Reynatis takes place in Tokyo’s Shibuya district. Melding fantasy and the real world, the game’s setting has the citizens of Shibuya being afraid of magic, which leads to those that can actually use magic having to keep their abilities hidden from the public at large at the risk of being oppressed.

The game revolves around wizard Marin and MEA officer Sari, who works for an organisation that keeps wizards under control. The game will have players explore Shibuya while trying to keep their magic abilities hidden from the public. Much like any RPG, it will feature plenty of side quests to partake in, as well as shops where new equipment can be acquired.

Reynatis places an emphasis on its stylish action, featuring two distinct states that players can use—Liberated and Suppressed. While Liberated, players can go all out with their magical abilities while fighting enemies, while Suppressed state means that players can’t attack, instead being forced to avoid enemy attacks.

Monark is set in Shin Mikado Academy, an ordinary high school stuck in extraordinary circumstances. An ethereal barrier surrounds the school, preventing anyone from going in or out, while a mysterious mist enveloping the area is slowly driving everyone within it insane. It falls to you, an amnesiac student, to dive into the daeomic realm known as the Otherworld, figure out what’s causing this whole mess, and then put things right.

It’s an engaging narrative premise, for which Monark deserves a lot of credit. Unsurprisingly for a game made by former Megami Tensei devs, the story here can often get deeply philosophical, and the emphasis it places on its theme is an overriding defining trait of the entire experience. That’s often let down by the writing, which can feel a bit too on-the-nose and ham-fisted at times, while the voice acting is also wildly inconsistent, but there’s more than enough to Monark’s story to keep you engaged for as long as you can put up with its gameplay.

"More often than not, Monark feels like a half-baked experience, one that could have done so much more with many of its genuinely intriguing gameplay ideas if it had been thought out better and polished up a little bit more."

I say “put up with it”, because there’s so much about the game that will feel actively hostile one way or another, either because of mind-numbing repetition or just poor design decisions. Monark’s larger structure sees you going from one building of the school to next to clear it of the fog that envelops it by defeating the Pactbreaker presiding over that area, and conceptually, it’s a task fraught with risk and tension. Spending too much time in the mist will drive up your insanity meter, and when it reaches its maximum limit, it’ll be game over- except it’s hardly anything more than a minor inconvenience, because when you restart, you can just fast travel back to a checkpoint that’ll put your pretty close to where you were before.

It doesn’t help that the actual act of exploring quickly gets boring. Outside of combat, the bulk of the game focuses on meeting with students, learning more about them, and then using that knowledge to solve puzzles- only the puzzles range from being ridiculously easy and requiring little to no engagement to being frustratingly opaque and blocking progress for far longer than they need to. The environments that you explore all quickly blend into each other as well, because there’s nothing visually interesting going on in most of them- it’s all just a collection of desks, hallways, and classrooms. It’s a shame that the game’s level design doesn’t show nearly as much ambition as its story does, leading to frustratingly repetitive structuring and gameplay.

Combat, on the other hand, does have some redeeming qualities. Blending a tactical turn-based JRPG system with free movement, Monark’s combat makes use of its Madness mechanics in interesting ways, and that, combined with things such as your positioning, your party members, and more can lead to some surprisingly complex and intriguing battle mechanics. Sadly, this is another area that is let down by other significant deficiencies.

"The environments that you explore all quickly blend into each other as well, because there’s nothing visually interesting going on in most of them- it’s all just a collection of desks, hallways, and classrooms. It’s a shame that the game’s level design doesn’t show nearly as much ambition as its story does, leading to frustratingly repetitive structuring and gameplay."

For starters, the enemy variety here is abysmal. More often than not, you’ll be fighting the same (or similar) skeletal enemies again and again, and that repetition quickly rubs the appeal off of Monark’s combat systems. More importantly, and more egregiously, this is a ridiculously grindy game. You level your characters up using a currency known as Spirit, which you get at the end of every battle, but you don’t have a fixed party in Monark, which means you’ll often be wasting Spirit on characters who’re not going to stick around for long anyway.

Worse still is the fact that often these new characters that temporarily join your party are severely under-leveled, which means you’re pretty much forced to grind and bring them up to a respectable level. Repetition is an overriding theme for much of the experience, as you may have gathered by now, and that excessive reliance on grinding is something else that adds to that. Again, it’s a real shame, because on a mechanical level, there’s a lot to like about Monark’s combat system- it’s just never allowed to flourish the way it should have been.

