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Eternights - 2023 Review - Hidden Gem that everyone loves hating on!
I get it, we don't all have the same opinions, and that's ok! I do think this game gets some hate that it doesn't deserve. I hear a lot that its pervy with lots of fan service. Yet then I see the same people rave about later persona games or trails games with the same pervy factors and fan service (Don't get me wrong, I love the Trails Series). I can only come to the conclusion that since this developer loved Persona, and made a game that was similar but obviously not the same budget as a AAA Persona 5, it felt more like a hollow copy....and boy did that anger a lot of Persona fans clearly. Now while I get where some of the disappointments can come from, I don't think this game was just a hollow copy. In fact I think it came with some of the better character conversations and relationships in a game. There is a lot to love here if you give it a chance.
Art Style:
The in game art style was simple yet clean looking. I felt like it was a good job not trying to get too ahead of themselves by taking on too much. The still visuals we extremely well done. Was the game sometimes darker than Game of Thrones in the White Walker War? Yes it was. I get the thought, but at times I felt like I couldn't see a thing. I also saw comments about the in game character art. I actually found them very expressive, maybe not the most detailed, but that's not what this game was going for. Respect it for what it is, not what you want it to be.
Cast of Characters:
I’ve seen a lot of complaints here….and yes the characters are very tropey at times. But honestly I felt like the conversing was extremely well done. The relationships felt real and the way the conversations were done and the VA really put so much more into it. I was really impressed with the voice acting! The main character while being silent actually had his own personality, which you could see from your conversation choices. I liked that rather than just a full clean slate. Yes there is an overall pervy feel, but it was clear that was going to be the case when the game was announced as a dating rpg.
Gameplay:
Saw a lot of hate on this and honestly I didn’t like it either at first. Until it just all of a sudden clicked for me. It wasn’t meant to be a hack and slash game. Dodging an enemy attack with precision slows down time, giving you a better opportunity to attack. Hitting an enemy enough times within a short period creates a combo, allowing you to perform a stronger attack or a finisher. Attacking enemies or performing Perfect Dodges charges the Elemental Gauge, and parts of the Gauge can be used for an Elemental Fist attack that breaks enemy barriers if you succeed in a quick-time event. I would honestly say this games biggest hold back is feeling very contained. I would have loved to freely explore in this game. Especially since Seoul is a place I have wanted to visit. I would have loved to see costumes and such included but when reminded that this was one person working on this, it all makes sense and really makes you appreciate what Studio Sai did here.
Soundtrack:
Doing this review a bit later after playing the game and I can’t say I remember much of the OST. It had a very repetitive feel to it, while not the same songs for every area, they were very similar in feel. Most of them had a cool vibey undertone to them. Just nothing that jumped out to help emotional moments. I will say the battle vibes were enjoyable, again just nothing that left lasting impressions.
Story:
I found the story quite fun. Yes it was predictable at times and not anything too deep, but I don’t think it was trying not to be. It made me want to replay and get every ending. This story was less about what was really going on and more about the characters and the struggles they were dealing with during or before the incident. This is where the strength was, within each character conversation. I really didn’t want to game to end, and I felt the ending was a nice twist.
Overall:
All in all, it’s no masterpiece, but I had so much fun with this game. Maybe my expectations were super low so I enjoyed it? All I know is it was one of my top games for 2023 that I played. I would have loved to see the world more opened up, but also realize that with 1 dev that’s kind of a big ask. Very excited to see what this studio does in the future!
If you enjoyed this review, please check out my others on: https://www.backloggd.com/u/InVincible_Time

Let’s get it out of the way right from the start.
Scarlet Nexus got me here.
I just happen to enjoy this kind of games. Part action roleplay, part visual novel. Hack and talk and slash, one might say.
And you know what? These guys, Studio Sai, the developers of Eternights, have arrived out of nowhere and cooked up a competent Scarlet Nexus clone. Don’t get me wrong. Creating an action visual novel game is an extremely ambitious endeavor. It takes a book or two worth of writing accompanied by an entire game of development, balancing and polishing. Consequently, Sai had absolutely no chance of matching the major players like Atlus or Bandai.
And yet, here it is. A solid 7 game. Even 8 at times. Occasionally a 4. Color me impressed.
The Hacking.
The combat is weird. The hitboxes and timing feel off every now and then. Still, it does not happen often enough to feel too irritating until the final chapters of the game.
It is the general design of battle mechanics that feels peculiar. Firstly, the basic attack is useless. It only does minimal damage, and the enemies don’t get staggered, which allows them to counterattack right in the middle of the protagonist’s combo. The key here is to play defensively. The player needs to perform either a perfect dodge at an indicated moment or a parry, then the enemies become vulnerable to an entire sequence of attacks followed by the finisher, which in turn charges up the special. The special, then, deals massive damage to the basic enemies and needs to be used to break through the barriers that protect the sub-bosses and bosses from the damage. Most of the larger enemies tend to have at least two or three layers of shield protecting them which in turn requires charging the special more than once per battle just to get them vulnerable. It turns out as tedious as it sounds, and additionally it removes a significant chunk of versatility from the combat as there is no alternative to this particular sequence. In the end it proves almost enjoyable, especially with how later parts of the game somewhat alleviate the situation by introducing new skills and abilities.
The dungeons in general are enjoyable with their fog, dimmed neon lights and mild, syntwhwave background. Boss battles introduce the much-needed variety and require at least some basic pattern-learning. While Eternights certainly is not a Souls game, some challenge is present, bosses even fake out their attacks at times which I’ve not expected from such a game. Still the reaction windows are generous and the punishment for being defeated in a dungeon is nearly non-existent.

