Final Fantasy XVI Review:  In this Final Fantasy XVI Review, we’ll be taking a look at the latest entry to the Final Fantasy series which is developed by Creative Business Unit III and published by Square Enix. What does this game have to offer, what makes it stand out among the other Final Fantasy games, what is the gameplay, and what are the things you can do for both side and post-game content? We’ll answer these and cover your other questions in this Final Fantasy XVI Review.

Final Fantasy XVI Review: An Action-Packed Upgrade for a Beloved Franchise

• Genre: Action Role-Playing Game, Adventure
• Developed by: Creative Business Unit III, Square Enix
• Published by: Square Enix
• Release Date: June 22, 2023
• Platform/s: PlayStation 5
• Reviewed on: PlayStation 5
• Price at the time of Review: USD 69.99 ~ 99.99

Final Fantasy XVI Review: Story and Setting

Storytelling and the fictional world of Final Fantasy XVI are well-realized, breathtaking, and compelling. As a player who finds story-driven games attractive, the game does its job of reeling me into the unfolding plot, making me fall in love with the characters, and imprinting itself in my mind even when I’m not playing it, leaving me wanting to come back for more. That is what Final Fantasy games are known for. Delivering a solid story with a cohesive world. Final Fantasy XVI is no exception, and Creative Business Unit III and Square Enix have nailed it.

Final Fantasy XVI is set in a medieval period within Valisthea, divided into two continents, Ash and Storm. The land is scattered with Mothercrystals that provide people with magic and energy, driving civilization through the Aether’s power. In the present day, the nation is divided into six kingdoms that are fighting to gain control of their respective Mothercrystals, each with different goals of maintaining the alliance, conquering, and surviving the Blight’s corruption that continues to threaten and destroy Valisthea.

The key components of the story heavily revolve around the political aspects of the different kingdoms, their military, leaders, and the Dominants: humans who have been chosen as hosts to the different elemental Eikons. These Dominants can use magic without the crystals and can transform into their respective Eikons, making them the ultimate weapons used in war. However, excessive use of their gifts can lead to serious implications for their lives and ultimately result in death.

The game follows the story of the protagonist, Clive Rosfield, the firstborn son of the archduke of The Grand Duchy of Rosaria. He is also the dedicated “Shield” to his younger brother and successor to the throne, Joshua Rosfield who happens to be the Dominant of the Fire Eikon, Phoenix. As we witness Clive’s life in his teenage years, a series of unfortunate events unfold. The Grand Duchy of Rosaria falls, a battle between two Eikons emerges, and a tragedy befalls the Rosfield brothers, setting Clive on a path of vengeance.

Throughout your journey as Clive, you’ll experience the different phases of his life and learn more about the game’s lore through story progression, interactions with different NPCs, side quests, and the game’s unique feature, the ATL or Active Time Lore. We won’t spoil too much in this review since we want everyone to enjoy the story and the revelations that unfold.

Final Fantasy XVI has a darker tone, and we appreciate it. It may not be how we are accustomed to a traditional Final Fantasy game, but for this installment, the Game of Thrones inspiration and grittier vibe seemingly work. Video games, in general, are another form of storytelling, and overall, the story and setting of this game are among its strongest features. When combined with superb voice acting and a well-written script, it definitely leaves both new and veteran fans of the Final Fantasy series in shock and awe. One tip: you might want to keep a box of tissues beside you.

Final Fantasy XVI Review: Gameplay

As I sat down to play for this review, I was worried that the pacing would slow me down and eventually bore me since there are a lot of cutscenes and dialogue, especially in the prologue. However, with patience and the fact that the game starts off with a bang, I was unaware of the amount of time I’d spent playing and how drawn I was as the tension of the story started to build. More gameplay mechanics eventually became accessible to me as I progressed. Yes, it can be slow during the prologue, but it immediately opens more once you start in the present day, and there is a generous amount of content when it comes to the key features and combat mechanics of the game. Let’s talk more about it.

Exploration

Let me start by clarifying that Final Fantasy XVI is not an open-world game, and this could divide players since the open-world setting was already done in Final Fantasy XV. So why not make it possible here? Honestly, it doesn’t need to be for this installment. It reminds me of classic Final Fantasy games, and it feels like the developers decided to “go back to their roots,” which works for this game. In Final Fantasy XVI, locations to explore become available through the story progression. You’ll gain access to the World Map, and from there, you do have some freedom to travel to different areas, provided they are unlocked and can be accessed during certain parts of the main story. 

The locations you explore are divided into sections and are mostly linear, starting from Point A and ultimately reaching Point B, which is your objective. As you traverse these areas such as forests, ruins, village settlements, the desert, and more, you’ll encounter enemies that vary from beasts to humans, including flora and fauna. You’ll discover different loot and fight against bosses. Some areas may feel large in terms of space, but they can easily be cleared out by consulting the location’s map.

While tackling Main Quests, you are not obligated to go directly to the location where the objective of the main quest takes place. Instead, you can always go back to other explored areas and the main hub of the game to engage in side quests, bounty hunting, equipment upgrades, training, or simply exploration. Yes, it might feel underwhelming for some due to the limited space available for exploration, but I still admired the design of each location and interacting with the different characters. Personally, I didn’t feel overwhelmed or distracted by larger spaces.

In areas that require more exploration, sections can be easily traversed by discovering obelisks. These allow the player to easily fast travel from one obelisk to another, as long as it is active. The world and characters change through story progression, so it’s important to revisit pivotal locations like the hub to discover new items in shops, unlock new crafting recipes, find additional side quests, engage in more NPC interactions, and more.

Overall, the exploration aspect of the game, searching areas as I progressed while fighting enemies and bosses, including interactions with the environment and characters, left me satisfied. I appreciated how easy it is to use both the world and area maps, as well as the convenient and simplified features for fast traveling.

Combat Systems

Final Fantasy XVI excels in three areas: the story, visuals and sounds, and combat. When you start the game, the pacing of combat might be slow for some, but this won’t matter since more options become available as you progress through the main story. Be patient, learn the basic maneuvers, and experience Clive’s journey as he unlocks his full potential as a skilled warrior.

Clive has the capability of wielding different Eikonic powers, as heavily featured in trailers, and this is where the combat shines. Without a doubt, the combat reminded me of a combination of games such as Stranger of Paradise and Devil May Cry. You can execute different combos that involve melee attacks and abilities, as well as switch Eikons on the fly to unleash unique elemental skills. The fluidity of combat enhances the experience, allowing me to instruct Torgal to jump in and attack, heal, and launch enemies in the air while simultaneously using combos of melee and magic, ultimately finishing them off with a cheeky little mortal blow finisher.

During minor and major boss battles, I found myself in awe of the smooth transitions between fighting and cinematic moments that involve Quick Time Events (QTEs). The exhilarating experience of Eikon vs. Eikon combat, reminiscent of Kaiju battles, left me picking up my jaw from the floor. The action role-playing game (ARPG) elements in this installment fit perfectly, and it felt rewarding whenever I perfectly dodged, parried, staggered, and executed combos using different combinations of Eikonic Abilities.

Eikon combat in Final Fantasy XVI plays a pivotal role in the game due to its breathtaking and majestic sequences. As you embody an Eikon, you’ll have access to their unique controls and mechanics. For example, Ifrit is capable of lunging toward the target, delivering heavy blows, and throwing fireballs from a ranged distance, while Phoenix is agile, flying in the air, evading attacks, and shooting a barrage of flames. However, summoning or embodying an Eikon does not work like in traditional Final Fantasy games, where you can summon these powerful creatures at any given time in battle. Instead, it only happens during pivotal moments in the game.

As mentioned, you’ll need to progress the story to unlock Clive’s full combat capabilities. But early in the game, players have access to a set of basic combat skills and the Eikonic Abilities of the Phoenix. Abilities in Final Fantasy XVI are unlocked by spending Ability Points (AP), acquired by defeating enemies and completing quests. You can learn these abilities and improve their effects or potency by “Upgrading” and “Mastering” them in exchange for more AP. For each equipped Eikonic power, Clive can choose two abilities mapped to the Square or Triangle buttons. Pressing R2 with Square or Triangle unleashes the Eikon’s Ability. These abilities have cooldowns and will refill over time.

While the combat sounds exciting, it’s important to note that you’ll need to get used to using combos effectively. Yes, it is an ARPG, but it doesn’t mean you can just keep mashing buttons and hope for the best. I had to learn through the training mode and constant battles that chaining combos while giving commands to Torgal and switching between Eikons requires timing and situational awareness. The number of combos you can perform on the ground and in the air is exciting, and it’s refreshing to see in a Final Fantasy game. The game also features a recommended string of combos, which you can view in the ability details by pressing Triangle, making it easier to try a variety of moves and abilities.

Like any other Final Fantasy game, Clive has access to equipment such as weapons, armor, and accessories that improve his offensive and defensive stats. Once you unlock the forge, you can ask Blackthorne to craft new weapons or reinforce existing ones to increase their level and stats in exchange for materials. Alternatively, you can purchase equipment and items from general merchants like Charon’s Toll. While I do wish they added some cosmetic items like costumes to change Clive’s or the party members’ clothing, I’ll let it pass since there’s still a touch of customization where each weapon available for Clive has a unique appearance, which is a staple in Final Fantasy games.

Regarding party members, you only get to control Clive, and throughout the story, you are joined by different characters who act as AI companions in battle. These companions cannot be controlled directly, nor can you switch between them; they act of their own free will. AI companions do not have health bars, which means they won’t die, but they can get hit with attacks that interrupt their actions.

However, you do have some control over the greatest companion in the game, Torgal. Torgal is a hound who is your trusty companion most of the time. He has access to three moves: Sic, a basic attack that can be used to extend combos; Heal, which recovers Clive’s HP; and Ravage, which launches small enemies into the air. If Torgal accompanies Clive during battle, his Pedigree level improves, increasing the potency of his attacks and effectiveness in combat.

My only gripe is that these AI companions sometimes react slowly when I need them to follow up with attacking a staggered enemy or even help with healing the party. I also wish I could customize their equipment to improve their effectiveness in combat. However, this is a minor issue that doesn’t significantly affect my overall experience. I hope future patches or updates will allow us to control and customize other party members, similar to Final Fantasy XV and Final Fantasy VII Remake.

Side & Post-Game Content

In addition to the main campaign, Final Fantasy XVI offers a considerable amount of side and post-game content. While we can’t disclose the exact number of side quests available in this review, there is a generous number of them. There is also an “Arcade” mode, bounty hunts, collectibles to find, and a New Game Plus mode that introduces further challenges. Let’s delve into the different side and post-game content:

• Side Quests: As you progress through the game, side quests become available and are marked with a green exclamation point on the area map. These side quests are important for your journey as they provide additional lore, unlock features or upgrades, and offer useful rewards. Certain side quests may become temporarily locked during specific points in the game and will only be available after progressing through the main story.
• Collectibles: The lore of Final Fantasy XVI is compelling, and you’ll want to stay updated on the events. As Clive progresses, he can interact with Loresman Hapcrates to find a comprehensive compendium of Valisthean lore. The compendium covers basic information, persons, geography, history, and past ATL entries. By sharing stories of Clive’s adventures with Hapcrates, the Thousand Tomes gets updated, and more topics become accessible as the Loresman’s level increases. The hideaway also includes an Orchestrion that provides background music for the hub. The tracklist expands as you acquire more orchestrion rolls from completing quests, purchasing them from merchants, or finding them as loot.
• Bounty Hunts: As you progress through the main campaign, you’ll unlock the Hunter Board, where you can select from a group of elite enemies that need to be slain in exchange for hefty rewards. These unique enemies can be challenging to fight, depending on their rank, so make sure you are prepared before taking on the hunt.
• Arete Stone: The Arete Stone is unlocked as you progress and offers replayable elements to hone your combat skills. The Hall of Virtue serves as a training mode where you can adjust parameters and try out different combos. Arcade Mode allows you to replay any previously cleared stage and awards a score based on performance. Stage Replay, like Arcade Mode, lets you replay a cleared stage at the current level to gain experience points (EXP) and obtain random loot.
• New Game Plus: Upon completing the game, you’ll have the option to start a New Game Plus (NG+) playthrough. In NG+, you can carry over certain progress and items from your previous playthrough, allowing you to experience the game again with added challenges and benefits.

It’s worth noting that side quests and post-game content provide opportunities to gain additional experience points, AP, and items, which can be beneficial for tackling more challenging battles, optimizing your character’s abilities, and unlocking achievements.

Final Fantasy XVI Review: Design, Audio, and Visuals

The design of Final Fantasy XVI is undeniably beautiful and well-suited to its medieval setting. As I explored different locations, each one felt unique and I found myself admiring the lush green forests with dangerous fauna, towering medieval castles and ruins with impeccable details, bustling cities surrounded by market stalls, and small, quiet towns where citizens lived their lives. Even areas that were once vibrant had been consumed by the blight, turning lifeless.

The characters, including NPCs, are well-crafted and each has their own unique wardrobe. The Dominants are dressed to reflect their personalities and Eikons. For example, Jill, the dominant of Shiva, wears a conservative battle robe with hints of blue, while Benedikta wears a more provocative outfit with feather accents to represent the wind Eikon, Garuda. The representation of different magical elements is stunning, with vibrant colors that pop when magic is cast, making combat visually satisfying.

The audio in the game is exceptional, thanks to the work of music composer Masayoshi Soken. The orchestral score he created enhances the adrenaline during combat and suits the different locations you explore. The intense drums, violins, brass instruments, and angelic choir voices adapt and build tension according to your gameplay, immersing you in the experience.

Voice acting in the game is available in multiple languages, including English, Japanese, French, German, Italian, and Spanish (Latin America). I initially played with Japanese voices but found it distracting that the words didn’t match the characters’ mouth movements. Switching to English felt more natural, but both Japanese and English voice acting were delightful to listen to. The actors delivered splendid performances, fully realizing their characters.

