Asdivine Kamura Review (Switch)

Game: Asdivine Kamura
Genre: Adventure, RPG
System: Nintendo Switch
Developer/Publisher: Kemco | Exe Create Inc.
Age Rating:  EU 7+| US: 10+
Price: US: $14.99 |CA $ 22.04  | AU $22.50 |£13.49 | €14.99
Release Date: 7th November 2019

Thank you Kemco for kindly supplying a review code!

Join Shiki, a fallen deity and his unlikely crew of misfits as he ventures the human world hoping to regain his strength to defeat his usurper, Zaddes.

Deity Come Orb Hunter

Shiki was originally the Spirit Deity, but his reign comes to the abrupt end at the hands of Zaddes who defeats him leaving him no choice but to escape to the human world. When he awakes, he finds that the world is unlike his original design, Zaddes has already altered history. He befriends a lost boy and they begin their adventure together. Shiki wishes to gather Orbs that contain his scattered power and reunite the boy with his parents. This is easier said than done as the orbs supply others who find them with unique powers too making them a valued commodity, especially amongst fighters and rogues. On their journey they are soon joined by others, travelling the world together to aid Shiki in his quest.

The game follows the well established, retro-RPG formula. You navigate a large overworld and several town and dungeon locations. Battles take place in typical turn-based fashion through random encounters and some scripted battles. While there is nothing particularly new or exciting here, fans of the genre will be very comfortable and can focus on enjoying the story which is of sound standard.

Fighting The Good Fight

The combat in this game takes place in a turn-based battlefield. Turns are laid out on a battle timeline at the top of the screen. As you encounter faster enemies or in turn you bolster your own speed, markers shift location allowing turns to then fall into their own sequence. Atop this you have a variety of options when fighting that increases as you progress. Alongside the simple option to attack, you can; launch spells, cast effects, summon allies and even transform. Your allies and transformations align with your acquired Harbingers.

While combat starts off simple enough, with the option to auto-fight and speed up animations, I found that snappy, straightforward battles soon grew into long, drawn-out ordeals. As enemies defence and offence grew, the choice for swifter pest removal was replaced by having to pool every option into every single encounter. It’s great to have variety, but requiring every single encounter to be dealt with in such a complicated manner quickly stifled the enjoyment of progression and exploration. The usual RPG trope of having bosses be very powerful as opposed to the local monsters is also employed which only adds to the frustration. I would commend the depth of the combat, but its charm is quickly diminished by the execution.

Around The World

The gameworld is a nicely designed asset to the package. Players are encouraged to bond with party members as they will frequently encounter road blocks that require each to use their unique abilities. This in turn rewards you with rare treasures and encourages exploration and backtracking. Having it as an option allows it to not distract from powering forward through the narrative if you so choose. There is also plenty of treasure, hidden areas and invisible walls for you to discover!

A nice feature in each of the dungeon locations lies in the shrines found at both the entrances and exits. From here you can set the encounter rate, limited to Half, Normal and Double at first but increasing at the exit to include None and Triple. You can also choose to battle 3 rounds of enemies which is all great for grinding levels and determining your progression.

Footnotes

My usual additional comments apply to Asdivine. The audio and visuals are of solid construction. I enjoy the mix of retro world design and nicely polished text graphics and avatars. There is both a quest system and lifetime rewards system that provides daily challenges and overall milestones which supply a regular stream of bonuses which is cool too for the quieter stretches in the game.

Conclusion

Asdivine Kamura doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but like so many others offers a solid take on a well established formula with its own little details. While its battle system could use some tweaks, its easy to get lost in the usual questing. RPG fans can scratch that usual itch here and be satisfied.

Final verdict: I like it!

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