Monark’s issues are egregious no matter how you look at them, but they feel doubly so because on paper, there’s a lot to like here. The way the game uses its seemingly typical Japanese high school setting and blends it with its philosophical bent is very reminiscent of the Shin Megami Tensei games, but even more impressive is how it sprinkles in elements of psychological horror throughout the experience. The first few times you’re traversing through the fog, it feels genuinely unsettling. Your initial encounters with students who’re slowly losing their minds are creepy in all the right ways, and the palpable dread of not knowing what awaits around the corner, all while your own insanity slowly creeps up, makes up for a very unique vibe that we don’t get enough of in this genre. Sadly, it all falls apart as you get deeper into the experience.

"Your initial encounters with students who’re slowly losing their minds are creepy in all the right ways, and the palpable dread of not knowing what awaits around the corner, all while your own insanity slowly creeps up, makes up for a very unique vibe that we don’t get enough of in this genre. Sadly, it all falls apart as you get deeper into the experience."

If Monark had been in development a little longer, it could have turned into something special. Better design could have made the environments more varied, the exploration more interesting, and the puzzles more engaging. More time to work on the game could have allowed the developers to add more variety to the game’s battles with more interesting enemies that actually compel you to use the complex mechanics the way they ought to be. And just plain smarter design decisions could have significantly cut back on the grinding, which artificially pads out the experience’s runtime to an almost ridiculous degree.

As it stands right now, this is a game that seems impressive when you read or hear about it, but falls flat when you actually get down to playing it. Monark has a lot of great ideas, but ideas are only one half of any gaming experience- the execution is just as important, and often even more so, and unfortunately, Monark’s execution is inconsistent at best, and frustratingly bad at worst.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

Monark launched in Japan in October of last year, and will soon be releasing in the West as well- ahead of that, publisher NIS America has released a launch trailer for the game, giving a brief glimpse of the game’s combat, gameplay, and visual style, while setting up its story a school setting. There’s some emphasis placed on “madness”, which seems to be as important as a gameplay mechanic as it is as a part of the story. Those who enjoy games like Shin Megami Tensei and Persona might find something interesting here. Check out the trailer below.

Monark will launch on February 22 for PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

Along with being introduced to Shin Mikado Academy, players will also determine their Ego, engage in battles with Daemons in the Otherworld and much more. With a strange fog engulfing the school and driving its students mad, it’s up to the you and your companions to defeat the Pactbearers and restore order. Forging pacts with and commanding Fiends is key but one can also choose a “buddy” that has their own unique story route throughout the game.

Monark is out on February 22nd for PS4, PS5, PC and Nintendo Switch worldwide. To learn more about the combat, how “madness” works and much more, head here.

Set in Shin Mikado Academy, which is under siege by a strange Mist, the player is adorned with the Authority of Vanity and must fight back. Along with various companions, they can venture to the Otherworld and battle the Daemons within. Much like Shin Megami Tensei, the protagonist can make contracts with and command Fiends.

Another interesting feature is Ego which is dependent on the seven desires. Depending on the choices made and which desire the player strengthens, they can change the abilities and appearance of their Fiends. Stay tuned for more details on Monark in the coming months.

As the wielder of the Authority of Vanity, the player – along with four other characters – forms the True Student Council to combat the Mist. Exploring the Mist can be dangerous though as it causes your MAD Gauge to increase (in-battle, this causes your character to go berserk). Along with other humans, the player also commands different Fiends, much like Shin Megami Tensei.

By experiencing different events and exploring, one can strengthen their seven desires, causing the Fiends to become stronger. Monark is currently slated to release on October 14th for PC, PS4 and Nintendo Switch in Japan. It releases in early 2022 for the West which will also receive a PC version via Steam. Stay tuned for more details in the meantime.

Taking place in Shin Mikado Academy where a strange Mist, Pactbearers with Daemonic powers and other phenomena threaten to take hold, the player inherits the Authority of Vanity. Together with four other companions, the True Student Council is formed in order to bring order to things. Using your Authority in combat will provide power but at the risk of raising one’s MAD Gauge which can cause you to go berserk in combat.

With six characters to control, combat relies on superior positioning and combos. You can also wield Fiends of different types based on the seven different desires. In the day-to-day exploration, the player has to manage these desires (comprised of Pride, Wrath, Envy et al) which will develop based on their decisions. As your Ego becomes stronger, so too can your fiends.

Monark is out on October 14th in Japan for PS4, PS5 and PC. Stay tuned for more details on its English release in the coming months.

The protagonist (voiced by Gakuto Kajiwara) joins the True Student Council as its deputy head and to resolve various strange situations in his school. Along with a stuffed rabbit (voiced by Shigeru Chiba), the player can choose from one of four characters to act as a “buddy.” Each buddy has a different route and there are multiple endings to unlock. Shared routes can be skipped when replaying with a different buddy.