Final Fantasy XVI is currently exclusive to the PlayStation 5 and offers the choice between Frame Rate or Graphics Mode. I predominantly played in Frame Rate Mode for the fast-paced action and over-the-top scenes and effects, aiming for a smooth 60 FPS experience. Graphics Mode, on the other hand, enhances visual clarity with higher quality at the expense of a lower 30 FPS frame rate, which can affect fluidity in battle sequences and input responses.

The game transitions seamlessly between combat, cutscenes, and cinematic quick-time events. Loading times are virtually non-existent, and fast traveling is nearly instant. Overall, the game performs exceptionally well, with the only minor issue being a few seconds of frame drops during a specific cutscene in one of the early chapters. However, I believe this can be addressed through post-launch patch updates.

Final Fantasy XVI Review: Replayability & Price Point

According to game director Hiroshi Takai, completing the story of Final Fantasy XVI will take around 35 hours, and including all side and post-game content could extend the playtime to 70-80 hours. In my opinion, starting New Game Plus (NG+) in the harder mode could potentially add another 90 hours, as it adjusts enemy and boss behaviors and increases combat difficulty.

After finishing the main story for the first time, you’ll unlock New Game Plus, which introduces Final Fantasy Mode (Hard Mode) and other game modes accessible through the Arete Stone, such as gauntlets where players can upload scores and climb online leaderboards.

In Final Fantasy Mode, enemies become tougher, their placements are adjusted, combat difficulty is increased, and better rewards are available for gear upgrades. Completionists will likely benefit from experiencing NG+ features, while most players may choose to end their journey after completing the game once.

The physical and digital Standard Edition of Final Fantasy XVI is priced at $69.99 USD, while the physical Deluxe Edition costs $99.99 USD and includes pre-order DLCs, a cloth world map of Valisthea, and a steel book case. The Digital Deluxe Edition on the PS Store is priced at $89.99 USD and offers digital bonuses such as an art book and soundtrack.

Considering the exceptional quality of gameplay, storytelling, audio, and visuals, the $69.99 USD price point is reasonable for Final Fantasy XVI. If you have been eagerly anticipating this game, were convinced by the demo, or are simply a fan of the Final Fantasy franchise, I believe it’s a fair price. However, if you’re still unsure, you can download the demo on the PS5 to experience and gain a better understanding of what the game has to offer.

Final Thoughts

Initially, I had reservations about Final Fantasy XVI due to my preference for traditional turn-based combat mechanics and my mixed feelings towards previous entries like Final Fantasy XV, which leaned towards an action RPG approach. However, after playing the demo and experiencing the full game, my perspective changed. I accepted and embraced the new direction Square Enix has taken to appeal to a wider audience.

Whether you’re a new or veteran fan of Final Fantasy, I highly recommend this game. Final Fantasy XVI combines new features with the core elements of the franchise. It boasts a refreshing, grittier, and darker tone, with storytelling that consistently builds tension and reveals intriguing revelations. The gameplay is satisfying, featuring different types of action sequences and fluid combat mechanics, fully utilizing the power of the PlayStation 5. Final Fantasy XVI has become one of my favorite entries in the series, winning me over with its well-crafted story and breathtaking gameplay.

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In this Armored Core 6 preview, we’re going to be talking about new gameplay details for the mech Souls game that’s being developed by From Software, releasing on August 25th, and coming to PlayStation, Xbox, and PC via Steam.  

Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon Gameplay Preview and Impressions

Just a couple of days ago, we were fortunate enough to attend a presentation being put on by From Software and Bandai Namco, where the producer of the game, Yasunori Ogura, showed us the ins and outs of Armored Core VI.

If you didn’t know, Armored Core is a staple franchise for From Software and one of their first franchises, first being published in 1997 at the studio’s inception.

Armored Core VI aims to take this franchise and reboot it in a sense, and it seems to me, having seen this presentation and watched the gameplay, that there are a lot of Souls-like mechanics that you will see in this gameplay if you look closely enough.

Flying Through the Fires of Rubicon

So, for starters, let’s take a look at one of the big focuses of Armored Core VI, and this is the use of three-dimensional space as a mech. Your player is piloting a mech in this game, so being able to move up and down vertically and travel in these huge spaces, which is only possible because you’re driving a mech, is a huge focus of this game.

Designing these huge three-dimensional spaces for each mission is a significant part of this game, allowing players to take on objectives in different ways and giving them enough room to maneuver around. It makes players feel like they’re in a mech and can pilot it around, and they’re not just confined to a limited space. This is one big aspect of the level design.

The other part of this is the interior spaces of each level. After you’ve explored the exterior and got into the later parts of a mission, you’re going to be inside more confined spaces, and verticality plays a lesser degree in this space. It’s more on the same level playing field, not completely vertical like in the larger spaces of the game. This is where you really get to see the combat that From Software is known for, where players decide when to use their shield when to boost left or right when to attack. 

Final Flight of the Osiris

What’s really interesting about the combat in Armored Core VI is that there is an impact gauge above the enemy. When it’s completely full, the enemy will stagger, similar to the posture system from Sekiro. So, players are not only dealing damage to the enemy but also trying to stagger them to open them up for direct hits that deal increased damage. However, players should also be cautious as they have their own impact gauge and can be staggered if they take too much damage too quickly.

There is also a boost bar at the bottom of the screen, which functions similarly to a stamina gauge. It determines how often players can boost, dash left or right, or move vertically in the larger spaces of the game. Managing this boost resource or energy resource is similar to managing stamina in games like the Souls series or Elden Ring.

Inside the internal spaces, players will have objectives they can scan through walls to locate enemies and use the element of surprise to take on enemies that are unaware. They need to hack through doors to access certain places, and there will be boss fights as well.

Boss fights are expected to play a huge role in this game, and players are expected to die. Just like in the Souls series or Elden Ring, players will have to learn from their mistakes, study attack patterns, and adapt their strategies accordingly.

Customization Core

One of the things we absolutely love about mech games in general, particularly Armored Core, is the freedom to customize your mech according to your preferences. If you want to play a certain style, you are free to do so. For instance, you can change the legs on your mech, opting for tank-like legs, quad legs, or reverse legs, each significantly altering your gameplay experience. 

Rolling around instead of flying drastically changes how you approach levels. The freedom to customize your equipment and stats further influences your playstyle in Armored Core. The focus on the parts you use dictates your approach. Not only can you change the legs, but you can also modify the head, core, arms, and internal parts, allowing for endless combinations and personalization.

In addition to body part customization, Armored Core VI offers a wide range of weapons, both ranged and melee. From machine guns and assault rifles to laser daggers and missile launchers, the options are diverse. 

Furthermore, different types of boosters and generators affect thrust mechanics and machine performance. The complexity of options and finding the perfect combination is a significant aspect of the game. Expect build guides and mech guides to help you discover effective combinations that work well together.

Mission Impossible

One remarkable feature of Armored Core VI is the ability to change your mech’s loadout and assembly between missions. Even when you die, you can adjust your loadout and retry a boss or checkpoint with a different strategy. This dynamic element sets Armored Core VI apart from other games where changes can only be made at the beginning or between missions, eliminating the frustration of replaying entire missions due to improper setups or unsuccessful strategies.

The freedom to customize and adapt in Armored Core VI is a thrilling element of the game. Discovering the perfect configuration for your mech and the ability to adjust loadouts between missions or after deaths adds an extra layer of enjoyment and strategic depth to Armored Core VI.

Armored Core VI Preview: Stocked and Loaded

There are supply points located around the maps that serve as checkpoints for players and replenish ammunition. These supply points also provide repair kits, which function similarly to Estus Flasks with a limited quantity that can heal the player until reaching the next checkpoint. 

Balancing damage taken and the availability of ammunition becomes crucial in progressing to the next checkpoint. The amount of damage sustained should not impede reaching the next checkpoint. 

Careful attention must also be given to ammunition usage, as depleting all rocket rounds before reaching halfway to the next checkpoint will pose challenges. Players need to consider the number of shots fired, the damage incurred, and the time spent to effectively eliminate enemies in Armored Core VI.

Masters of the Arena

Furthermore, it is worth noting that Armored Core VI is primarily single-player, but it features online PvP, allowing players to engage in battles with each other. This inclusion of online PvP adds an intriguing aspect, particularly for fans of PvP and FromSoftware titles. 

We fondly remember our own experiences of enjoying online PvP in Chromehounds, another mech game developed by FromSoftware, where you could tinker with their mech, participate in battles, and witness the outcomes. Although the exact player counts for simultaneous online play was not disclosed, we’re sure this will be revealed quite soon. 

The showcased gameplay and information highlight the distinct FromSoftware style present in the game. From well-crafted level designs to intense boss fights and responsive combat mechanics, the game exhibits the familiar elements associated with FromSoftware titles. The player’s character feels responsive and aligned with their intentions, creating a sense of personal responsibility when mistakes occur. 

Even if someone is not typically inclined towards mech games but enjoys FromSoftware titles like Elden Ring or Dark Souls, Armored Core VI might still hold appeal due to the presence of these important elements, which may not be immediately apparent.

Armored Core VI: Project Phantasm

So what do you guys think of the new information and the new gameplay footage? Are you guys excited for Armor Core 6?

I’m super excited to play this game. We can just see so much of From Software in this game. Every time we look at the gameplay and it just gets us more and more excited than you know. August 25th is just a couple of months away. 

Let us know what you think in the comments below! 

The post Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon Gameplay Preview and Impressions appeared first on Fextralife.

In this Lies of P Demo Impressions article, we will be checking out what Lies of P can bring to the table. The demo provided a hefty amount of content that sheds light on the game’s exploration, mechanics, combat, story, and overall presentation. Join me, especially for the fans of the genre as we dive into it together to determine if Lies of P is worth the wait as it will be released on major platforms.

Lies of P Hands-On First Impressions

Story and Presentation

Starting with the story and overall presentation, the story sets in the city of Krat where puppets became rampant and their kind wreaked havoc and dealt a significant loss to the major population of Krat. Playing as Pinocchio, you were ordered to find Geppetto by a mysterious voice and survive the perilous journey through the city of Krat.

Right from the start, players will be thrown into this world without any kind of understanding of the lore or any backstory that may explain the recent events in the City of Krat. Instead, the developers focused on an environmental storytelling approach that will soon be eerily familiar, especially for Soulsborne fans. As players progress, items like the local newspapers Known as “Krat Times Issues” can be found in different locations that contain lore bits and pieces, and as you get more of these, you get to piece the recent events and have at least have a brief understanding of what’s going on.

Exploration

Lies of P is another title that explored the Soulslike Genre and reused its staple designs to come up with something fresh. Bloodborne players will definitely find all of the elements of this game familiar. The city of Krat is a maze in general, except for the labyrinth-type layout especially when traversing the city. Checkpoints are laid out strategically across the area, and players can unlock shortcuts to quickly access the said checkpoints.

As you might have guessed, shortcuts are usually in the form of ladders and gates. While Stargazers which I will explain more about that later, serve as teleporters so players can fast travel from checkpoint to checkpoint. I had a decent time exploring at least within the first parts of Krat, where I needed to traverse from building to building to find my way to progress. Getting lost in the city streets is a plus and made my time worthwhile as I get to admire the visual fidelity of this game despite the gruesome state of Krat. 

General Combat

Moving on to the Combat side of things, this is where Lies of P shines the most. Right off the bat, when you get toe to toe with your first set of Puppets, the enemies in this game, one can observe the DNA of the Soulslike genre. Expect all the great things that this genre offers. From the intricately calculated move sets, backstabs, stagger mechanics, critical hits, attack animations, and more.

Enemies

All enemies pose a threat and have their own weaknesses that you will need to determine. Normal Puppets are easier to deal with but their numbers will usually overwhelm you. One thing to mention is, Elite Puppets blend in with these groups which often provide the highest level of threat and these enemies have their own move sets for you will need to figure out. I will call them elites from now on.

When players kill one, they don’t re-spawn and drop favorable items. It is a fact that players can’t just breeze through the enemies like a madman, it will not work here and it should be pretty clear by now knowing this is a Soulslike game. Careful planning is the key. Pick enemies one at a time if possible and master your arsenal while outsmarting your enemies. I had fun mostly in these fights and popping enemies felt good and rewarding, making the gameplay loop interesting. 

Weapon Assemble System

Combat is interesting enough, but why not add more features to make it more engaging? The Weapon Assemble feature will allow the player to play with their Weapon combinations such as changing the Handles of your existing swords to different ones or changing Blades in general. By doing this, you can alter the stats of your weapon according to your needs.

I did have a decent time playing with weapon types and at the start of the demo, you will have the option to choose a Saber which is the balanced weapon among the three that has a moderate speed and damage. A Rapier is adept in attack speed and reach but deals lower damage compare to the others. While the Greatsword has the slowest attack speed but deals the highest damage on single hits. Knowing the weaknesses of these weapons and their behaviors is a must if you want to gain the upper hand in combat. You will die, a lot and that is to be expected.

Fable Arts

Adding the icing on the cake for combat are Fable Arts, which are a set of skills with special attack animations that you can unleash on your enemies. I find the usage of these skills satisfying which often leads to death blows.

Ergo

When you die, your Ergo drops, meaning you need to find it again and pick it up if you don’t want to lose your Ergo. Ergo is your main currency in this game to buy Items from Merchants and even use it to level up as well as increase your stats. Speaking to a certain NPC in the Hotel Krat is the primary way to level Pinocchio.

Lie System

As the name implies, this is a feature worth noting. When a player reached Hotel Krat for the first time, Sophia, an NPC in the game will ask Pinnocio to lie in order for him to get through to the hotel. However, every time Pinocchio tells a lie, there are repercussions, causing him to suffer internally. At this point, it is unclear what could be the negative effects that Pinocchio may suffer. There’s a possibility that your choices will likely impact the endings later on.

