izigame.me

If you are already a fan of Utawarerumono then you will be interested in the fiction and world building of this game at the very least, that said this game is pretty mediocre with some major flaws. I will recommend it only for those who already are invested in this world. If not then I would not waste your time.
Starting with the good, the world building and setting are great as usual. Also the established characters are pretty much true to form, though younger versions of themselves.
The bad mainly has to do with three items: the character models, two of the main protagonists, and the jarring comedy. To start the character models are borderline uncanny valley. It's very clear that Aquaplus for all its VN chops and tactics game chops does not have what it takes to do full 3-D models. The faces are poorly done and expressionless. The NPC's are super lazy. The posture of the models is weird, with all the characters standing with their chest thrust out at weird angles constantly.
Second, Shunya is just not a good character. The relationship with Oshtor is a fairly creepy. Her character design is probably the worst out of them all in terms of uncanny valley. I just don't find her a sympathetic character or as cute as they try to portray her. The voice acting isn't too good for her either. Overall I find her obnoxious.
The second is Halu is supposed to the cute mascot character but fails due to a bad character model. Again it just looks creepy and annoying. Halu is very clearly Haku, and they are trying to have their cake and eat it too by reintroducing him. It was unnecessary and frankly jarring. Plus then what the heck are you going to do with that when Haku actually appears on the scene and Oshtor runs into him. Too many continuity issues with introducing this character.
Third the comedy is super jarring and inappropriately timed. There are some just flat out out of character moments for Munechika that really destroy her character, which is a shame. The bro down between Oshtor and Mikazuchi could have been funny at times but becomes tedious and stupid.
Overall the plot is okay, it could have been better with more exploration of the enemy group and their history. The music is also okay and harkens back to the other games in the series. The RPG elements are okay but the crafting and upgrade system is introduced too late in the game and in the end game it basically doesn't appear again till the very end. There are balance issues also with the last boss which is typical for these games sadly.
For those wanting another good tactics game you won't find it here this is a bog standard JRPG. That's not a bad thing perse given the story they want to tell, its just that the execution is lacking. That said if you want to see how Oshtor, Mikazuchi, and Munechika meet and come to prominence this game tells that story. I just would be prepared for some uncanny valley issues with the models and annoyances in terms of characters.
One last complaint is some segments of just illogic. Like in the end game when the girls from Arva Shura summon the gate, they are confronted by the Mikado with his guards. What confused me is why didn't they try to stab them to stop them from breaking the barrier. The guards had swords and nothing had been established for why they couldn't just walk over and kill them two girls as they were performing their spell. The interior design of the Mausoleum also made no sense. We've seen in there before and we know that its massive but the maze aspects just made no sense, nor the infinite tunnel. Usually they've done a good job with the super technology aspects but this just felt forced so that we can have the closing dungeon.