Imagine Fire Emblem going through its moody, emo phases and starting reading a lot of dark fantasy novels. In this turn-based tactical RPG from the developer of 2021’s excellent unnamed side-scrolling side-scrolling Ender Releases, you command his grumpy Ashen Hawk Brigade. Your job is to fight back against Mort, an army of mysterious and murderous humanoid demons who seem to only care about the constant slaughter of innocent people. So perhaps something needs to be done about it.
Admittedly, after playing through the first seven chapters, I didn’t quite understand the shape of the world or what the larger arc of the story was going to be. It served as an interesting question for me to answer, but it could also make the plot feel a little pointless. We were simply moving from village to village trying to solve small problems in the face of an all-consuming invasion. And maybe it’s intentional. But I wanted a clearer, longer-term goal.
The characters came across mostly like anime archetypes, rarely showing their hidden sides, or playing against surface-level traits to surprise me. enjoying. Urs is a beefy barbarian type with a stony demeanor. We get a few hints that our protagonist Sarah blames herself for her past failures in fighting Mort, which still haunts her. It’s only hinted at.
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However, all of these characters are enhanced by excellent English voice acting. Allegra Clark (aka Dorothea in Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Bloodhound from Apex Legends) voices intrepid archer Karren, and David Lodge (Jeralt in Three Houses and Igor in Persona 5) grumps over the aforementioned big boy Urs. give a nice tone. Directionality is also pretty strong overall. It sounds like a well-made big-budget anime dub, even if some of the lines are so tortured and melodramatic that it almost looks goofy.
road to redemption
Tactical combat takes a while to come together, but once the right pieces were in place, I really enjoyed it. most often pose a risk of counterattack. Therefore, maximizing the chances of being able to counterattack and preventing the enemy from doing the same is a major concern.A party that is within range of an enemy that has just attacked his members will not be able to do so if the enemy is completely surrounded. , there is also a chance to perform a chain attack. These are triggered by timed button prompts and add just a touch of reflex-based tension to the normally methodical battles.
In addition, characters can gain resolve from certain situations, such as taking damage, which gives them extra action points for that turn. Putting it all together, Redemption Reapers really rewards thinking each turn carefully and figuring out how to do the most damage while taking little to no damage yourself. Attacking and then defeating an enemy with a series of follow-up attacks is much more effective than simply trying to emerge victorious. may lead to their extinction. However, this bleak world is somewhat forgiving in such situations: there is no permadeath, and if the Reaper can finish the mission with one of him standing, it counts as a victory.
tactics
Between missions, you can stock up on equipment, upgrade it, and spend skill points. The weapon system is pretty similar to Fire Emblem: all swords, bows, and spears have a durability rating and can be expensive to repair, so keep your gear on even when you’re tackling every mission. Starter weapons tend to have high accuracy and durability, but low damage. The more advanced the weapon, the more damage it does, at the cost of less accuracy and durability. So the progression mostly follows the routine of upgrading someone’s weapon. But still, everyone is signing up for higher repair costs if they want to use the deadliest gear available. A layer of strategic tradeoffs.
Each character’s skill tree specializes in playing a specific role in combat, often against one or more other characters to create deadly combos. While the Urs is a great tank capable of dodging blows and punishing aggressive opponents, Sarah’s talents are focused on landing many hits without risking a counterattack. It took me a while to really figure out how to combine all these characters to overcome the toughest challenges, but it felt great when I achieved it.
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While you may still not be fully convinced by Redemption Reapers’ fairly generic dark fantasy setting and brooding stock characters, the interesting and rewarding tactical combat speaks for itself. I’ve only scratched the surface of the unfolding story, and it’s intriguing enough to make me want to know what’s hidden beneath the grimy surface. It does a great job of selling the overall mood and vibe when it’s easy to slip into edgelord territory. We can all catch up with Ashen Hawks and continue their journey next month. I guess.
