About a month ago, I released an article where I gave insights on a new game in which we were exclusively invited. If you want to breeze through that article, you may check it here. We were not able to experience the game personally but I can tell it will have a great storyline and top it off with superb art style.
I got so excited when I heard that finally, a console version demo is available. I have seen the beauty of it and to get actual experience is just an ice cream topper. The story begins with a young Crisbel who discovers her destiny through her faithful companion, Mattias the frog. As a Time Mage, she has the ability to see the past and a possible future. Upon discovering her powers, you will see a triangular view on the screen. The left vision side represents the past, the center shows you the present while the right vision shows you the possible future. I have never seen this kind of gameplay at all!
I will heavily emphasize that the future you are seeing are the many possibilities that can happen in the game. A feature of the game is the many branching storylines and this includes changing the very future of the people in the town. Crisbel is tasked to make these heavy decisions, would you save an Apothecary that could help a lot of potential people or save a family being homeless in the future? Not only decisions can have effects on the future but whatever you do at the present, ie. planting a tree will grow in the future and who knows – the fruit it bears might be rare and is a potential ingredient for a very useful potion.
You will also get to experience their battle mode but rather quickly on the story. You will only get to battle with Cristopher though, even if you already met with Wilhelm which is okay because you can do that in Colosseum mode. I’ll get to that later. Wilhelm is an interesting character, he is a Time Mage like Crisbel. He is definitely older as he talks like one, but because of his abilities, he looks like a child. I would really love to explore more both of Christopher and Willhelm’s backstories.
Battle mode is a turn-based event, you can parry and deflect enemy attacks when timed at the right time. I find this very challenging as new enemies will have different types of attacks. Timing it for the first time is not easy! Deflecting and to parry an attack lessens the damaging blow and it will come handy in not dying. We were able to observe that the powers of Crisbel can also be used during battle modes. It was briefly shown through during the closed media session where she can throw these monsters to the past or the future. This might be both advantageous if done right or deadly if you haven’t thought it through.
You will only be able to explore these battle possibilities in Colisseum mode, full three party members: Crisbel, Wilhelm, and Christopher take on a series of a series of eight wave battles. Each battle ending in a mini-boss fight. It will not be an easy fight as you go through the next stage, each enemy gets stronger dealing over 60 damage if not blocked. They will have a centralized set of potions for healing, mana, and revive and there’s only a few of them too. You will be in trouble if you run out of that, especially with the revive potion. Current health bar, mana, and crystal points for party members will also carry over to the next stage. It will be very difficult if one starts out with low health points in the next stage. That happened to me quite often too which made it difficult because I am now only left with one member to battle the mini-boss.
I had so much fun experimenting with Crisbel’s ability in this mode. Monsters on the left can be thrown to the past while monsters on the right side can be thrown to the future. This has a multitude of effects and the game won’t tell you that. You can only discover this yourself. They either will get stronger as a young wolf gets thrown in the future, making them deadlier. Mature goblins, when thrown to the future, makes them old which makes their damage lower and health points lower too. In addition to this exploration, you may throw in your teammate’s ability for added damage. You will probably make some mistakes, just like what I did. I threw in Wilhelms’s poison attack that damages enemies over time but accidentally activated Crisbel’s ability and threw it to the past. Therefore, the poison damage was removed since it wasn’t there before and I just wasted her Crystal Points. Not good, but hey! It is part of the learning process.
Ultimately the game will shower you with beautifully designed landscapes, intricately designed characters, and vivid colors palettes. The changing dynamics from past, present, and future is very smooth. Although at some scenes while going around the town, frame-rate may drop a bit but it’s hardly unnoticeable and very forgivable. Finishing the game in less than 30 minutes, it leaves you wanting more. Wanting more on learning more about this Empress character, what will now happen to the town once she leaves, and will she ever come back? Where were her parents since she grew up in an Orphanage? Obviously, I wanted to play more and the only way to do that is to get the copy on its released date, November 17.
Have you downloaded the game? What do you guys think? Comment down below!