Legion Arms

Pinocchio’s left arm is distinctive and functional. This Arsenal is known as Legion Arms. A prosthetic arm that can be almost anything and you see its potential as soon as you use one. Surely enough, players will have the chance to change their arms into devastating weapons. That could turn the tides of battle in the late game. The Puppet String is the one that I tried in the demo that servers as a grappling hook, hooking enemies and staggering them in a short period of time. Sekiro fans will find this feature familiar as this arsenal behaves like Prosthetic Tools. I can’t wait to know what other Legion of Arms may offer down the line, as it is something to be excited about.

Character Progression

There’s a little bit of freedom to character progression on the other hand. We already knew that using Ergo will level up Pinocchio. Players can allot it to the stat they desire, shaping Pinocchio in a way they want to. It is not much but at least there’s a little bit of depth there. I decided to have a glass cannon build putting all of my stats majority to the “Motivity” stat, increasing my overall attack.

Stargazers 

Stargazers on the other hand are your bonfires. In Lies of P, checkpoints that are scattered around the map. You are required to find and repair them to activate them. This is your way to fast travel from point to point. Helpful in case you want to jump to a specific area to explore later.

When players die, they will respawn at the last Stargazer that they activated. Other benefits that Stargazers provide are the machinery that will let Pinocchio change his Legion Arms, Assemble Weapons (Change Blades and Handles), Fast Travel, refill your Pulse Cells, and Legion.

Hotel Krat, Main Hub

One thing that I want to dive into is the Hotel Krat. This serves as your main hub in the game. Soulsborne fans are very well aware of how hubs work and it functions the same in Lies of P. As you progress through the story, you will likely meet NPCs and later on will reside in Hotel Krat. While players need to be careful whose NPCs they will send an invitation to, to stay in the said hotel, as it may result in repercussions.

These NPCs provide various rewards and often additional upgrades to the protagonists. Players can enjoy additional content when interacting with these NPCs as each of their own has their interesting backstories. Hotel Krat is your haven, you level up here, and you do your upgrades here, so be sure to pay attention to its features.

Side Quest

Related to Hotel Krat, I want to briefly touch on side quests. As mentioned, it is likely that NPCs move into your main hub after completing their deeds. Like in other Soulsborne titles, NPCs are scattered across the map, and fulfilling the objectives serves the actual Side Quest in Lies of P. Since I had a little time interacting with side quests in the demo, these NPCs progress or move to different locations according to Pinnochio’s decisions, or when he reaches certain checkpoints in the game.

Bosses

The last thing that I do want to talk about is bosses. Bosses are the meat of any Soulslike games. Lies of P did a decent job presenting their bosses. The Parade Master is the first boss in the demo and even though this boss offers basic movements, it is a fun opponent to beat. Bosses have phases as well after I deplete their HP to a certain threshold they will transform into stronger ones, which alters their combat behavior.

Mad Donkey is a humanoid boss which had three movesets for me to master. Some of these bosses felt repetitive. But I still had to mind my timing still and calculate my moves in order to succeed. Even though the bosses’ AI in general are little bit predictable it still provided a memorable experience. 

Final Thoughts

Overall, I had a great time playing Lies of P even with the limited time that I had. After experiencing its combat, overall presentation, character progression, and exploration, its potential is up there. As an avid fan of Soulslikes, I can’t wait to see more of this game. Looking forward to its full release. A lot can change here as this is a work in progress. But across the board, this game is worthy to be on my list. I am obsessed with Bloodborne and this game shares the same aesthetics so it’s a no-brainer.

That’s it for our first impressions of the Lies of P Demo, I hope you enjoyed the preview. What do think about Lies of P after seeing the demo? Are you excited about it, or you will pass on it? Share your thoughts in the comments and always thanks for watching. 

Lies of P will be launching on September 19th 2023. In the meantime, you can drop by our wiki for all the latest on weapons, enemies, bosses and more! You can check out the demo for yourself from June 9th to June 27th on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC via Steam.

For more previews check out next Chrono Odyssey Gameplay Preview – MMORPG In UE5 and Elder Scrolls Online Necrom Preview – Arcanist Class and More!

The post Lies of P Hands-On First Impressions appeared first on Fextralife.

In this Diablo 4 Review, we’ll tell you all about the latest installment of the Blizzard Franchise, having played for over 120 hours, reached endgame with all classes, and explored every last corner of Sanctuary.

If you are wondering if Diablo 4 is worth the price, how performance and connectivity work, how the classes develop and if there is longevity, this Diablo 4 Review will answer all your Questions. If you decide to play the game, make sure to check out our Diablo 4 Wiki, the Interactive Map we have completely filled out, and the many, many builds for all classes that we are releasing starting June 2nd!.

Diablo 4 Review – The Best Diablo Yet

Developed by: Activision Blizzard
Published by: Activision Blizzard
Release date: June 2nd 2023 (early access), June 6th 2023 (regular)
Platforms: PC, Playstation 5, Xbox Series X (reviewed on PC, code provided by Activision Blizzard)
Price: USD 59.99 ~ 89.99

Diablo 4 Review – Story and Setting Impressions

The setting of the world of Diablo is actually well crafted and interesting. As a franchise started in 1997 and with releases spanning several decades, there has been plenty of time to add nuance and intrigue to the worldbuilding of Diablo, and the latest installment does an excellent job at bringing it together.

The story of the game follows the legend of the origins of Sanctuary, where the Demon Lilith and Angel Inarius created a “Sanctuary” world to escape the eternal heaven vs hell conflict. Angel and Demon eventually drifted apart, but their offspring, humanity, populated the world.

Something is now amiss, and you quickly discover that Lilith has been re-summoned into Sanctuary, and has nefarious plans that will likely mean the end of humanity. Thus you seek out allies to find the knowledge of the Horardrim order and counter the evil propagating through the world.

The main story of Diablo 4 is told through optional NPC dialogues and cutscenes, that follow the now familiar act-based storytelling. Your quest takes you to unexpected places and brings surprising findings, which can keep you entertained and engaged into what is happening. Lilith, the main villain, is exceptionally well acted and her story well presented, so she does not seem like an empty “evil” from the previous games.

Similarly, other characters and supporting cast have backstories and personal development that adds depth to your progression beyond what is typical of the older games, and flavor text and special appearances of Unique enemies also hint at a deeper correlation between lore, world and gameplay.

Unfortunately, despite the excellent worldbuilding and a good tempo for the main story and its crescendo, the actual plot is rather stale and predictable, and your character has no personality or development, remaining a pre-made hero stereotype.

Most people don’t play these games for depth of character or excellence of narrative so the shortcomings in this regard were expected, however it does seem like a wasted opportunity to truly take on the excellent setting and worldbuilding and bring it to life. In that sense, the world of Diablo features a very well crafted mythos, but I think you’ll do better to explore those via external content such as our D4 Lore Shorts than within the game.

In addition, I feel like some of the “feel” that I had for the story and world came from the unexpected benefit of playing during the press review period, meaning my world was actually completely empty of other players. This made the open world feel very diablo-like: I was alone, it was grim, and there were no distractions. I feel like regular players will never be able to experience that Diablo 4 that I just played, because they will be forced to constantly watch “skippy232” running by with his fancy cosmetics and a multitude of other players crowding quest NPCs and vendors. This will surely detract from the wonderfully crafted atmosphere that i got to enjoy.

Overall, the story of Diablo 4 will keep you entertained as you progress through the main campaign, and you will come to appreciate the characters you meet along the way. But there will be no reason for you to relive it a second time, and you’ll likely use the “skip campaign” button for your second character.

Diablo 4 Review – Gameplay

When I set out to play for this Diablo 4 review, I was concerned that I may not be able to experience the ‘true’ game as it would require an incredible commitment of hours within the short review period. As it turns out, the gameplay of Diablo 4 is so addictive, that we ended up leveling all characters to Over 50+, tried out all the activities on offer, and even created multiple builds per class. Let’s talk about how this comes about

Diablo 4 Review: Exploration

A frequent struggle I have with Diablo games is the Fog of War of the randomly generated maps of the games. I am an explorer and completionist by nature, so I felt compelled to try and clear every black spot on the map everytime I ran into a zone. This of course became frustratingly pointless eventually, but it always felt like I was missing out if I did not. I am thus really happy that the new open world Diablo approach allows me to keep the map cleared after I have done it, even if dungeons re-fog after exit.

Traversing and exploring the world of Sanctuary is interesting and rewarding, with a great amount of cellars, dungeons and events to find, and sprinkled with Altars of Lilith to act as milestones to your progress by giving you small boosts as you find them.

The regional renown mechanic and the significant amount of sidequests made the game feel vast and engaging, rewarding me for going into nook and crannies and not running past all enemy groups to my pinned objective. I very much enjoyed discovering each unique location, meeting its inhabitants and learning about their customs and troubles.

D4 Review Impressions: Combat & Customization

As an action RPG, Diablo 4’s most important aspect is without doubt its combat and the depth of character customization and progression. The fun of these games rides mainly in giving you plenty of options for fun and unique builds that feel interesting and fresh, and that can be applied to your game farming and be satisfying.

I personally had a fantastic amount of fun leveling up the Sorceress, and felt like there was a significant reward for getting to higher levels and tiers and unlocking more of the endgame progression. I ended up getting that sorceress to level 62 or so in the few days we had for a review just because I could not stop playing and making builds, with each legendary and unique I found giving me new ideas for ways to try to play.

Diablo 4 Review: Side & Post Game Content

There are really many activities to undertake in Diablo 4. Besides your normal main quest progression, there are 120+ quests and dungeons that certainly add a lot to do, but they can also feel quite cliched or copy-pasted at times, so temper your expectations if you plan on doing them all.

You can also find Unique enemies that drop powerful rare items with unique affix mixes, take on World Bosses with a group, and participate in many events that reward gambling materials. Most of this is best ignored for your main quest progression time, as you’ll want it to feel fresh when you get to the core of the game’s brilliance: Endgame.

During the beta, we had concerns that things felt very “samey” when doing dungeons, and there was a feeling that legendaries weren’t adding enough uniqueness to really shape a build. I am happy to report that the endgame in Tier 3 and beyond blossoms your character and build in subtle and smart ways, ensuring that you have consistent progression and creating plenty of incentives to re-run the content.

There are certain endgame modes that I quickly became addicted to:

Helltides: These are special, timed zone-wide events where an entire area is overrun by demons. These enemies drop special currency that you accumulate as you play. Unique reward chests spawn within the zone with the promise of hidden legendaries within, with one chest per armor slot, one for jewelry, and two for weapon types (one handed or two-handed). Your objective is to gather enough currency to open as many chests as possible, but there’s a catch: If you die, you lose half your currency. Helltides have level 72 bosses and many mini-bosses roaming around them, and additional hazards such as random meteors, so you are kept on your toes as you try to quickly kill everything while staying alive. Events last between 30 minutes and an hour, and come by every few hours of play.

Nightmare Dungeons: These are special dungeons that you create with Sigils, obtained from high level content. The sigils apply a special effect and Tier to a dungeon, elevating the difficulty by introducing new mechanics and buffing enemies, while also improving the in-dungeon loot. The real motivation to make the most out of this dungeons, however, is to gain experience for your Paragon system special slots. The paragon system doesn’t just let you select buffs from a skill tree, but it allows you to collect “glyphs” that can be slotted at specific nodes in the paragon board. Those glyphs have powerful effects such as giving +x% boost to rare nodes in range, making your existing points count for much more than what they are. Running nightmare dungeons allows you to allocate XP to your glyphs, that become more powerful and expand their range as they level up.

Bounties for a special NPC: There is a special quest type that also unlocks after main story completion. This allows you to undertake specific tasks just as killing enemies in an area, clearing a specific dugeon, or finding a specific enemy to kill. Doing those bounties earns you points and every 10 points received you can return to the bounty NPC for a chest with an almost guaranteed legendary inside.

All these activities combine with other aspects such as zone events and World Bosses to create a varied landscape for farming, and this is without considering social activities such as group clears on dungeons, clans, or the PvP zones of the game.

In short: the main story and your initial playthrough will take you through Sanctuary in a discovery tour, but even then you will have not done all of the possible content types, and you will find renewed interest in exploring and completing objectives from the many rewards that become available as you level up.

Design, Audio and Visual

Diablo 4 is a visually beautiful game with a unique aesthetic that makes the game feel like a classical painting. The design is well thought out and coherent through the world, and in everything from the town appearances to your extensive and unique wardrobe choices. Magical effects are beautifully thought out and walk the difficult and fine line of being flashy while also functional, making each spell cast, effect and chain reaction satisfying to trigger.

Equally, the audio track for the game is excellently put together. The main themes and tunes for towns and zones are suitable matches for the visual design, creating a harmony that delivers a properly grim but adventurous atmosphere. Boss battles and main quests have their own unique scores and have been realized beautifully. Plus, the voice acting of the game is really well done, even if you end up hearing the same person doing lines for many different NPCs.

If there is a flaw in Audio/Visual it’s actually on its performance, and may have nothing to do with the design itself. Server lag is a thing and I experienced it heavily while playing to put together this Diablo 4 Review, which had a very limited amount of participants. I must disclaim that Blizzard warned us they would “intermittently conduct stress tests and this may generate rubber-banding and invisible walls” so it may have been the cause, however I feel I must mention this for the review to have full disclosure: I checked in with people playing in different regions of the world, including N. America, Europe and Asia, and everyone said they had extreme rubber banding and other such issues come and go. This is concerning, and my beta and server slam experience had not had these big spikes, so I’m unsure if it’s simply a smaller server for press test, their own stress testing, or if we are in for a launch where nobody can log in.

Optimization-wise the game actually runs very well but you should be ready and upgrade your graphic drivers as it will conduct a check and not let you launch with old drivers. I had no game performance issues outside of server lag, and I did not encounter any of the “known issues” that were warned on the press preview. Overall the game is well-polished and the only serious issue I encountered was a persistent crash and error after killing a specific boss for a main quest. I redid the boss 3 times before I was able to proceed, and I’m unsure as to what was causing the crash on kill.

