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- Corecell Technology
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- Corecell Technology
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- Corecell Technology
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- Corecell Technology
AeternoBlade II
Released On: Oct 11, 2019
44
4.2
All Platforms
3DS
tbd
PlayStation Vita
tbd
Based on 1 Critic Review
tbd
Based on 5 Critic Reviews
47
Based on 7 Critic Reviews
44
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 7 Critic Reviews
44
0% Positive
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
43% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
57% Negative
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 7 Critic Reviews
44
0% Positive
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
43% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
57% Negative
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
I genuinely enjoyed this game. It's no Bloodstained, but it plays really nicely, and offers up the kind of B-tier delights that we just don't see much of any more.
AeternoBlade 2 is a continuance of AeternoBlade, an action time-puzzler by CORECELL Technology. This action-puzzle game implements multiple styles of combat with an interesting time manipulation mechanic. While the puzzles are mostly enjoyable, the combat is largely uninspired, leading to tedious boss encounters and aggravating 3D battles that quickly neutralizes the fantastic points of AeternoBlade 2's design.
User Score
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 19 User Ratings
4.2
37% Positive
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
5% Mixed
1 Rating
1 Rating
58% Negative
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
User Score
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 19 User Ratings
4.2
37% Positive
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
5% Mixed
1 Rating
1 Rating
58% Negative
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
Gameplay is a mix of action packed battles, metroidvania style exploration and puzzle solving, traversing a variety of environments, battling monsters and bosses as you seek to save the universe from destruction, switching between the three characters at various points in the story, moving back and forth between the different locations to open up new paths, solve previous puzzles and find hidden treasures.
The game uses a mix of side scrolling and over the shoulder camera perspectives, the majority of gameplay takes place in the side scrolling view, with boss battles and large scale battles using the third person camera, there is also quick time events scattered throughout various parts of the story. When the player enters a room they may be “locked in”, this is where they are will face waves of enemies that will attack the player, once all enemies have been defeated the player may then progress.
The combat system utilizes a mixture of three types attack, a special skill, powerful time bending abilities and a mechanic called flash, a dash skill that allows the player to avoid attacks with each use having to cool down. Each of the three characters can upgrade their skills using orbs collected from defeated enemies, completing missions and as rewards, the orbs can also be used to purchase items in the shop, unlock relics and level up character stats.
Speaking of items and relics, the items that the player can use include potions, temporary boosts and exploration aids, the relics offer stat boosts that can be set into custom loadouts for each player, the stat boosts can be used to either increase a characters strengths or offset a characters weaknesses, this gives an additional level of depth to the way the player can customize their experience to fit their own play style.
Since the game uses a metroidvania approach to the progression of the story there are points throughout the world where the player can save, manage relics, items, teleport and take on special challenges using the time shifting skills. Now with the details of gameplay out of the way it is time to talk about the downsides of AeternoBlade II.
The 3D movement is a whole other issue, the camera seems to fight against the player while trying to control it, moving while trying to avoid attacks can obscure the players view, this is most prevalent during large scale battles against several enemies and boss battles, the camera can go out of bounds when too close to a wall which is a nuisance, one upside to the over the shoulder camera is the ability to lock onto the enemies, offsetting some of the camera difficulties.
Controls for combat and movement are solid, with fluidity to them as the battles go on, there is a very little input lag when executing combo attacks and using the various skills, there can be some trouble during boss fights however as there is slowdown while playing in handheld mode, this is something that the developers are working on so hopefully it will be fixed in the near future.
Visually AeternoBlade II is aesthetically pleasing, while not at the same resolution as the PS4 version the game still looks good on Nintendo Switch, the overall look is a mix between fantasy and anime, for an indie title it is very well polished, the environments have a lot of grandeur to them, the monsters and cast of characters are expertly animated, having a natural look to movement and are well designed with a lot of personality to them.
The sound is a mixed bag, the soundtrack is done well with suspenseful atmospheric string based compositions, fantasy styled orchestral pieces and an opening piano theme with soft vocals layered over it. The sound effects used are effective with the clashing of blades having a nice impact during combat, voice acting is difficult to judge, again, being an independent release the quality of voice cast isn’t what you would expect from a big budget title but I feel it has its own charm to it.
Overall, I enjoyed my time playing AeternoBlade II, there are flaws with the game but they aren’t significant enough for me to say the game isn’t worth playing, the camera issues take a little getting used to and will hopefully be addressed with an upcoming patch, the difficulty curve did have a level of frustration to it, but it wasn’t impossible and the lack of feedback through vibration/collision detection flaws did pull me out of the experience but I don’t see it as a deal breaker.
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Nintendo Switch
The core gameplay itself follows the tried and tested Metroidvania formula, with 2D side-scrolling, and an on-rails experience with a mostly pre-determined route of travel. However, it doesn’t stop there. Every now and then, sometimes jarringly, it switches to a 3rd person view for boss battles, which forces you to approach things in a very different way. I mostly liked this experience to mix-up the styles, but with fixed camera positions, it felt like I was playing early Resident Evil (not in a good way….arghhmmmmm STARS).
