities. Thereby allowing you to boost supports between units. So I did a strikethrough on those sections in my review.

Purify the Blight
Story

Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights starts with you the player controlling a young female priestess. Lily, who unfortunately has no memories of the events prior. And yet she embarks on a mission to purify the kingdom of Land’s End where all of the inhabitants have been turned into Blighted.

It is a tough task to ask of one so young, but she’s not alone in her journey. A stalwart knight spirit joins her in the beginning, to fight the battles she can’t. The duo isn’t all alone, however. As you progress in the game you will gain the ability to bind more spirits to your cause and help Lily as she purifies the land.

Stay Back, Let the Spirits Handle it
Gameplay

Gameplay in Ender Lilies follows in a 2D Metroidvania Action RPG structure. So you go off into this world with your knight. Defeat bosses, Gain new allies and abilities which can help you backtrack to old areas and overcome obstacles in locations you couldn’t access before.

Inaccessible areas you can’t access are easy to identify with the map system. So you don’t need to worry about remembering the exact place you couldn’t go to previously. I found it very refreshing to go back to previous locations and clean up the area properly. There is even a nifty feature where the map will be colored to let players know there are no more items left in the area.

The flow of combat is satisfying in that you don’t personally fight. You fight by having your spirits that accompany you do the work. Primarily offensive abilities. Your knight will slash enemies with his sword. Another can bash enemies away with a great hammer, one useful spirit can even continuously swing her wrecking ball to smash enemies. It should be noted there are a great many spirits to equip throughout the game. Not just the main bosses. Lesser spirits you may come across can give you their aid in battle. So there’s no shortage of spirits to choose from.

Some abilities you earn from bosses can be used indefinitely while others have a limited amount. You can raise the limit by equipping certain relics which can increase the number of spirits used.

Speaking of relics. There are a bunch to find in the game and each of them can change your status in a myriad of ways. Some are basic like increasing health, attack, and movement. But others like prayer usage increase, a new sp gauge, more experience, among others are really useful. I played around using different kinds of relics. So if you’re having trouble beating a boss, perhaps changing your relic setup might be needed.

There is no penalty for dying. So you don’t need to worry about losing your currency to upgrade spirits.

Finding Hope in a Melancholy World
Final thoughts

Didn’t experience any bugs or crashes throughout my 16-hour playthrough to see everything the game has to offer.
On the criticisms I could say for the game. There’s not much, to be frank. The gameplay was tight and I didn’t have any problems with the combat, tutorial, or navigation. Perhaps, if I were to say something it would have to be giving players more of a direction on what to do to get the last ending. Since I had to look up a guide/walkthrough to know how to get the last ending. And two bosses could’ve been tweaked a bit further to make it slightly less difficult. I could include more, but those are just nitpicking and not worth saying.

I feel all the mechanics and features in the game work well. The music synergizes excellently with the dark fantasy atmosphere permeating throughout the world. The plot is intriguing and doesn’t move too fast for the player to catch up. The pacing felt right. And combat and sheer viciousness of it upon impacting enemies feel satisfying. Didn’t need to grind in the game at all. Environment, bosses, and enemy design are wonderfully crafted to the point I can’t help but stare in disgust as well as admire the art of it.

The game didn’t capture my attention immediately. It took some time, but slowly I was brought on board. To see what happens to Lily in the end, see whether or not she can regain her memories and if she can succeed in her endeavor to purify the land of Blight along with her knight. It’s not something I'd ask a very young individual to do. But her unique ability to gather spirits as allies caught my attention. And seeing her continue to stand against countless adversity and persevere is something worth looking into.

For those looking for a different Metroidvania to sink your teeth into. One with a unique premise, tight controls, an amazing soundtrack, satisfying combat, and easy to understand user interface. Perhaps Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights might just be the game to kindle your interest.

Score: 8.5/10

Playing this entry after I played Armored Core For Answer is such a wild feeling. Since, I officially started the series with Armored Core 2 and have enjoyed all of the entries up to For Answer. Well… except Nine-Breaker, but that’s a story for another day. And so when I started to play Armored Core V. I wondered if I would enjoy this entry too. And is it worth playing for newcomers?

And the answer is very mixed…

First off, your mech is bulky and can’t fly high to the sky anymore like in past entries and the game maintains a mech altitude closer to the ground. If you want to go at a higher altitude you need to wall boost your way, by repeatedly jumping onto buildings.

