Developer: Tinogames Inc.
Publisher: Tinogames Inc.
Platform: PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Tested On: PC
Neoverse – Review
Neoverse can best be described as the anime-themed version of the popular title “Slay The Spire”. Blending many different genres together such as roguelike, turn-based strategy, and card-battling, the game offers plenty of replayability. While the game has a few hiccups here and there, it offers an enjoyable experience.
Story
Surprisingly, the game offers little to nothing when it comes to the story. From what players can gather from the beginning of the game is that in a post-apocalyptic version of Earth; mankind is in a state of turmoil by messing with space-time technology. The latter causes multiple rifts in time and space, resulting with multiple realities being fused together. Multiple lifeforms from the multiverse clash, with humans being right in the middle of the conflict, trying to find a way to balance the fighting.
Overall the story does seem interesting, but sadly, that’s all the players have to go on. Aside from the tutorial, which explains at least some of the lore from Neoverse, players will just have to make their own thoughts on the direction of the story.
Graphics
Outright, Neoverse is a beautiful game. What makes Neoverse different from other card-battlers, is that it’s 3D rendered, with its focus on anime-inspired characters. From the start screen, players will get to see how vibrant and lustrous the title is, starting from the apocalyptic version of Earth. Cities overgrown with nature, passing through the urban setting is a pleasant experience to the eyes. Sadly this doesn’t carry over to gameplay, as during combat, the scenes don’t share the same dynamic presence. Another noticeable highlight are the designs, for both the playable characters and enemies.
Players will get to pick from three playable characters, each with their own distinct personalities. The three playable characters are all heavily different from each other design-wise, ranging from a cyber-soldier, a holy paladin, and lastly a summoner goddess, who is highly reminiscent of the Greek goddess Athena. The enemies also vary, ranging from robots, demons, humans, insectoids, and even more obscure mythical creatures like dragons. The amount of detail when it comes to the design is immense, which is more noticeable in the later areas.
On a performance level, the game runs very solid on a standard mid-range PC. The options to adjust the graphical quality to the player’s liking are available but the options are limited. The basic options to adjust VSync, depth of field, frame-rates, and resolution are all there, with presets being made available.
Sound
When it comes to the sound design, Neoverse somewhat delivers. From the start of the game, players are introduced to a euphoric but futuristic track, which sets the tone for the rest of the game respectively. Overall the game sets a proper tone, especially when traversing to different areas. For each area the player travels to, there is a different song, ranging from EDM and Metal, to Pop.
Sound effects are also well done. When attacking enemies, either with physical attacks or special abilities, each hit sounds like there is actual weight to each attack, especially when landing critical hits and special ailments like curses and radioactivity. Hearing the crackle and snapping when adding radioactive ailments to enemies is satisfying, and also landing the glass shattering precision strikes are well worth the planning.
Not much can be said for the playable characters however. Needless to say, there is no voice acting in this game at all, aside from the grunts and shouts when players attack in battle. For the most part, the three playable characters sound completely different from each other, which is a noticeable plus. The same can be said for enemies. For the amount of variety the enemies have, the same cannot be said for the voice acting between them.
Gameplay
Neoverse is a blend between a roguelike and card-battler. The primary goal is to battle your way through multiple areas dealing with different enemies along the way. Since the game does have roguelike elements attached to it, health doesn’t refill after each battle, meaning players will have to start fresh each time they die. Each time a battle is done, players have the option to pick 1 of 3 stages, each with different rewards; with the hardest option offering bonuses, such as health refills and extra cards.
There are three characters in total, with two of them being locked until a certain point. Each character has a unique set of cards and skills, which adds plenty of variety to different runs. For example, the starting character, “Agent Naya”, has multiple cards based around burst DPS and status ailments such as radioactivity, dealing damage over time; while “Paladin Clare” revolves around a defensive playstyle, using holy and evil spells to heal herself, and deal damage to enemies. Overall, Neoverse does a good job offering variety to the gameplay. Players will have an enjoyable time when mixing and matching different cards based on the different characters.
There are also shops and skill points players can gather from defeating enemies. Rather than losing everything when dying, all the purchases to cards and skill points are carried over, adding a steady rate of progression for each playable character. Once players complete the main campaign, which is only three worlds, new modes unlock, and costumes are made available. “Hunter Mode”, is a mode where players have to collect bounties by defeating waves of enemies, and “Challenge Mode” is similar to the base story mode with more enemies and higher difficulty. In spite of the story mode being very short, the amount of replayability and endgame content after completion is staggering, making it worth the grind.
In addition to the class-based cards each character has, there are five types of cards, Attack, Defense, Constant, Curse, and Instant, with curse cards being the game-changer. Curse cards are cards that enemies can cast on the player, adding hindering effects to the overall gameplay. For example, there is a certain curse card that infects the player’s deck, slowly multiplying while replacing every card the player has, unless the enemy is defeated, requiring players to adapt on the fly. In addition, players can also use curse cards, but rather than having an effect on the enemy, these cards offer a benefit to the player, but at a cost.
Neoverse’s primary gameplay focuses on turn-based card battling. Each fight is turn-based, with the player having a total of five points to place cards before a turn is over, unless a special card is used. From there, the game revolves around careful planning and what cards to use in order, which rewards players greatly. Each time players use cards, a sequence will show up, showing what cards to use in order by color. If successfully done, the next attack card played will double in strength, greatly turning the tide of a match. As easy as it is to just throw basic attack cards out and win that way, the game rewards players who properly plan, allowing longer fights to be over rather quickly.
In spite of that, Neoverse can be unforgiving to newer players. Even from the starting areas, Neoverse is harsh, having difficulty spikes all over the place. From the start of the game, players will be bombarded with enemies, usually in groups of three. Surprisingly, the standard groups of minions are more annoying than the bosses, having huge health pools and applying multiple stacks of debuffs. Since enemies in mobs are usually the same type, the attacks and curses they use will also stack, making certain battles nearly impossible to beat, especially with the endgame minions. Players new to the card-battlers will have a difficult time trying to learn the mechanics, as each character has different cards and skills.
Conclusion
Neoverse is an enjoyable but difficult card battler. The character and enemy designs are well done, the combat is simple to learn but hard to master, and the amount of unlocks to cards and skill points are easy to acquire. Despite the base story being pretty short with frequent difficulty spikes, the amount of endgame content in the form of multiple modes and various costumes makes it an enjoyable deck builder nonetheless.
Neoverse - Review,
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