There were some really wonderful side-scrolling elements I loved, with the 3D terrain revolving as you travel up a winding staircase for example, even though the route is on-rails it was very well done, and added a depth to the scenery.
There are three playable characters and each one has their own unique connection to how they wield their weapons and utilise the time-manipulation powers in-game. For example, you can quickly skip forward in time with one character to dodge an onslaught in battle. For another character, you can freeze time for everyone else, and then give your enemies a good whack in their helpless states. For the third you can enter a realm of time where you can lock in 20 seconds of movement with your character, then go and do something else in real-time, which is great for activating switches to open doors that would otherwise require two people. I think this has been implemented well and keeps the layers of puzzles fresh and at times really challenging throughout the game. Often you can see a puzzling aspect to the level that you know has to be performed by another character, challenging you to return.
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Nintendo Switch
AeternoBlade II had the potential to be a notable metroidvania in the Nintendo Switch’s library, but unfortunately it will be remembered as little more than a bug-laden mess, regardless of the couple of interesting ideas it brought forward.
AeternoBlade II for the Nintendo Switch has some good ideas and its RPG-like elements do give the game some appeal. That said, the execution is rather poor and its combat quickly becomes frustrating. Adding to that, its mediocre art style, technical issues and exceedingly long loading times make this a rather botched experience that becomes difficult to recommend.
With unenjoyable and clunky combat that is made much worse during the 3D segments, a laughably archetypal fantasy story, and dated character models, it’s hard to actually believe that AeternoBlade II released this year for modern consoles. AeternoBlade II simply falls short of all of its ambitions, whatever they might have been.
AeternoBlade II is a mess of overly-complex mechanics and ill-fitting systems that struggles at all times to keep up with itself. Its core combat is solid but it's marred by input lag, slow animations, messy enemy placement and a struggling framerate. The time-based mechanics are far too numerous, confusing and tedious, while its long and winding storyline – delivered by some of the worst voice-acting we’ve ever heard – is almost totally nonsensical. Somewhere under all of the technical problems and confusion here there’s a solid game, but there’s just far too much jank for players to be expected to wade through to get there and it's impossible to recommend that you commit yourself to trying.
Needless to say, when there are so many good Metroidvanias available on all formats right now, there really is no reason to invest in or play AeternoBlade II. With its crude visuals, laughable voice acting and dull and clumsy combat, it really doesn’t have much going for it at all. It’s one those rare sequels that is actually worse than its predecessor, so unless you’re a glutton for punishment, give it a wide berth.
The story is an afterthought in AeternoBlade II as players go through the motions of meeting new characters and switching characters as soon as they get the hang of a set of abilities. It gets frustrating because they each have different weapon types, so you need to adjust playstyles on the fly, but things do end up become more straightforward after the first opening act and a few boss battles. However, whether a player sticks around to see this side of the game is another story.
What saves the game is its decent combat that is as repetitive and mindless as you might assume it is, but it responsive where it counts. Sure the enemies are pretty much the same ones faced in AeternoBlade, but they are fun to take out. The game’s combat takes some getting used to, though, because some enemies aren’t staggered by your attacks and will swing their swords no matter how much damage you’re unleashing on them. It creates some frustrating situations, but it still manages to be satisfying.
That said, using the time-warping abilities was never my go-to strategy for taking random grunts out. However, I did make it a point to use them during boss battles, which are the highlight of the entire game, well the ones that can’t be cheesed through at least. If you die multiple times during a boss encounter, the game will offer a lower difficulty for that area, which is an excellent option to have. There are also enemies who can only be defeated using the time abilities, but they were extremely annoying.
Gameplay has multiple modes as it switches between 2D action to third-person action to puzzle platformer. It makes you wish the developer spent time perfecting one of these genres because you’ll switch randomly during gameplay and it never feels right. There were times when I just got out of a challenging fight, and then the next room contained a save point with a puzzle that slowed things down.
Some puzzles are optional, but they contain powerups that are useful, so you pretty much have to do them. Puzzles in the game sometime require you to use the powers of the respective character. These get pretty challenging and ended up being what I would have preferred the entire game be.
The third-person mode is just strange and shouldn’t be in the game. It’s unusual for some encounters, but the camera and lock-on never seem to work correctly during bosses, and it does nothing to the enjoyment of the game. I’ll also add that there are quick-time events in the game where if you miss a button press, its an automatic death, but you get to retry without any real consequence.
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Nintendo Switch
Un juego indie tal y como se entiende: con ideas interesantes, pero una implementación en gráficos y mecánicas deficientes, aunque no por ello lo hacen poco disfrutable.
