Close Menu
Sirus Gaming
    • News Stories
    • Features
    • Reviews
    • Previews
    • Guide
    • Review Policy
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
    What's New in Sirus?

    The Legendary Awakens – Lineage2M Officially Launches Today in Southeast Asia!

    May 20, 2025

    Super Robot Wars Y Livestream Reveals Stunning Gameplay Info & More

    May 20, 2025

    Trails in The Sky 1st Chapter Opening Scene Trailer

    May 16, 2025
    Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube
    Sirus Gaming
    Sirus Gaming
    PS4 Reviews

    Effie – Review

    By Robert EncisoJune 24, 20195 Mins Read
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    When you think about PS4 games, what comes into your mind are high-end, action-packed or amazing graphics that take your breath away. Often times we forget the simplest games are the ones that have the highest replayability with minimal mechanics. One such simple game I want to highlight are platformers. Platformers equip you with nothing but your wits and creativity, rewarding you for finding creative ways to overcome the obstacles.

    Effie is a 3D platformer set in a world of magic. The game opens up with an old man with his niece, the old man offers to tell a story about Galand, a young man who was born with great strength but was incredibly lazy. One day when a woman was seeking help from him, he turned her away, that’s when the woman revealed herself to be an evil witch and cursed him by turning him into an old man. Galand now seeks to remove the curse by traversing a mountain to reach the Elder Protectors, where according to an old Master he sought out, could return to him the youth he lost. Upon reaching the temple, the Elder Protectors task you with saving the world of Olderon.

    Storywise, the game pushes the child-friendly franchise a bit too much with how almost every interaction you do is followed by a narrator or everything shown to you is either through a short cutscene and then a narrative. This happens too often and it honestly feels tiring to listen to. The game is filled with so many cliches that you’d probably want to skip through the cutscene entirely, but you can’t because they have unskippable cutscenes. You just sit there listening to the most cliche lines told by characters with generic hero tropes. There’s nothing memorable about any of the characters as they are just placeholders for symbolism and moral guidance, the characteristics, or lack thereof, are barren and you can pretty much guess how the story will play out with the amount of narrative the cutscenes give to you.

    World building is very cheap, everything’s already set in stone with no context on what happened before or after and the characters go along with it as if it were normal to them. Exploring is very limited, they designed it to be open world but nothing much was added to catch your attention to stray away from the main story. There are only a few sidequests or collectibles you can find which doesn’t amount to much when you’re at the final boss since you can’t use any of them in combat.

    The puzzles in the game don’t pose much of a challenge, they spread out hints here and there but you can pretty much wing them without having to backtrack. I was able to wing all of the puzzles with little to no thought. The most amount of time I spent on a single puzzle area was around two minutes. They added hints, such as audio cues, when you do something right which completely eliminates any sense of accomplishment when you complete a “difficult” looking puzzle.

    Combat is very lackluster, you fight the same enemies with the same moves and cheap gimmicks. You can spam the special attacks and not get punished for it. Very inconsistent when it comes to hitting enemies, sometimes your attacks track towards them but you’ll always go beyond them and end up getting hit. Boss fights are much worse than the mob combat since you don’t actually hit the enemy but rather platform your way to the next objective in order to lower their health. Aside from the enemies, your attack moves are nothing special as well.

    Musical composition is not good but not bad either, it sets the atmosphere for the level appropriately. The voice acting didn’t feel all that entertaining or engaging. In the end, they were basically textbook characters after all. There isn’t much to comment about on this side because there’s really nothing special about it. 

    Overall, the game is geared towards a child-friendly audience with their colorful world, simple looking character designs and easy to follow storyline. However, in doing so the story lacks any actual depth and by using long and unskippable narratives, the gameplay aspect is defeated. If you were to remove the gameplay and just played the cutscenes, you’d still be able to understand the story of the game. The storyline is so linear that you can pretty much guess the ending from the opening cutscene alone. However, the platformer aspect is decent. They managed to recreate the feeling of being able to use ledges and destructible boxes to stand on and use your resourcefulness to avoid dangerous situations or skip a section. With how easy some of the puzzles are, you could potentially speedrun this game if you progress just with the main story.

    Disclosure: This review is based on a review code provided by Inverge Studios. Read our review policy to know how we go with our game reviews.
    Tested on: PS4

    Score Definition
    We want to emphasize that 5 will always be the “average” number, not 7. So by far, it’s 50% great and it’s also 50% bad.
    Pros
    3D platformer encourages creativity and resourcefulness
    Cons
    Storyline is linear
    Open world map is empty
    Combat is very clunky and inconsistent
    Puzzles are vague with minimal hints
    Forgettable characters
    5
    Average
    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    Robert Enciso

    Likes to play games with deep storylines and character development. Puzzle games as a side hobby.

    Related Posts

    The Legendary Awakens – Lineage2M Officially Launches Today in Southeast Asia!

    May 20, 2025

    Super Robot Wars Y Livestream Reveals Stunning Gameplay Info & More

    May 20, 2025

    Trails in The Sky 1st Chapter Opening Scene Trailer

    May 16, 2025
    Sirus Exclusives
    Onimusha 2 Samurai's Destiny First Impressions Featured Image

    Onimusha 2 Samurai’s Destiny – Hands-On Impressions

    April 22, 2025

    5 Animes Making Their Debut In Super Robot Wars Y

    April 22, 2025

    10 Mecha Animes That Should Be Added in Super Robot Wars Y

    April 15, 2025
    R.E.P.O. Early Access Review Featured Image

    R.E.P.O – Early Access Review

    April 9, 2025
    About Us
    About Us

    Sirus Gaming is a team of passionate gamers delivering the latest news, reviews, and insights on the gaming industry.

    Find us on OpenCritic, and we're proud to have been a voting jury in The Game Awards since 2022.

    Contact us: [email protected]

    Check Our Reviews
    9

    DOOM: The Dark Ages – Review

    May 9, 2025
    Revenge-of-the-Savage-Planet-featured
    8

    Revenge of the Savage Planet – Review

    May 5, 2025
    Clair Obscur_Expedition 33 Review Featured Image
    10

    Clair Obscur Expedition 33 – Review

    April 23, 2025
    Exclusive Content
    Onimusha 2 Samurai's Destiny First Impressions Featured Image

    Onimusha 2 Samurai’s Destiny – Hands-On Impressions

    April 22, 2025

    5 Animes Making Their Debut In Super Robot Wars Y

    April 22, 2025

    10 Mecha Animes That Should Be Added in Super Robot Wars Y

    April 15, 2025
    Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube
    • Privacy Policy
    • Review Policy
    • Contact
    © 2025 Sirus Gaming. Designed by Sirus Media Digital.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.