Sword Art Online left an indisputable imprint on the anime landscape since its adaptation in 2012, and it continues to influence shows that are coming out today. Of course, with the premise centered on people playing a VR MMORPG, many video games naturally followed. Sword Art Online Fractured Daydream is unequivocally made for veteran fans of the franchise, which might sound great on paper, but it packages itself into a niche category that only die-hard enthusiasts will find the experience cathartic, isolating much of its casual audience.

The main attraction of Sword Art Online Fractured Daydream is supposed to be its multiplayer experience. But as you need to make a reasonable dent in the primary campaign to unlock the multiplayer and the characters available, let's dive into this aspect first. Sword Art Online Fractured Daydream harbours an independent brand new story tailored for the game, presumably occurring sometime after the Alicization Arc. Without going into spoiler territory, characters introduced in this arc play a pivotal role in the overarching story. A new, updated beta system called Galaxia has been added to ALfheim online, aiming to enable players to relive their most cherished memories of the game. However, a critical error has now ensnared Kirito within the Galaxia system. Kirito will now need to navigate Galaxia, assisted by many familiar faces throughout the Sword Art Online timeline, to figure out how to return to the real world.

Sword Art Online Fractured Daydream has the best storytelling and cutscenes across all the games, and some of the moments that transpire are superb. One that stands out vividly is right at the beginning of the game, where Kirito realizes he is participating in an anomaly of the programming, and a fight quickly ensues. It felt like the scene could have been ripped straight out of the anime, which will surely place a gleeful smile on any fan's face. My only critique is that the overall plot requires a good knowledge of Sword Art Online. The story can be very "meta" at times, as characters across the Sword Art Online multiverse interact with one another. It's like watching Avengers Endgame without seeing the prior Marvel films leading up. You can do it if you want, but you'll be confused about certain parts.

The gameplay structure of the primary campaign is where things get a bit iffy. There are five chapters in total, all with several quests. Initially, your character will be transported to a new location, and you will have to travel to specific points on the map while fighting monsters along the way. In order to conclude the quest and move on to the next part of the story, you must defeat a minor boss battle. As you can tell from that description, the setup is very basic. What also does not help is that every location in the game feels empty and rigid due to an invisible barrier stopping you from fully exploring the environment. This often made me awkwardly zig-zag across the map to find a direct route. There are a few collectables you can pick up as well, which I assume is an attempt to make the environmental space not feel barren, but they are tedious to gather because of the terrain layout.

The combat is somewhat of a mixed bag, but enough distinction between the classes make it more enjoyable than not. There are six fighting classes: fighter, tank, rogue, ranger, mage and support. Each character is automatically categorized into one of these classes and plays distinctively differently from one another, which adds a lot of diversity to the combat. Kirito, in the fighting class, has his iconic dual blades, which allow him to excel at close combat while moving reasonably fast across the battlefield. Agil, part of the tank class, will move slower in comparison but will be able to endure more hits, and Llenn in the rogue class will utilize a massive gun, allowing her to attack from far away, mimicking the Fatal Bullet gameplay format. Usually, in a quest, you will pick one character to be your main fighter and can then select additional characters to join your team, but sometimes, you'll have to play a particular character, forcing you to try out all the classes. If you want to complete the main storyline as soon as possible, you'll want to stick with the fighter class as they feel stupidly overpowered, but all the classes have some merit to them.

Regarding the real-time combat system, there is the standard stuff you would expect to see, like normal and heavy attacks. Each character also has special and ultimate moves, which are excellent to use if you find yourself in a tight spot. However, you will have to wait for a brief cooldown before reusing one of these manoeuvres, which encourages you to think before you act. But the lock-on system is what brought down the combat for me. The game encourages you to lock onto opponents, as you can then dash towards enemies and unleash a string of combos, but it rarely works. Most times, when I tried to implement it, I would be left in mid-air or at a strange slant, so I would often attack opponents without using it, which made any flying monsters a bit trickier than the game intended.

After progressing through an hour or so of the primary campaign, you will then unlock the multiplayer mode, which shares a lot of parallels with Granblue Fantasy: Relink, as it encompasses real-time combat mashed up with MMO gameplay mechanics. The multiplayer is divided into three modes: free roam, co-op quest and boss raid. Free-roam is by far the best, as you can leisurely walk around the entire map, fight enemies and take on daily challenges. This was a breath of fresh air compared to the main campaign, which constricted where you could explore (yes, the invisible barriers are a sticking point). It reminded me a lot of Dauntless's open terrain environment, which may not be a complimentary statement to some, but I always like the relaxed atmosphere the game attempted to encapsulate.