The combat system is command-based and has free move turns with “madness” being the core stat. Increased madness offers stronger skills but could make you go berserk and hard to control (along with lashing out at friends). Based on one’s choices, the EGO system will determine the different levels of pride, wrath, gluttony, sloth etc. Like Shin Megami Tensei, you can recruit demons as your underlings while customizing their appearance and voices.

In an interview with Famitsu, it was revealed that there were stories for 100 students and about 40 songs. How this will play out in the main story remains to be seen. Monark will see its debut trailer and background music introduction video debut at 8 PM PST today so stay tuned for more details.

Thankfully, The Legend of Legacy, with its (albeit redundant) catchy title, and its striking visual look, instantly commands your attention. The game’s gorgeous pop up artstyle, its old school JRPG gameplay, and its entire tone seem to channel the classic, legendary JRPGs of the SNES and PlayStation eras. In a lot of ways, The Legend of Legacy seems to be a lot like Bravely Default- a modernization and re-interpretation of classic JRPGs with current market expectations and standards in mind. It lives up to that billing quite a bit, too- while The Legend of Legacy is definitely not as essential a title as Bravely Default was, it makes for the perfect old school JRPG experience for the RPG fan on the Nintendo 3DS.

"While The Legend of Legacy is definitely not as essential a title as Bravely Default was, it makes for the perfect old school JRPG experience for the RPG fan on the Nintendo 3DS."

The Legend of Legacy is very light on the story- a brief bit of exposition at the beginning sets the stage for you to find your way to the island where the entire story takes place. The game actually presents you with various different ‘origin’ stories that you can pick from at the beginning, which are tied to your choice of starting character- and depending on which character you pick, your reasons for being at the island can range from trying to find God, trying to take out blaspheming impersonators, or simply trying to find treasure. The reasons really don’t matter- particularly since they are paid lip service to once, and they then recede to the background. It’s a bit of a lost opportunity- unlike, say, Dragon Age: Origins, which had a similar offering of different origin stories based on which character you picked to start with, The Legend of Legacy seems to play largely the same no matter who you pick. It feels like a bit of a missed chance.

The entire game’s story is actually fairly minimal- once you get to the island, it just gets out of the way, leaving you to explore the map, trying to find loot and treasures, and defeating monsters while taking on quests. The idea seems to be to give you minimal motivation to get going, and then letting the gameplay sustain your interest in the game.

It helps, then, that the game plays well. The obvious 16-bit and 32-bit JRPG influences on The Legend of Legacy are apparent from the get go- you still heal at inns (which is also where you save), battles are still turn based, and defeating monsters and investigating points of interest on the self populating map still gives you loot.

The twist here is in how these specific aspects actually play- The Legend of Legacy’s development was actually helmed by the legendary Kyoji Koizumi (of SaGa fame), so it makes sense that there would be a unique hook to it all. That hook is immediately apparent once the training wheels are off, and you start battling creatures in the forest that forms the first dungeon of the game- right off the bat, you are asked to pick a formation, and your formation determines the ‘stance’ of your party members- an attacking formation leads to higher damage on the enemy, for example, but it leaves them vulnerable to taking more damage themselves. A defensive formation minimizes damage taken, but also damage given. Support formations prioritize healing.

"It can be a lot to keep track of, and the temptation is just to button mash your way to victory."

Once you pick your formation, you actually perform your action for the turn, where you can attack with your primary weapon, a secondary weapon, use an equipped item, or use ‘Elementals.’ Elementals are the basis for this game’s magic system- in context of the game’s lore, whatever there is of it, they are entities, each affiliated with a different element (big surprise), that you forge a contract with, for different effects. You need to equip specific items and forge specific contracts to be able to utilize different element skills, and each element also has some passive effects. For instance, the Water Element heals you at the end of each turn. Elements and their effects get stronger the more of them are shown on the meter on the bottom screen (which has a chart with a cursor indicating the relative strength of each element on your party’s side in battle).

It’s a highly complex system, and it can be a while before you fully grasp it. Adding to the complexity is the actual leveling system, where your characters, in addition to having an overall character level, seem to have different stats that grow at the end of battles, based on what actions you performed in battle. It can be a lot to keep track of, and the temptation is just to button mash your way to victory. Stick with it, however, and try to understand the nuance and complexity of the systems, and you are left with a very rewarding JRPG.

