I've had a review copy of 9th Dawn Remake since April time, but it is the type of game which requires a lot of investment. This is a huge game, and so, rather than wait to finish it, I will give my initial impressions based on the first ten hours or so.
Unsurprisingly, this is a remake of a much older game. How old I was unable to find out, You play as a character plunged into a nostalgic feeling, relatively basic looking fantasy world. The graphics were really charming and old school, but the game itself felt more fresh. The open world is absolutely gigantic, in my time playing this so far I have barely scratched an eighth of this massive world. It has one of the biggest map screens I've seen in a game to my recollection. I haven't mentioned the story yet and that's probably due to it being about the weakest part of 9th Dawn Remake. It is simple enough that I honestly have no idea what it involves, not helped by a quest screen that is extremely light on details. I love a story in video games, so this was a slight issue. Thankfully, due to the huge world I felt like it was 'open world' rather than just a big old school RPG. This world is to begin with quite a deadly place, my poor wizard was getting the stuffing beaten out of him. I later found an armoury that lets you upgrade your weapons, so that helped. Even more helpful was the amazing creature companion feature. Occasionally you stumble across eggs that when hatched give you a little pet who will battle alongside you. You can have up to eight of the critters at once, making it very fun to pounce on an enemy as a mob. As they level up, they can also evolve into better monsters. On my playthrough I've recently had a skeleton join my crew, love it.
Combat is very simple, requiring nothing more than to have you hold the analogue stick (playing this on Playstation 5) in the direction of enemies to auto battle them. Dungeons are literally dungeons here, all taking place under ground in various caves or sewers. This creates a combat loop of heading in a little bit at a time, slowly grinding out levels to make your team better suited to conquering the place. I enjoyed many an evening with a podcast on while doing this. As if this huge game wasn't enough, there are also some great little side games you can play. Head to the docks and you get a fun fish based Vampire Survivors clone you can play. Even better, by taking to the Card Master in each town you can access Deck Rock. I adored this side game. It has you as paper warriors fighting your way past paper monsters in castles in turn based card combat. Truth be told, I had more fun playing that side mode than the main course itself.
I was given a review code for this indie fantasy game so my words might sound false, but I think there is such a vast and impressive game to be found here. Having a game with such a charming retro look to it coupled with a massive world makes this something I could easily see myself sinking days and days into. 9th Dawn Remake is out on just about everything, from the major consoles to mobile phones.
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