[Review] Reverse 1999 strategy RPG gameplay, characters, plot

Going into Reverse 1999, I confess I used to be a little bit of a hater. I imply, I saved getting blasted with their advertisements on social media, and as attention-grabbing because the premise appeared, any advert would begin to get annoying after the fourth or fifth time you’re compelled to look at it.

Nonetheless, the advertisements did their job of piquing my curiosity, so I discovered myself pre-downloading the sport and ready patiently for the server to open on October 26 at 8PM (MYT).    

For many who don’t know, Reverse 1999 is a turn-based technique roleplay recreation (RPG) first launched in China earlier this yr. The sport is centred across the idea of time, and extra particularly, travelling again in time.

Because the identify suggests, one thing occurred in 1999, dubbed the “Storm”. This incident one way or the other messed with the time-space continuum and since then, the world has been travelling again in time from period to period.

The sport appears to have gotten some rave evaluations on Reddit, however I couldn’t assist however marvel if these evaluations have been overhyped.

So, should you’re questioning the identical factor, right here’s my candid evaluation of the sport. Remember that there might be some plot spoilers for the primary chapter.  

The mysterious, chilly open

Right away, the sport opens to a lady with a British accent (Cockney maybe?) speaking loopy about music and information whereas attempting to pirate a ship. Nevertheless, her plans are foiled when some enemy group referred to as the Manus Vindictae begins attacking the ship.

If this sounds random to you, you’re not alone. The chilly open of the sport made me marvel if I unintentionally missed some content material, however I truly like that. The confusion saved me on my toes, desirous to study extra about precisely what was occurring.

And I’ll say, it’s refreshing to play as not some random amnesiac or somebody who is aware of nothing in regards to the world that they’re dwelling in. These plot gadgets just a little too overdone, don’t you suppose?  

The plot unravels a bit extra earlier than you get to “identify” your character. I put that in quotes since you’re not enjoying as some sort of anonymous traveller, wanderer, or no matter, however an precise fleshed out character that goes by the identify of “Vertin”, which I assume is our final identify.

(I needed to call my character Claudia, however apparently there’s an in-game character with the identical identify, so I surrendered.)  

Vertin (the participant) is addressed with the imprecise title of “Timekeeper”. Vagueness appears to be a key part of the introduction, with phrases comparable to “arcanist” and “the Storm” and “the muse” being thrown about.

I like that the sport trusts gamers sufficient to permit us to piece the plot collectively on this method. Due to that, I discover the world constructing and lore to be very well-done, as in, there have been no cringy monologues and lingo-dense texts attempting to elucidate the world the sport is ready in.

As a substitute, the plot is cleverly unfolded to the participant via Regulus, the trouble-making, music-loving pirate the sport opened with.

As an arcanist who simply learnt in regards to the conundrum with the “Storm”, Vertin and one other character, Sonetto, get to elucidate the fundamentals of the world to Regulus, concurrently briefing us (the gamers) on all main ideas of the universe, too.

Principally, we because the Timekeeper, hold observe of the “Storm”. This “Storm” is what transports everybody to a different period, and it will possibly’t be witnessed by those that aren’t arcanists.

The Timekeeper will get to witness the “Storm” because it happens, whereas different arcanists should return to a protected house within the “Basis”. To this point, nobody has been in a position to courageous this storm alongside the Timekeeper, aside from Regulus, whom we’ve simply met.

I’ll cease there with the plot, nevertheless it’s been off to fairly the attention-grabbing begin up to now. There are a lot of extra mysteries to discover nonetheless, comparable to what the Manus Vindictae group is, who the folks behind the “Basis” are, and why the “Storm” occurred within the first place.

The artwork, animation, and characters

With an anime-esque design to the characters, the artwork type of the sport total is just a little moody in a great way, with nice use of colors and lighting.

The backgrounds are all pretty too. The vaporwave-ish artwork it introduces through the “Storm” is a refreshing change, too. Perhaps it’s an allusion to the late 90s glitch artwork, a clue about why issues occurred the way in which it did in 1999?  

As a substitute of static artwork, the sport makes use of Live2D fashions of the characters in dialogue scenes, which provides immersion whereas additionally wanting approach cooler. The actions are easy, and the gestures add further persona and characterisation.

As for the character designs, I do suppose they’re charming, however I’m just a little delay by how everybody appears to be… a younger woman?

On the character improvement entrance, although, the sport seems to have put an honest little bit of effort into fleshing them out, particularly should you go and discover their profiles.

There’s some lore behind the gacha mechanics, tied into the plot of the sport itself. I’m somebody who doesn’t concern themselves an excessive amount of about summoning characters, so this doesn’t have an effect on how I really feel in regards to the recreation total.