In comparison, the co-op quest inhabits a more frantic vibe as twenty players are split into five squads, running through a massive dungeon to reach a boss at the very end. You have thirty minutes, but most lobby groups should be able to do this within the 15-20-minute range. On successful completion of this mission, you will then be rewarded with better weapons and different cosmetic appearances. Although looking at the scoreboard at the end to see how your performance faired to other players was interesting, the rewards didn't really incentivize me much to continue playing.

The boss raid was easily the weakest mode out of the bunch. Again, twenty players are broken down into five squads, but this time, your goal is to defeat an astronomical boss battle while your team attempts to score the most points. It felt repetitive as there was not much cooperative play, as you're mainly just striking the enormous adversary with endless attacks. The enemy's fighting pattern is nothing special either, and they would repeatedly recycle the same moves. Honestly, I got bored during the first boss I took on. I did a few more for good measure, but it somehow became even more mind-numbing.

There was a clear executive effort towards the Sword Art Online Fractured Daydream multiplayer experience, but it's average at best. When you're trying to get players to commit hours to multiplayer content, you need to offer something unique and different, but throughout, I got a severe case of déjà vu because I've partaken in this repetitive action in endless other titles. Within a short period, I felt like I had seen everything, got the t-shirt and was ready to play something else. You would only start investing serious hours into the multiplayer if you were a massive Sword Art Online fan who wanted to gain every item possible. But you would probably be a lone ranger in this pursuit because convincing others to tag along would be hard unless your friends are also gigantic fans.

Sword Art Online Fractured Daydream shines in some departments but flops in others.  
I wish the game had concentrated more on the primary campaign because the story here is terrific, and with a few tweaks to the open map environment and battle mechanics, it could have been a quintessential play for any fan. But the multiplayer feels so half-baked and unrewarding that only hardcore fans will enjoy the long, tedious grind to grab every morsel item.

Sword Art Online Fractured Daydream is now available on the PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch and PC.

The post Review: Sword Art Online Fractured Daydream Will Only Appeal to Hardcore Fans appeared first on Siliconera.

I was unsure what to make of Reynatis for the first few hours. It throws a lot of interesting mechanics at you but simultaneously adopts a linear pacing and environmental structure that you would expect to see in the PlayStation 2 era. When I reached the halfway point, I became invested in Reynatis and started really enjoying my time with the game. However, it undoubtedly has flaws and some notable graphical issues on the Switch, which will be a dealbreaker for some players.

Kazushige Nojima, who has been involved in Kingdom Hearts and the Final Fantasy franchise, is the scenario writer for Reynatis. And oh boy, it shows as the story here is stellar. While playing, I couldn't help but think that Reynatis must have gotten inspiration from the cancelled Final Fantasy Versus XIII game (which Kazushige Nojima was the scenario writer for) because there are some uncanny parallels here, which we will get into later.  

Reynatis is set in a world where magic is outlawed, and its use is strictly prohibited. Wizards conceal their powers from the public, and a night-time curfew is enforced to maintain law and order in Shibuya. There is also an illegal drug circulating called rubrum, and anyone who consumes it will eventually turn into a hideous monster.

In some weird ways, the plot feels like a bizarre amalgamation of Kingdom Hearts meets Tokyo Ghoul. That statement might be polarizing to some people, but these two themes strangely work together. On the one hand, you have overpowered warriors wielding magical weapons, venturing through portals to alternative dimensions. The other explores dark supernatural themes, as the urban city is troubled by gruesome half-human creatures, with ideals and philosophies constantly being challenged.

For the first half of the game, the story bounces back and forth between two characters, Marin and Sari, who have contrasting ideological beliefs regarding how magic should be treated and conducted. The story-pacing is a bit rigid, mainly because it frequently changes between both protagonists. One time, I played as one of the characters for less than 25 minutes before it jumped back into the other character's perspective. I really wished it stayed with one character longer. But as you might expect, their paths eventually intertwine, and they join up as one big team, and that's when the game starts to flourish.

For wizards to conceal their identity, they enter a suppressed form, which, for some reason, means putting some hat or hood over their heads. If you are in this form, citizens of Shibuya will assume you're a member of the general public and will ignore you while you walk around. However, you can also enter a liberated form, which shows your true magical prowess in full swing. If citizens see you, you will start trending on social media, and if you reach the number one spot, the M.E.A. officers will hunt you down unless you go to a safe spot to lower the attention drawn to you. Think of it like the GTA wanted system.

