Hooray

Gameplay is a mix of action packed battles, metroidvania style exploration and puzzle solving, traversing a variety of environments, battling monsters and bosses as you seek to save the universe from destruction, switching between the three characters at various points in the story, moving back and forth between the different locations to open up new paths, solve previous puzzles and find hidden treasures. The game uses a mix of side scrolling and over the shoulder camera perspectives, the majority of gameplay takes place in the side scrolling view, with boss battles and large scale battles using the third person camera, there is also quick time events scattered throughout various parts of the story. When the player enters a room they may be “locked in”, this is where they are will face waves of enemies that will attack the player, once all enemies have been defeated the player may then progress. The combat system utilizes a mixture of three types attack, a special skill, powerful time bending abilities and a mechanic called flash, a dash skill that allows the player to avoid attacks with each use having to cool down. Each of the three characters can upgrade their skills using orbs collected from defeated enemies, completing missions and as rewards, the orbs can also be used to purchase items in the shop, unlock relics and level up character stats. Speaking of items and relics, the items that the player can use include potions, temporary boosts and exploration aids, the relics offer stat boosts that can be set into custom loadouts for each player, the stat boosts can be used to either increase a characters strengths or offset a characters weaknesses, this gives an additional level of depth to the way the player can customize their experience to fit their own play style. Since the game uses a metroidvania approach to the progression of the story there are points throughout the world where the player can save, manage relics, items, teleport and take on special challenges using the time shifting skills. Now with the details of gameplay out of the way it is time to talk about the downsides of AeternoBlade II. The 3D movement is a whole other issue, the camera seems to fight against the player while trying to control it, moving while trying to avoid attacks can obscure the players view, this is most prevalent during large scale battles against several enemies and boss battles, the camera can go out of bounds when too close to a wall which is a nuisance, one upside to the over the shoulder camera is the ability to lock onto the enemies, offsetting some of the camera difficulties. Controls for combat and movement are solid, with fluidity to them as the battles go on, there is a very little input lag when executing combo attacks and using the various skills, there can be some trouble during boss fights however as there is slowdown while playing in handheld mode, this is something that the developers are working on so hopefully it will be fixed in the near future. Visually AeternoBlade II is aesthetically pleasing, while not at the same resolution as the PS4 version the game still looks good on Nintendo Switch, the overall look is a mix between fantasy and anime, for an indie title it is very well polished, the environments have a lot of grandeur to them, the monsters and cast of characters are expertly animated, having a natural look to movement and are well designed with a lot of personality to them. The sound is a mixed bag, the soundtrack is done well with suspenseful atmospheric string based compositions, fantasy styled orchestral pieces and an opening piano theme with soft vocals layered over it. The sound effects used are effective with the clashing of blades having a nice impact during combat, voice acting is difficult to judge, again, being an independent release the quality of voice cast isn’t what you would expect from a big budget title but I feel it has its own charm to it. Overall, I enjoyed my time playing AeternoBlade II, there are flaws with the game but they aren’t significant enough for me to say the game isn’t worth playing, the camera issues take a little getting used to and will hopefully be addressed with an upcoming patch, the difficulty curve did have a level of frustration to it, but it wasn’t impossible and the lack of feedback through vibration/collision detection flaws did pull me out of the experience but I don’t see it as a deal breaker.

Those of you who have played the first game will instantly recognize the heroine, Freyja who returns for the lead role in AeternoBlade II. In AeternoBlade II, she ends up embarking on a journey to prevent the fate of time and space becoming the victim of a terrible event, however, she doesn’t do this alone and is joined by two other heroes, Bernard and Felix. While the overall story is ok for the most part, it is let down by some terrible voice acting, so terrible it’s like the actors are being forced to read it from a script. Unless you’ve played the first game the story is something that you’re probably not going to get. At its core, AeternoBlade II is a hack and slash platformer with plenty of enemies, puzzles and platforming moments. It’s similar in a way to Metroidvania with its exploration, combat, and puzzles. Throughout the story, you’ll find yourself switching between the three characters, each of whom has their own unique attacks meaning the combat doesn’t get boring too quickly. The biggest mechanic by far in this game is its time mechanic which allows each character to bend and manipulate time to aid in solving puzzles and beating bad guys. The time mechanic makes for some pretty challenging moments as you rack your brain trying to solve a puzzle or figure out the best way to take down an enemy. The time mechanics include things like being able to freeze time and recording time. Using your time mechanics costs mana, which is shown in the blue bar at the top of the screen. Mana replenishes slowly or can be replenished quicker by collecting blue balls of energy sometimes found on the ground or dropped by enemies. Puzzles within the game often have very clever solutions involving the use of the time-bending mechanics and will require you to make use of your environments and even enemies to get through the scenario. One puzzle, in particular, had me using levels to open gates, however, the gates very quickly shut once open meaning the only way I was going to get through them was to use my time recording ability and on the spot teleporting ability, which sounds easy at first but thanks to precise timing is a little bit harder. Combat is fairly straightforward with the general idea being that of hacking and slashing your way through enemies, although sometimes you will require the aid of your time-bending abilities to damage an enemy, which helps to liven things up a bit and again ensure the combat doesn’t go stale after a few hours. A complaint I do have is that some of the small ground-level enemies take far too long to defeat, one such example was a locked-in area where I had to take out two hovering wizards guys, some little dudes, some moles, and lastly a huge animal who was a copy and paste of a previous boss fight I had done and this battle took way over 5 minutes to complete, which is too long for an insignificant fight. AeternoBlade II features a load of boss fights and you’re not even two minutes in before you come across your first one. Each boss is quite challenging and requires different ways of thinking in order to bring down. Hacking and slashing is, of course, the main method but it’s very slow on its own and therefore you’ll need to work your time-bending abilities into the fights if you want to get them done quicker. Upgrading your characters and their abilities is key to surviving the challenges this game throws at you. Upgrades can be purchased at the same place you save the game, a place that pops up quite often. These save points also hide a hidden puzzle area that is unlockable by using the correct time ability. The puzzles are all quite different, although some are literally just rooms you enter, collect the item and leave, which seems like pretty lazy developing to me. When it comes to overall quality, it’s easy to see that this is a title that’s been made on a budget. Whilst levels look good and there’s plenty of details in the artwork, they’re mostly void of any real features. The game’s menu system looks bland and boring, whilst the font used for words like loading is just a typical stock font with no redeeming features. Then there’s the voice acting that I mentioned earlier, that’s just absolutely awful and similar in style to something you’d see a terrible wannabe actor attempting on a skit show. It’s so bad I often found myself laughing aloud, not because it’s funny, but because it’s just so damn awful. In conclusion, AeternoBlade II is a challenging game that is similar in many ways to Metroidvania. It’s time mechanic ensures some moments of awe as you realize just how much work the developers put into making sure the puzzles and time mechanics play nicely with each other. Combat is fluent and smooth, although I don’t care too much for ground-level enemy fights that drag out far too longer than they should.