Tecmo-Koei and Team Ninja released a new trailer for the Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection today. Appropriately titled “Action,” the trailer shows off the many techniques, weapons, and ninpo skills Ryu Hayabusa can use to cut a bloody swath through his enemies. As you’d expect from Ninja Gaiden, the action looks fast, smooth, and utterly brutal.

The collection remasters Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, and Ninja Gaiden: Razor’s Edge in 4K and at 60 FPS and includes most of the previously released digital content. While missing DLC is always a concern when companies tout their remasters as the definitive versions of the games they contain, Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection has a different problem. It collects the Sigma versions of the first two titles, not Ninja Gaiden Black or Ninja Gaiden 2, making the collection incomplete at best and worse versions of the aforementioned games at worst.

While Ninja Gaiden Black is widely considered the definitive version of the original game and one of the best action games ever made, the original Sigma isn’t a bad title. It just isn’t Ninja Gaiden Black. The larger problem comes from Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, which toned down Ninja Gaiden 2‘s much larger enemy count, replaced the game’s blood with purple mist, changes certain abilities, and even removes entire sections of levels and boss battles. Sigma 2 does run better because of the removal of enemies in certain sections and add additional playable characters with their own levels, but reception to these additions were mixed at best, and the Ninja Gaiden community generally regards Ninja Gaiden 2 as the superior release. It’s not a stretch to say that Ninja Gaiden 2 and Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 often feel like completely different games.

It’s unfortunate that the Master Collection won’t feature Black and Ninja Gaiden 2 (Team Ninja claims the original games weren’t salvageable, though there are examples of other studios reverse engineering games thought lost with time and effort), but what’s here does look good. If nothing else, it will give players who have never played the original releases a chance to experience the series. Fortunately, those who want to play Ninja Gaiden Black and Ninja Gaiden 2 still have options. Both games are backwards compatible on Xbox One X and Xbox Series X, and have received significant technical upgrades.

For everyone else, Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection releases on PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC on June 10th. You can check out the “Action” Trailer below, courtesy of Tecmo-Koei.

Despite its title, Nioh 2 is actually a prequel to the original game that begins in 1555 and focuses on the strife that consumed Japan for several decades during this time. You’ll run into historical figures as you progress through the game’s plot, like Nobunaga, and pal around with others (Toyotomi Hideyoshi), as you travel across the country to unlock the mystery of “spirit stones,” which contain supernatural power, and kill Yokai. Boy, do you kill a lot of Yokai. The historical setting and characters are a nice touch, but most of the story is pretty dull and driven by exposition dumps that are delivered by static portraits before missions. That’s fine, because you’re not coming to Nioh 2 for the plot. It’s sole purpose is to get you to the stuff that matters: the gameplay.

" In addition to the returning weapons from the original game, Nioh 2 also adds switchglaives, which transform into various forms offering different speeds and power, and the double hatchet, for a total of nine weapons."

Nioh 2’s core is its combat, and that combat is incredible. Most of what was in the original game carries over. There are several weapons types, all of which have different movesets. These weapons range from the standard sword to heavy axes, spears, twin swords, and everything in between. In addition to the returning weapons from the original game, Nioh 2 also adds switchglaives, which transform into various forms offering different speeds and power, and the double hatchet, for a total of nine weapons. You can also change how weapons work by switching your stance, each with its own benefits and drawbacks.

Low stance offers quick attacks and spin dodges that take little Ki, Nioh 2’s term for stamina. Medium stance is a defensive all-around stance with solid damage and a backstep, and high stance is an incredibly damaging, attack focused stance whose moves have high Ki costs and recovery times. Choosing the right stance, and managing the Ki cost of the moves you use, is incredibly important. If you overextend your attacks, block too many hits, or dodge too quickly, you’ll run out of Ki, leaving yourself winded and unable to move or defend yourself. In Nioh 2, that probably means you’re dead.