That stated, some appear to be disenchanted by the charges, whereas others have defended it.

To this point, the sport hasn’t been that beneficiant with its rewards and items, and also you gained’t be capable of pull a lot proper off the bat. I’ve solely gotten sufficient up to now to do round 15 summons. Presents from the sport have largely been Mud and Sharpodonty for me, which is used to level-up characters.

The dialogue and voice-acting

Compared to the plot, I discover the dialogue to be simply positive, nothing overly witty or memorable. The sport lets the participant choose dialogue choices now and again, nevertheless it’s only for the sake of interactivity. Generally the one possibility is one thing like “Certain”.  

As for the audio design, I do just like the foley, although the background music hasn’t been as excellent. I really feel that there’s potential although—when opening one of many occasion playing cards (the Roar Juebox), it performs charming swing music characterised by the ’20s.  

One of many key pulls of this recreation, it appears, is the British accents, for no matter motive. The sport’s backdrop of England has grow to be fairly enticing to gamers. Some reviewers I got here throughout hold calling the accent “genuine”, which I’m not very certain about.

Given, I’m not like an accent skilled so I don’t know whether or not it’s genuine or not. I can’t discover who the voice actors are, so I can’t confirm whether or not the sport truly employed native VAs to drag off the accents both.

I’ll say, I used to be anticipating to cringe extra on the accents and voice traces, however up to now, it’s been first rate, if not good.

Listening to the voice traces from another characters that I haven’t unlocked on-line, there’s fairly a variety of numerous voices. An-An Lee speaks Cantonese and has a Canto accent when talking English, Bkornblume is… German?

In any case, I do like that the voice actors don’t simply have a basic American accent, and the various accents make the world a bit extra fascinating.

You’ll be able to take heed to a number of the voices on the official web site, underneath the forged part, to make your individual judgement.

The gameplay

Turned-based technique isn’t my favorite kind of gameplay to start with, so this a part of my evaluation is a bit biased.

That stated, there are mechanics right here that I like. As a substitute of simply aimlessly spamming an assault button, actions are carried out via playing cards. The identical motion playing cards stack should you transfer them subsequent to one another (which prices motion factors), or you may strategically play in order that related playing cards naturally find yourself subsequent to one another.

Every arcanist has a particular class, or Afflatus, as they name it. There’s Mineral, Plant, Star, and three others that I haven’t learnt the names of. Every class has an affinity towards one other class, and a weak spot to a different. It’s like a recreation of rock, paper, scissors whereby one factor dominates over one other, and so forth and so forth.

Motion sorts embody debuff, buff, and assault. There’s additionally one thing referred to as Moxie, which should you construct up, permits you to pull an final transfer.

For somebody who doesn’t like turn-based technique, I’ll say that Reverse 1999’s gameplay has been fairly good up to now.

My final touch upon gameplay is that that is a type of video games the place the characters grow to be little Chibi fashions within the motion scenes.

On the intense aspect, as an alternative of a static 2D battle scene, the digital camera truly strikes out and in to present an additional layer of dimension.

The decision

General, Reverse 1999 has been actually charming, and I can’t wait to study extra in regards to the universe. The world constructing is gorgeous, the lore is intriguing, and the gameplay is decently enjoyable for what it’s.

Some might really feel that the translated dialogue (Chinese language to English) will be janky at occasions, nevertheless it didn’t smash my expertise. Others had gripes with the shortage of autobattle, however I haven’t gotten far sufficient into the sport but to have an opinion on this.

Whereas the characters up to now haven’t managed to allure me totally, I’m excited to satisfy extra folks from the forged. I’ve spoilt myself just a little bit scrolling via the forged of characters on Reverse 1999’s fandom web page, and noticed some designs I discover fascinating (right here, and right here).

Additionally, there’s a personality referred to as Drugs Pocket, which makes me chuckle. Actually, should you learn their unique Chinese language names, you’ll discover everybody has very literal names. Sonetto’s is definitely the Chinese language phrase for sonnet, which interprets on to fourteen-line poem.

Characters apart, I’m intrigued to discover extra of the eras in addition to the totally different areas of the sport, whereas persevering with to unravel the thriller behind the “Storm”.

All that stated, my cell gaming habits are usually extra one thing extra senseless, normally as a boredom-killer. For a recreation like Reverse 1999 the place the plot dominates, although, I choose enjoying it on the PC.

So, sure, I’ve downloaded the sport on my PC and can’t wait to dig into it the remainder of this weekend (the info is synced to your account). The query is, will you be partaking?

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