By Alistair Wong . October 17, 2019 . 12:30am
To be frank, it is pretty honestly refreshing to see a realistic depiction of Taipei’s trendy hub, Ximending. I’ve been craving for a different game like Akiba’s Trip for a although now, and Dusk Diver, created by Taiwanese studio Jera, seemed prepared to supply that to me. Sadly, although combat itself can nonetheless really feel excellent, the exploration element appears underutilized.
Let’s speak about the action gameplay 1st, which I did admittedly like. Basically, it is what you anticipate from an action game fighting hordes – you have your light attack button, heavy attack button, mix and match for combos. You can dash and jump as effectively. The huge defining function of this game is Yang Yumo’s capability to summon guardians with the A button, which can be applied to continue combos or deal with quite a few enemies at as soon as. Performing so also drops SP that can be applied to open up a superattack with R, and it appears flashy and feels excellent specifically with HD rumble.
Combat is performed in a warped version of Ximending, named Youshanding. It is an alternate planet that is complete of monsters, and opens up throughout a particular time of day story-smart. I’m definitely shocked at how effectively Ximending lends itself to action combat, specifically as its confusing, winding streets, and wide roads major to a handful of central crossroads is great for gauntlets of enemies. I’m pretty impressed by how it is incorporated into the gameplay.
Sadly, this is created up in a poor way with the hub planet of Ximending. When faithful, there’s a distinct lack of factors to do in it, while it is recreated faithfully, even like some actual retailer names. You can consume at some meals shops to achieve short-term stat buffs, and total some side missions for Boss, but otherwise there is not a lot to do in the overworld. I would have preferred segmented places like Akiba’s Trip if it meant there was much more side missions to do, like assisting the citizens of Ximending by solving their challenges by way of fighting in Youshanding.
Even worse is the gated progress of the game, which means that even if you want to skip exploring Ximending, you are not in a position to. The game calls for Dragon Vein Shards in order to enter new levels, and these are scattered all all through Ximending and Youshanding – which means that you are going to scour the two towns for these shards noticed above. They are somewhat difficult to spot on the colorful overworld, specifically given that NPCs far away are shown as colored silhouettes a la Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE, and they do not show up on the map even if you come about to pass by them and not spot them. You only get a radar beep as soon as and a verbal hint that it is nearby anytime you pass 1, but otherwise, I may devote 15 minutes just searching for the stones to progress just like I did.
Ultimately, I’d like to make mention that I’m playing the Switch version. Console controls are excellent, and although supposedly all versions of the game are locked to 30 FPS, Ximending on a regular basis goes beneath 30 FPS on the Switch, and so it can really really feel nauseating in some cases just going about town.
I definitely want to like Dusk Diver. I like it is style and setting, and the combat is fairly decent as well. But there just is not a lot to do outdoors of that, and the gated progress is a close to dealbreaker as effectively. If you are arranging on finding the game, I’d implore you get it on other consoles at the pretty least.
Dusk Diver is quickly readily available on PCs by way of Steam Early Access. It will show up on the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation four in Japan and Computer worldwide on October 24, 2019, ahead of heading to consoles in Europe on October 25, 2019 and in North America on October 29, 2019.
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