Odin Sphere Leifthrasir Review

The term gem gets tossed around violently now-a-days so loosely it is insane that some folks do not know the definition anymore. Stating Super Mario Bros is a hidden gem. Really? Now pull up a chair and I can tell you of a game that was a gem then, and that was Odin Sphere. A Cult classic game that was released originally on the PS2. With barely any sort of mention of it beyond of word of mouth with a interesting turn out a while later. By later I means many years later made a large scale turn up as many Youtubers ran around like archaeologists digging through many games to find gems. This one alone was that barely known then now became more popular. It is still affordable to pick up on PS2, BUT if you do not own a PS2, what do you do?! Panic not, ALTUS/Vanillaware decided to make a definitive version of the game. Is it good? Does it play well on at least PS3/PS4? The answer will be answered. Like my hopes of them then coming out with a Grim Grimoire remaster too. A man can wish eh?

The story opens up in segments. Or chapters spread across a set of four characters. Each having a perspective to the games ongoing plot. You start off with Gwendolyn, the princess of the kingdom of Ragnanival. Effectively she is the Valkyrie class protagonist in which off the bat you are brought into a scale war against the Fairies. This all boiling down to a race to locate a Crystallization Cauldron. This then sparks many connections to characters in the game which I will just leave vague. Overall giving you a header of the cause of chaos among the realm. I personally ate up all five of the characters story trees. One of Vanillaware’s strong suits is to build a good story through out their games. Building a connection to each character and their purpose in the realm. In my opinion Odin Sphere was the great example of this. Story is brought into acts where you can sit down and watch interactions in lovely visual artwork.

Now if you played Muramasa:The Demon Blade on the Wii. Then you might have perhaps seen the love with this games artwork and game play style. It is all mapped out with ease. Mostly you can navigate with the D pad and with the analog stick. The mini map it self is a circular globe sphere. The world or sub levels you explore are set up in a Metroid style grid system, but more or less a lot of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Where there are plenty of collectables and character power ups like abilities. The game thieves on its combo system, making it more like a beat-em-up. Over time for some this might be repetitive. I do not mind some of the repeated aspects of this per level. However per level the variation of enemies change with new abilities and flavor of elements of damage.  On the theme of the level. So from previous locations you can find better rings or trinkets to help protest you and or allow better buffs for certain activities. Such as more loot, and resistances to magic.  The weapons you have per character do not change, but your combos are what sets the bar of gameplay. Or play styles. You play with a series of five characters. As mentioned above. All having a simple, to complex series of chain attacks you can customize to full variation. Enemies come in droves or handle a bit like games such as Defender, in terms on section of a area you ran run around in. During this you can see them at one point, as a tiny dot. All varying in challenge or skill to juggle them or simply kill them. You can a few ways to fight, by aerial attacking, or on the ground. The combat is fun as heck! The more I unlocked for my characters the more fluid combat became. The better the experience overall.

Each character’s story plays out in a decent length of story.  Each story being read by a young girl as a sort of story book. A cute style of perspective. This acts like a hud for each book/characters story. Control are simple to carry out. You press R1 +Square + X+ Circle, or Triangle to do a combo or series of attacks. This feels more comfortable as you run along the game. The total time within the game is close to thirty or so hours. Which is pretty meaty and you play with all of the character. Which I enforce and suggest. I found myself eager to keep going beyond the time per character to hunt down every item.  Because it was fun to simply find secrets through the game. Which the game does offer a good line up of those, but I will not spoil any more of that. Aside from combat you do end up with areas that offer NPC characters who of which offer information, just for lore purposes, and items, or recipes for food that buffs, and recovers your stats such as health. Food like Fruits in this game buff your life, giving you more then normal. Plus most of the fruits give you experience points to level up your character. So I became a would be farmer making a ton of melons to just grind up my characters. I can say this much. For most part out of the many remasters we touched so far this is one of the best of this year. The game still holds up amazing over the years. This was a awesome experience.

In Closing:

Odin Sphere Leifthrasir looks visually great with a lovely soundtrack. Deep paths of lore and story thrown at you. It applies a coat of Metroidvania on its already unique gameplay style. Well it had a style that was fresh at the time. Not too many games could top the craftsmanship that Vanillaware tossed into this game. If you have missed out of the original release of the game. Then boy if you enjoy a game with a great story, controls and visuals then there are three options to go about picking up this game with cross saving. It calls back to vintage gameplay. but also gives newer fans of gaming a fresh looking game. I peaked across all ports of the game for PS3, and PS4 at least all looking fantastic.

Highly Recommended!