Not only that, but the pressure of trending on social media will put stress on you, giving buffs and debuffs when you're in combat. To begin with, this stress system might seem like a big balancing act, and to an extent, it is, but its purpose is to give players options on how they want to play. You can play it safe by keeping your stress low and having many defence perks, or you can amp up the stress levels to strengthen your attacks but be more vulnerable to offensive blows. 

Reynatis, on surface value, seems to harbor a standard hack-and-slash combat system, like Kingdom Hearts, but it adopts a unique mechanic that spices up the fighting and revolves around constantly changing and adapting your playstyle. You can only unleash attacks when you're liberated, but being in this form will slowly deplete your MP. In contrast, if you're in a suppressed state, MP will slowly replenish, but this is the only time you can dodge attacks, which builds up your MP bar at a substantial rate. Essentially, the liberated state is offensive, whereas the suppressed state is defensive. It's an exciting system to play, but it will take a few hours before you start switching between states seamlessly.

At the end of the skirmish, you are ranked out of five stars, which will determine the number of experience points you will get from that fight, which is based on various factors like how many times you changed characters, the amount MP absorbed and performing certain moves. This encourages you to change the way you're fighting constantly. It's rather fun to try and aim to get higher star ratings, and the combat difficulty never gets too crazy that you feel like these aspects hinder you.

Now, the people who never got over the cancellation of Final Fantasy Versus XIII will notice that the combat system in Reynatis appears to have a lot of similarities. The main striking one is the main character. Marin's final menace attack is an animation of swords floating in the sky before they all fly towards the enemy, similar to Noctis in the Final Fantasy Versus XIII trailer. There was also a big emphasis on dodging incoming attacks back in the trailer, which is present in Reynatis. The atmosphere of the fights feels very alike, and I find it hard to believe that Reynatis didn't get some inspiration from Final Fantasy Versus XIII.

Although this is not the only game which has clearly inspired Reynatis, as when you reach just over halfway through the game, you will come across a cross-over-event with The World Ends with You, where you will bump into Rindo and Shoka in an alternative Shibuya. Without giving too much away, this side mission diversion is super enjoyable, and any fan of the franchise will get giddy from seeing this inclusion. It even has a boss fight featured in NEO: The World Ends with You.  

The environmental structure in Reynatis is worth highlighting. Let's start with the positives. Shibuya is phenomenal and perfectly captures the nightlife of the hustling urban streets of Japan. But the way the streets are designed is small and incredibly cramped. At first, I thought this might have been intentional in capturing Shibuya's real-life mood. However, at specific points in the game, you travel to different dimensions, which act as dungeons, but their paths are even narrower, and to make matters worse, the environmental backdrops are mediocre at best. All these flaws create an experience that mimics what you would find in a PlayStation 2 RPG, which some are bound to adore and others will loathe. For the most part, I liked many of these aspects, but I wish the areas you transported to had more life to them.

The aesthetics are another aspect that might be hit or miss for people. The entire attitude and atmosphere embodies an edgy persona from start to finish. This is to match the gritty and sombre tone of the plot, which it succeeds at. Some of the outfits are highly detailed and really give off futuristic urban street vibes. But the characters would look unpolished in cutscenes and in-game. I also observed what I believe may be a model issue with the character called Moa. Her hair would shake during cutscenes, which would be a bit off-putting.

I've been playing Reynatis on the Switch, so I can't comment on other systems, but there are a few issues. Firstly, the game crashed on me a few times, which was annoying, but luckily, there is an auto-save system, so I never lost too much progress. The main issue was the camera angle, which in some of the cramped environments is just pure bad. If I were playing in handheld mode on the Switch, this would be even worse, and sometimes I wouldn't even be able to see the character performing their move, so I always stayed playing on the dock. To its merit, the loading times were excellent and faster than I expected on the Switch.

Reynatis is the pineapple on pizza of RPG's this year. Some will love that Reynatis tries to implement various concepts while attempting to keep the magic that made some of the classic titles on the PlayStation 2 so renowned. Others will feel this type of RPG is a massive step backwards for the genre. Personally, I liked Reynatis, but the performance issues held back the experience for me.

Reynatis will come to the PS4, PS5, Switch, and PC in North America and Europe on September 27, 2024, and then in Australia on October 4, 2024.

The post Review: Reynatis Unapologetically Feels like a PS2 Game appeared first on Siliconera.

