Of two minds on this: on one hand, the atmosphere of this game is incredible and might make it worth a look on that merit alone- the imagery fighting your rival in a moonlit cemetery or above an ocean of stars is going to stick with me for a while. On the other, it’s weighed down by some severe weaknesses in its gameplay; the game has an emphasis on aerial combat that brings to mind something like a much floatier version of Zone of the Enders, but enemies are easy to lose track of and lack telegraphing or sound cues for some of their most lethal attacks- found many of the later encounters to hilariously cruel with how quickly you can be killed. It never feels like the game is cheating on your behalf when you get hit, and so one moment of poor positioning can see your health bar depleted in an instant if you happen to get hit by an enemy attack.

It’s a strange pace, a glacial rhythm dictating the action. It almost works on the easier maps, the atmosphere making up for the combat’s relative simplicity, and combined with some impressive environmental destruction, even just hitting enemies comes with a really basic satisfaction, your attacks knocking them away with a cartoonish amount of force and sending them flying through objects in the stage. (Some other small, but appreciated nuances: you can instantly use your more powerful magic if you use it at the end of your combo strings, enemy projectiles can be knocked back with a melee attack, and you can gain some extra air time by attacking and dashing at the same time. Don’t make my mistake and go the entire game without knowing this.)

Its flaws are much more noticeable on the harder sections though, and it was never a game I felt like I had some deeper mastery of, but only really circumvented- finishing some of the bosses still had me questioning what I’d done right in comparison to all my prior failed attempts, and it really does seem up to luck as to whether or not you’ll get blindsided by stray bit of enemy magic or not. So, not something to seek out if you’re looking for some hidden action gem, but it might be essential Backloggd reading material regardless, the intangibles here are that strong.

A friend and I have talked about having the slow realization that FromSoft has been making some version of the same game (with the exception of Cookies and Cream (probably)) for the last twenty years, and Otogi is another example of that, honing in on the twilight haze their titles often occupy- never been as vividly aware of being a puppet controlled by unknown masters, killing gods at the end of time.

Reviewed on Mar 09, 2023


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