D4 Review – Playtime, Replayability & Longevity

As an open world game, Diablo 4 would normally categorize as content available rather than replayability, however the nature of the game actually merges the best of both worlds.

Your main story and first run, if experienced without skips, can be enjoyed over the course of 25-30 hours. I personally took my time and reached level 50 in about 60 hours (you can do this A LOT faster), then spent over 60 hours playing endgame builds. This means that my extreme D4 marathon got me to level 62 and a reasonable amount of world completion (renown max of most zones, found altars of lilith, etc) in about 120 hours of inexperienced / chill gameplay. Fellow team members on Fextralife played a lot faster with skips, and leveled several classes to 50 and created multiple beginner and engame builds in the same time, so your own mileage will vary.

With the vast amount of open world content to complete and the availability of endgame special runs in the form of helltides, bounties and nightmare dungeons, players can expect to get a lot out of the game. In addition, the game offers fantastic replayability in the form of build variety for each class and class distinctiveness, which really made it a joy to do a Diablo 4 Review.

Making an alt and skipping the main story allows you to quickly get your second character to an endgame farming stage, and since each class plays in its own unique way this adds a fantastic amount of variety. Your loot is mostly for the class you’re playing, so you won’t be doing much farming on one class to give to another, but I found that all classes can be excellent endgame performers and learning how they tick is very rewarding and fun.

Now you may be thinking that it will get boring or stale to redo the same content type just to get new or better loot, or level up your paragon tree. This is true, however I played A LOT and I did not feel burnt out in the slightest, and this is even when playing uniquely solo. The availability of multiplayer adds a whole new dimension of fun: helping your friends find gear on the dungeons they have to do, taking on world bosses, or even farming world events and helltides in a group can give a lot of freshness to the content.

If this wasn’t enough, Blizzard has also revealed that they have planned for frequent content updates, with a post-launch plan spanning years. Diablo 4 will have seasons, with each one adding a gameplay feature and questlines, similar to what Path of Exile leagues have been doing. There will also be free “Season Journeys”, for players to get time-limited rewards that escale with completion progress, with the best one locked behind a challenging boss encounter.

Diablo 4 Review – Pricepoint

An important factor in all games is the pricepoint, but moreso when a game has the now-so-dreaded ingame shop. Unfortunately, the review period did not include the shop so we have no way to see the actual cost of items or verify what is available, but we have limited information from Blizzard regarding what to expect. I’m quote verbatim what we have been told:

The Shop is an optional experience that allows players to purchase cosmetics for Premium Currency in addition to collecting the hundreds of transmogs unlocked from in-game drops. Shop cosmetics include things like character armor sets that can be mixed and matched with other in-game armor drops and mount cosmetics to alter the appearance of your horse.

The goal of the Shop is to give players even more options to customize the visual appearance of their characters, and nothing offered grants a direct or indirect gameplay advantage.

Diablo 4 Press Review Guide

TL;DR Blizzard claims the shop will offer only cosmetics, so if you can resist the urge to look a specific way or have a specific mount skin, you should never feel the need to spend more than the cost of the base game. In addition, they claim the battle pass has a free tier that is unlocked just by playing and leveling:

• The Battle Pass awards cosmetics, premium currency, and free Season Boosts.
• Players can purchase Tiers-but they won’t speed up getting Season Boosts.
• The Season Journey accelerates Battle Pass progression.

Since I cannot verify how this all works in practice, I’ll instead focus on what matters to me which is: what do I get for what I paid for? In this regard, I feel Diablo 4 actually delivers an excellent value for money, and I can see myself playing this game for years to come.

I managed to cram 120 hours into the press review event, and I felt like I could play for at least three times that before considering I may need a one day break. The game’s content scope is fantastic, the combat is engaging and addictive, and the production values deliver polish consistent with the pricepoint of the game. Personally, I feel few games give you as much bang for your buck as Diablo 4 will, so even if the store ends up tempting me into buying cosmetics, that will end up being my personal choice and since at no point during my gameplay I felt I was missing something from not having a shop, I can conclude that it’s entirely possible to play and enjoy the game while completely ignoring the store.

D4 Impressions – Final Thoughts

My time spent for this Diablo 4 review was actually incredibly fun, surprising even me of how much I was enjoying each small aspect of the game. Having played the game in essentially “solo mode”, I may have had a different story experience than what many players will encounter, but I also missed out on the fun and engaging aspects of the cross-platform cross-play at offer.

Few games allow you to play with your friends across platform lines, and to carry your progress from one console to another, and the novelty of that flexiblity is very appealing.

Giving us a complete and satisfying experience with an effectively limitless level of replayability, Diablo 4 has become my favorite game this year, and I wonder what any of the many upcoming RPGs could do to try and win me back from its addictive clutches.

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Be sure to check out our Diablo 4 Wiki for any other questions you have about the game and the Builds page if you are looking for more Diablo IV Builds, as well as our Ultimate Beginner Guide and Best Class to Play Guide if you are looking for more Diablo 4 content!

9.3

Brilliant

Story & Setting 8

Gameplay 10

Design, Visual & Audio 8.5

Replayability & Multiplayer 10

Pricepoint 10

Summary

Diablo 4 is an excellent game and a fantastic next step for the ARPG genre. Smartly melding Open World and Online elements with traditional dungeon crawling and loot farming, this game will become the favorite time-sink of millions for years to come.

The post Diablo 4 Review – The Best Diablo Yet appeared first on Fextralife.

Setting the streets ablaze with another new contender for the long-running franchise, Street Fighter 6 is ready to bring some new elements. We get into how this classic series sets to introduce new mechanics, how it compares to entries past, and much more in this review.

Street Fighter 6 Review

Here comes a new challenger! In this Street Fighter 6 Review, I will talk about CAPCOM’s brand-new and seventh entry in the Street Fighter (SF) franchise. This review will go over the different game elements that it offers to veterans and newcomers. Is this CAPCOM’s best Street Fighter game? What are the classic and new combat mechanics? What makes Street Fighter 6 unique from its predecessors? I’ll be covering all of these and more in this hands-on review!

Street Fighter 6 Story & Setting: CAPCOM Takes it to the Streets!

Street Fighter 6 introduces three foundational modes that are the main pillars of the game. World Tour, Battle Hub, and Fighting Ground. World Tour focuses on single-player and RPG elements. While Battle Hub is where you engage and match up (casually or competitively) with different players around the world. Lastly, Fighting Ground is a combination of the different classic well-known game modes. This includes what the game is known for such as Arcade, Practice, Local Versus, Online Matches and Challenges. Plus a new addition, Extreme Battle mode.

Single-Player Mode – World Tour

The new single-player mode of Street Fighter 6 is called World Tour. It’s arguably an unusual yet compelling feature that CAPCOM has integrated into a Street Fighter game. This single-player story mode revolves around the Street Fighter Universe. It breaks the walls of the traditional fighting game that we are accustomed to. Players can now interact with NPCs, engage with the 18 launch characters, and fully customize their avatar. This means creating builds with a variety of Skills and Mastery of different Fighting Styles. This can all be done while globetrotting.

Welcome to the Metro City

World Tour first takes place in Metro City, which is the same location as the Final Fight. As you progress through the story, the setting of the game expands where you’ll get to travel. The player portrays the role of a robust and fully-customizable student (also known as your avatar). They embark on a journey to learn various fighting styles, in order to acquire their fighting identity. Most importantly, they find out the meaning behind their purpose as a fighter in What is Strength? The avatar is unique, and also acts as an extension of the player. You can fully immerse yourself in the Street Fighter Universe by bringing your fully personalized character to the Battle Hub to fight against other players.

Yakuza: Like a Street Fighter

During my playthrough in World Tour, it reminded me of a specific game, Yakuza: Like a Dragon. In World Tour, you can challenge random citizens to a fight, shop for combat and cosmetic items. Complete different quests, and interact with NPCs such as the 18 launch characters. Luke, Chun-Li, and Ryu to name a few from the roster of global fighters. As you progress in World Tour, you will encounter different aspects such as exploration, discovering secrets, easter eggs, character progression, achieving unlockables, participating in mini-games, and other exciting features that are exclusive to World Tour mode.

On to a Winner

Adding this single-player mode is a smart move that CAPCOM added for Street Fighter 6 because it shows that the game fully embraces different types of players. Yes, we are accustomed to how Street Fighter is meant to be played, where two players challenge and show off their fighting skills to win, but for casual players, sometimes, it can get frustrating if you fight against a knowledgeable player who dominates you with slick moves and combos, or even worse, someone who just loves to troll.

As exciting as it sounds, my only concern is will the single-player story mode stop upon completing all chapters. I hope that this isn’t the case, and knowing CAPCOM’s capability of presenting a road map for future updates, I expect there will be DLCs that introduce new features and additional content.

World Tour is a refreshing feature that I highly recommend for you to try out, not only will it focus on a single-player and story-driven experience, but it will also allow all players to learn the fundamentals of Street Fighter or to just take a break from participating in the Battle Hub. Apart from World Tour, the Arcade Mode in Fighting Ground is the traditional Single-Player mode of Street Fighter where you fight against an AI in sets of stages while following the fighter’s story, the setting and story of Arcade Mode will vary depending on the fighter that you choose. Here, you’ll find yourself in different locations such as China, the United Kingdom, the USA, Italy, and other character-related areas.

Street Fighter 6 Gameplay: A New Era that Elevates the Fighting Game Experience

Control Types

The gameplay of Street Fighter 6 redefines the fighting game genre with its exceptional combat and meticulously crafted system mechanics incorporated into the game. The combat system has both depth and accessibility for both veterans and newcomers alike. It has fluid and responsive controls allowing players to execute certain moves with precision and ease.

As a casual fighting game enjoyer, this is surprisingly my first Street Fighter game in the series, I’ve been playing tons of fighting games over the years, from games such as Tekken and Mortal Kombat to even other anime fighters. But the previous Street Fighter installments didn’t really catch my attention but somehow, something about this game just makes me want to try it out. So, jumping into this game, I struggled at first as I didn’t know how to properly connect strings and such, but I was familiar enough to learn the basics and fundamentals easily later on. First, let’s talk about the control types of SF 6: Classic, Modern, and Dynamic controls.

Classic Controls

Going for more traditional controls, Classic Controls features the 6-button layout with your three normal punches and three normal kicks. This control scheme is perfect for returning players of the series as some special moves are still similar to the previous installments, and precise motion inputs are required to perform these special moves.

Modern Controls

The Modern Controls features a 4-button layout, which allows you to perform special moves with a single button combination. Compare to the Classic Controls, you would need to input forward, down, down-forward, then any punch button for the Shoryuken to come out. In the Modern Controls, you can simply press forward and the designated Special Button, this is perfect for newcomers to the series as they won’t have a hard time trying to input these complicated motions, and they also don’t have to worry about memorizing the list of motion inputs for every special move.

Arguably, some players might look at this as a problem since inputting different moves are now easily accessible, however, this can benefit and also be used by veteran players who would like to experiment on the tactical side of fighting games where you can instantly react to certain situations such as a jumping opponent with a DP (Dragon Punch). 

Dynamic Controls

The last control type is Dynamic Controls, this is definitely a control scheme that I foresee new players or those who are unfamiliar with the mechanics of Street Fighter will use because it provides accessibility to execute flashy moves with a single press of a button. Dynamic Controls is also a good mechanic to use for learning the basics and familiarity of the different characters. Not only is it recommended for such players mentioned, but it is also suited for having a friendly casual game at a party where the players are really just there to have fun.

Personally, I think that the Dynamic Controls scheme can entice people who are not familiar with the game to eventually try out the other control types and learn more about its mechanics and fundamentals. Both Classic and Modern Control Types are Tournament legal, but it is important to take note that Dynamic Controls is only limited to certain modes in the Fighting Ground.

Main Game Mode Impressions – WORLD TOUR

As mentioned, Street Fighter 6 features three foundational modes, first, let’s talk about World Tour. This is an interesting approach that pushes the boundaries of a fighting game’s story mode. Character creation features a high degree of customization where you can freely express yourself and how you would want your avatar to look as the main protagonist in the game. I’ve spent almost an hour and a half trying to mess around with the sliders trying to perfect how I want my character to look.

After creating my avatar, I’m then introduced to my coach, Luke where I go over some tutorials and basic training. Afterward, I jump right into Metro City, and from there, I do the first few main missions, apparently, some parts of the map are limited until you finish the first few missions. Once I got the hang of World Tour, I was finally able to explore Metro City and later, more areas around the world. You can also become a student of your favorite masters including all 18 characters currently available in the game. You can then learn their fighting style and special moves, and by doing so, you can mix and match the special moves you’ve unlocked to create the perfect character that suits your playstyle.

Exploring World Tour Mode

World Tour also features different types of quests which is a good distraction to keep the player off track from completing the main questline, there are a bunch of minigames and side quests that you need to complete in order to progress the main story. For my character, I used Ken’s style which gives me his basic attacks, and I also grinded enough experience, quest completion, and story progression to have access to other masteries which expands my set of moves and unique special attacks.

My only gripe about this mode is that it can sometimes feel repetitive and stale. After spending hours in the game, I find myself mindlessly grinding just to unlock other character masteries and special moves to create the perfect character that I can show off. The story isn’t really that great, but it’s not bad either, at least it keeps the momentum going forward, and it lets me learn more about some of my favorite characters.

Regardless, I am quite impressed with the amount of content and game elements that are featured exclusively in World Tour, but I hope that it doesn’t stop there upon reaching the last chapter and that there are additional DLCs and updates for World Tour mode. This brings us to the next foundational mode in Street Fighter 6, the Battle Hub.