When Sonic x Shadow Generations was first announced at Sony's State of Play in January, I was shocked that Black Doom had been revived for the upcoming game. Honestly, I'm still shocked even now, several months later. Black Doom has only appeared in one game in the Sonic franchise before this, and it's a spin-off title, Shadow the Hedgehog. But considering that Black Doom encourages and coerces Shadow to go on a killing spree in some timelines, it was a villain I thought Sega would have wanted to keep dead and buried.  

Back in the early 2000s, Shadow was at the height of his popularity thanks to the success of Sonic Adventure 2. Because of this, Sega Studios USA wanted to create a game centred around Shadow. They decided to base the game on the events of Sonic Adventure 2. This decision actually made a lot of sense, as the overall plot of Sonic Adventure 2 had massive potential to be expanded and developed upon, including the Space Colony ARK, Guardian Unit of Nations (G.U.N) and the backstory of Gerald Robotnik.

Now, everything stated above sounds completely reasonable, right? But anyone who played Shadow the Hedgehog knows the game is a startling contrast to what we had seen in previous games. To explain how strange it was, when the trailer initially dropped for Shadow the Hedgehog, fans were convinced it was some convoluted joke, as the plot and gameplay seemed miles away from what we had seen in any traditional mainline game.

The story follows Shadow, who is suffering from amnesia and lacks clarity on what happened at the Space Colony ARK. An alien race called the Black Arms has landed on Earth, causing mayhem and destruction to human civilisation. The leader of the Black Arms, Black Doom, approaches Shadow and tells him to collect all seven Chaos Emeralds to fulfil his "promise". With Black Doom clearly knowing about his past, Shadow decides to collect all the Chaos Emeralds, but how he goes about this is entirely up to you, as you can choose to be the hero or the villain in the story.

To complete the level, you can either kill the Black Arms aliens that are attacking Earth or kill the human G.U.N soldiers trying to protect the planet. You can even pick the anarchist option and choose to kill everyone you come across. Depending on your actions, it will result in different timelines, with ten possible endings you can achieve. One of the endings even results in Shadow striking down Doctor Eggman in what appears to be his demise. Not exactly what you expect from a Sonic the Hedgehog game. But this is not where the oddness ends, as this is still not the most contentious aspect of Shadow the Hedgehog…you can use guns. Yep, you read that right. You can travel across the stage and pick up guns to shoot down your adversaries.

The first level of Shadow the Hedgehog, Westopolis, is distinctively memorable because it really shows you what the game is about. It starts with you abruptly freefalling from the sky and witnessing the devastating explosions tormenting the city as an eerie red aura consumes the sky. When you finally land on the ground level and dash through the stage, you see the full extent of the carnage, as the city buildings and road structures are turned into derelict dust. You then have multiple opportunities to pick up weapons from the G.U.N soldiers or the Black Arms aliens to take whatever action you see fit. The first stage is a great indicator of whether you will like the overall atmosphere that Shadow the Hedgehog is trying to achieve.

Even though Shadow and the stages are obviously selling points of the game, Black Doom arguably steals the show. Black Doom is a classic villain with no admirable characteristics. There is no divine or symbolic meaning behind his actions. He simply wants the humans as livestock for his race and will do whatever it takes to achieve this goal. This made the timelines where Shadow picked the bad options feel even more sinister because it was leading to Earth's demise. It felt like you were genuinely succumbing to the dark side whenever you did an action that pleased him. Shadow the Hedgehog would not be the same experience if you took away Black Doom.

As you can probably tell by this point, this is not the most kid-friendly game, and there is a reason for that. Takashi Iizuka wanted to create a Sonic the Hedgehog experience aimed at an older audience, emulating action films, which might explain the game's dark undercurrent. In fact, Shadow the Hedgehog was heavily edited to ensure it kept at the E10+ rating.

When Shadow the Hedgehog first came out, I was a few years away from my teens but had already entered my rocker phase (and I still haven't left) and had begun listening to rock bands like System of the Down and Nine Inch Nails. I was their prime audience on paper. So, what did I think of the game? I fell in love with Shadow the Hedgehog for all the above reasons. I found Sonic Heroes a bit too cheesy, so I appreciated the darker tone, and I liked the concept that I could carve out my own destiny. I remember my older sibling raising an eyebrow at me whilst playing the game, questioning why Shadow has a gun, but I completely disregarded these concerns because I enjoyed the game so much.

But I also distinctly remember the first time I saw Black Doom. It may sound silly, as Black Doom's voice, in some ways, is rather comical in how deep-pitched it is, but the kid version of me found it terrifying. His appearance was also menacing, as he was a floating entity with multiple red eyes. They nailed the ominous alien look perfectly, as he was scary but cool at the same time. I wanted to know his backstory and history with Shadow and Gerald Robotnik, which motivated me to complete all ten endings and unlock the true ending.