All of that sounds more or less like any game that borrows design elements from From Software’s Souls series, but Nioh adds a twist with the Ki pulse, which allows you to restore a certain amount of Ki quickly if you press a button at a specific point after an attack. It can also dispel pools of the Yokai Realm, which prevent your Ki from regenerating if you stand in them. Nailing your Ki pulses is essential, and it provides an enormous amount of depth to Nioh’s combat. You can Ki pulse and switch your stance at the same time, allowing you to continue attacking when you otherwise wouldn’t be able to. I often started off by attacking in medium stance. After I reached the end of my combo, I could Ki pulse and switch into low stance, do another combo, and then Ki pulse again while switching to high stance. Mastering this technique allows you to deal tremendous amounts of damage very quickly while making sure you still have enough Ki to dodge, block, and attack, and it’s essential to taking down Nioh 2’s enemies.

"What’s new is your character’s ability to transform into a Yokai. You see, Hide (the protagonist), is half-Yokai, which means he or she can use their abilities."

As you can imagine, choosing the right weapons for the job, and learning the ins and outs of what your chosen weapons do, is very important. Using a weapon builds familiarity with that weapon, which boosts its stats and makes it more valuable. Familiarity doesn’t carry over between weapons of the same type – maxing out one katana’s familiarity will not translate to the next katana you use – but using weapon types also grants skill points, which can be used to buy new attacks and abilities for specific weapons or in the game’s general skill trees. That said, your weapons aren’t your only tool. You also have Ninjutsu and magic, which do anything from buffing your weapons to providing new attacks. These also have their own skill trees to max out.

That’s the old stuff, and fans of the original game will feel every comfortable with it. What’s new is your character’s ability to transform into a Yokai. You see, Hide (the protagonist), is half-Yokai, which means he or she can use their abilities. The most obvious way this manifests is the Yokai Shift, in which your character transforms into one of three types of Yokai: Brute (strong and slow), Feral (fast and agile), or Phantom (magic). The type of Yokai you transform into is based on your Guardian Spirit, an ethereal animal companion who boosts your stats. You’re invulnerable in Yokai form, but that doesn’t mean you can stop thinking: using your attacks and getting hit drains the amount of time you can spend as a Yokai, and it’s an ability that recharges slowly, so you’ll want to be careful about deploying it.

Being half-Yokai also gives you access to Burst Counters, which operate much like a parry and change depending on your Yokai form. But there’s a trick: they only counter Burst Attacks. Each enemy in Nioh 2 has at least one Burst Attack, an enormously powerful move that covers them in a red aura that they can use at any time. These moves are terrifying. In most cases, they will kill you instantly. If they don’t, they will leave you on the ground, making you vulnerable to follow-up attacks. Burst Counters, when timed properly, allow you to beat these moves, dealing massive Ki and health damage. The trick is choosing the right one for the situation. The Brute Counter starts the slowest, but can power through just about anything; the Feral Burst Counter is a dash that’s great for countering moves where the enemy comes at you; and the Phantom counter is a traditional parry with an extremely fast start-up time.

"Burst Counters are inherently risky: mistiming them will often lead to your death, and they drain your anima gauge whether they work or not, but they also allow you to turn fights on their head and deal massive damage, especially to bosses."

Burst Counters are inherently risky: mistiming them will often lead to your death, and they drain your anima gauge whether they work or not, but they also allow you to turn fights on their head and deal massive damage, especially to bosses. Each properly timed Burst Counter is a victory and learning to use them properly is often necessary to progress, especially against the game’s bosses.

Your Yokai heritage also gives you the ability to equip Soul Cores, which are occasionally dropped by Yokai you defeat, and grant access to that Yokai’s powers. The Enki Soul Core, for instance, allows you to jump and throw a spear at your enemies, acting as a dodge and an attack in one, while he Yoki Soul Core transforms Hide into a monster than slams its opponents into the ground. Bosses also drop Soul Cores, and as the game goes on, their effects become more powerful, to the point that sometimes you simply call down a giant foot to stomp your enemies flat. Yokai abilities drain a substantial portion of your Anima gauge, which you also need for Burst Counters, and they have long recharge times, so they probably won’t win many fights for you, but they’re an extraordinarily powerful tool when used at the right moment.

