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Going into Reverse 1999, I confess I used to be a little bit of a hater. I imply, I saved getting blasted with their adverts 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 pressured to look at it.
Nonetheless, the adverts 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 individuals 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 title suggests, one thing occurred in 1999, dubbed the “Storm”. This incident someway 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, for those who’re questioning the identical factor, right here’s my candid overview of the sport. Remember that there shall 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 data whereas attempting to pirate a ship. Nevertheless, her plans are foiled when some enemy group known 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 taking place.
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 a little bit too overdone, don’t you suppose?
The plot unravels a bit extra earlier than you get to “title” your character. I put that in quotes since you’re not enjoying as some type of anonymous traveller, wanderer, or no matter, however an precise fleshed out character that goes by the title of “Vertin”, which I assume is our final title.
(I wished to call my character Claudia, however apparently there’s an in-game character with the identical title, so I surrendered.)
Vertin (the participant) is addressed with the obscure title of “Timekeeper”. Vagueness appears to be a key part of the introduction, with phrases comparable to “arcanist” and “the Storm” and “the inspiration” 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 clarify the world the sport is about in.
As a substitute, the plot is cleverly unfolded to the participant by way of 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 clarify the fundamentals of the world to Regulus, concurrently briefing us (the gamers) on all main ideas of the universe, too.
Mainly, we because the Timekeeper, maintain observe of the “Storm”. This “Storm” is what transports everybody to a different period, and it could 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 secure 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, but it surely’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 a little bit moody in a great way, with nice use of colors and lighting.
The backgrounds are all beautiful too. The vaporwave-ish artwork it introduces through the “Storm” is a refreshing change, too. Possibly it’s an allusion to the late 90s glitch artwork, a clue about why issues occurred the best way 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 trying approach cooler. The actions are clean, and the gestures add additional persona and characterisation.
As for the character designs, I do suppose they’re charming, however I’m a little bit postpone by how everybody appears to be like to be… a younger lady?
On the character growth entrance, although, the sport seems to have put an honest little bit of effort into fleshing them out, particularly for those who 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 dissatisfied by the charges, whereas others have defended it.
To this point, the sport hasn’t been that beneficiant with its rewards and presents, and also you received’t have the ability to pull a lot proper off the bat. I’ve solely gotten sufficient to this point 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 advantageous, nothing overly witty or memorable. The sport lets the participant choose dialogue choices every so often, but it surely’s only for the sake of interactivity. Typically the one choice 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 turn into fairly enticing to gamers. Some reviewers I got here throughout maintain calling the accent “genuine”, which I’m not very certain about.
Given, I’m not like an accent professional 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 tug off the accents both.
I’ll say, I used to be anticipating to cringe extra on the accents and voice traces, however to this point, 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 spread 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 varied accents make the world a bit extra fascinating.
You possibly can take heed to a few of the voices on the official web site, below the solid part, to make your personal judgement.
The gameplay
Turned-based technique isn’t my favorite sort of gameplay to start with, so this a part of my overview 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 executed by way of playing cards. The identical motion playing cards stack for those who transfer them subsequent to one another (which prices motion factors), or you possibly can strategically play in order that comparable 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 point 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 known as Moxie, which for those who 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 to this point.
My final touch upon gameplay is that that is a kind of video games the place the characters turn into little Chibi fashions within the motion scenes.
On the intense facet, as a substitute of a static 2D combat scene, the digicam truly strikes out and in to offer 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 beautiful, the lore is intriguing, and the gameplay is decently enjoyable for what it’s.
Some could really feel that the translated dialogue (Chinese language to English) will be janky at occasions, but it surely didn’t wreck my expertise. Others had gripes with the dearth of autobattle, however I haven’t gotten far sufficient into the sport but to have an opinion on this.
Whereas the characters to this point haven’t managed to allure me completely, I’m excited to satisfy extra folks from the solid. I’ve spoilt myself a little bit bit scrolling by way of the solid 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 known as Drugs Pocket, which makes me chortle. The truth is, for those who 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 completely 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 want 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 information is synced to your account). The query is, will you be partaking?
- Be taught extra about Reverse 1999 right here.
- Learn different articles we’ve written about gaming right here.
Featured Picture Credit score: Reverse 1999
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