Looking back, I can appreciate that a few bugs held it back from greatness and begrudgingly agree with my sibling that the guns were unnecessary, but I still have a strong affiliation with the title to this day. I'm not the only one, as Shadow the Hedgehog has cultivated a strong cult following throughout the years.

But since Shadow the Hedgehog was released, which was nearly twenty years ago, the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise has gone back to its roots and embraced a more kid-friendly atmosphere (at least regarding the games and TV adaptations, the Sonic the Hedgehog comics are a conversation for another day). The recent Hollywood films have solidified this tone even further. It's a hilarious segment, but Jim Carrey doing the floss as Doctor Eggman definitely appeals to younger audiences. But it's also because of these films that Black Doom has returned.

The upcoming film Sonic the Hedgehog 3, set to come out later this year, sees the introduction of Shadow. To complement the film, they clearly wanted to bring Shadow back to the forefront of the games in some capacity. The result is Sonic x Shadow Generations – a remaster of Sonic Generations with a parallel story featuring Shadow. But what was one of the best qualities of the first game that featured Shadow as the protagonist? Black Doom.

Now, do I think Sonic x Shadow Generations will feature guns and the option of killing human G.U.N soldiers? Absolutely not. If anything, looking at the gameplay trailers we have so far, it appears it's tapping into Sonic Adventure 2 more, as the iconic boss battle Biolizard has even been included. But I'm still surprised Sega has revived Black Doom. They could have easily conjured up a new villain, but clearly, even though they have no desire to emulate Shadow the Hedgehog's dark and gritty tone, they couldn't ignore that Black Doom was a pivotal reason for the original game's success. And I'm happy that a new generation of Sonic The Hedgehog fans will be introduced to Black Doom and his ominous voice.

What are your thoughts about Sonic x Shadow Generations bringing back Black Doom? Let us know with a comment below.

Sonic x Shadow Generations will be released on PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X and Xbox One on 22 October, 2024.

The post I’m Shocked That Sonic x Shadow Generations Revived Black Doom appeared first on Siliconera.

When I saw Dragon Ball Project: Multi announced in August 2024, I wasn't entirely sure what to think about the title. Of course, the prospect of a new free-to-play Dragon Ball game is enticing. But with the MOBA market being highly saturated at this point, would it be able to offer a captivating and sophisticated experience that could hold my attention? Nevertheless, I dived into the beta with an open mind. Though the game is by no means perfect, within an hour or two the high-octane gameplay loop got me hooked and I kept reiterating the elusive, "just one more game" to myself.

Dragon Ball Project: Multi nailed the cat-and-mouse framework which has made the MOBA genre so renowned and, as a result, every battle feels like an enthralling and frantic rollercoaster. It is a top-down, 4v4, real-time strategy game where your team aims to grab the opposing team's Dragon Ball. To do this, you will have to destroy the enemy's God of Destruction barriers while simultaneously protecting your own. You're on the right track if you envision the gameplay format as a traditional tower defense game.

The first minute or two of each battle will probably start out slow as you defeat NPCs across the map or strategically attempt to assassinate opposing side members to level up. But at a certain point of the match, you will have the opportunity to attack the God of Destruction barriers, and that's when the action really ramps up. Absolute carnage can ensue within moments as you either madly dash to attack or protect those walls. You will often have a cluster of eight players unleashing hellish attacks on one another. Sometimes, you have no idea which team will win the match until some of the last moments.

Akin to Pokemon Unite, you will also have bosses appear on the map at specific times during the battle. When a team lands the killing blow, the opposing one's God of Destruction barriers receive damage. Obviously, you will want to take out these bosses before the other side, but they are pretty powerful, so you must ensure you're at a reasonable level before attempting to take one on. If not, they can easily take you out, which will put your whole team at a disadvantage. This substantially spices up the dynamic, as you're not just endlessly flying from one side of the map to another.

Other minor features within the battle mechanics help the overall game. For instance, you can equip a helper at the beginning of each match, allowing you to perform an AoE (Area of Effect) move. Some will speed up characters in the affected space, whereas others will try to block incoming aggression from the opposing side. After using the attack, there will be a brief cool-down period before you can use the helper's ability again. This makes it so you always have to be aware of your surroundings, and it encourages players to think about their next move rather than mindlessly pressing input commands.

