Developer: DuCats Games Studio
Publisher: Drageus Games
Platform: Switch, PC, iOS, Android
Tested on: Switch
Swordbreaker The Game (Switch) – Review
We’ve all had our moments when we are watching a movie or reading a comic and question the choices that are made by a certain character. Well, in Swordbreaker The Game YOU are the one who makes the choices. You, the player, decide the fate of the protagonist and the course of the storyline through this stunning interactive visual novel.
Story
We follow a courageous adventurer, known as the ‘Swordbreaker’, who travels to an abandoned castle after receiving some kind of scroll at a tavern. The scroll was in actuality an old map that shows the path to an enormous castle which should possess a lot of loot and treasures.
Standing tall at the foot of the drawbridge, we are ready to start our hero’s adventure. The path you follow depends solely on the choices you make. This means that you could discover multiple new scenes on every playthrough. Do you have what it takes to give The Swordbreaker the ending he deserves?
The game is originally published in Russian and later translated into English. This could be why some words or answers feel oddly misplaced. Most of the story is quite quirky but yet, still generic and bland.
Graphics
The story is told through different scenes, powerfully illustrated frame by frame like the old-school comics that we are so used to. Every scene is perfectly executed with details, black outlining, colors, lighting, and contrast. This gives the player a genuine feeling of going through a comic book/novel story.
Sound
There’s not a lot of variation between the background music. But the music that is available does bring the scene to life. You can actually feel the ambiance during every scene very well because of the music. For example, you’ll hear calm music when exploring or hear a thrilling beat behind a fight scene.
It’s unfortunate that there’s a lack of sound effects or voices. This wouldn’t be so noticeable if the intro and epilogue weren’t accompanied by an enjoyable storyteller’s voice over. The immersive experience would be increased much more with some sound effects.
Gameplay
The Swordbreaker is an interactive visual novel where you choose the fate of our hero. The game is not complicated. You’re presented with options to choose from. Every option takes you to another part of the story. You only need to try and survive until the end. The whole story is formed by different scenes that the player links together by choosing between the given options. While the hero adventures through the castle, he will encounter different situations and many characters. It is up to the player to choose how our hero reacts to every one of these encounters. The options could be a reaction or an action to what’s happening in the scene. Choose the right option, and it takes you deeper into the castle and it might even get you closer to a happy ending. Choose the wrong option, and it might lead to the adventurer’s death.
The player could even collect all these scenes like Pokémon cards. In the summary screen, you can see all the scenes (shown as parts of the castle) the hero already discovered and unlocked. Yes, even your death scenes. So, if you’re a collector, you can focus your gameplay on dying instead of surviving through the storyline.
The player gets three lives. If you lose all of them, you will need to start the game all over from the beginning. This has its pros and cons. You can start over, make new (and better) choices. Or, you can follow every step you have taken before, but without the mistakes that you have made along the way. This would make the game very repetitive and sets you on auto-pilot with making choices. This is unfortunate since the game is already so short. Repetitiveness makes the game feel shorter. If you do manage to survive through the whole ordeal in one playthrough, you might even get to the end in less than 10 minutes.
Even though there are over 300 scenes to be opened, they are not easily found. To find more than half of the scenes, you will need to play the story over and over and change up your answers as often as possible. It’s easy to fall into a loop and the same story you have unlocked before.
Conclusion
First of all, there is no denying how impressive the visual artwork is. Accompanied by the matching background music, this brings the atmosphere of the game up to the point where it needs to be. Sadly, a game that is an interactive graphic novel can not exist with only visuals and music alone. There are over 300 scenes to make out a storyline but still, it is so easy to wind back up to the same scenes, same situations and same ending. If this was not repetitive enough, the player has to start over at the very beginning after losing all lives. There’s only so many times you can reread a story. And this is no exception.
Swordbreaker The Game (Switch) – Review,
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