I assisted in the Kickstarter for Battle Chasers: Nightwar mostly because I wanted Joe Mad's silly ass fantasy comic to actually have a conclusion, but to also support a team with an impressive pedigree. At worst, I was expecting Nightwar to be about on par with other Japanese inspired RPGs like Cosmic Star Heroine and the Penny Arcade titles. I absolutely did NOT expect Nightwar to be this fucking good.
It's an impressive collection of modern and vintage RPG mechanics woven so well that it's a shame that a lot of people are missing out. From the fine-tailored dungeon crawling inspired by the Diablo and Persona titles, where approaching enemies with a specific 'dungeon skill' from each character can drastically change the tide of starting combat. Each party member has a neat skill in dungeon-mode that can add a variety of debuff attributes to give your team an advantage, and from there you play out the game's speedy, layered combat scenarios. Party members have defined roles that you notice early in the game but once you're introduced to the cool Perk-system -- where you can boost specific stats in different skill trees to tune those party members into different functions -- you can do some devestating shit to higher level enemies. Garrison can OHKO enemies if you have the perfect perk-tuning for Beserk. Red Monika's stealth-kills are satisfying and provide crazy crit potential. Alumon's blood magic stuff is nasty good even if the HP cost is severe, etc etc.
Dungeons are 'randomized' sure, but they all play out in a much more unique fashion than other procedural generated dungeons. There's puzzles to solve, FISHING, sub-bosses and hidden bosses with crazy good stuff to loot. There's never a second of the pacing slowing down or otherwise. Approaching the fifth dungeon now and, while there's an obvious skill wall to climb at that point the grind is still super satisfying.
The side-stuff is excellent too. Beast hunting, battle arena, pirate fighting, FISHING missions etc. I swear, if the story wasn't just...a Battle Chasers story, then I'd be pressed to find any real blemishes with this game.
And the music! MAN. Jesper Kyd really put his fuckin' foot in the music.
Nightwar is most definitely one of the biggest surprises for me this year, probably the best Kickstarter i've backed since Shovel Knight and well on it's way to being in my top 10 GOTYs.
its good y'all
It's an impressive collection of modern and vintage RPG mechanics woven so well that it's a shame that a lot of people are missing out. From the fine-tailored dungeon crawling inspired by the Diablo and Persona titles, where approaching enemies with a specific 'dungeon skill' from each character can drastically change the tide of starting combat. Each party member has a neat skill in dungeon-mode that can add a variety of debuff attributes to give your team an advantage, and from there you play out the game's speedy, layered combat scenarios. Party members have defined roles that you notice early in the game but once you're introduced to the cool Perk-system -- where you can boost specific stats in different skill trees to tune those party members into different functions -- you can do some devestating shit to higher level enemies. Garrison can OHKO enemies if you have the perfect perk-tuning for Beserk. Red Monika's stealth-kills are satisfying and provide crazy crit potential. Alumon's blood magic stuff is nasty good even if the HP cost is severe, etc etc.
Dungeons are 'randomized' sure, but they all play out in a much more unique fashion than other procedural generated dungeons. There's puzzles to solve, FISHING, sub-bosses and hidden bosses with crazy good stuff to loot. There's never a second of the pacing slowing down or otherwise. Approaching the fifth dungeon now and, while there's an obvious skill wall to climb at that point the grind is still super satisfying.
The side-stuff is excellent too. Beast hunting, battle arena, pirate fighting, FISHING missions etc. I swear, if the story wasn't just...a Battle Chasers story, then I'd be pressed to find any real blemishes with this game.
And the music! MAN. Jesper Kyd really put his fuckin' foot in the music.
Nightwar is most definitely one of the biggest surprises for me this year, probably the best Kickstarter i've backed since Shovel Knight and well on it's way to being in my top 10 GOTYs.
its good y'all
