Developer: Brownies Inc.
Publisher: Brownies Inc.
Platform: Switch
Tested on: Switch
EGGLIA Rebirth – Review
A couple of years ago, Shinichi Kameoka, whom you may know from his work on Square Enix’ Mana series as well as being Mother 3’s producer, decided to set up his own development studio, Brownies Inc.. The studio’s first game, EGGLIA: Legend of the Redcap Offline saw release on mobile devices back in 2018 and is now getting a new lease on life in the form of EGGLIA: Rebirth on the Switch. This reworked version of the mobile title certainly looks appealing with its Mana-esque visuals, but there is a distinct difference in expectations between mobile titles and console games of course. Did EGGLIA survive the jump from one platform to another unscathed? Read on to find out.
Story
Our story starts out with a cutscene that sees the game’s protagonist, a so-called Redcap, being found by Robin and her faerie companion Marigold. The pair is afraid of our hero at first, as Redcaps are typically an aggressive race prone to violent outbursts. As it turns out, however, the hero’s suffering from amnesia and he’s also lost his horns, which are what cause the Redcaps violent nature in the first place. With a new seemingly harmless Redcap in her company, Robin quickly forms a plan. She’s been tasked with restoring the land of Egglia to its former glory after it was destroyed by war. Parts of Egglia have been sealed away in ‘niebel eggs’ and as it turns out, Redcaps are capable of breaking the magical seals on these eggs. Together with their new amnesiac friend, Robin and Marigold set out to track down every egg and rebuild Egglia. Of course, that’s easier said than done and an epic journey awaits, filled with dangerous enemies, quirky NPCs, and a plethora of side stories.
Graphics
We were hit by a feeling of familiarity when we first saw EGGLIA Rebirth’s trailer, as the game’s art style reminded us of the aesthetics of the Mana series. It turned out we were very right, as the artists that worked on bringing this game to life also worked on this very series. The lovely sprite art and pastel colors utilized are timeless, and the game looks absolutely gorgeous, with fantastic character designs and lush environments. The game isn’t too taxing on the Switch either and performance is buttery smooth.
Sound
It’s not just visually that EGGLIA Rebirth resembles the Mana series, as the music sounds like it could have come straight from Square Enix’ games as well. The catchy tunes fit the overall atmosphere well, though they aren’t particularly memorable. Sound effects are alright but generic and the game lacks voice acting. Overall, EGGLIA Rebirth’s soundscape is fine for what it is but nothing special.
Gameplay
Despite the game’s aesthetics being firmly rooted in the Mana series, EGGLIA Rebirth’s fantasy RPG gameplay is far more simplistic than what we’ve gotten with its more famous cousin. This is of course for a large part because the game was originally designed as a smartphone title, and then reworked for the Switch port, hence the Rebirth in the title. Alongside the full version of the game as it appeared on smartphones, new content was also added to further flesh out the experience. The game combines elements of a dungeon-crawling RPG with resource management and sim-like town construction.
Brownies put an interesting twist on the dungeon crawling experience we’ve come to know and love from Square Enix’s outings. The “dungeons” take on the forms of the aforementioned niebel eggs, which are cracked open to reveal new parts of Egglia, which you can then explore to progress both the story and to obtain more resources. Dungeon exploring takes on the form of a board game, and seeing how far you can move during a turn involves rolling dice. There is a set turn limit, and dungeons get increasingly more difficult to navigate within that limit, which means that even if you’re going in well prepared, a few bad dice rolls can still screw you over. We’re not quite sure whether this is a good mechanic, as while it does keep you on your toes at all times and makes the game challenging, it can also feel unfair at times. If the time limit runs out, an unbeatable monster shows up which takes you out with a single blow, meaning game over.
The core experience lies in these dungeons of course, but EGGLIA Rebirth also features a surprisingly deep town management system in between your dungeon crawls. Resources that you gather in the dungeons can be used to upgrade your town, drawing more NPCs. These will subsequently provide you with sidequests that you can complete to deepen your ‘friendship’ as well as unlock further ways to improve your town. Eventually, you’ll be able to summon spirits by cooking up dishes with ingredients you obtain both in dungeons and in town. These spirits can accompany you on dungeon crawls, aiding you both in combat and with gathering more resources.
The game is very cyclical in nature and feels like a grind quite often. This is by design, as it wasn’t intended to be played during lengthy sessions but instead as a mobile game that you pick up for a few minutes before you go back to your daily business. Unfortunately, some of the mobile design aspects are still very present in the most annoying way possible: you’ll find that a significant number of things you can do are gated behind real-time countdown mechanics. For example, taking companions in a dungeon to aid you means that they’ll have to rest afterwards. Likewise, town construction also requires you to wait a long time before a new building is completed. This is something typically seen in smartphone games, and we understand that it adds to the longevity of the game, but we really don’t enjoy these mechanics in a console title.
You can reduce the waiting time with a rare item that you can obtain through grinding out more dungeons and we assume it was available for purchase with real money in the mobile version. Either way, this mechanic is too prominent to ignore, and had it been EGGLIA Rebirth’s only issue we would have given it a pass. However, the few interesting ideas such as the board game mechanic and the NPCs, which are very likeable- aren’t enough to keep the game afloat. It probably worked fine as a smartphone title, but as a console release, especially at this price point, there simply isn’t enough good content here to warrant a purchase.
Conclusion
Given that we absolutely adore the Mana series, we were already prepared to write a glowing review for EGGLIA Rebirth because we were immediately enamored by the aesthetics, and given the track record of the lead developer, we assumed that gameplay would be above average at worst. As it turned out, however, beneath the gorgeous visuals was the beating heart of a predatory mobile game designed to be played for a few minutes followed by hours of waiting or you opening your wallet -only the Switch version lacked the option to speed things up with money. Not that we think it would be worth adding microtransactions here. Instead, we suggest you simply don’t pull out your wallet for this game at all and pick up the real deal from Square Enix instead.
EGGLIA Rebirth - Review,
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