2 people found this review helpful
Recommended
11.4 hrs last two weeks / 1,160.5 hrs on record (29.4 hrs at review time)
Posted: 28 Feb, 2023 @ 7:50pm
Updated: 22 Nov, 2023 @ 1:39am

Beautiful art and animations, amazing soundtrack, and great characters. Gameplay-wise, it's a Project Moon game and you're here to suffer. The game has been growing like crazy, with the developers experimenting and actively responding to feedback, and while some of the experiments fell a bit short, the innovation has been real.

Updated 22 November

The combat system looks like it's a colour matching game. It is not a colour matching game. While the decision space is small (each character gets to pick from 2 attacks plus EGO special abilities, and you can only choose your targets in "focused" battles), those decisions can be quite complex. Will I have enough EGO resources for a special ability? Will I have something strong on my skill board to deal with whatever comes out next turn? Do I hold the powerful skill for a fragility combo on a later turn? In casual play, this isn't much of a concern, but the game's harder content (like Refraction Railway speedruns) will push you into theorycrafting, optimization, and considering each skill you pick.

Monetisation-wise, the game has a very generous energy system, in addition to a full refill (which can overfill) every time your account levels up, and losing missions gives you a near-complete or complete refund. The story and battle pass throw a significant amount of the game's currency at you, and the developers throw even more every time there's an update, maintenance, bug fix, or miscommunication. With the daily/weekly content alone, players can expect to get a 10-pull every week.

The game's standard-style pity system is a bit undercooked, but duplicate character rolls and clearing mirror dungeons (slay the spire-like sequences) give you shards which can be used to craft characters and EGO abilities. You get a lot of them. As in, at the end of Season 2, casual play left me with enough to craft at least 6 rare characters or EGO abilities. Playing this completely free to play is definitely a valid option, though free players will have to wait until after the end of a given season to be able to access its premium battle pass EGOs. So far, the only true "missables" have been cosmetic profile stickers, with every time-limited character and EGO being scheduled to come back at a later date (next season or next event). It's a nice change from the standard FOMO-driven slot machines.

With the recent UI overhauls, most of my criticisms of this game have been addressed. The story and music are also incredible in the standard Project Moon style, with excellent gameplay and story integration to boot.

I Vroom-Vroom for fun/10
Shrenne/2
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