The issue is that the game does make it hard for you to want to stick with it- the lack of a framing narrative context hurts the game, the lack of proper tutorials harms an understanding of the game’s mechanics, and together, the two can be absolutely discouraging to inducing further investment in the title. It’s a similar issue to what Atlus’ Etrian Odyssey games have faced until the release of Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold, or Capcom’s Monster Hunter games until Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate released earlier this year- no story and no tutorials coupled with unusual and nuanced mechanics do not encourage a player to keep playing.

"The Legend of Legacy does a great job of channeling old school JRPGs, while also adding its own nuanced twists to the old school turn based RPG formula."

That said, if you stick with the game, with the foreknowledge that it is rewarding, then yes, you get one of the more rewarding JRPGs on the system. The Legend of Legacy at least benefits from an old school charm that makes you want to give it a chance more than you would otherwise- the game looks gorgeous with a charming artstyle, resembling a popup book that immediately commands your attention. Its soundtrack sounds like something right out of an SNES JRPG, and the game’s no nonsense approach towards its storytelling certainly evokes a much simpler era. The fact that the game makes concessions to modern standards – battles are not random, but rather monsters show up on the screen, allowing you the chance to escape – is great, although some baffling aspects remain- why, for example, can you only save at an inn? A very forgiving quicksave system is in place, yes, but a hard save available anywhere would be preferable. Also bizarre is the game throwing you back to the entrance of a dungeon if you try to escape the battle- it disincentivizes escaping pointless battles, and means you have to sit through them. There is an A key to speed up the animations, but it would be much better if I could just escape and not lose my place in the dungeon.

The Legend of Legacy does a great job of channeling old school JRPGs, while also adding its own nuanced twists to the old school turn based RPG formula. There is a lot here that could be better, but sticking with the game reveals a great, satisfying title that rewards your patience. It may not be for everyone, but for those who understand it, The Legend of Legacy is truly a legacy of the legends.

This game was reviewed on Nintendo 3DS.

The localisation duties were carried by XSEED and it was released in North America on June 26, 2012 for the PSP, also published by XSEED.

The game is a tactical turn-based dungeon crawler and is something that can be termed as a pure JRPG.

The 3DS version was released on June 3, 2013 and is the same game without any changes. The game is supposed to have a greater emphasis on story and features a lot of characters.

The game features massive Titans and the world is inhabited by mythical beings. Unchained Blades Exiv is the sequel to the game and has been released for the PSP and 3DS on November 29, 2012 in Japan.

• 1. Development
• 2. Story
• 3. Gameplay
• 4. Characters

Development

The game contains character designs from 14 celebrated artists, including Pako (Shining series), Toshiyuki Kubooka (Lunar series), Kumichi Yoshizuki (Someday’s Dreamers), Shinichiro Otsuka (Summon Night), Sunaho Tobe (Hexyz Force) and Kazushi Hagiwara (Bastard!!), Unchained Blades has a diverse set of character designs unlike any other game.

Core Team of Experienced Game CreatorsWith Takashi Hino (Grandia) as the scenario designer, Toshio Akashi (Lunar) as the director, and a soundtrack composed by acclaimed game music arranger Tsutomu Narita (Xenoblade Chronicles) with Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy) contributing the theme song, development was entrusted to the hands of industry veterans.

The 3DS version features stereoscopic 3D and it’s the only version which has that. The PSP and 3DS versions are virutally identical except the 3D part but that has more to do with system features.

On PSP you can toggle a map overlay to show up on the center of the screen or as a mini-map. The Nintendo 3DS version has the map on the bottom screen. [reference]

The game was localized by XSEED and was released for the PSP on June 26, 2012 in Japan.

Story

In a world inhabited by mythical beings, where colossal labyrinths called Titans tower over the land, there’s a legend that any being who can approach the sky shall have a single wish granted. A powerful and self-absorbed dragon named Fang aims for those heights and learn the name of the strongest monster in the world.

His drive to find and kill this ultimate opponent and firmly establish himself as the dominant monster of the land is mighty enough its enemies, but his boldness is also his undoing.

Bereft of the power he once wielded as the Dragon Emperor, Fang must now adjust to surviving in a far weaker body as he navigates the dangerous mazes of halls in his quest for revenge upon the creator herself.

Gameplay

You can journeying through grid-based dungeons in first-person view while fighting over 180 varieties of monsters in classic turn-based battle. The game is said to have over 60 hours of gameplay.

The game features all new voice-overs. A tale of exacting revenge by an arrogant dragon on its enemies that stole his power is brought to life with all-new English voice-overs.

Supporting characters such as a golem, medusa, and phoenix each have their own default attributes, but additional skills are customizable by allocating growth points to their individual Skill Maps to determine which growth path and abilities to pursue. [reference]

Characters