Certainly, you can customize your AC with light parts, light load, and a big generator with a low-consumption booster. In becoming more mobile. But it's just not the same as the previous titles due to the other added features which I'll go into.

Controlling your AC, especially at the start, feels clunky and slow throughout the game. I even completed all the story and optional order missions and still felt that to some extent. I did update my build more than several times to see any difference or if my feelings would shift.

And upon reflection, they adjusted once I tried to see these new developments under different lenses and thematically I think it does work to some extent. Combat feels a bit more personal since you’re mostly fighting in cities and other open areas in a wasteland. But mostly the former than the latter. And it feels better winning close encounters with an AC than battling them from far away.

However, there are just too many changes here I did not like. Such as the implementation of online modes. But I can’t even access the online features since the servers are down which is a shame. I think there are some workarounds to it for pc and emulation, but I’m not sure on that front.

Moving on. Making scan mode mandatory to recover energy at a faster rate, seeing objective routes and the inability to attack is a weird compromise to make the gameplay more tactical. But I ultimately felt it was bothersome and distracted me from fighting. Even when I could activate and deactivate it at a moment's notice. The mechanic seems a bit weird to use and while I appreciate some moments for it. I just didn't like utilizing the feature throughout my playthrough.

I also didn’t like the multiple resistances here you have to remember. Its too complicated playing rock, paper, scissors, further confusing newcomers and perhaps veterans like me in wondering why my weapons aren’t effective. So it sucks when you’re already on a mission and can’t complete it because you don’t have the right weapon to be more effective in damaging the enemy. Sure you have workshop sites to change parts, but good luck changing that when you're facing off an enemy AC and can't find a workshop site available. And you can't enter a site if enemies are nearby. So these new elements are more of a chore.

Aside from these mixed feelings, I do have with the game. I do appreciate some other new changes like sorties. Which allows the player to restart from a saved checkpoint within story missions. This is a feature I super love and makes redoing missions less of a frustration and more of an easier way to retry attempts.

In addition to that, I love how you can go to multiple workshop sites in the game to replenish ammo, modify parts and recover your health. For a small price. It goes up as I consecutively use more workshop sites while in story missions. So it's very nice to diversify your build midway through a mission instead of having to do that each time before you head into battle.

The soundtrack is fire and demonstrates mechanized warfare for Armored Core standards to a T. Where fights are a bit more visceral and up close. And tracks becoming triumphant but also somber. Fitting for the game’s storyline to be so grimdark, dangerous, and full of chaos.

And the order missions are good, sometimes dropping lore bits and more since these missions take place after the main story. So you have 83 missions to dig into. All with different mission parameters ranging from defeating enemy ACs, destroying all enemy units, completing the mission within a time limit, and more.

Story is decent. Being serviceable and I like the villains here since they ooze personality.

So in the end is Armored Core V worth playing still?

A bit of a yes, a bit of a no. There are too many modifications this entry does which I didn’t appreciate at the end which makes combat a bit of a mess to enjoy and doesn’t leave a good first impression I think.

I still enjoyed my time with the game to some extent. I just wish the multiple resistances, scan mode, and online feature being implemented so heavily are tweaked or removed. Resistances just remove that. Or keep it simple to one not multiple. For scan mode. Make it so you can attack and tweak the overlay a bit to allow that or remove it and allow route markers to happen naturally. And allow some online modes playable with ai.

If you’re looking for another Armored Core entry by Fromsoftware to sink your teeth into since you already played the past entries, then I give a shaky thumbs up for this entry. And for newcomers I am hesitant to recommend this entry and would point you to Armored Core 4 or Armored Core: For Answer. Heck, I would even go so far as to recommend past PS2 titles like Armored Core 2, 3, or Nexus instead.


6/10

I never thought I would return to 3 Hopes after completing 1 route. Since I was so burned out after finishing one path. But here I am after completing the other two and I have to say, 3 Hopes is a welcome return to the continent of Fodlan, seeing familiar and new faces among the Three Houses crowd.

Battling enemies in the usual turn-based engagements? Nope! 3 Hopes operates as a hack-and-slash RPG. More specifically, the musuo-like kind. You also control a new protagonist. Shez. A run-of-the-mill mercenary with strange abilities. It will be up to you to choose which house to ally with. Like in the previous game, 3 Hopes also features 3 main routes to play through. This review was only possible after I finished all three routes. Since I felt making a review when I had only beaten one path, didn't sit well with me.

Anyway, let's begin.