If this sounds like a lot to take in, it is, and Nioh 2 will put your knowledge of all of it to the test. This game offers a ridiculous level of customization that begins during character creation and just never stops. The character creator is amazing, and you can thankfully you can recustomize everything about your character from the game’s menus later, but that level of freedom is present through the rest of the game, too. How you level up, what weapons you use, the Guardian Spirit you select, the skills you learn, and the Soul Cores you equip are all up to you.

"Nioh 2 is brutally hard. Dying not only loses your Amrita (experience), it also costs you any Soul Cores you haven’t taken to a Shrine yet, and your Guardian Spirit, who stays behind to guard everything, which means no Yokai Shift for you."

Nioh 2’s levels are equally diverse. Each is self-contained and sprawling, spanning mountainsides, caverns, villages, forests, castles, and often more than one. The game’s third level, for instance, starts outside a castle and descends into underground caverns. There’s reason to explore the levels, too, as there are small leafy spirits to find and return to the shrines, who can grant you blessings for a small fee. There are also hidden items and hot springs to discover. The most interesting twist is the Yokai Realm, which buffs Yokai abilities and Anima regeneration while you’re in it. The downside is that you regenerate Ki more slowly. Dispelling a Yokai Realm requires defeating the Yokai that rules it, and makes your path easier, and gives you plenty of loot, too.

The game’s sub-missions maintain this level of diversity, even if many of them reuse portions of main missions. Still, there’s enough little twists and tweaks that you’re always seeing something new. And all levels, whether part of the main story or not, are filled with new breeds of Yokai, all of whom are unique and dangerous. Conquering them takes practice and skill, and previous success is no guarantee of future victory. Something as simple as the space you’re in, and how much room you have, makes a huge difference. Through it all, Nioh 2 throws armor and weapons at you like candy, constantly rewarding you for your trouble. There’s so much of it, in fact, that it’s possible to spend 20 minutes in the game’s menus debating what items should be dismantled for parts, what should be offered at shrines for items and currency to buy elixirs, and what should be sacrificed to improve other items. It can be a bit tiring, but it’s necessary: you’re going to need all the help you can get.

Nioh 2 is brutally hard. Dying not only loses your Amrita (experience), it also costs you any Soul Cores you haven’t taken to a Shrine yet, and your Guardian Spirit, who stays behind to guard everything, which means no Yokai Shift for you. If you get back, everything’s fine. Fail, and everything – including anything you got on that second run – is gone. Your Guardian Spirit returns to you, and you start at the last shrine. Combine this in a game where almost every enemy has a move than can kill you in one hit (or come close to it), and you have an extraordinarily unforgiving game.

This is particularly true in the game’s boss fights, which require extended displays of perfection. Like all enemies, bosses have both Ki and health, and like all enemies, reducing a boss’ Ki to zero staggers them and makes them vulnerable to damaging attacks. Unlike other enemies, however, bosses enter the Yokai Realm once their Ki dissipates, which restores all of their Ki and powers them up. Killing a boss means reducing its Ki to zero, surviving long enough to leave the Yokai Realm, and then doing it all again until the boss dies. And like all enemies, bosses have Burst Attacks that can kill you in one hit. The addition of Burst Counters means that countering these moves helps you immensely, and after a while, you’ll begin to look forward to them. But you’re going to die a lot before you get to that point. Don’t get me wrong: Nioh’s bosses are visually incredible and can be a lot of fun to fight. But they can also be enormously frustrating, as can most aspects of the game.

" It is possible to bang your head against this game’s difficulty for hours and come up short. The key is to remember how much power you to have customize your experience. The worst thing you can do is refuse to change your strategy when it isn’t working."

