Comparing the game to a more recent title such as Age of Empires, Edge of Eternity is an ambitious effort that ultimately falls short. The development team has high intentions but just aren’t able to execute them well enough.
The “Edge of Eternity Review: Ambitious But Ultimately Lacking” is a review of the game, Edge of Eternity. The game has been highly anticipated by gamers and was released with high hopes. However, the game ultimately fails to live up to expectations.
I’ve played more JRPGs than I can count at this point in my life. Persona, The Legend of Heroes, Ys, and Monster Hunter Stories 2 are some of the games available. These are all recent cases that piqued my interest. I’m not necessarily a fan of older classics, but there’s something alluring about them, and that’s what Edge of Eternity aims to capitalize on.
Edge of Eternity is a love letter to 90s JRPGs, and it joins a rising trend of Western-developed genre games. It was first released on PC in June 2021 by French studio Midgar Studio – yeah, that’s a Final Fantasy 7 allusion – leaving console users with a long wait. It’s a good attempt, but it didn’t hold my attention.
Review of Edge of Eternity: Ambitious But Ultimately Deficient
Set on the Earth-like planet Heryon, the world is besieged by an extraterrestrial force known as the Archelites, and the crisis swiftly escalates into a bloodbath. Humanity swiftly responds by uniting Heryon’s countries under the Consort, a new military alliance. The Archelites, on the other hand, have unleashed a deadly disease known as The Corrosion.
As Daryon, a Consort soldier, you’re thrown into the deep end right away, watching your squadmates slaughtered on the battlefield. To make things worse, the Consort has started sacrificing their own warriors to battle the Archelites using black magic. Needless to say, there’s a lot of serious stuff going on here.
After their mother gets sick, Daryon, the unit’s lone survivor, returns home at the prompting of their sister, Priestess Selene. Soon, you’ll be on your mission to locate a Corrosion cure, encountering new companions along the route.
Unfortunately, the tale of Edge of Eternity is its weakest aspect; it isn’t really unique. That wouldn’t be a problem if the cast wasn’t so unlikable. It’s a sensation that gets better with time, but if I hadn’t been reviewing it, I would have given up after the first act. I wasn’t interested in sticking around because of the cringeworthy conversation and bad sense of comedy.
Edge of Eternity came to life for me as I started exploring the realm. There’s a rather substantial 30-hour campaign here for a tiny development team. If you take on side objectives in addition to the main quest, your playtime might easily quadruple. There’s plenty of diversity here, whether it’s slaying creatures for Heyrs (money), completing tiny puzzles, or curiosities like the surprisingly straightforward “open 100 crates for this prize” side task.
This is aided by some engaging environmental design that is highly designed, vibrant, and welcoming. I really wish Midgar Studio had put as much attention into the character models as they did in the game. For reference, one of them can be seen in the screenshot above, and they don’t appear right. It’s unsettling. The main cast has received more attention, while several NPCs seem to be in bad shape.
Aside from the campaign’s length and attractive visuals, Edge of Eternity’s gameplay, which is reminiscent of Final Fantasy’s Active Time Battle system, is its strongest feature. Each fighter has a timed bar that dictates their turn order, just as it is shown there. When it’s your turn to assault an ally, you have the option of using regular physical attacks, magical attacks at an MP cost, retreating, or drawing on equipment.
Surprisingly, it doesn’t stray too far from the RPG norm. Enemies have different strengths, weaknesses, and elemental resistances, therefore it’s crucial to take advantage of them for extra damage. Interestingly, those figures are influenced by the weather in the area, so you’ll need to keep a careful eye on your surroundings.
Winning combat gives you EXP, which you may use to level up your party members and their weapons. Crystals, which are commonly discovered in treasure boxes and given as prizes for winning battles, may be connected to weapons after they have been adequately leveled, improving your stats and/or offering additional magical powers in combat. That gives you a lot of flexibility, allowing you to personalize battle to your liking.
None of this is really groundbreaking, but fighting does feature a unique mobility concept. Characters travel over a honeycomb-shaped grid, and when an adversary launches an assault, your part is indicated as being in danger. It’s a great layer of strategy, albeit it’s not really in-depth, and moving takes up your turn, which is unpleasant.
The Bottom Line in the Edge of Eternity Review
Pros
- Battles in real time are well-implemented.
- Beautifully designed atmosphere.
- There is a lot of information here.
- It will appeal to enthusiasts of classic RPGs.
Cons
- Character models are dubious at best.
- The plot struggles to keep the reader’s attention.
- It’s unpolished.
- The ambition isn’t matched by the execution.
Midgar Studio should be pleased of what they’ve accomplished as a tiny independent studio with Edge of Eternity. It’s simply that I wish I enjoyed it more. The final result just cannot meet the developer’s goals due to a boring tale, a lack of overall polish, and some inconsistent aesthetics, making this a difficult game to recommend.
If you’re interested in diving in, there’s still a lot to enjoy. JRPG lovers may find plenty to like here thanks to a dynamic battle system, vibrant environmental design, engaging side content, and old-school design. It’s available on Game Pass at launch, so if you’re playing on PC or Xbox, you could take advantage of that, but you’d be better off going elsewhere.
[Note: The copy of Edge of Eternity used for this review was given by Midgar Studio.]Edge of Eternity is a game with a lot of ambition, but ultimately it’s lacking. The story and the characters are what make this game worth playing. Reference: edge of eternity story review.
Related Tags
- edge of eternity review 2021
- edge of eternity metacritic
- edge of eternity ps5 review
- edge of eternity wiki
- edge of eternity – digital deluxe edition