Gameplay is a major shift from the turn-based nature of Fire Emblem. Here, you'll be fighting in a musuo-like gameplay of hack and slash. Elements from the franchise are integrated relatively well. Using terminology from the series and implementing different unit classes having a variety of different professions from lancer, ax, sword, bow, brawler, and mage. Each main weapon class leads to different classes and different abilities. There is even an element of base-building for your base camp. Which provides a nice way to upgrade your equipment. The game is pretty much what if Fire Emblem is a hack-and-slash? A weird thought, but strangely enough it works here, to some extent.

For the most part, I love the change in gameplay to an action hack-and-slash compared to a turn-based game. You get right into the thick of things by decimating countless mobs and eliminating your enemies up close and personally. Didn’t feel bored utilizing different abilities and units to keep the battles fresh. There is impact and it never gets old commanding your allied units for an all-out offensive. The feeling is euphoric and it is awesome watching your army mow down the baddies right alongside you.

However, the same objectives and S-rank requirements got old real quick since you cannot innovate much to keep the battles fresh constantly. Sidequests & paralogues, in particular, do try to reinvent the wheel in some way. Yet, they still conform back to the old formula of killing ‘x’ units within a time limit, Defeat ‘x’ unit, oh wait extra reinforcements, oh here complete this side-mission while you go into battle. Artillery firing at your units? Please eliminate. Enemy forces calling for reinforcements? Stop them from executing an action. Here are some new reinforcements to add to the battle for you to tackle and defend your bases. Oh, you thought the main story quest ends? No way! Here’s another enemy you have to defeat. This formula becomes tiresome to complete again and again. And when you thought you killed an enemy. Psyche. I'm going to retreat until the plot forces me to die. Sure there are several approaches in store for you like escorts, special-type monsters, conquering key strongholds to move closer to your map, etc. But it is not enough.

I feel the game could’ve been more innovative to keep the combat formula from being dull. It's fine in the beginning and middle acts, but once you do a lot of missions, the combat gets stale. And trust me, I’ve finished all paralogues in one route, every single thing I could fight on the map, extra sidequests, extra limited-time quests to completion. Skipped several in the end, due to realizing they offer no real benefit to me. But for the most part, I'd say 95-98% of all missions I completed for the Black Eagle route.

I skipped the filler battles in the other routes using a vanguard whistle which is an absolute godsend. You don’t need to fight every battle. Using the whistle allows the player to auto-complete the battle on the world map. Thereby, skipping the process instantly. Why the heck wasn’t this item available in your first route? Honestly would’ve helped lessen the tedium and rinse-and-repeat battles.

Granted I get it is a Musou Fire Emblem. So I can’t expect great expectations. But it would’ve been nice to have a stellar musou-like game that knocks all areas out of the ballpark. And for me, I feel the element of reusing the same objectives, some maps, and enemies being the same could have been done better. Two specific enemies, in particular, are reused more than several times. This becomes especially egregious when reinforcements are the same enemy types with no real distinct features to differentiate them. Same enemy combat class again and again.

Artificial intelligence, for comrades at least, is decent but could be better. Many times during a battle, I had to micromanage units to attack an enemy then once they were done. My ally will sit in that same spot. Even when I have them set to attack. Orders would’ve been nice for them to follow through. For example, after defeating an enemy, move to a nearby enemy commander. If a player-controlled unit falls below 50% health, tell the healer to heal them. Prioritize map objectives over killing a single enemy.

Continuing on with S rank requirements I feel there is a missed opportunity to do extra. Like erasing the whole concept of s-rank. And only set different requirements such as: Manage 500 hits. Use ‘x’ warrior specials. Cannot use a single healing item during battle. No dodging. No switching to a different unit. Female/Male characters only. Use a single unit only. Use certain classes only. Fight with only disadvantaged units. And so much more I could list. Heck, the handicap battles you fight in each chapter, the developers could’ve taken handicap battles and implemented some of those handicaps for S-rank requirements. Instead, we are left with killing “xxx’ units by ‘x’ time while taking “xx%” damage.

One thing that I immensely enjoyed was strategies. At the end of a chapter, you will have to face the final chapter battle and it is here and only in this battle can you implement strategies. Various parameters can weaken the enemy, from giving your army reinforcements, allies to heal, units to protect, or special units to advance on the enemy, magic bombardment, special formations, and unique types I won’t get into because that's spoiler territory. But suffice it to say, I was very satisfied with how the developers implemented strategies to work in favor to spice up every final story battle in a chapter. These parameters you can activate greatly turn the tide of battle and can lead to one of Fire Emblem’s aspects of making a unit join you. Some strategies can even be unlocked by completing filler battles on the world map. So it pays to finish everything on a map to unlock more strategies.