Admittedly, the gameplay template laid out here has been done before, but that is not Dragon Ball Project: Multi star quality. It's utilizing the fantastic characters from the Dragon Ball universe and their iconic attacks to brutalize foes. Considering that Dragon Ball storytelling is heavily based on friendship, using the IP for a team-oriented game makes a lot of sense. I know it's a bad ongoing joke that everyone Goku fights becomes his friend, but it's more accurate than we would like to admit.

The beta has ten playable characters, ranging from the usual suspects, like Goku, Vegeta, and Gohan, to some less obvious ones, like Cooler and Zamasu. Each character has a healthy move pool, as they have all three standard skills attacks, one super attack, and one passive technique. It's satisfying to use Goku's Kamehameha Wave to try and kill an opponent attempting to run away or unleash Vegeta's devastating Big Bang Attack to obliterate as many rivals as possible. Even using Majin Boo's Candy Ray attack to turn the opponent into a candy bar never failed to get a smile out of me. These moments make the conflicts stand out, as it feels like you're playing out convoluted scenarios from the series.

Each character falls into one of three roles: damage, tank and technical. Right now, tank characters are stupidly overpowered compared to every other role in the game, with the standout being Zamasu, as his passive ability allows him to regenerate health. I won five games in a row and was also MVP for each match using Vegeta, a tank character. That said, during the matches, I made sure to stick to the role's strengths of eating up attacks from the enemy. The technical role is worse by a mile, with Gohan being the weakest character in the beta. It is strange to see Gohan being a fragile character in a Dragon Ball game. Hopefully, they will be able to make some of the characters more even later down the line.

There are also small details here that add to the overall atmosphere. A good example of this is the map is partitioned into two parts. One side represents the more rural terrains you would expect to see in the series, whereas the other harbours the aesthetic of West City. One thing I didn't like was the skin customization options. Many of them are the same outfit but with different default colors. This is a beta, after all, so this may change, but the more exciting outfits were behind special capsules, which are very hard to attain. Something tells me this feature won't change with the full release.

I've been playing on PC, and the game runs pretty well. On rare occasions, it would take a few moments to load up a match, but nothing too long, and this is probably the type of issue they are (hopefully) on the lookout for to make the experience more seamless on launch. You can also play with a controller, and it feels smooth to control characters this way. I actually preferred playing with the controller. I can't comment on what the experience is like on mobile, but if it translates on mobile devices, I imagine this would be fun to play on the go, as matches usually last 20 minutes.

I was hesitant that this game might emulate Dragon Ball: The Breakers, an interesting idea with no substance. But I had an absolute blast playing Dragon Ball Project: Multi, and I could easily see myself investing considerable hours in the game when it comes out. My only fear and reservation is that the format could become stale if the game does not receive regular updates, like new maps or characters. I would also like to see a bigger range of customizations, but it's not too strange for a beta to have limited options. Dragon Ball Project: Multi is worth putting on your radar (pun intended), and I think it has a chance to garner a dedicated fan base, as the main fundamental ingredients are here.

The Dragon Ball Project: Multi beta is now available on PC and mobile devices in certain regions.

The post Dragon Ball Project: Multi Is Wildly Addictive appeared first on Siliconera.

At first glance, Creatures of Ava may seem like a simple exploration adventure involving taming wild creatures, but the overarching story delves into many philosophical themes and explores how to respond to extinction and whether interfering is right. Although it features an exciting landscape to travel through and an intriguing premise, the game fails to realize its full potential, as it's hard to feel connected to the story and characters due to pacing, which dull gameplay mechanics further bring down. I should have really enjoyed it, but it ultimately felt like a mediocre experience.

Your journey will take you across the planet Ava, where you will tame creatures and relocate various species to preserve the living there wildlife. Think of an intergalactic Noah's Ark, only you are sent on the ultimate rescue mission. The story follows Vic, a passionate researcher, and her mission to rescue the wildlife from the destructive withering infection. This deadly disease transforms gentle creatures into ferocious beasts, threatening the planet's entire ecosystem.

Initially, the connection between Vic and this cause lacks an explicit explanation beyond her concern for the creatures' well-being. It's hard to understand and get behind her actions! As the story unfolds, it becomes evident that Vic's dedication to this conservation effort is deeply rooted in personal motivation, but because it failed to hook me in the first few hours, I never felt too attached to the story or the characters. It's a shame, as I appreciate the topics and themes explored. 