There are ways to relax in Nioh 2 – you can forge new weapons, change your appearance and that of your weapons, customize your hut, and even start a tea collection – but this is a very, very hard game. It is possible to bang your head against this game’s difficulty for hours and come up short. The key is to remember how much power you to have customize your experience. The worst thing you can do is refuse to change your strategy when it isn’t working. For every frustration that Team Ninja threw at me, there was always something they gave me to beat it. Sometimes it was as simple as changing what weapon I used, and other times I had to change Guardian Spirits or level up. But I always had a way out. It was just on me to find out what it was.

How you respond to Nioh 2 will be entirely based on your ability to do that. The game’s story may be forgettable, but its action will keep you hooked, provided you can deal with the immense frustration of the game’s difficulty. There will be moments where you’ll feel like you can’t win. Eventually, though, you will, as long as you stick with it. Nioh 2 is worth that frustration – it’s a beautiful game with an insane amount of depth and customization – and it rewards dedication and skill like few other things on the market. You’ll often want to give up while playing it. But you’ll also want to come back. If you do, you’ll be rewarded. There’s also some new challenge to master. Don’t worry, though. If you conquer them all, there’s always New Game+. And that’s even harder.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.

The excellent Dragon Quest Builders 2, which launched earlier this year for PS4 and Nintendo Switch, will now be coming to PC, Square Enix officially announced today. This is good news because a) the original game was on PC, b) the more people get to play this charming game, the better, and c) a game like this is probably best suited to the PC audience anyway.

The game will be launching on PC via Steam on December 10, and will include all the DLC and additional in-game items the console versions have received since launch. Pre-ordering it now will also net you some nice exclusive in-game recipes.

So yes, if you haven’t had the chance to play this game yet, I do recommend it. It’s extremely good. Hopefully, the Jumbo demo that was launched for this game on the Switch is also brought over to PC, if only so that more people on the fence can be swayed by this game’s incredible charm and sense of quality.

We’re in quite the renaissance when it comes to action games as of late. Early next year will come the sequel to the Japanese mythology based Nioh. The game has a lot of multiplayer options, which you can read about through here, and today we got some screenshots to show off other aspects of the upcoming title.

The new screens show off some of the game’s eerie settings, all of which look ripped right out of the pages of that good old mythology we came to know and love from the first. One of the main criticisms of the first game was a lack of unique settings, so it looks like the developers trying to address it with Nioh 2. Mixed in with these are also a few screens of the character creator, which is looking to be quite extensive in the sequel.

Nioh 2 will release early next year for the PlayStation 4. For more screenshots that show off various enemies and weapons to give you a bigger picture of the game, go through here.

Earlier we got the announcement that the latest in the Warriors Orochi franchise, Warriors Orochi 4 Ultimate, will be launching at the end of the year (or beginning of the next if you’re gaming on PC). The game promises an upgraded experience to Warriors Orochi 4, and now we get our first look at the game with some new screenshots and concept art.

Japanese magazine/wesbite Famitsu has posted the first official preview of the game. There they detail the game’s new characters: Gaia, who is the original Goddess of creation, and Joan of Arc, the heroine based on the historical French figure. Along with them we got some screens showing off the game’s new magic system based around connecting your attacks with allies to create powerful attacks.

Warriors Orochi 4 Ultimate will release December for PlayStation 4 and Switch (and most likely Xbox One), and PC in February of next year. You can check all the screens and concept art below.

Dead or Alive 6, the latest installment in the long-running fighting series, came out to mostly positive reviews (you can read our take on the game here), but the Koei Tecmo-published and Team Ninja-developed title had a surprising omission in its base release with a lack of lobbies. They’re fixing that now with the newest 1.05 update, which is available now across all platforms.

The update is a small one, only a few megs big, but the lobby system is a big update for fighting fans jumping online to face off against veterans and newcomers to the franchise alike. For the PC version, there’s also a slight graphics optimization feature for online play.

The game is available now on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. The fighter also recently saw the release of a free-to-play version with Dead of Alive 6: Core Fighters across all three platforms, similar to the previous game in the series. You can get more info on the Core Fighters version of the fighter through here.

