Before I jump in, I have to give props to the one-man development team... Keizo, who has been working on this game for 15+ years! Yes, 1...5! I salute you, and may many other developers find inspiration in that because it's paying off with all the love and support this game is receiving 14 years went into the original game development and... 1.5 years was revision work. Shout out to Illustrator's Shigatake + Haku Tasufuchi as well, for the work they did on the revision art assets.
Story: Astlibra Revision features a young protagonist who was knocked out while escaping his town with a childhood friend during a demon attack. When he woke up... his friend was... gone (dun dun duunnnn), and so were the other humans. The only thing he had to keep him company was a talking bird during his journey to find his friend and his homeland.
The adventure is told in chapters, with various characters to meet between taking on massive God-like bosses and other huge baddies.
Gameplay: ASTLIBRA Revision is a side-scrolling action RPG game that has undergone a significant update, offering fresh mechanics and content. This is one of those sleeper hits that some of you may or may not have been aware of... delivering skills on top of skills to utilize dungeons, and a multitude of enigmatic secrets! Huzzah!
You're able to equip a slew of weapons, from clubs, swords, axes, hammers, knives, a common stick, etc. The same applies to shields, armor, and other things like rings. You aren't simply utilizing different-looking weapons with similar oomph either, you will notice a difference as seen in various other RPG games.
Your weapons will vary by Attack Power, Range, Handling, and Weight. Your shields vary by Defense Power, Guard, Weight, and Full Resistance. Armor varies by Defense Power, Max HP, Max ST, and Magical Power. You don't have to go back and forth to check on your current equipped item's abilities and effects either, because you get that info directly in the equip section showing the difference.
I think the way Keizo included the elemental spirit-conjuring attacks is... sweet. The conjuring can be activated with a simple combination of holding "Y" and D-pad presses (i.e. Up, Up = Fire Skill, Down, Down = Water Skill), and which ones can be activated.
Karon gives you the ability to utilize various skills activated by crystals, which include Icarus Wings that reduce the speed of falls, Jump Boots for double jumping, Air Ride, Magical Vision, Evil Vision, Third Eye, Dash, Coin Magnet, Force Magic, and many more.
Do you know what this game reminds me of, which is probably what others got the nostalgic reminder of? It almost feels like Suikoden 2, that game was so smooth, and had a ton of depth to it (I still can't believe I traded that game back in the day). While I reminisce, check out this first 30 minutes of Astralibra Revision:
Replay Value: This game serves up some major replay value, which is said to be around 60 hours or so. That's some serious game time, but I can see it when you have to obtain various materials to make weapons and so forth, but... I appreciate it because you're actually building up to something. You aren't just going to a massive battle with a stick and no armor, but at the same time, you're facing smaller threats in between that help you build up your exp and obtain items also. Outside of getting items out of monsters, you also have to mine and find treasure chests... but it will pay off.
Price: You can get Astlibra Revision for... $24.99. Is it worth the price? Heck yeah, it is. This is the duh of the day, especially for fans of anime and 2D side-scrolling action RPG games. As a matter of fact, you're technically playing a game that began development over a decade and a half ago, and here it is delivering in a way that rightfully deserves an overwhelmingly positive review.
Astlibra is available on PC and the Nintendo Switch.
Story 5
Gameplay 5
Replay Value 5
Price 5
5 out of 5 Cool Points