The option for a pacifist run is a relatively common phenomenon, where no harm is inflicted throughout the playthrough to earn a particular achievement or unlock a special ending. From the very start in Creatures of Ava, Vic only uses non-lethal force, refraining from using any weapons to attack. She can only defend themselves by dodging attacks and running around the environment. Using the mystical staff she finds on the planet, she can also heal creatures affected by the withering infection. The combat system (if you can call it that) centers around avoiding incoming aggression from creatures while using the staff to heal their disease. As you can probably tell by this point, if you're looking for a monster-capturing experience similar to Palworld, you will not find this here.

To save the creatures inhabiting the planet, you must first clear the disease they are infected with and then tame them using a flute. Essentially, you are the space exploration version of the Pipe Piper. You come to the planet, promise salvation, and gain the trust of the local creatures by using your flute. Not ominous at all. To play the flute itself is not too elaborate. When you go to play a song, a music wheel will appear with symbols of keynotes. Each one represents a note you would find on a real flute. The creature you want to tame will visually show the notes it responds to above its head. It's easy to play the musical instrument, but some faster tempos and longer songs will take a few tries. I guess I won't be the next Beethoven anytime soon.

The importance of taming creatures is that they will follow you after you have gained their trust, so you can take them to rescue bot facilities scattered across the map. But you can also connect with the creature, allowing you to momentarily take control of the animal and use its distinct abilities to open up new routes, like breaking ropes on a bridge or charging into a fungi barrier. Again, this could have been an interesting concept, but the execution here is somewhat boring. When you're in control of the creature, all you do is walk up to a blocked pathway, use the ability, and that's it. There is no other reason to use the creatures that occupy the land, and I wanted them to play a more significant role in the gameplay.

To advance in the storyline, you will need to complete quests for characters you meet on the planet. These quests require you to travel back and forth to gather various items or talk to certain characters to get information. The whole game comes across like one big fetch quest, and I didn't feel much of an accomplishment when I finished one. A greater variety of tasks, which were more distinctively different to one another, would have massively benefited the overall narrative.

There are four ecosystems to pass through, each with unique environmental features. One of the ecosystems is a beautiful prairie grassland, whereas another is an overgrown vine jungle with dark and grim-looking marshlands. You cannot enter a new area ecosystem until you reach a specific part of the storyline. Some of the creature's designs are fantastic and reflect the environment you find them in, making exploring new areas one of the more enduring aspects of Creatures of Ava.

The landscape you traverse is akin to the Metroidvania genre. You will need to explore the wilderness and navigate platforms at different levels to reach certain areas. The path may often be blocked, and you must use your staff to clear the environment. This might include using a spell that will lift a rock from the ground so you can use it as a makeshift platform or a spell to clear a witherbloom, a giant overgrown flower. The terrain is relatively easy to figure out, and I always enjoyed travelling to the next destination on the map.

It may seem like I've been unduly harsh to Creatures of Ava, but that is because there are some excellent ideas here, but the execution has missed the mark. Nothing is wrong with a creature-taming title stepping back from a traditional combat system and embracing a pacifist approach. If anything, exploring this avenue can provide an opportunity to craft a distinctive identity in the genre, but you need to make sure other aspects of the gameplay are compelling. I often found myself going through the motions rather than wanting to see what was next. Strangely, I think the game tried to be too smart for its own good and backfired. It packed too many ideas, and there was little thought on how these mechanics would benefit one another. If you like some of the concepts that Creatures of Ava dabbles in, you will find some redeeming characteristics which might be worth your time. However, I don't think I'll return to Creatures of Ava anytime soon.

Creatures of Ava is available for the Xbox Series X and PC.

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Indulging in hobbies should not be viewed as a pastime, but as a source of deep personal fulfillment and joy. Cooking, in particular, can be a cathartic experience The colors and tantalizing flavors of a well-prepared dish create an unparalleled experience of warmth and satisfaction. Magical Delicacy taps into this love for confectionary-making and merges it with Metroidvania-inspired gameplay. These two interweaving themes create a charming and cozy gameplay experience, but fail to carve out a unique identity and hinders it from reaching the dazzling heights of the genre.

You assume the role of an aspiring young witch named Flora in Magical Delicacy. She has a passion for cooking and embarks on a journey to the harbor town of Grat to prove herself as a witch. Upon her arrival, she meets a frog called Hyge, who is the town's secretary, and he takes her to a charming, rustic kitchen. Flora immediately begins elevating the kitchen and exploring the town, but of course secrets are lurking within the shadows of Grat that Flora will soon discover. The story itself is pleasant enough, but it never left me invested in the characters or their motivations. This is a shame, as the main character practicing witchcraft should have been a unique plot point to exploit, but it failed to draw me in.