Main Game Mode Impressions – BATTLE HUB

The Battle Hub serves as a central hub or gathering place where players around the globe can engage, communicate, and challenge each other to a fight casually or competitively. Once I set foot in the Battle Hub, I was immediately greeted by tons of players and it was a pleasure looking at the unique and fun avatars they’ve created.

Impressons of the Battle Hub

During my time playing in the restricted schedule in the Battle Hub, including the Open Beta, I’ve had no issues playing on either the Asia or North America servers. I was expecting that I’d have issues with connectivity in the NA servers, but to my surprise, even if the match only had a 3-bar connection status, the game was still playable and the matches ran smoothly.

Although it wasn’t really perfect since there were a few matches against random players where the characters would start to lag during the battle, it eventually resolves on its own and becomes fluid after a few seconds. There are a couple of ways to avoid this and one of them is by checking the connection status of the opponent before you “Request a Match” or if a server happens to be “Crowded”, you can easily move to another that is “Normal” or “Uncrowded”.

Battle Hub Navigation

The Battle Hub area was also easy to navigate, it is organized in a way where you can find multiple arcade cabinets to join or wait for a match, shop for cosmetic items, or use arcade cabinets at the Game Center where you can enjoy a rotating collection of some previous CAPCOM classic games. When you are using an arcade cabinet, you can go into Solo Training while you wait for another player, this gave me some time to practice and it provided me with full access to the training mode features.

In a match, once it’s complete, the rematch feature works instantaneously, you can immediately start the next match once both players hit the rematch button, ensuring a seamless transition from one battle to the next and it can be an endless battle between two players as long as both parties are willing to fight again. Apart from that, players can also spectate a match in real-time.

Main Game Mode Impressions – FIGHTING GROUND

And finally, the Fighting Ground. The Fighting Ground includes the classic game modes of Street Fighter such as Arcade, Private or Public Online Matches, Practice, and Local Versus Mode. Fighting Ground also introduces a new game mode, Extreme Battle Mode which spices up a match by adding unconventional rules and fun gimmicks, we highly recommend that you try this game mode out when you play the game. Next, one thing I want to highlight in Fighting Ground is the Practice Mode.

Training Makes Perfect

For casual players such as myself or those who are trying out Street Fighter for the first time, make sure you train. It helps to understand the fundamentals of the game through Practice Mode. Here you can jump into Training, Tutorials, Character Guides, and Combo Trials. Training provides extensive features where you have accessibility to some tools such as frame data of each move, and the status of the CPU. An important feature is re-creating certain scenarios you’ve encountered during an actual match. This can help to discover different solutions to go around it.

The Tutorial is the place where you can learn some of the basic fundamentals. This includes the combat mechanics of the game. What a counter hit is, a punish counter, a hard knockdown, and other terms that you may not be familiar with.

Character Guides

For character-specifics, the Character Guides mode is essential if you want to have an overview of how each character should be played. It also helps in understanding their archetype. I chose Ken in this mode and I learned that he is an aggressive character equipped with moves surrounding powerful kicks and great space control. He is also a “rushdown” type of character, capable of overwhelming an opponent’s defenses.

This also showed me how and when’s the best scenario to use Ken’s different special moves. Ultimately, the last two sections of the Character Guides taught me how I should play Ken strategically. Giving practice to incorporating certain special moves like “Quick Dash” to close in on the opponent. From there, learning to initiate a mix-up.

Finally, Combo Trials offers a set of starter combos that can help you get an idea of what normal and special moves can be linked to create a combo. It includes three levels from Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced and it is available to use for Classic and Modern controls.

Audio & Visuals

Visuals

When it comes to visuals, character renders and backgrounds still follow the same bold colors and anime-esque art style as its predecessors. Especially when compared to SFIV and SFV. Only this time, with improved details and brand-new looks for character design.Iincluding a silly yet noteworthy feature of adding different facial expressions for characters during the versus loading screen. The different backgrounds are also visually stunning and it respectively captures the theme that is proper for the characters. Colors are well-balanced, NPCs in the background are not distracting, and battle arenas that seem to be set at night such as Cammy’s stage are well-lit and pleasing to look at.

Performance

To continue, let me briefly talk about Performance. During the time of this review, I had the privilege of playing Street Fighter 6 on the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4. As I expected, the performance on both consoles was noticeable. Playing the game on the PlayStation 5 offers a Resolution and Performance Mode. Right off the bat, I’d highly recommend setting the game on Performance Mode if you prefer the traditional way of competing against other players. This maintains fluidity in movement, inputs are responsive and it runs at a stable frame rate of 60 fps. On the other hand, if you are playing game modes such as World Tour or Arcade, it is better to play on Resolution Mode to improve the quality of cutscenes and overall background and visuals.

Perfomance on PS4

Meanwhile, running the game on the PS4 works well. Load times in the loading screen and character renders require a few more seconds to process. This however is not really a big issue for me when I am in the Battle Hub or Fighting Ground. Where is does matter though, are the matches against players and it performed smoothly on the PS4.

What I found bothersome is playing World Tour. It has robust and detailed backgrounds, including countless NPC citizens roaming around Metro City. However, I would sometimes find myself waiting for an NPC to completely load. Or for them to appear where they should be standing. Even textures of my avatar’s clothing would take time to load when I’m cycling through cosmetic pieces. This could be a problem for PS4 players who enjoy playing World Tour. This just pulls them out of the immersive experience. Hopefully, CAPCOM will be able to address this issue with future updates or patch notes.

Sound

When it comes to Sound, SF 6’s overall theme is inspired by a hip-hop soundtrack which fits perfectly with the visuals. It is also equipped with a playlist of unique Battle BGMs for the stages and characters. Voice Acting is superb here. I find myself wanting to set the voices in either English or Japanese. Who wouldn’t want to hear Aleks Le voicing Luke who so happens to be the English VA of Zenitsu Agatsuma in Demon Slayer? Or the legendary Caitlin Glass who is the recurring voice actor of Cammy since Street Fighter IV.

Real-Time Commentary

Speaking of Sound, Street Fighter 6 introduces a real-time commentary feature. It incorporates the voices of popular Fighting Game Community commentators to narrate matches as they happen. This innovative addition to the game brings excitement to matches. The dynamic commentary that adapts to the current state of the fight. It creates a truly immersive experience as if you’re fighting on the main stage in a tournament. It supports 13 languages with subtitles you can enable or disable anytime. As a Tekken fan, I was pleasantly surprised TastySteve made it into the cast. I immediately tried out this feature to experience his commentary.

This feature can also be customized to suit your individual preferences. You can adjust the volume and intensity of the commentary. The same goes for “Rally Support” where the commentators will cheer for the chosen player during offline matches. However, I think this feature may not appeal to everyone. There may be some who may want to focus on just the gameplay. This might be distracting as the sounds can be annoyingly repetitive.

Overal Sound Design

Finally, another thing to note is the innovative sound design. It really makes you feel that this game has fully embraced inclusivity to its audience. In the options menu, you can enable or disable certain sound effects that can benefit you. For example, you can enable the sound effect that notifies you of the distance from your opponent. As well as a sound effect that plays upon hitting a cross-up, and different sounds that notify you upon landing a high, mid, low attack, and more.

Replayability & Pricepoint

Street Fighter 6 has a lot of replay value. I think it can ensure that players will keep coming back for more with its diverse roster of 18 characters, and the addition of four new confirmed characters that will release down the line. It offers endless opportunities for players to hone their skills. You can also explore new strategies, and discover different approaches when engaging in a competitive match.

I can easily see myself spending hours “labbing” different characters in training mode. On top of that, grinding ranked matches, participating in the community within the Battle Hub, and the occasional gameplay of World Tour. This will will surely keep me going. It’s still early to tell but we assume CAPCOM will be releasing more content in the next years to come that expands the roster of global fighters, new game modes, and additional content for World Tour.

The current price for the Standard Edition of this game is 59.99 USD, which I think it’s fair to say that this game is worth its price considering the amount of content it has for a fighting game. The Standard Edition includes 18 global fighters launch roster and the main game with its Foundational Modes. While the Deluxe Edition is priced at 84.99 USD adding a “Year 1 Character Pass”, additional color pallets for the characters’ outfits, and a bonus of 4,200 Drive Tickets used for in-game purchases. If it’s your first time playing a Street Fighter game, picking up the Standard Edition will suffice, however, if you are a fan of the series, the Deluxe Edition is a must-buy.

Final Thoughts: Capcom Listens

2023 is the year of Fighting Games and what’s a better way to kick things off is with Street Fighter 6 being the first to dominate the stage. It is easily one of the best fighting games to come out this year. It is a remarkable and a outstanding entry to the series. Personally, I think CAPCOM gave it their all for this one since it embraces different aspects such as accessibility, features that the community has been asking for, attention to detail, a refreshing theme, a combination of classic and new fundamentals, as well as catering to a bigger audience.

I enjoyed every hour of my playtime with this game. I’m sure that I’ll be playing more and competing in ranked matches. I cannot recommend this game enough. This is a must-buy for any fighting game player. Or even if you’re just someone who’s curious and want to try it out. I think from now on, Street Fighter 6 should be the standard when it comes to creating new fighting games. See you in the Battle Hub!

For more gaming reviews check out next Miasma Chronicles Review and Redfall Review – PC & Xbox.

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Miasma Chronicles Review – In this Miasma Chronicles review, we’ll take a closer look at developer The Bearded Ladies’ next entry into the turn-based strategy genre following their successful game, Mutant Year Zero. Instead of quirky mutants roaming through a post-apocalyptic landscape, we have a boy and his brother in search of their mother… through a post-apocalyptic landscape. How does their second game fare? Does the tactical combat feel satisfying? What can we expect from the Miasma? We’ll discuss all of these and more! 

Miasma Chronicle Review: Story & Setting

Miasma Chronicles has players following the path of two unlikely brothers living in the backwater town of Sedentary. Meet Elvis and Diggs, a young man who was abandoned by his mother and a sassy robotic companion. The basic premise of the story is that we are trying to find out what happened to Elvis’ mother and why the Miasma came to be. 

There aren’t any surprising twists and turns in Miasma Chronicles’ narrative. It just about shows what we would expect when following a boy looking for his long-lost parent – a lot of anger and confusion. Here, the story doesn’t reinvent the wheel and merely serves as a purpose for us moving from points A to B. 

Also, most of the characters you meet are your usual run-of-the-mill archetypes, such as trigger-happy sheriffs and whatnot. So they’re largely forgettable. But you do get to come across some memorable faces, such as the town’s over-the-top mayor who may have been serving the government for way too many years. I won’t spoil the surprise, but he was one of the more entertaining people to talk to.  

The world itself is much more interesting. We are presented with a post-apocalyptic version of America, one that has been ravaged not just by wars, but by the Miasma. Humanity is on the brink of literal extinction, as they can no longer rely on themselves to stay alive. Areas are very diverse and effectively convey how deprived and broken the population has become. The town of Sedentary looks perfectly like what a group of survivors would build up in desperation. 

You can see that life goes on, despite all of the horrors lurking just outside their gates. There are also imposing statues for tribute collection. This gives us a glimpse of how people have become oppressed by The First Family, the ruling class of the game. Overall, the environment sets the tone of the game even more so than the story and its citizens. 

Miasma Chronicle Review: Gameplay

Miasma Chronicles is a nice mix of free-roam exploration, tactical turn-based combat, and light RPG systems. Overall, they blend quite nicely with each other as they work together to create a cohesive gameplay loop. 

Players can choose to move around areas fully in real time. This loop will usually consist of looking for loot, going through secret passages, and scouting out enemies. You get to gather a lot of different things laying around the wasteland, such as currency, consumables, and text logs that further flesh out the post-apocalyptic world. If you’re lucky, you may even find valuable keycards that open up locked doors containing rarer equipment, such as weapons and weapon mods.

Stealth

Going through areas with hostiles is a tense endeavor. The game has a basic stealth system. It lets you crouch down to try to avoid the enemies’ lines of sight. While you don’t have things like vision cones to determine their field of view, there is a small indicator that lights up when you’re just about to be discovered. This indicator fills up surprisingly fast, however, and gives you only a split second to react before you’re caught red-handed in the middle of your sneaking session. But enemies can also be distracted in a few ways, prompting them to comically investigate and split up from the rest of their group. 

Stealth is not optional in most cases, as you can’t go in guns akimbo like you would in other turn-based tactics games. That simply isn’t a viable option in Miasma Chronicles. Instead, you will need to mix in the game’s stealth system to remove as many enemies as you can from the equation before committing to the engagement. Not utilizing stealth will put you at a huge disadvantage as you will quite often be overwhelmed by the number of foes on the map. It would’ve been great if the game would’ve been more open to a guns-a-blazing style of play for those who just want to shoot things and yell at the top of their lungs. 

Combat

Once you get discovered, or if the game throws you into a combat scenario where you’re disadvantaged, the fun can begin. Think of Miasma Chronicles as a light version of X-COM wherein you ideally hide behind cover while pelting your foes with bullets. Similarly, you have a chance-based system that determines whether your attacks hit or miss. This is based on many factors, such as distance to your target, height elevation, as well as whether your foe is behind light or heavy cover. 

Influencing fights is extremely important. Combat is immensely punishing and brutal, especially if you’re a newcomer to the genre. Playing on the Normal Difficulty, I found it hard to keep my squad healthy since they were always bruised and bleeding after encounters. Characters take a ton of damage – sometimes two hits from fodder enemies are enough to knock them out of a fight. What makes matters worse is that a lot of foes have gap closers that will make them leap into your group or teleport themselves right beside your sniper. So cover is essentially negated.

Moreover, units do not heal in between battles in the Normal and higher difficulties. As healing items are extremely scarce, avoiding damage outright is key to emerging victorious. Cooldowns do not reset either. If one of your abilities was on cooldown at the end of a fight, it will still be in that state once you start your next encounter. 

Despite these issues, fights are very gratifying when pulled off correctly. Combat is quite exhilarating, especially when the rare critical hit just ever so satisfyingly takes out a foe in one blow. Doing so will restore an Action Point, giving you the opportunity to continue the onslaught provided you still have bullets left in the chamber.