Tecmo Koei might have stumbled a bit with Dynasty Warriors lately, with Dynasty Warriors 9 disappointing earlier this year, but if the look of the latest entry to their crossover franchise Warriors Orochi 4 is any indication, the team is striking back hard with what the fans want. 4Gamer.net have released their hands on impressions with the game, and with it, lots of new footage and screenshots.

The numerous trailers show off a bit of gameplay with Gracia, Li Naotora, and Lu Xun, both individually, and also leveraging the character switch combo system and Co-Op Divine Arts. You can take a look at the videos and screenshots in question below. All said and done, it’s looking like Warriors Orochi 4 returns to the classic style of Warriors games, after Dynasty Warriors 9 fell flat on its face, according to Metacritic, and our own review.

Warriors Orochi 4 will launch on the PS4, PC and Nintendo Switch on September 27th in its homeland of Japan, and a while later in North America, to bring an Xbox One version out with the others on October 16, and then a few days after for Europe on October 19th. 

Koei Tecmo have confirmed that Warriors Orochi 4, their next hack and slash action game, will be launching in the west this October- to be specific, North America gets it on October 16, while European countries get it a teensy bit later, on October 19.

This might be one of the quickest turnarounds there has been between one of these musou styled games’ Japanese release, and their western one- Warriors Orochi 4 is launching in Japan on September 27, which means the western release is less than a month later. The Japanese release will be limited to only the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch versions, as compared to the western release, which includes PS4, Switch, Xbox One, and a PC release via Steam.

Warriors Orochi 4 is a hell of an all stars crossover, including 170 characters from Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors, so long time fans of the series should find a lot of fan service to their liking in this game. And for newcomers? Well, there is still a lot of content to sift through with this new game, if nothing else.

Yeah? Well, Hyrule Warriors is a little like that. Taking The Legend of Zelda and Dynasty Warriors and throwing them into a blender shouldn’t produce anything worthwhile. It damn sure shouldn’t produce a good game. But it does. This probably still shouldn’t be so shocking 4 years after the original game’s release date, but it is. For those with short memories, the original Hyrule Warriors released on the Wii U in 2014, and was later ported to the 3DS with additional content. The Definitive Edition brings together the original Wii U release, its DLC, all the added content from the 3DS version, and some extras, too.

"Hyrule Warriors takes the Dynasty Warriors base and adds a heaping helping of Zelda fanservice. The story conceives a way for multiple characters from all across the Zelda timeline to come together and take on a dark witch known as Cia."

There’s some new content here, but the appeal of the game is the same: you’re gonna play as some Zelda characters, and you’re gonna murder thousands of monsters. If you’ve never played Dynasty Warriors before, it’s a tactical action game, or musuo, that places you in command of an army and asks you to capture points on a map, known as keeps, and complete certain objectives. You’ll also control an exceptionally powerful hero capable of killing hundreds of normal soldiers at a time. You’re powerful enough to turn the tide of battle at any point on the map, but you can’t be everywhere at once, so you have to manage fighting the battle in front of you with managing the flow of the battlefield.

In general, the actual moment to moment gameplay in a Warriors game is pretty mindless, consisting of simple combos built around light and heavy attacks that will decimate pretty much everything around you. Managing the flow of battle and your objectives, which are often timed, isn’t, however, and this is where the strategy, and appeal of the musuo genre in general, comes in. Do you let a hero who is struggling fight alone for a little while longer so you can complete an optional objective, or rush to their side? Do you methodically clear every keep or focus only on the ones you need? How you play actively changes how the maps flow and how battles shake out, so you’ll want to keep on your toes and move quickly.

Hyrule Warriors takes this base and adds a heaping helping of Zelda fanservice. The story conceives a way for multiple characters from all across the Zelda timeline to come together and take on a dark witch known as Cia. Pretty much everyone you can think of is here – Link, Zelda, Ganondorf, Impa, Zant, Midna, Ruto, Shiek, Darunia, Ghirahim, the Skull Kid from Majora’s Mask – if you can name a recognizable character from the Zelda series, they’re probably in the game, along with a few original characters like the adorable Linkle (a female version of Link). Even Tingle makes an appearance.

