I had the chance to play Battle Chasers:Nightwar on the Nintendo Switch. A hybrid portable device that has stolen my heart. I think this game is perfect for the handheld.
Story
In Battle Chasers:Nightwar  you find yourself stranded on an island after crash landing. The group that you’re fighting with has been separated. Thats just the tip of the ice berg as you start traveling around this island. Players will start out using Gully a nine year old girl whose father had disappeared and left her with magical gauntlets. The war-golem Calibretto is also apart of the party along with Garrison, Red Monika, and Knolan.
The game’s story is apart of the comic world of Battle Chasers. As I did a little digger it was a comic book series in the 90’s that had a very hard time at getting released quickly. The world f the comic is the back drop for this fantastic take on the JRPG.
Audio
This will easily be the shortest part of my review. In most games I usually stop listening to the music after a while. Some games the music and voice acting causes me to turn them off. The instrumental soundtrack in this game is fantastic. It kept me focused and on point during my time playing. The voice acting is superb, at no point did I think that voice didn’t fit with that character talking. Every sound seemly fits well with the action that is attached to. It’s just rare to see a game that really has the perfect audio. I wish all developers could take a page from Airship Syndicates book on making great audio in a game.
Graphics
This game is so wonderful to look at. As you play though many games at some point the look and feel usually has some kind of fault that becomes a huge issue over time. The only issue I had with the game while I was playing the Switch as a handheld device was seeing what items I collected after each battle. The text was just too small for me to read that cool things I got. Now that I got that one problem off my chest I can’t contain how beautiful this game is.
The comic book influence is efficient through the whole game. Airship Syndicate has crafted a game that is so hard to put down. Not just because of the gameplay. Even if I had to go to bed I would still be playing just to see what the next creature looked like as I fought it. It got to the point that I would lose at least two hours of sleep a night. The best looking part of the game to me was not the different characters or even the map. It is the book that allows you to level up your skills or to craft an item. That book is designed so well that it blew me away. Some of the visuals brought me back to playing Warcraft 3 and World of Warcraft. The design of the game is tight with very little flaws if any.
Gameplay
As I stated before Battle Chasers:Nightwar is a JRPG, with its turn based battles and not so random encounters. The gameplay is very easy to grasp when you first start playing. This has no hack n slash features. I know that will cause some players to step back and not look at this game. They need to pay attention to this game. Each character has certain aspects that work for the whole party With healing and defense a must in this game, paying attention to how much mana you have is important once you jump into those dungeons. Plenty of games don’t reward a player when they grind to level up. In this game it is rewarded and completely necessary to do so. They game also has included fishing during your time in dungeons. I mean can really help take the stress away during a hard dungeon.
In the detailed book that holds all the knowledge in the game players will find the bestiary. In the bestiary you will notice that grinding monsters will add a little something to your party. As I was grinding little notifications would pop up after I killed a certain amount of enemies. Those pop ups where perks that helped improve the party. This just makes the game so much more fun when you know that you don’t have to spend all that time for nothing more than getting a couple higher levels before a tough dungeon. The map is a wonderful way to level up as well. Walking around after you have rested will allow you to go out and fight more monsters. Adding areas that included extra loot is a nice touch. If you have played any JRPG then you will have no issue jumping into this game.
Verdict
Battle Chasers:Nightwar is that game that needs to be played on the Nintendo Switch. I can see how fun the game will be on other consoles, I just think this game needs to be played just about anyplace. From the epic gameplay to the fantastic design this is a game that every RPG fan should play. Even those that may think a turn based game is boring. Using the Switch as a portable device was the best way I found myself playing Battle Chasers: Nightwar, adding the vibration during the attacks wasn’t needed, yet it kept me focused on the battles. I hope that Airship Syndicate continues to support this amazing game in the future with more content.
Game was given as a code from the developer.