The RPG Systems

The game has some light RPG systems in play that lets you customize your party in limited ways. Take Diggs for example. He has a unique skill that allows him to be used as cover by the rest of your group and can even charge at enemies. But the rest of his skills are somewhat disappointing since there’s so little to choose from. The same is true for the rest of the characters. Every “tree” comprises four branches with three skills, bringing this to a total of 12. There is some overlap between them so there aren’t too many options to differentiate each character. 

Customization

You can further customize your group by collecting various consumables and Miasma upgrades. Consumables are your traditional things like Medipods (healing bombs), grenades, and energy refills. But you also get grenades that deal acid damage which eats away at enemy armor, or even explosives that summon dormant monsters from the ground that will do your bidding. There’s a nice variety to these items, but controls can get a bit finicky when using them. I’ve accidentally wasted one too many healing bombs by accidentally clicking the item as soon as I selected it. 

Players will also have access to nice “Miasma” powers that have powerful effects. They are more interesting compared to simple weapons as you have a wide variety of choices. You can fling enemies in certain directions, cast chain lightning, or summon minions to heal you. To further shake things up, you have a lot of Miasma modifiers to choose from as well. You can change an ability to shrink all enemies hit or steal life instead. 

Equipment

When it comes to equipment, players will have access to two weapon slots that they can deck out with one of the game’s four weapon types. Miasma Chronicles offers your standard Assault Rifles, Shotguns, and Sniper Rifles. It also features a more exotic “Bouncer” weapon that fires projectiles that ricochet across surfaces. Doing so will increase the critical damage, but drastically reduce accuracy. It’s nice to get a risk-reward-styled weapon that the players themselves can influence in some way. 

We also get to customize these weapons to a degree. We can attach either a scope or a magazine, giving us small stat bonuses. While the increased numbers may be nice, it would’ve been better if there were some attachments that could fundamentally change the gun’s playstyle instead, such as adding different damage types or even granting additional abilities to use in combat. 

Miasma Chronicle Review: Audio, Visuals, & Design

Quite frankly, Miasma Chronicles is a looker in terms of its visuals. The Bearded Ladies are able to effectively create large and open spaces that truly show how dark and desperate times have become. We get to see ruined cities that have been taken over by nature or explore settlements that are just a meld of random parts and materials strung together. Even further, we get to know what it’s like if the world just stopped one day and gave up. Everywhere we look, we see ruin, and it seems like nothing humanity can do can change things.

It would’ve been fine if the developers just featured devastated towns or broken buildings, as what they created already is great and detailed. What ups the ante even more, is the bubbling Miasma that is almost ever-present in the locations. It is a visual marvel to see the black blobs of the Miasma float menacingly into the air. Areas are chock-full of this disgusting goo that seemingly has a life of its own. Vehicles and other structures are literally torn apart, leaving husks of their former selves. Even humans aren’t spared this fate, as we can often see them frozen in place with only the dreaded element bathing their entire bodies. Screenshots don’t do the game justice, since watching everything in motion is at times, somewhat mesmerizing. 

However, where the visuals do fall flat is in the animations. While some of the characters are beautifully rendered, others look stiff and robotic. There are also some minor animation bugs that occur, like your party sometimes taking cover behind thin air, or clipping through trees and concrete when shooting from cover. Furthermore, Miasma Chronicles does not do well when zoomed in too close during cutscenes. This is due to the poor lighting conditions in some areas, making them appear too dark. 

Audio

The game’s audio is a bit of a mixed bag as well. Music is epic and exciting, especially during the game’s combat encounters. Weapon sounds are hefty and really do highlight the weight and “oomph” that each bullet provides. Even the basic assault rifles give off the feeling that each shot is quite impactful and painful. But the voice acting of the game hovers between passable to just plain cringe. Some of the performances were quite flat and failed to convey the emotion of the scene. Elvis also can’t quite seem to stop whining about trying to find his Mama to everyone he meets. Diggs barks out too many one-liners that are borderline painful to listen to. One prime example is when he yelled “Namaste my ass” to one of the game’s more zen quest givers. 

Technical & Controls

Jumping into the technical aspect, the game runs quite well. Running on a Windows 10 PC, equipped with an AMD Ryzen 3700X and an Nvidia RTX 3070, I was able to consistently manage a stable 75 fps on 1440p resolution. This was using the game’s “High” preset. These numbers are also without AMD’s FSR upscaling technology, which the game supports natively. Using FSR even on Quality Mode minimally increased the framerate but the visual fidelity did suffer since it became too blurry. Miasma Chronicles also doesn’t have innate support for Nvidia DLSS. Overall, the game is a bug-free experience as no major glaring glitches appeared throughout my playthrough.

Miasma Chronicles can be controlled with either a keyboard & mouse or with a controller. However, you can really tell that the interface was designed with the controller in mind. You can freely use the mouse when selecting tiles that you want your units to move to. But you can’t use the mouse when choosing your targets, which is an odd choice and makes issuing orders a bit more difficult than it’s supposed to be. As the controller feels more natural and smooth, it does look as if the mouse & keyboard were an afterthought.

Miasma Chronicle Review: Replayability

Just like Mutant Year Zero, Miasma Chronicles is a linear game. While we do get to choose in which order to do side missions, ultimately we are on a set path with a very defined beginning, middle, and end. Furthermore, you can’t really change combat encounters dramatically, aside from picking off some targets here and there so fights won’t be different on subsequent playthroughs. 

We also don’t get too many weapons or unique skills. This essentially means that there are not that many opportunities to try out different builds. You won’t keep coming back either to experiment with various party combinations. 

Considering these aspects, the release price of $49.99 is quite steep for what you get. It would’ve probably hit a sweet spot if the initial ask was $39.99 instead, which would put it much closer to Mutant Year Zero’s $34.99. 

Final Thoughts

Miasma Chronicles is a mixed bag. On one hand, you have an amazing-looking game that features some jaw-dropping visuals, especially considering how busy things are. Yet on the other, the voice acting ruins the immersion at numerous points of the campaign. 

You are also afforded some options when it comes to customizing your ragtag group of explorers, though you can’t help but feel like it would’ve been so much better if these systems were expanded more. More unique skills, more choices, and more weapon types would benefit the game greatly. 

If you’re looking for an extremely challenging tactical turn-based game that mixes stealth and X-COM, then you’re in for a treat. Fights are frantic and very tense, especially on higher difficulties as one mistake will spell doom for your group. 

What did you think of this Miasma Chronicles Review? Does this type of gameplay interest you? Let us know in the comments below. Be sure to drop by our Twitch Channel if you have questions about the game! If you enjoyed this review, be sure to check out Redfall Review – PC & Xbox and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Review.

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Solasta: Palace of Ice DLC Hands-On Preview Impressions – Just this week, I had the opportunity to sit down and play with Tactical Adventures while discussing their biggest DLC to date, Palace of Ice. Palace of Ice comes almost 2 years after Solasta: Crown of the Magister was released with a level cap increase from 12 (if you’ve played Lost Valley) to 16, new monsters to fight, and unique Spells to try out. So in this Solasta: Palace of Ice Hands-on Preview Impressions, I’ll be talking about these changes and how they’ll affect the way you play the game, as well as give my thoughts on how much Solasta has changed years after its launch. If you’re interested to get a glimpse of what this huge DLC has to offer, then this article is for you!

Solasta: Palace of Ice DLC Hands-On Preview Impressions

• Genre: Tactical, Turn-Based RPG
• Developed by: Tactical Adventures
• Published by: Tactical Adventures
• Release Date: May 25th, 2023
• Platform: PC

Solasta: Palace of Ice DLC – What is the Palace of Ice DLC?

Palace of Ice is a sprawling DLC that will take players to an entirely new region of Solasta, specifically in the Northern part of the Principality of Masgarth. It’s a direct continuation of Crown of the Magister where your assistance is needed once again to help the Snow Alliance with their plight. Currently, the Kingdom of Gallivan is making them a prime target of a brewing invasion. So even after the concluding events at the end of the base game, you’re left to investigate how this all came to be and who’s behind the dastardly decision to raise hell. Are the Soraks still involved? Who are the major power players in the DLC?

The story of Palace of Ice is more immersive than before. Unlike in Crown of the Magister where the narrative is presented in a more linear manner, this DLC will have you choose the Quests you wish to participate in after completing the first act. It’s an interesting feature that exposes you to multiple scenarios and clans you’ll meet while at the same time, improving Solasta’s replayability. Choosing one quest over another will close the doors in other areas of the game so you need to be firm in the decisions you make.

In addition to quelling the corruption that’s prevalent in certain clans, you’ll also need to convince and reunite them to prepare for a possible threat even though they’re knee-deep in their own problems. Some examples include Bandits closing in on Dwarven Mines while the dwarves themselves remain disorganized due to the absence of a leader. However, amidst all of these issues, it’s up to you and your allies to save them from damnation. 

There are several Factions in this DLC, each of which resides in environments that are starkly different from anything you’ve seen in the past. There are the Snowy Mountains up North, the Elven Village in the West situated high up in forests, and even the remote Under Mountain where you can find Trading Dwarves. These Locations are certainly a feast for the eyes and show how far Tactical Adventures has grown since the base game was released. Not only is the overall setting more vibrant but it also feels alive given the NPC’s characterization and tiny details that represent who these clans are. So if you’ve played Crown of the Magister and you’re itching for more D&D 5E content, then the Solasta: Palace of Ice DLC should be up your alley!

Solasta: Palace of Ice DLC – Gameplay

Solasta’s Palace of Ice DLC improves upon the current gameplay system. One example is the Multiplayer Mode, which was released together with the Lost Valley DLC last April 2022. Just like before, as long as the host has access to the latest version of the game, the rest of their friends can tag along without having to purchase anything else. This time around, playing with others will have a different meaning because you’ll get to encounter tougher creatures and use high-level Spells and Powers to defeat them. Party synergy is a top priority, especially if you and your allies intend to progress through the latest DLC in the hardest difficulty! 

Level 16 & Character Balancing

One of the things we talked about is the decision to cap the character level at Level 16. If they pushed it to something as high as Level 12, why did they specifically go for 16? Why not 15, 18, or even 20? It may seem like an arbitrary and random number but Level 16 is the perfect balance in terms of gaining additional skill points, HP, and the last time at which players can increase their Ability Scores without having to further raise the number of Spells and Feats available to Spellcasters and Martial Classes. 

It’s also the ideal level up sufficiently to fight against the new creatures you’ll face since they’re difficult to go up against. In addition to the classic Soraks, you’ll face demons who are much more resistant to taking damage. Because of the threat they pose, those who teeter between Levels 10 to 16 are the only ones who can stop them. Additionally, you’ll have the choice to create brand-new characters or use the premade ones that are readily available.

Equipment

Since you can import saves from any of your previous runs (as long as they don’t involve Level 13+ characters), you continue to gain access to specific loot. But if you decide to create characters from scratch, you’ll be supplied with starting magical items such as +3 versions of the Longsword and other Armor. Furthermore, new regular sets will be made available, which can be crafted, whereas Legendary Sets are going to be quest rewards. These items will be limited to certain questlines that will push you to make hard decisions and side with a faction. 

In the Palace of Ice DLC, one distinct feature that has been implemented to further improve the importance of gear is its interaction with the environment. Since you’ll be exposed to several biomes, you’ll want to be prepared because the weather won’t be kind to travelers. For example, if you’re out in the Snowy Mountains, it would be best to wear the Boots of Winter or Ring of Cold Resistance, otherwise, you’ll end up with a status effect, which will slow you down. It’s a significant change and one that will add to the game’s complexity since gone are the days of simply traveling and fighting random creatures. Players will need to gear up to improve their survivability.

Solasta: Palace of Ice DLC – Combat

During my session with Tactical Adventures, we visited 3 environments and engaged in 2 Combat encounters with all of our characters at max level. What you see right now is our first big fight, which is located on the Northern outskirts of the Principality of Masgarth, against none other than the Soraks themselves! This particular encounter is a snapshot of what you can expect in the DLC. 

Combat is going to be more difficult because the game assumes you already have enough experience with Crown of the Magister so you’re more likely aware of how the AI operates. Otherwise, there’s a huge possibility to fumble around unless you’re familiar with the D&D SRD 5.1 Ruleset. Nonetheless, you can toggle the difficulty settings at any time in the game, even for those who want to crank up the challenge should they find encounters a bit too easy for their taste. Even now, the tactical aspect of Solasta is what will continue to draw veterans and new players alike. 

As mentioned earlier, the Palace of Ice DLC introduces a whole new set of creatures to face in the form of demons and fiends like the pesky Vrocks and extremely tanky Glabrezu. The Vrocks, for instance, can stun most of your allies with their Screen Power. They’re also annoying to target since they tend to fly away. Meanwhile, the Glabrezu has several Extra Attacks so if a hapless Wizard happens to be near them, they’re more likely to perish within a few turns. The cool thing about these monsters is that they have a lot of resistance against receiving damage, especially from Spells. So although Wizards gain access to higher-level and supposedly powerful Spells like Feeblemind and Delayed Blast Fireball, these aren’t going to be effective unless you pair them with actions that can limit the enemy’s action per turn.

So you’re going to have to think harder and more creatively since these creatures are resistant to the usual Elemental Damage like Fire, Cold, and Poison. But together with your friends, you can make use of summons and buffs to boost damage. The new combat, Spell, and Feat implementations are engaging ways to introduce unique challenges, especially ones that would require you to think outside of the box. Compared to Soraks whom you can easily attack with Fireball, demons and fiends are here to stay and they certainly wouldn’t back down without a hard fight!

Now the inspiration behind choosing them as the main baddies is brought about by the story the developers want to tell, considering that they haven’t been introduced previously. Furthermore, these fiends are also creatively fun to make due to the liberty of visually designing them differently from their peers. From the Glabrezu to the Incubus and Hezrou you’ll meet along the way, you’ll instantly notice how eye-catching and much more devious-looking they are compared to the Soraks.

