Wizards of Brandel Review (Switch)

Game: Wizards of Brandel
Genre: Adventure, Role-Playing, Simulation, Strategy
System: Nintendo Switch (Steam, Xbox One, PS4)
Developers|Publishers: Exe Create| Kemco
Price: US $14.99 | AU $22.45 |CA $18.99|£12.49 | €14.99
Age Rating: EU 12| AU PG| US T
Release Date: 5th December 2019

Kemco is a name I keep hearing from time to time. They seem to pump out a new JRPG every year, for better or worse. One of their most recent games, Wizards of Brandel, definitely looks to have improved from their other games graphically, but should they keep making low budget games? Maybe, but that still depends on the consumer themselves for buying this game or not.

Envicted

You play as Darius, who wakes up to suddenly find his house gone. Shortly after, a young boy named Mark appears and identifies Darius as the author Holy Angel Feline Princess. Anyone would be embarrassed with a name like that, so of course Darius denies it at first. Still, because of the fan, Darius/HAFP was able to find a new house to live in for a time.

But there wouldn’t be much of a game, much less a JRPG, if he could stay there in peace. After a time skip, Darius takes to the field to help with some errands, but then goes on a quest to solve some mysteries as to why the guild wants to kill Mark, or what happened to Phelia.

Another typical JRPG cast, but that’s definitely okay

The characters of Wizards of Brandel are interesting. Darius is a wizard that knows a lot of exposition on magic and acts more of the sane man of the group. Erica is a guild swordswoman who initially tries to slay Mark, but luckily her moral compass works better than her sense of direction. Phelia used to be a normal girl before revived as some sort of alraune.  And Mark, the alleged villain, simply acts too precious to be a dark lord. And that’s without counting the fact he could pass off as a convincing girl on appearance alone.

They all have charm and charisma. Darius in particular is a stoic guy trying DESPERATELY to put his corny fantasy novel pseudonym behind him but secretly enjoys the fact that his friends like his writing and ideas on magic. He also looks at things logically from the rules of magic, initially study as an excuse not to help Phelia. But Mark, ever the helpful host, convinces him to go on this journey like he really wants to.

What’s more, they even have their own field skill that clears part of the dungeon map as you explore. Like Erica cutting through walls or Phelia growing a vine to reach a higher platform. These skills are capped by the character’s level so some places you can’t reach right away until you get stronger. It’s one of those elements in video that encourages backtracking.

The story starts pretty slow in building a premise that makes the whole “lost house” segment feel like filler. It doesn’t help that at the end of every story point and cutscene, you hear a chime and a text blurb that tells you to go to the next point. Anyone who has played a video game before would know this obviously, so it was annoying to see and hear this keep happening.

Buy your power level

Just before I was let out to fight monsters and find herbs, Mark pulls me away to talk about item summoning. I feel this was a bit incentive to edge players into buying microtransactions for rare/great items.

This bothers me since Wizards of Brandel is a JRPG, a solidary experience. You’d sooner see these kinds of microtransactions on mobile phone games where you either compete or cooperate with other players. You know, for a competitive edge. But here we expected to either grind for enough gems in a paltry gain after battles or shell out real money directly, or even buy EXP boosters as DLC.

At least the gameplay itself is fun. You control three characters at a time paired with familiar spirits (which I believe is a staple in other Kemco games). After every battle, you get EXP and money and even some Vigor Stones. Familiar Spirits get it easy as you only need to level them up by the number of battles they participate, not EXP earned.

I played Wizards of Brandel on Hard mode, and I feel the difficulty is just right. You can adjust the encounter rate to twice as many, to no encounters. You can summon swarms of monsters at once or fight special monsters that are like Dragon Quest Metal Slimes (must be defeated in time for major rewards).

Personally, I feel there’s no need or reason to buy DLC to make the game easier. This is especially true when you can just grind the Vigor Stones to get the same effect for free.

Now to update my magic resume…

From what I’ve played in this game, I can see more positives than negatives. The story is serviceable enough, the music is fitting, and the characters make me want to see more. The core gameplay loop can be made as easy as you want it to be and can get so many bonuses from either exchanging stones or fighting special monsters. It’s not high quality or anything, but it’s cheap enough to pick up.

Final Verdict: Liked it