Magical Delicacy's central gameplay revolves around you traversing the land, meeting the townfolk, fulfilling their orders in the kitchen, and then delivering the goodies back to them. This starts out reasonably straightforward, as the orders will only require a few simple steps to prepare. For example, buying tailored ingredients from a trader, putting them in a cooking pot, and picking up the meal before it burns and becomes a Kitchen Nightmares reject. But later down the line, the process will become more elaborate, requiring you to scavange the environments for obscure resources, purchase more fancy cooking wares, and even craft ingredients beforehand in a separate cooking process. A good example of this is making bread from scratch before you can make a vegetable sandwich.

How to fulfill these recipes can sometimes be a bit of a head-scratching process, as Magical Delicacy will not give you an exact recipe, but rather a list of criteria that need to be hit. Not everything will always go together, so if certain ingredients do not complement each other or are not cooked correctly, it will result in a failed meal. You will lose the ingredients in that dish. The more you know about cooking, the better starting position you will be in. It embraces the mantra that you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs. I quite liked that it didn't necessarily give you step-by-step instructions on how to cook some of these meals, as it created a strangely therapeutic trial-and-error loop. It felt satisfying when I finally figured out what the recipe wanted from me.

My favorite part of the cooking process was utilizing the kitchen shopfront window to sell fully cooked meals to the hungry public. It's like running a small business, and it's fun to experiment with different foods and recipes and see how well they will sell. It is also the best way to earn money in the game. I would often find myself being distracted from the ongoing quests and instead try to accumulate money to invest back into my kitchen. You know what they say: when a window of opportunity opens, don't let it close.

Flora also dabbles in the enigmatic art of witchcraft and can brew potions in her kitchen in Magical Delicacy. You essentially work a double shift, as you can only craft witch-related things during the evening. The night and day aspect should have added an interesting dichotomy to the gameplay, acknowledging the enchanting power of being a witch and how they could harness it to their advantage in the kitchen, but it felt no different to the cooking during the day. So it made these elements feel a bit lackluster, and an inconvenience to wait till the in-game night time to cook potions. Nothing about it felt special.

Magical Delicacy has a beautiful coat of 2D pixelated graphics, which gives the world a unique vibe. The magical world theme complements this, as you will run across anthropomorphic animals, cat ladies, traditional soldiers, and witches, and it made me intrigued to explore the town, the variety of shops, and further beyond to see what I would find next.

Traversing the landscape is very simple, as the platforming segments are not too elaborate or complicated. The map is broken down into small sub-sections, making it easy to track where you are going and not get too lost. Most people should not find the platforming too challenging; however, if you do find some of the platforming portions difficult, there is an accessibility option available that will make the jumps even easier again. It is great to see this game feature this inclusive option.

As you would expect, maneuvering yourself through different platform levels on the map will allow you to reach other locations. These places can range from areas encompassing a bustling town center to a bell tower or large rural spaces. The lower platforms tend to have overgrown, vine-like plants and rocky cave structures, while the higher level is set higher in the sky. Certain food ingredients will also tend to spawn in specific environmental areas, so it's worth checking all your surroundings.

After completing story-related quests from the townfolk, you will acquire new magical tricks to access areas you could not before. Some of these include casting a mist spell to propel you into the sky or transforming into an ominous black cat that can walk through small, tight spaces. This incentivized me to push through with the quests, even though I didn't find the story the most compelling, so I could travel further and gain more potential cooking ingredients. Plus, who doesn't want to transform into a magical black cat?

I did observe a few technical hiccups in Magical Delicacy. The first one was while playing using the controller, the map would regularly not load until I pressed the corresponding button several times. I noticed this would happen more often in the platforming areas as well, where you would most likely interact with the map, which is not ideal. The second issue was the game flat-out crashed on me when I fell off the edge of the map. Hopefully, these are things they can address with patches later, but it's worth noting if you intend to jump in on day one of release.

Overall, Magical Delicacy offers a cozy and relaxing experience that you can play at a leisurely pace, which makes it inclusive to all players, regardless of skill level. The cooking aspects are done incredibly well, and it creates an enticing gameplay loop where you want to keep making new dishes. However, the game was not ambitious enough with its centralized theme about witches, which had ample opportunities to introduce some fascinating mechanics but failed to capitalize on this, ultimately holding back the experience.

Magical Delicacy is available on the PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X, and the Nintendo Switch version launches on August 15, 2024.

The post Review: Magical Delicacy Fails to Carve Out a Unique Identity appeared first on Siliconera.