Solasta: Palace of Ice DLC – Dungeon Maker

One of the features that will receive a huge boost is the Dungeon Maker. Whereas in Crown of the Magister, you can only create a dungeon with several rooms, now it’s possible to come up with a fully-fledged campaign! Not only will you be able to make use of the new environments and monsters, but you’ll also gain access to the World Map and NPC Follower Systems. 

The World Map will allow you to link Crown of the Magister, Lost Valley, and Palace of Ice to be able to connect and integrate them with one another. This allows for a huge degree of freedom to place biomes and random events from one area to the next in order to make encounters more interesting. For example, you can have the player hunt and fight for a unique item, which will serve as a key to a magical door. Sky’s the limit when it comes to coming up with a campaign to share with others!

Next is the NPC Follower System, which will allow you to recruit NPCs you meet along the way should they say yes to your invitation. This is what the community has been asking for since they’ll get to increase their party size to more than 4 once they successfully convince an NPC to join them. Currently, the system allows for at most 10 NPCs in a group but I’m not sure how complicated this will be in combat given the volume of characters to pilot. More importantly, they’ll have their own quips and opinions to spice things up.

Audio, Visuals & Design

Solasta: Palace of Ice DLC features a total of 4 new environments, particularly the Snowy Hills, Dwarven and Elven Settlements, Dwarven City, and Mountain Caves. What’s immediately apparent as we jumped from one location to the next is the level of detail that illustrates the atmosphere of every clan you’ll encounter. For instance, the Elven Village on top of the trees is bright, serene, and relaxed compared to the claustrophobic and dark Under Mountain or City of the Central Clans, which is inhabited by Dwarves. 

Additionally, the special effects and animation of higher-level Spells like Earthquake is a delight to watch. This is specifically one of the harder Spells to implement graphics-wise because of its persistent effect where the ground continues to shake for several turns. Although it turned out well in combination with decent sound effects. However, one aspect that didn’t receive an update is the stiff facial animations and voiceovers of characters in dialogue. It can at times be immersion-breaking because of how unnatural they look and sound but these shouldn’t affect your enjoyment of the game, especially if you’re more concerned about the strategic side of combat.

Final Thoughts

Solasta: Palace of Ice is the most ambitious DLC yet with over 25 hours worth of content to sift through. From the new Races such as Gnomes and Tieflings to play to the challenging high-level encounters to engage in, you’ll always be preoccupied with the game. Plus, an enhanced version of the Dungeon Maker will be available, allowing you to create your own campaign from scratch and make use of the World Map and NPC Follower Systems! Furthermore, this DLC will follow a non-linear campaign so you’ll end up finishing acts differently based on the choices you make. 

If you want to engage in unique and challenging experiences that encourage you to think in unconventional ways in addition to exploring new locations and hunting for new Legendary Equipment, then you’ll enjoy this Solasta: Palace of Ice DLC. It’s set to be released on May 25, 2023!

Be sure to check out our Official Solasta: Crown of the Magister Wiki and Twitch Channel if you have questions about the game. You can also refer to our Solasta Crown of the Magister Beginner’s Guide: 10 Tips You Should Know Before You Play and other Class Build Guides. What are your thoughts on this Solasta: Palace of Ice DLC Hands-On Preview Impressions? Which feature are you most excited about? Let us know in the comments below!

The post Solasta: Palace of Ice DLC Hands-On Preview Impressions appeared first on Fextralife.

In this Redfall Review for both PC & Xbox we’ll take a look at the new co-op FPS developed by Arkane Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. How is the story? How long is the game? And more importantly, how is the performance on both PC & Xbox? In this review we’ll answer all those questions and more. If you love our Reviews, check our our others here.

Redfall Review – PC & Xbox

• Genre: FPS, Open World
• Developed by: Arkane Studios
• Published by: Bethesda Softworks
• Release date: May 2nd, 2023
• Platforms: PC (reviewed), Xbox One (reviewed)
• Price at the time of review: USD $69.99

Redfall Review – Story & Setting

Redfall takes place in the town of Redfall where vampires have taken over and killed or enslaved the populace. Supernatural and occult happenings are regular, and survivors of Redfall need your help to not only figure out what is going on, but to also stop the Vampire threat.

Redfall is not a heavily story driven experience, as its open world nature allows you to the freedom to explore and take on other objects besides the main narrative, but nearly everything you do touches upon the main plot in some way. This is because most activities are providing by the same characters that make up the bulk of the main story, and also because even though the game is open world, there are not a huge amount of things to see and do that would keep you interested if they were not in some way advancing the plot.

The story is not the strongest part of Redfall, as most of the characters are uninteresting and dull, and I generally felt the urge to skip all of their dialogues. There are no decisions to be made in this game, it’s not an RPG, so you’re really only listening for listening’s sake, and I was not compelled to do so. Additionally, most of the main story is told through psychic memories which are poorly done, leading to a severe lack of interest in what could have otherwise been a good opportunity to engage with the player.

The story itself is also very derivative in the sense that you’ve likely heard this tale before in some form, and really the reason to play this game at all is almost entirely for the setting and the gameplay.

The setting though is interesting, and could be considered one of the strongest aspects of this Redfall Review. Not only was I getting burnt out on the whole “zombies” concept before playing Redfall, but one can only handle so much blood and gore before they get put off. Luckily Redfall’s take on a similar formula, only with Vampires and more of a “fantasy sci-fi” feel (think Lovecraft) was a breath of fresh air. The certainly didn’t reinvent the wheel with it, but I at least felt compelled to explore and see things that you likely haven’t seen in any game before (and probably won’t after).

Redfall Review – Gameplay

The Gameplay of Redfall is easily its most compelling argument, though thinking back with my time with the game, nothing really stands out as “special” about it. It features a decent open world, with decent exploration and character progression, along with decent gun play that kept me motivated long after other aspects of the game really made me feel like I shouldn’t keep playing.

Redfall has 4 characters to choose from, each with their own unique skills and voiced lines. You’ll improve these skills via their unique skill trees as you level up from defeating monsters and completing quests, improving their functionality, but never really changing their gameplay after the first couple of levels. That is to say, they will more or less pilot the same way all game, which is common these days in gaming, but disappointing nonetheless.

Players will pick up quests at their main base and head out into the open world maps, of which there are two, to complete their objectives while facing cultists and vampires. Cultists are your run of the mill humans with guns and Vampires move quickly, can fly and require a stake through the heart to permanently kill. Unfortunately, you will face these same two enemy types pretty much 95% of the game, with the only real variation being super powerful vampires which show up now and again. This can get repetitive at times, and the AI of these enemies was basic at best, which made matters worse.

Defeating enemies and exploring almost always nets you new weapons though, there are a decent assortment to choose from, and these have your typical rarity system of common, uncommon, rare, epic and legendary that we’ve all come to know and “love” in just about every other shooter out there.

The higher a weapon’s rarity, the more bonuses a weapon has, and typically its damage per shot is also higher than a lower rarity of the same level. As you level up you will find higher level weapons that will eventually out damage the ones you have, so you will have to continuously upgrade them as you progress the game.

There are also slots for Vampire God gifts and Vampire blood which gives you other passive benefits that follow a similar rarity system, and can be quite powerful, though you rarely find them.

All in all I enjoyed the gameplay of Redfall more than I disliked it, and it was good enough to keep me going, if only just. I was, however, happy when the game ended because it was beginning to wear out its welcome, and too much longer and it would have overstayed.

Redfall Review – Audio, Visual & Performance

On the audio front Redfall is a mixed bag. The voice acting of the game is not mind blowing, nor is it terrible, and for a game that doesn’t focus too heavily on the story I thought the voice actors did an ok job. I also enjoyed the sound effects of the game, and the vampire voices and “lovecraftian” vibe of many of the enemies really enhanced my experience facing them. Unfortunately the music was terrible, and there wasn’t really much even present in the game.

Visually Redfall looks like a 10 year old game, which you’d think would make the game run much more smoothly, but unfortunately the opposite is true. I had massive performance issues playing this game on PC on my Corsair One Pro i182 system, which features a 2080ti GPU and an i9-9920X CPU, at 1440p on medium settings. I could not hold a stable framerate over 60 FPS for most of the game and in some places (mostly on the second map), it even dropped to single digits for many seconds at a time.

Some places I would get 80-90 FPS, but then they would spike down suddenly, with this happening over and over. These are similar issues that plagued Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, which we pointed out in our Review of that game, but one would think them far less likely given that Redfall doesn’t look impressive visually to begin with.

On both Xbox Series X and S, Redfall is capped at 30 FPS with no “Performance” option available, so you cannot get higher than this currently. A 60 FPS mode is expected later on, but no date has been given on when this will happen.

Having played a bit on Xbox for this Redfall Review, I thought it played more smoothly at a constant 30 FPS than my PC experience, it’s just that it was 30 FPS…which is rough to play an entire play through on. I do have concerns about the second half of the game though, as this is where the worst offenders were on PC, but I did not get that far on Xbox to confirm whether this was the case.

Additionally, the settings for your controller are bare bones in Redfall when playing on Xbox, which made me frustrated as the default settings are quite bad. With no real way to correct this, and 30 FPS being worse as a whole than the performance issues on PC, I continued my playthrough on PC instead of Xbox.

Replayability & Pricepoint

Redfall’s replayability comes from the fact that the game does have 4 player co op, and that once you finish the game you unlock a new difficulty that allows you to bring your character into it and keep all your previously acquired gear and skill points. However, I finished the game in about 13 hours, which I probably could have stretched to 15 hours (on Normal) if I did more of the sidequests for this Redfall Review, but I doubt it would have been much longer than that. You’re likely looking at maybe 20 hours on hard because it’s quite easy to get overwhelmed with enemies sometimes.

The thing is I’m just not sure how many people will play the entire campaign a second time unless they have some friends to play with who really love the game, of which I don’t think there will be many. On top of that this game is 69.99 USD on both PC and Xbox, which is a staggering amount considering how short and poorly produced this game is. The only saving grace here is that the game is a Day 1 release on Xbox Gamepass, which means you can play it for much cheaper, and you can also crossplay between PC and Xbox.

Final Thoughts

Redfall is a strange game because I don’t have many great things to say about it, but for some reason I kept playing and (for the most part) enjoying my time with it anyway. Something about the rather unique setting coupled with character progression that was just good enough, compelled me forward through all the issues that I had anyway. BUT, I got the game for free and I didn’t have to pay money to play it.

I cannot recommend this game to anyone paying full price for it, because it’s an unpolished product that, like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, should have been delayed until it was good enough for release. Between the performance issues, the FPS cap on Xbox, and the general lack of inspired gameplay mechanics that we’ve seen many many times, I’d wait until this game is on a deep deep sale before playing or just downloading it if you already have Gamepass. It’s certainly worth a play, I just wouldn’t spend much money to do so.

You can watch the video review here.

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Star Wars Jedi Survivor Review – In this Star Wars Jedi Survivor Review we’ll take a look at the sequel to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, developed by Respawn and Published by EA. Is it better than the original? What improvements have been made? How is the performance of the game on PC? We’ll answer all these questions and more! If you love our Reviews, check our our others here.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Review

• Genre: Action
• Developed by: Respawn
• Published by: Electronic Arts
• Release date: April 28, 2023
• Platforms: PC (reviewed), Xbox One (reviewed), Playstation 5
• Price at the time of review: USD 69.99

Star Wars Jedi Survivor – Story & Setting

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor takes place some years after the events of Jedi: Fallen Order, with the crew of the Mantis now scattered to the winds, and Cal running with a new crew of operatives, striking at the Empire across the galaxy wherever they can. What happened to the characters from the previous game remains a mystery until further into the story, but I won’t spoil that for you.

Cal and his team once again find themselves battling formidable opponents, this time on a journey looking for a mysterious planet called Tannalor that is rumored to hold a Jedi temple and the remains of the fallen Jedi Order. Can Cal find it and the Jedi? Or is it too late? We won’t spoil it here in this Jedi Survivor Review.

Jedi: Survivor has a much darker tone than the previous title, and there were more genuine moments which felt aimed at an older audience this go around. And, when combined with a wiser and grittier Cal Kestis, the story felt more relatable. The weakest aspect of Fallen Order for me was always the story, and Survivor is a much clearer flowing example of a Jedi tale.

Star Wars Jedi Survivor – Gameplay

Exploration

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor has a similar gameplay loop as that of Fallen Order, wherein players will explore planets while ultimately following the main story line and gaining new powers and abilities for Cal as they progress. The biggest improvement here though is the addition of the “open-world” planets of Koboh and Jedha, which allow the player freedom to go in just about any direction and explore nooks and crannies of the Star Wars universe how they see fit.

I cannot understate how well these areas are designed, mixing in Metroidvania elements that will have players returning again and again to find new secrets that they couldn’t previously discover. It’s on par with some of the best games out there in the genre, it’s simply a shame that there wasn’t more of it!

Combat

Combat-wise players will find they’ve already learned quite a few of the techniques they possessed from the previous game, which makes sense as Cal has learned already. But, there are new additions as well, including the Blaster and Cross-Guard stances which allow Cal further means of dispatching enemies.

Players can also unlock more Skills, via Skill Points as Cal gains experience from defeating foes and finding treasure, allowing them to somewhat tailor how Cal plays to their preferences. These Skill Points don’t change the way you play the game drastically though, and many nodes in the Skill Trees are simply passive benefits that improve a skill you already know.

Players can also gain Perks that improve Cal in various ways, from providing more Blaster damage to generating Force slowly over time. They are, however, few and far between, and usually only 1 or 2 can be equipped at a time, providing little overall impact to the way you play.