Support conversations are such a relief, and a delight to see the Three Houses cast again. Which expands and greatly answers some lingering questions I had in the past game. And while this entry is contained in an alternate timeline. Pretty much all support conversations I’ve seen are an extension of what occurred in Three Houses or some cases provide much-needed context into a character’s background or relationship with other characters. It's one of the biggest backbones the game has to offer. And I laughed so hard in one conversation. Amused in some, puzzled in others, gained much-needed insight into the relationships and backgrounds of characters I rarely use, and broke a smile during moments of wholesome and endearing moments. The game also had plenty of quality-of-life enhancements like fast traveling to any unit, location, and building making it easy to get to the unit you need. Along with seeing current support levels with any unit during any activity requiring the two of them. This feature is a godsend in particular due to not needing to go back and check which unit is currently at a certain rank and then back to the food hall in FE3H.

My playthrough lasted over 93 hours and to be frank without the support conversations, I feel that number could’ve been cut by more than half if I didn’t pay attention to grinding for these conversations between my units as much as I possibly can. A buddy of mine took over 130 hours to complete all paths in the game. So your times may vary depending on how much or little you do in your base.

Storywise. Each route felt distinct enough with cool cutscenes, sweet character development with each house leader, and more. And each path had enough content to interest you further. However, each route did use a bit of copy-paste formula. Leaving me a sense of samey vibes a bit. But this occurred mainly in the middle ground of each path. The game makes up for this by displaying scenes you wouldn't otherwise see in each route. So if a major event is glossed over in one route, you will see the full extent in another route. Which makes comparisons between each path easier to conjure the bigger picture. While I do have some reservations about each route, the final act is a pay-off, I looked forward to. Could it have been better? Certainly, but the game accomplishes this in a manner I find good enough.

Overall, I feel 3 Hopes is a decent FE spin-off game. Could be better regarding objectives, AI, map design and a bit on the plot of each route. Nonetheless, the excellent support conversations, adequate base-building, and character conversations hold the game up strong. The soundtrack is fantastic and I love the new arrangements and new tracks. Especially the leitmotif dropping here and there. I feel the game does justice in some ways to three houses in that if you’re looking for more of the world of Fodlan you’ll find that here. Some plot points which were left unanswered there are answered here. So. If you’re looking for more Fire Emblem Three Houses content. And don’t mind the shift to action rpg hack and slash. Look no further than Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes. I hope you’ll like it just as I did. And if not, well that’s fine too.

8/10

Is Atomic Heart worth your time? Let's find out.

The gunplay, crafting, and powers. Are a good mix to the gameplay providing a fresh and nice progression as you continue to become stronger. I only have mixed feelings about the role-playing progression, because it seemed like I spent a chunk of my time looting containers and enemies to upgrade my character’s abilities or my weapons. I believe a regular experience system with levels could’ve been a better alternative, but since the developers decided on a scavenge for loot, crafting & upgrading your character abilities or weapons via materials you find around the world. It is a decent attempt. I was thinking they could add reward tickets or some other equivalent to let you upgrade your weapons and character abilities. As an extra feature in the game to supplement the scavenging aspect. Like a reward system.

Moving on. I wish the game had extra vehicles because the open world felt huge and not enough vehicles to find. And when you do use a vehicle the durability is a bit low. It can take a decent amount of hits, but in my opinion, the degradation of the durability after hitting enemies feels too high. I had to avoid hitting robots to make it to my destination. And lord help me if I see a small group blocking the only path forward. I’ll have to run out of my burning vehicle after running them over. I hope the developers can fix the durability and make them withstand a bit more hits. Perhaps a 50-75% increase in toughness and I’d be satisfied and place extra vehicles around the world so you don't need to run so much. Since it feels uncommon to find one.

I kinda wish there was a quest log or at the very least, a logbook of summarized events that occurred to refresh the player on what happened so far. You can see clearly on the top left corner of your current quest, but looking through the menus, I don’t see a section for summarized events. And this is also me paying attention to the story’s narrative. The addition of a quest log or logbook could've helped players comprehend the plot a bit more. So I can see other players getting confused in the middle part of your playthrough. The beginning and final act are fine.

