Developed by Airship Syndicate
Published by THQ Nordic
Reviewed on PlayStation 4 (also available on Xbox One and Steam; Switch version TBA)
Battle Chasers was one of the first comics that really grabbed me when I was young. It’s an arcane punk fantasy world filled with dangerous monsters, powerful villains, and even greater heroes. The name of the lead artist and writer for the series, Joe Madareiura, is a name that I couldn’t forget. Battle Chasers ended on an abrupt note because of publishing issues and I was sadden by the loss. Madureira would go on to work on some of Marvel Comic’s finest works and also crafted the Darksiders video series. A couple of years ago, Joe and a small team from Vigil decided that Battle Chasers was ready to see the light of day again, but this time in the form of a JRPG styled game. The crew took to Kickstarter and raised over $800,000. I was devastated when I realized I had missed the Kickstarter by a mere three days. But I followed the project and we were fortunately able to preview Battle Chasers: Nightwar at PAX 2017. Are the Battle Chasers’ blades and spells still as sharp and powerful as they were before? Read on!
Battle Chasers: Nightwar picks up partially where the comics leave off. It works as a great entry point as well because the story told here is a deviation of sorts. You’re thrown right in the action as our heroes Garrison, Guly, Calibretto, Knolan, and Red Monika are ambushed by bandits on their airship. The crew bails but are separated. Later, a plot to revive a powerful Vampiric lord is uncovered but I won’t go too deep into the story because I don’t want to spoil the awesome stuff that happens. You also meet a new comer, Alumon. As a vampire hunter he is more than just a good fit for the group. If you have any familiarity with the series prior you will be a happy camper. If not, there’s plenty here to get you interested. The characters, setting, and the fantasy of the world are all really awesome, and have Madureira’s awesome art style. From a presentation standpoint the game is impressive. But it’s more than just eye candy.
Nightwar is designed as a classic JRPG but with modern twists. Combat is turn based, some actions are instant while others have casting time. Planning a few steps ahead can sometimes yield great results and poor planning the opposite. The balancing act of strategy, management, and difficulty is great. I can appreciate when something is difficult but not for artificial reasons. I encountered an alternate boss that was way above my level but, apart from that, I felt the challenge was never unfair. Even when party combinations didn’t quite gel, I could still find success. As a player I was thoroughly intrigued with trying out so many possibilities. The other aspect of the combat that stands out is mana management and your Burst Guage. You can generate temporary mana known as overcharge to conserve your normal mana while bursting allows you to utilize a skill that has a very wide variety of effects. The excellent balance of managing mana and your team composition is further complimented by cool monsters and well thought out boss fights. The only real downside to this is leveling up each character takes quite a while because of the limited amount of experience earned from battles.
Aside from combat, you’ll explore the beautiful overworld and explore dungeons with semi-randomized layouts and elements that are different each run. These include objects like a cube that can give you a rarer version of a weapon if you “feed” it, a fortune teller that gives random stat boosts or ailments, or even other new mechanics. I was kept on my toes and mastering a dungeon on all three difficulty levels once again yielded satisfaction. Standard, hard, and legendary all have different monster levels and upgrade the loot you will earn. The locales are also well realized. Bandit hideouts, deep dark mines and a volcano just to name a few. Creatures you encounter match a specific type (spiders, bandits, etc.) and have unique traits and moves. The more you fight each monsters the more you learn about them; defeating a set number of them earns passive bonuses that apply to the playable cast. The game also has a nice bevy of side quests, an arena to face multiple waves, weapons, and secret skills to find. You will definitely be getting your moneys worth.
I would be remiss to not talk about the excellent audio work in play here. There are two composers at work here, HomeStuck composer Clark Powell and Darksiders II composer Jesper Kyd. The two have crafted work that is not only atmospheric, but is well worth a listen to on its own. The general sound work clearly has talent put into it. The sound of blade rending flesh, poison seeping in, and the heavy impact from punches really hit home. The voice overs sound appropriate as well. It has a bit of comic book panache which will make some roll their eyes but I found it rather endearing.
I must state something rather unfortunate though. During my playtime I ran into several bugs like cut scenes not properly playing and a fairly hefty number of crashes. While the crashes weren’t constant, I was worried about them happening and that did hamper my enjoyment somewhat. Airship Syndicate has acknowledged there will be a day one patch to help correct these issues. Despite the issues, I still thoroughly enjoyed Nightwar and I hope you will pick it up as well.