"While Hyrule Warriors feels like a musuo game, it also understands what is expected of a Zelda game. Collectibles come in the form of Gold Skulltulas, which must be found on the map, and items from treasure chests come with the traditional Zelda animations and music."

Every character feels unique, despite the game’s limited options in gameplay. Impa’s enormous sword deals high damage and will cut through large groups of enemies with ease, while Zelda is quick and graceful and Link functions as a good all-arounder. Each character can wield multiple weapons, which adds to the variety; a Link toting the Master Sword is much different from one twirling a fire rod. Most importantly, all of the characters feel good, and the game goes out of its way to make them powerful.

Killing enemies and completing objectives rewards you with experience, better weapons, and new items for battle. Enemies also drop items that can be used to forge new equipment between scenarios. Essentially, you fight enemies to get stuff that makes you better at fighting enemies. While most games have systems like this, Hyrule Warriors keeps its systems simple and easy to use, so it never feels like work.

While Hyrule Warriors feels like a musuo game, it also understands what is expected of a Zelda game. Collectibles come in the form of Gold Skulltulas, which must be found on the map, and items from treasure chests come with the traditional Zelda animations and music. Even the levels feel similar, often requiring you to gain a new weapon, like a bow, boomerang, or bombs, to defeat a stage’s bosses and solve puzzles (and then rarely ever use it again). Even the story hits the traditional beats of a Zelda game. You can tell Omega Force but a lot of time and effort into getting the Zelda elements right, and their love for the source material positively radiates of the screen. Still, for all the trappings of Zelda, this is a Warriors game, and if you don’t like the genre, the Zelda theming is unlikely to change your mind.

" The biggest change is the addition of split-screen co-op. The Wii U version forced one player to use the TV and another to use the Gamepad if you wanted to play together, but the Switch version offers split-screen functionality whether docked on not, and allows co-operative play with only two Joy-Cons."

Like most Warriors games, this one is packed with content. There’s Legends Mode, which comprises the core story, Free Mode, which allows you to play unlocked scenarios with any character, Adventure Mode, which tasks you with completing objectives on a map from the original The Legend of Zelda, and Challenge Mode, which offers a boss rush scenario, among others. If you like what Hyrule Warriors offers, there’s no shortage of things to do.

Unfortunately, if you’ve played Hyrule Warriors before, there aren’t many reasons to upgrade, aside from any additional content you may have missed. The game looks and runs better than it did on Wii U, though it still won’t maintain a pristine framerate in crowded areas. The biggest change is the addition of split-screen co-op. The Wii U version forced one player to use the TV and another to use the Gamepad if you wanted to play together, but the Switch version offers split-screen functionality whether docked on not, and allows co-operative play with only two Joy-Cons. Bafflingly, there still isn’t any online functionality, but the addition of a proper split-screen mode is a huge addition for those who want to play with a friend.

Ultimately, how you feel about Hyrule Warriors will depend on two things: how you feel about musuo games in general, and how you’ll react to this odd marriage of Zelda and the Warriors series. It’s not for everyone, but if you can’t feel how odd it looks behind you, you might find yourself a in a relationship that you never knew you wanted… and one that doesn’t make sense to anyone else.

This game was reviewed on the Nintendo Switch.

The story is as low stakes as the previous titles in the series: Lydie and Suelle are twin sisters who live with their father in the capital city of their kingdom, running an atelier. However, the girls are inexperienced, and their father, who seems to be the eccentric artist type, isn’t much better, and their atelier isn’t doing all that well. The girls mostly have to fend for themselves (including making and managing money and feeding themselves), but they harbor a hope to have the best atelier in the kingdom- a hope founded in a promise they made to their mother, whose whereabouts are unknown.