The game plays great when it's linear with fitting levels, but the open-world nature could use some work. I still enjoyed my time with the world of Atomic Heart. But I felt there needed to be a fast travel system in place to go back to old locations instead of driving back. Since I saw barely any drivable vehicles. Aside from that, there’s plenty of good Atomic Heart does well.

Had plenty of "Prey" the 2017 game inspiration, and gunplay with powers. Same with Fallout on alternate history. So the world-building aspect, I think, is done decently well. There are cartoons and small animations detailing custom game-overs and modded weapon demonstrations. Using a cartoonish style. Which made me appreciate the little bits.

Speaking of the level design, there are plenty of puzzles here integrated pretty well. Not so much to be a chore, but enough for you to go off the beaten path if you so desire. What I love here, rather than other games that try to half-heartedly implement puzzles by using the same one again. There is no copy-paste. You have plenty of variety to look forward to and they don’t consume much time to finish. If anything, the mini-puzzles can be completed in less than 10 seconds or less. The game goes further by including extra unique puzzles and more to complete in the optional dungeons. I won’t say any specific examples, because I feel it's best to discover them on your own. And boy I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did. I should add each puzzle I completed in the story sections didn’t reach the lengths of scratching my head constantly. All of them seem to be reasonably well-designed to not be so hard. But also not too simple.

I do have to give special praise to the optimization here. The game runs almost like a dream on my old pc with a GTX 970 card. So playing on 60 fps and getting barely dips to 30 fps during very intense action moments is a major plus in my books. Graphics options are also extensive, so you can tweak them to your preference.

Your AI glove companion Charles is pretty cool. Growing alongside P-3. And you will encounter moments in which it’ll ask you questions and you can respond to Charles with dialogue options. Honestly, my playthrough without Charles would’ve made the game boring as hell without his candid commentary and challenging P-3 at times to question the moral quandary and critical thought. This doesn’t occur commonly, but when it does oh boy does the dialogue shine.

However, the inverse of that. Are moments where I dislike the main character whenever he speaks and doesn’t consider the advice Charles gives him and will act like a stubborn jerk to what Charles advises. And this occurs frequently from the beginning to the middle of the game. And I feel the interaction between the two may make newcomers quit early on. Be that as it may, I strongly encourage anyone willing to put up with those interactions to bear with it. Because the journey and ultimately what happens in the ending is worth seeing through the first hours of a dysfunctional relationship between P-3 and Charles. Into something more. Whether or not it’s good in the end or bad. I’ll leave it up to the player. But in my case, I found their moments from the middle to the endgame worth playing through.

The beginning and endgame have an amazing presentation and do a suitable job of making you become invested in the world and the events to come. And find what layers they’re hiding beyond the objective of finding Petrov. Nonetheless, the middle of the game could lose player interest since there aren't a lot of moments that could impress players to a degree where they’ll become further invested in the story. It comes to a lull so to speak. But, I think the final act does redeem the slow middle act to refocus the player back to the main plot.

In my 17-hour playthrough with Atomic Heart, and after the end credits are rolling I think the game has a lot of charm, personality and heart. There is passion in nearly every corner from how terminals give you a nugget of lore about the world, to the not-so-dead NPCs giving you context on the facility’s day to day before chaos struck. Has over and above simple antagonist. Yes, there is stuff that could be tweaked in regards to the beginning hours of P-3 and Charles, increasing vehicle durability, and expanded car limit. A proper quest log to not lose players in the narrative. And some minor bugs here and there which the developers are already fixing.

And finally, the story I feel is in the middle of satisfactory and excellent. It’s enough to hold your interest, but I found the world, characters, and subtle political commentary more fascinating. There are moral quandary questions and candid commentary from Charles which I particularly enjoy listening to when they ask deep questions and thankfully the P-3 embraces these questions with answers I found acceptable to move him from a one-note character into a proper protagonist undergoing development. And the A.I. Charles, too.

In the end, I believe Atomic Heart is worth your time. Especially for those interested in an alternate history of the 1955 Soviet Union with robots gone awry. And a jerk of a protagonist with a great A.I. companion along for the ride. Fantastic gunplay with powers against robots and more enemies I didn’t expect. An optimized game capable of running almost flawlessly on a low to a mid-tier computer I think. Level design is great when it is linear, not so much in the open-world aspect, but still passable to me. Excellent variety of puzzles and integrated well. Rock-solid Russian soundtrack with decent voice acting for the English voice actors.

So if you like any of that. Perhaps Atomic Heart might interest you.

8/10