The Talking.
The writing is almost weirder. It starts out serious but then quickly devolves into comedy and then swirls somewhere in between till the very end. The one constant is that it lacks subtlety. At times the story reaches South Park or Monty Python levels of absurdity and expects the player to take it at a face value. An impressive feat here, from time to time the narration manages to gracefully recover from the depths of sheer preposterousness it created just sentences ago. This tends to happen more often towards the conclusion of the campaign.
The characters are extremely stereotypical and painfully exaggerated but also provide some unexpectedly emotional moments down the line. The jokes mostly land, assuming the player happens to have the sense of humor of a not particularly bright teenager, which I proudly subscribe to. There’s a running tentacle gag throughout the story, make of it what you will.
Visual noveling here is not perfect by any definition, but inexplicably enjoyable. Just like the dungeons, but considerably more varied. There are plenty of activities to perform in the free time, an impressive number of interactions to be had, a vast array of choices of progression and even some minigames.
And Which Dreamed it?
The 3d art is a mixed bag. It took me a while or two to get used to how the characters’ faces were animated. On the other hand, the environments – while significantly lacking in variety – look great. The 2d art is wonderful and so is the music.
One major drawback is the fact that there are only a few kinds of enemies that the protagonist faces throughout the entire story. Also, the constant need for charging the special move to break through several barriers protecting the larger opponents is tedious. None of these matters in the end as Eternights proves to be an enjoyable experience for an evening or two.
I’ve never expected Studio Sai to deliver another Nexus or a Shin Megami. It is not possible for such a young and small developer to nail everything perfectly the first time around. So, the point I’m trying to make here is
Studio Sai
how about a sequel?

As always, do with it what you will and, as always
Try to have a wonderful life.

Intro

To start off, I first want to say that the people that are comparing this to games like Persona need to understand that this is an indie dev, and looks to be their first game, made by just a fairly small team with one person who did a lot of the artwork, game design/mechanics, and story. So I say kudos to the developer. Having played through Eternights multiple times, here is my breakdown of the game, some minor spoilers:

The Story

The main story arc is a semi-standard anime/manga/jrpg setting where the main protagonist is "chosen" and granted an ability to help thwart the big bad who is out to corrupt the world. While the main story is fairly basic, where it has heart is with the interpersonal friendships and relationships. The characters can be rather 2-dimensional. sticking to their character tropes and it's often very middle-school/high-school levels of romance with the characters, which can be cute but can also be eye-rolling (Like really, Yuna, you're going to risk the zombie-like infestation to do an emergency public broadcast to apologize to one friend? Not, say, perhaps warn people who may be seeking out shelter, or make sure everyone knows that someone hacked your account and to disregard the messages sent by "you"?). There are also some plot threads that are never fully developed, or are shoehorned in for sake of "character development". For example, The whole term Eternights is a reference to a company's new anti-aging wonder drug and there is some foreshadowing at the beginning that there's a bigger conspiracy to be had, and while it's brought up towards the end of the game, it's not really fleshed out other than in some "personal logs" and is never a main focal point. There are multiple endings for the game, most of which play out the same with the exception of the bad ending, and while predictable, can tug at your feelings. Overall the story is coherent, with some lightness and humor albeit a basic narrative.

The Gameplay

The core gameplay is fairly typical of a jrpg, a bit bare bones, but responsive. It can be a bit tricky to pick up the timing for dodges/parries, but once you've got that down, combat is enjoyable. You're rarely overwhelmed to the point of frustration and there were times where I wished there was more combat. The one thing that was a bit confusing was the attempt at puzzles or mechanics that were pretty much a one-off. For instance, you're told about sneaking at the beginning of the game, but it's never used after that even though there are a couple of instances where it would seem like it would come in handy, but if you try, it has no bearing on the outcome of the circumstance. You also have to do a dance/rhythm mini-game twice, but then never see it again. The individual characters' mini-games can vary between being too easy, to being rng to the point of not being able to achieve a maximum score even if done perfectly (I'm looking at you Yohan). The mini fetch quests are also random at first until you figure out the layouts, and utilize the save/load states. Not everything is explained, which I'm all for games not hand-holding, but building social stats is a guesswork during dialogue cues, and is vital to ranking up your relationship with characters. I'm glad for the New Game+ which rolls over all earned stats and abilities, (and FYI, it will take multiple playthroughs to max out all abilities) but understandably you do have to still earn each relationship rank again, although all relationship perks/abilities are still usable/unlocked if you earned them in a past playthrough. One minor thing, there's no character customization or alternate outfit choices which narrative-wise is fine, just might be something for the devs to think about for their next game or even a DLC.

Visuals/Audio

The visuals, while not AAA, fit the tone of the game and suited the narratives well. The character models and expressions give a sort of XBox 360 Avatar (not the blue guys) vibe. The 2D animated scenes were really well done and hit a home run each time they were used, whether for exposition, for laughs, intensiveness, or emotional impact. The audio set the mood well, and has a good combat groove to it. While I can't speak for the other languages, as a sound engineer, I believe the English voiceover work was very well done, directed well, and sounded professionally recorded and edited.

Summary

While rough around the edges, for the Developers' first major release, Eternights is a solid, enjoyable game.