The story unfolds from there along two convergent paths- one is when their kingdom institutes an atelier ranking system to invite more alchemists to it, which causes the girls to start making efforts to get better at what they do; the other is when they discover they can escape into paintings. Inside these paintings, they conveniently find more materials that they can use for their alchemy to achieve great results that otherwise seem to be out of their reach.

"The Atelier games have settled into an easygoing routine and formula by now, and they’re comfortable in just staying in their niche. As such, if the previous games were up your alley, so will this new one be. If the older games failed to win you over, Lydie & Suelle won’t convert you."

The story here, as I am sure you have realized, is quite different from other JRPGs, other RPGs, or really, any other story in games- rather than focusing on a central conflict where you have to come of age and save the world, or overcome some obstacle, this is a breezy and relaxed tale that keeps things mostly stress free. It’s a cheerful world with likeable characters, and it even acts as a stress buster after, say, a particularly intense bout of Fortnite or Monster Hunter.

As for those characters, they are, very largely, tropes- Lydie is the “older twin”, who’s meek, submissive, and doesn’t like confrontation, while Sue is the “younger” one, who’s vivacious, tomboyish, and mischievous. Apart from that, you have the absent minded father who can’t get his life together, the young prodigy, the childhood rival, and so on and on and on. The characters never truly grow beyond these archetypes, which can get grating, but at the very least, I can say that the tropes are done well- as long as you don’t hate stereotypes by definition, you might even like what is here for what it is.

The gameplay for the title here is similarly breezy and casual- you have turn based battles where you can use you standard attacks or your skills, with wrinkles thrown in thanks to a “positioning system”, where characters in battle pair up, with the front character acting as a wall, and the back character acting as support. It never actually gets too complicated, and the enemies never pose much of a challenge- really, the game’s battles are in keeping with the easygoing nature of the rest of it all- but battles make for a nice change of pace from the rest of it all, with slightly more engagement required than most of the rest of the game.

Other gameplay elements include alchemy (which involves gathering materials in the world and then throwing them together in a minigame to craft items), completing quests, and managing your time- because, as a slice of life game, Atelier Lydie and Suelle has a constant clock going on, and everything you do costs you time. Again, managing time never gets as stressful as it can in something like Persona, but it is an element to be mindful of.

"All these elements come together to create a rather open ended experience, giving players the option to decide how their story unfolds. In fact, there are are even multiple ending paths in the story, based on what you emphasize the most in your playthrough, which can potentially lead to more replayability."

All these elements come together to create a rather open ended experience, giving players the option to decide how their story unfolds. In fact, there are are even multiple ending paths in the story, based on what you emphasize the most in your playthrough, which can potentially lead to more replayability.

This apart, the game looks fine (although it’s a fair bit blurry, and graphics never go beyond looking merely acceptable), with voice acting that I honestly did not find too good. Now, it’s in Japanese (no option for English voices), so I might not be the best judge, but I’ve played a fair few games with Japanese voices previously, and none of them have ever grated on me like Atelier Lydie & Suelle, which sounds stereotypically anime, did. The actual localization isn’t the best, either, and I spotted some sentences that were oddly constructed- but, again, in a game like this, that’s splitting hairs.

On the other hand, the music here was probably the best of the “presentation elements”- again, it’s not spectacular, it’s not even very good. Most of it is fairly generic, but what it is is catchy, and for some tunes that you will be listening to for hours on end, that’s probably the best we can hope for (outside of demanding actually great music).

Atelier Lydie & Suelle is not a great game. I would hesitate to even necessarily call it a good one by conventional definitions, to be honest. What it is the most like is comfort food- there’s nothing it does particularly well, and you know there are loads of alternatives to it that are better in most regards. But there’s something soothing an comforting about booting this up and just engaging in a low stakes, stress-free story for some hours on end every day. Given how many incredible JRPGs the PS4 already has, this wouldn’t even be near the top of my recommendations for the genre on the platform- but if you’re looking for a nice, sweet game to relax with, you could do far worse than Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings.

This game was reviewed on PS4.