Aeternoblade 2, al igual que el 1, es un juego de metroidvania de tipo castlevania. Dentro del actualmente prolífico genero de los metroidvanias hay dos vertientes: los juegos que buscan perfeccionar la formula ya establecida, y aquellos que buscan innovar dentro del genero. Aeternoblade es una saga que entra en el segundo grupo, incluyendo un sistema de combate a lo beat'em up lleno de combos que podemos ir mejorando y desbloqueando nuevos con la experiencia obtenida de los enemigos derrotados en combate mientras exploramos los mapeados. Francamente, no soy especialmente fan de esto, igual que no lo soy de los beat'em ups, pero hay que reconocerle la originalidad y el esfuerzo puesto en ello.
La historia del juego es especialmente interesante, acerca de la manipulación del tiempo, pero realmente muy bien hilada, y es una de las razones para jugar a este, aunque por desgracia, la narración de la misma esta muy mal llevada, en escenas bastante ortopédicas y muchas veces dejandote rellenar huecos de guión. Eso sí, recomiendo antes jugar al aeternoblade 1 ya que si no muchas cosas no tienen sentido, juego que es tan bueno o incluso mejor que este, y para el cual se aplica todo lo dicho hasta ahora.
Por lo demás, el juego es un metroidvania en el que iremos explorando escenarios, los cuales se abrirán más a nosotros conforme consigamos habilidades a lo largo del juego. Tenemos al igual que en el primero la capacidad de manipular el tiempo, mecánica fundamental para resolver puzzles y avanzar por los escenarios, además de ser útil en combates. Además de la capacidad de retroceder en el tiempo como en la primera parte, en esta entrega podremos controlar temporalmente a otros dos protagonistas cuyas habilidades temporales acabaremos obteniendo: la habilidad de parar el tiempo, y la habilidad de crear líneas paralelas de tiempo (esta habilidad es difícil de explicar...). Todas estas habilidades dan juego al segundo foco de este metroidvania, que además de la acción, son los puzzles.
Se incluye también una mecánica que recuerda a los templos de Zelda BoW, que son los templos, teniendo en cada punto de guardado una pequeña prueba que puede ser bien un reto de sala puzzle o un reto de combate, con una recompensa al mismo, y que son realmente ingeniosos.
En esta entrega se incluyen también algunos combates en 3D, cosa que el original carecía. Por suerte no son muchos ya que son bastante menos órganicos que los combates en 2D...
Otro aspecto en que supera por mucho al original es la duración del juego, sobrepasando fácilmente las 20 horas (lo cual esta muy por encima de muchos juegos del género). Por desgracia, el juego no introduce las suficientes mecánicas nuevas para mantenerse entretenido durante tantas horas, exceptuando los puzzles y los jefes (los finales son realmente épicos para un juego de estas características).
El apartado gráfico, igual que en el primer juego, es... realmente no su mejor punto. El juego opta por el 3D a pesar de ser mayormente un metroidvania en 2D. Los diseños de escenarios son pasables, pero los enemigos y personajes están un poco exentos de carisma desde un punto de vida artístico. En realidad en personajes y enemigos el diseño es similar al bloodstained (donde esta impresión también se recoge de muchos enemigos) pero varios niveles de calidad por debajo. Eso sí, el juego es estable exceptuando alguna zona esporádica en cuanto a fps.
En resumen, un buen juego para los amantes del genero si puedes pasar por alto sus aspectos negativos. Eso sí, jugad primero al 1, que además suele estar de oferta cada dos por tres por precios bastante irrisorios, que además de tener un fuerte componente el lore y la historia del mismo para entender este, os servirá para saber si continuar o no jugando la saga.
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Nintendo Switch
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Nintendo Switch
Unfortunately, this game doesn't work well at all. It could have been more fun if the game combat had been simpler. Poor framerate bugged bosses that I could slash without take any damages etc. Add crashes and bugs to the gameplay and it's a complete disaster. If you have patience and like first game then go for it.
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Nintendo Switch
This game is honestly, one of the worst I’ve played in a while. For starters, the voice acting is probably the worst I’ve ever heard. The graphics look like something out of the PS2 era. The jump mechanic is off, there would be times I clearly landed on a ledge, only to fall off of it. The camera during boss battles is cumbersome and clunky. The time travel mechanics are poorly explained and confusing to use. I played about 5 hours of it before I just couldn’t take it anymore and uninstalled it. For the life of me, I cannot understand how people are giving this game any kind of positive review. It is mediocre at best and horrible overall.
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Nintendo Switch
Summary Welcome back to the world of AeternoBlade. Let’s adventure with Freyja, Bernard, Felix to the Chronosian for finding the 3 AeternoBlades and using its power to stop Dark Abyss. Can you help Freyja protect her future?
Rated T
for Teen
Platforms:
- 3DS
- PlayStation Vita
- Xbox One
- PlayStation 4
- Nintendo Switch
Initial Release Date: Oct 11, 2019
Developer:
- Corecell Technology
Publisher: Corecell Technology
Genres:
