Developer: FuRyu, NatsumeAtari
Publisher: NIS
Platform: Switch, PS4, PS5, PC
Tested on: Switch
REYNATIS – Review
On paper, REYNATIS sounds like wish fulfillment for JRPG enthusiasts: the scenario was written by none other than Final Fantasy VII’s Kazushige Nojima, the soundtrack was composed by Yoko Shimamura of Kingdom Hearts fame, and development was handled by FuRyu, the studio behind The Alliance Alive, The Caligula Effect and countless others. It even features a guest appearance by the cast of NEO: The World Ends with You. Yet, if REYNATIS was indeed the direct result of a wish, then we’re pretty sure it was made on a monkey’s paw, because the game doesn’t come close to the quality of the aforementioned smorgasbord of titles. What went wrong here?
Story
Set in an alternate version of Tokyo’s famous Shibuya ward, REYNATIS tells two stories. The first is that of Sari Nishijima, a so-called witch officer, tasked with cleaning up Shibuya’s streets. Magic exists in REYNATIS’ world, but many of the problems that the local authorities have to deal with mirror those of our own world, including political power struggles, gang wars, and drugs. Sari stands on the side of the law, at least initially, but as is typically the case, the discovery that illicit things are happening at a higher level kickstarts the story. On the opposite end of the spectrum sits Marin, a low-life wizard who wants to become Shibuya’s most powerful wizard. His story begins with his struggles. When the game opens, REYNATIS alternates between these two storylines, but eventually things start to weave together. We’re both trying to avoid spoilers here as well as simply not elaborating too much, given how much of the lore and backstory is a complicated and convoluted mess. REYNATIS aims to tell a deep and intriguing story but it loses itself in unnecessary complexity, resulting in something that is as difficult to follow as it is unengaging.
Graphics
Credit where it’s due: REYNATIS’ art direction is nothing short of fantastic. The character designs look great, and we enjoy the game’s overall futuristic aesthetic. Unfortunately, in the Switch version at least, REYNATIS’ gorgeous visuals lose a lot of their luster. The limited color palette doesn’t do the game justice, painting the majority of the game in drab, beige tones. Environmental textures seem unfinished, character animations are wooden and stilted, and visual performance is atrocious. Stutters and frame drops are common too, as are cuts to black screens and lengthy loading times. Pre-rendered cutscenes fare slightly better in terms of character movement, but the facial animations remain uncanny.
Sound
Yoko Shimamura’s OST is perhaps REYNATIS’ redeeming feature, as it stands miles above anything else in the game. The Japanese voice cast does an admirable job with their material as well. It’s a shame that while the performances are good, the convoluted writing and janky animations made it difficult to care about the fate of these characters.
Gameplay
The nature of REYNATIS’ narrative makes for a very linear gameplay experience. Gameplay is split between exploring Shibuya and engaging in combat. It’s important to note that although magic is real in this world, it is still limited to an elite subset of the population, and the regular citizens don’t trust magic users. While exploring, you have the option to switch between so-called Liberation and Suppression Modes. In Liberation Mode, you can see hidden secrets, but you’ll also alert the public of your magical capabilities. You’ll need to avoid their line of sight, to prevent them from reporting you to the authorities. Additionally, there is a stress meter that goes up as you talk to NPCs. Should your stress meter reach 100%, you’ll automatically activate Liberation Mode. That last mechanic seemed like an unnecessary addition to the system, as our stress levels never even reached the halfway point. When you’re not actively trying to avoid the leering eyes of non-magical citizens, you can enter dungeons through portals to Another, an alternate dimension. Here, you’ll engage in some good old-fashioned dungeon crawling, including fights against monsters.
The real-time combat system is where REYNATIS attempts to set itself apart from other games in the genre. In combat, you can take control of one of our protagonists (or both) as well as other recruitable characters. Each of your party members has access to a fixed magic attack as well as two additional special attacks that can be assigned to them. REYNATIS’ unique gimmick is that you can switch between the aforementioned modes, although here they take on the form of two distinct combat modes. In Liberation Mode, you’ll go on an all-out assault, dishing out damage while depleting your MP. Meanwhile, in Suppression Mode, your characters cannot attack, but instead can use special dodge moves and restore their MP. It’s an interesting idea in theory, as Suppression Mode allows you to counter enemy moves and even slow down the flow of time. In practice, however, the system doesn’t really live up to its potential, and battles quickly become simplistic and repetitive affairs.
It’s a bit of a running theme. REYNATIS is a game that wants to be far more than it is in practice. The game feels like a lost relic from the golden days of the PS2, but even if it had come out during this time, it would still be a mediocre title at best. Adding insult to injury is that the game is very prone to crashing. It took us around 20 hours to complete the game, and during this time, we experienced about 12 full-on game crashes. Some of these even happened during the cutscene right after a boss battle, meaning we had to redo them. Hopefully, patches are deployed down the line, but for a game with a €59.99 RRP, those shouldn’t have been an issue in the first place.
Conclusion
We were very excited about REYNATIS, which made it all the more disappointing how much the ball was fumbled here. Perhaps the technical issues that we ran into aren’t as egregious on other, more powerful platforms. Even so, that doesn’t strip away the fact that REYNATIS turned out to be the poster child for a game biting off more than it could chew.
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