My biggest gripe that I’ll mention in this Jedi Survivor Review is that once again no “Weapons” or “Armor” are present in the game, meaning you will never change your gear (except your Stance), and Cal rarely feels like he is getting stronger because of this. I really wished Respawn would have added equipment to the game, leaning a bit more into the RPG side of things, as I feel it could push Jedi: Survivor over the top into elite company.

Quests

Quests are handled in a minimalistic fashion with Cal speaking to locals on different planets and picking up information about their needs and wants with a simple dialogue. There are no dialogue options here, you simply gain some information about where roughly something is located, and you head there to find it.

Conversely the main quest is always clearly labeled showing you exactly where you need to go, and in my case telling me where to stay away from until I was finished exploring. However, there are no branching quest lines or alternate plot points, you simply follow this through the entire game, which as I mentioned, further opens up more exploration options.

Audio, Visual & Design

Design

From a design perspective, Jedi: Survivor is laid out in a masterful fashion with each area being interconnected in ways you don’t even realize until much further into the game. It’s quite genius really, once you begin to understand just how the game was put together, it’s again just unfortunate that the open world nature of Koboh and Jedha didn’t persist all the way through the game.

Audio

Audio wise the voice acting is good but not great, not really adding a lot to the game, except in the case of Droids which are the real star of the show here and made me chuckle more than a few times.

Sound effects were good, and hearing lightsabers, blaster fire and stormtroopers shoot the shit about what they’ll be doing after their shift in their helmety-voice really immerse you into the game world.

The music of the game is decent, but slightly disappointing for a Star Wars game, and you really only hear the main theme once, during a key plot point which I won’t mention here. Overall I thought their would be more familiar music, but it seems like they didn’t have the licensing for it sadly.

One important note here is that on PC I had an incredibly annoying audio bug the entire game that made all cutscene audio skip and loop over and over, ruining just about every cutscene for me. This is not present on the Xbox version of the game (and I assume PS5 as well), but I have been told their is a patch going live on the 27th addressing this issue specifically. However, I caution you to make sure it’s been fixed before purchasing or you may regret your purchase, so don’t say this Jedi Survivor Review didn’t warn you!

Visual

Visually Jedi: Survivor is a pretty looking game, and one that does justice to the Star Wars universe. Vibrant colors and slick animations add to your immersion, and make you feel as though you’re really there with Cal.

Unfortunately I had terrible performance issues on PC, struggling to get 60 FPS the entire game on 1440P resolution on High quality graphics. This while using a Corsair One Pro i300 which boasts an i9-12900K Intel processor and a Liquid-Cooled RTX 3080 Ti.

I had constant stuttering even when the FPS was above 60, and sometimes the FPS dropped to single digits. I simply don’t see how anyone running any mid range system could possibly play this game on PC, since it would be way too choppy, and even with a high end system it will still frustrate you, though it might not completely ruin your experience.

Again I have been told that a patch is being deployed on April 27th to address this issue, but I’m unsure it will truly fix it. Make sure you do your due diligence before picking up the game on PC!

Xbox on the other hand had no problems except with the Quick Resume feature, which seemed to tank FPS into the ground when used. However, simply booting the game normally quickly resolves this issue, so it’s not too big of a deal and I actually didn’t mention it in our video version of our Jedi Survivor Review.

Replayability & Pricepoint

It took me roughly 20 hours to finish Jedi: Survivor on the Normal difficulty, with about 60% of the game showing explored and completed. This leads me to believe you will likely get about 30 hours or so if you complete everything, and possibly 40 hours if you play on the hardest difficulty, since you will die a lot.

There is also a New Game Plus mode which adds Perks to the game that make you deal more damage and take more damage, and also one that increases the difficulty of enemy placements, further mixing things up. Because of the lack of loot and any real meaningful customization, however, I don’t see too many people playing this.

Jedi: Survivor has as steep pricepoint of 69.99$ USD on PC and console, so it’s definitely something to take into consideration before purchasing this game. That said, I think it’s about right for the quality and length of game delivered, if only just, and only if you are a fan of the first game or a Star Wars fan in general. And I definitely don’t think it’s worth this in its current state on PC.

Final Thoughts

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor surpassed my expectations in just about every conceivable way. From the storytelling, to the open world exploration that kept it fresh, to the lightsaber combat that was frankly just satisfying as hell. Jedi: Survivor is another great Star Wars title that is desperately needed by a franchise that has had a lot of clunkers in the not so distant past!

I can wholeheartedly recommend this game to you, particularly if you were a fan of Fallen Order, just don’t purchase the game on PC and pick it up for Xbox or Playstation instead. It is simply unplayable for the vast majority of players out there that can’t afford a 4000 dollar PC, and it’ll likely piss off the ones that can.

You can watch the review here on YouTube.

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Honkai: Star Rail Gameplay Overview – In this Honkai: Star Rail Gameplay Overview, I’m going to run through everything you need to know in terms of the types of characters you’ll gain, how combat and weapon upgrades work, what the Warp System is, and how different the Multiplayer Mode is this time around. Honkai: Star Rail is developed by HoYoverse, the same creators of the popular free-to-play Action RPG, Genshin Impact. If you’re interested in knowing what Star Rail is all about and how it compares to Genshin Impact, then this article is for you!

Honkai: Star Rail Gameplay Overview (F2P Turn-Based RPG)

Honkai: Star Rail Gameplay Overview – What Is Honkai: Star Rail?

Honkai: Star Rail is a continuation of sorts of Honkai Impact 3rd, even though the game is set in an alternate sci-fi universe, which mostly features different versions of previous Honkai characters, making this worth visiting especially if you’ve been a fan of the Honkai universe. But there are some returning NPCs such as the intergalactic traveler Welt Yang, who finds himself in the middle of events that are currently happening in Star Rail.

As a Trailblazer humanoid who has been implanted with a Stellaron or “seed of ruin”, players will go on a series of quests to find the cure for a destructive force inside them and to prevent further disasters from transpiring across the universe. You essentially visit one planet to the next by boarding the space train, Astral Express. Despite its sci-fi nature, you’ll recognize the similarities of Star Rail with Genshin Impact, in terms of the overall character design, the overworld’s art style, and quick combat pace. However, the major difference is that Star Rail features a turn-based combat system similar to classic JRPGs like Final Fantasy X and X-2.

Honkai: Star Rail Gameplay Overview – Characters And Skills

Every character in Honkai: Star Rail has a Rarity, an Elemental Affinity, and a Path associated with them. Rarity can either be 4-star or 5-star where 5-star characters will generally have stronger stats and abilities, but will be much more difficult to come by. As of writing, there are over twenty potential companions revealed so far.

And then you have Elemental Affinity, which is self-explanatory, as well as a character’s Path. Path refers to the class, archetype, or playstyle that defines a specific person’s strengths and overall role in combat. At the moment, there are a total of 7 different Paths assigned to all the available characters. These range from The Destruction Path, which makes them a general all-around DPS, to The Erudition, which is strong at dealing damage against multiple foes, to The Harmony, which specializes in buffing teammates.

Furthermore, Star Rail also mimics Genshin Impact’s level-up systems. For example, you can level up your character by using certain materials. Once they hit the base cap’s maximum level, they’ll be eligible for “Ascension”. This means that you’ll need to consume specific resources to raise your level cap further.

Next, characters will have Traces and Eidolons. A Trace is part of a skill tree that provides extra stats, passive abilities, or even enhances existing skills. Trace upgrade materials can be obtained by playing the game normally. Eidolons, on the other hand, is an upgrade path that will grant more impactful effects similar to Genshin Impact’s Constellations. Because of this, you need to obtain duplicate characters to experience significant improvements in their buffs, particularly Basic Attacks and Ultimates. And since this system is linear, you can’t jump from one path to the last so Eidolons have to be unlocked in sequence.

Honkai: Star Rail Gameplay Overview – Equipment

When it comes to equipment, Honkai: Star Rail’s version of weapons and accessories are known as Light Cones and Relics, respectively. Light Cones don’t have physical manifestations so they won’t appear on your character but confer stat boosts for HP, Attack, and Defense. You can also expect to gain a passive ability to improve other attributes such as Crit Rate. But to do this, it’s important to make sure that both the character and weapon’s Paths are aligned or the same. It’s also possible to enhance the corresponding stats and passives that Light Cones provide by leveling them up and superimposing them with multiple copies of the same weapons, respectively.

Next are Relics consisting of a wide array of trinkets including hats, gloves, and shoes. They also grant stat boosts and come in sets that have passive abilities like increasing your attack by a certain percentage. These grow in strength depending on how many items in a set you have equipped.

Honkai: Star Rail Gameplay Overview – Combat

Honkai: Star Rail is different from anything HoYoverse has ever done before in that this title follows a tactical turn-based combat system, which highlights the elemental abilities and buffs that players can cast. But just like in Genshin Impact, you’ll be roaming the world with a single active character that could then be swapped at any given time.

Fights are also initiated by literally striking an enemy in the overworld map, damaging a random target even before the fight begins. Once combat starts, you’ll be able to make use of your entire 4-roster party. Right from the beginning, you’re given the chance to activate an effect. This effect lets you buff your allies or debuff and attack your foes. Character turns are determined by a speed stat known as Action Order, which also defines how quickly they can act again.

Players can choose to perform a Basic Attack or use a Skill during their turns. Basic Attacks are much weaker but cost no resources. Skills require the use of Skill Points that are generated by activating Basic Attacks. Players start with 3 Skill Points for every battle so they won’t begin combat slowly. Doing so also lets them efficiently build up more resources in the long run. As the fight goes on, each character accumulates Elemental energy. Once the corresponding energy meter has been filled, you’ll be able to activate a powerful Ultimate Ability.

Currently, there are 7 Elements in the game, namely, Physical, Fire, Wind, Lightning, Ice, Quantum, and Imaginary. Using a foe’s elemental Weakness against them will deplete their Toughness level or stagger bar. Once this bar is completely empty, they’re briefly stunned, skipping their turn in specific rounds of the fight. They also become susceptible to taking damage over time due to Elemental Attacks. For example, Physical causes Bleeding, Ice causes Frozen, etc.

One improvement in Star Rail’s combat is Auto-Battle, which lets you relax while your characters fight opponents of similar or lower levels and farm resources. This Auto-Complete option is also available when breezing through the game’s dialogue and story. What’s more, is that you can speed up combat if you’re finding it too slow so gone are the days where you have to sit through long skill animations!

Exploration and Activities

Honkai: Star Rail is not an open-world game. Instead, you’ll visit one small area after the next unlike in Genshin Impact, which has interconnected locations. This makes it so that the pace of the game is faster since you’re able to jump on the space train to conveniently go around and explore what you can. You’ll also tend to frequent some planets more than others to farm for certain rewards and treasures.

One unique interaction while you’re learning more about the game is the messages you receive on your phone. It’s a nice touch, especially when you’re trying to make sense of the world around you. For example, you can consult your “Astral Express Family” to clear things up like asking what Relics are and how these are connected to Stellarons whereas other NPCs will contact you to initiate missions.

In terms of activities, you can choose to participate in several of them to gain as many rewards as possible. These include the Simulated Universe, Calyx, and Assignments. In the Simulated Universe, you’ll be clearing multiple domains where every level features random enemies, layouts, and rewards. And as you hop from one challenge to the next, the difficulty increases, but fear not since you’ll be able to select three companions to assist you. Once you come out victorious, you’ll gain Blessings that can be further enhanced to effectively boost your stats.

Next is the Calyx, which essentially involves defeating waves of enemies. The more waves, the greater the difficulty but you also increase the chances of getting extra character and Light Cone materials as well as credits. Note, however, that you need Trailblaze Power to enter and raise the number of Challenge Waves you’ll be participating in. You can either wait for these to be replenished or acquire more of them using Stellar Jades, a premium currency that you earn in-game.

And finally, you have Assignments where you send some of your inactive characters to go on missions to gather extra experience materials just like in Genshin Impact.

Warp System

Honkai: Star Rail is a free-to-play title but there’s going to be a Warp System that closely follows in the footsteps of Genshin Impact. This is the main way to acquire new and powerful characters and Light Cones since you pull them from Banners or Warps. Star Rail Passes are used for Starter and Regular Warps whereas Star Rail Special Passes are reserved for time-bound Event Warps. You’ll then need in-game currency like Undying Embers, which you receive from duplicate pulls, or Stellar Jade to buy more Passes in the Store.

It appears that there’s going to be a Pity System where too many Warp attempts will reward special items. For instance, you’re guaranteed to receive a 5-star character within 50 pulls should you go for the Starter Warp. The same could be said for Regular Warps where a bulk 10-pull will at least give you a 4-star character or Light Cone.

Multiplayer Mode

The final topic of interest in Honkai: Star Rail is Multiplayer or co-op. Here, you’ll find a clear departure from the mode implemented on Genshin Impact. Sure, you can still add friends in-game but they won’t be able to join you in order to explore the galaxy together. Instead, you’ll only have the option to lend or borrow characters as a form of support in combat.

Final Thoughts

Honkai: Star Rail is shaping up to be another highly-anticipated live service title from HoYoverse with over 10 million pre-registrations as of today. It features multiple systems inspired by Genshin Impact such as the exciting combat and the ways in which characters progress and how equipment is improved. But it’s worth mentioning that even if you haven’t played Genshin Impact, there are still various activities and events to gain many rewards from that’ll get you hooked and invested within a few hours of playing. Plus, its turn-based combat system will bring back delightful memories from older JRPGs.

Honkai: Star Rail will be launched on April 26, 2023 via PC, iOS, and Android. The date for the PlayStation release has yet to be disclosed. This free-to-play turn-based RPG will also have cross-save support, allowing players to easily hop from PC to mobile and vice versa.

Which Honkai: Star Rail systems do you think need to be improved? Will you be jumping in the Astral Express on the day of launch? Let us know in the comments section below! For more previews, be sure to check out Jagged Alliance 3 Preview (Turn-Based RPG) and Elder Scrolls Online Necrom Preview – Arcanist Class and More!.

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