Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior is an action-adventure recreation developed by Sand Door Studio and printed by Quantic Dream. Its distinctive twist on hack ‘n’ slash is the sport’s finest characteristic…however that’s about it.
You play as Imë, the Lysfanga of the New Kingdom. The Goddess offers you the powers to rewind time and reincarnate your self to construct a military of clones. Via this energy, you may defeat huge hordes of enemies, often called Raxes, in battle after battle all through the sport.
The story follows Imë as she explores the Kingdom, hopping from one battle to a different, piecing collectively what occurred to the Kingdom previously and what’s taking place now. Often, I’d be tremendous into this lore, however Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior missed the mark for me. Exposition is sprinkled all through narrative quips between Imë and her robotic allies. There are additionally varied statues and different areas on the planet to take a look at and get the characters to clarify extra.
I wasn’t on this. First, the villain is named The Stranger all through the sport till the tip. I couldn’t join with him as a nasty man or care about why he was doing what he was doing. Second, a log retains observe of the enemies, characters, lore, and so on. The story felt extra like a “collectible” for the log reasonably than stable lore to intrigue the participant.
I appreciated the Kingdom for its graphics reasonably than its story. It’s a disgrace that exploration is woefully slim. The Kingdom is empty (rightfully so for the reason that Raxes took over), however the surroundings nonetheless seems good. Nevertheless, the sport is linear, solely permitting you to go in a single course. In case you don’t hit an invisible wall and the way in which you go isn’t progress to the subsequent battle, you’ll stroll a protracted approach to a useless finish with a treasure chest or different collectible, which may be traded in to alter Imë’s outfit.
And no, the outfits don’t improve Imë in any respect. They’re purely aesthetic. Imë doesn’t have protection, energy, well being, or something of that nature. The one upgrades you obtain all through are what you discover in chests and what the Goddess offers you as you progress.
The Goddess will offer you 4 powers, every being a strong assault in opposition to the Raxes with cooldown time. Your robotic buddies provides you with spells, starting from additional assaults to defensive strikes. You’ll additionally discover runes in these chests, much like spells. For instance, one rune will quicken your cooldown time in your Goddess powers and provide you with a powerful backstab, simply to call a pair. You’ll be able to equip a complete of 1 spell, one rune, and one Goddess energy per battle. Mixing and matching these powers was enjoyable, however I rapidly discovered favorites and caught with them for many of the recreation.
Further powers apart, the guts of the sport is the battles themselves. Imë can rewind time. Every time she does, a clone of herself, often called a Remnant, seems, mimicking her earlier actions. The battles themselves are hack ‘n’ slash, however they’ve quite a lot of technique. To not point out, the battles are timed, and the clock ticks quicker every time you rewind.
Earlier than every battle, you’ll see the entire discipline and the place the Raxes are situated. That is the time to strategize the place to begin and what number of enemies you need to defeat earlier than rewinding time. The clones will repeat what you simply did so you may transfer on to different enemies.
As well as, every battle has a gimmick. Some battles are small, and others cowl an unlimited space. Doorways could also be a characteristic the place you undergo a purple door, and all the opposite purple doorways will shut whereas yellow doorways will open. Remnants can undergo closed doorways however nonetheless activate them to open and shut. I received myself caught behind doorways many occasions as a result of protecting observe of the Remnants was difficult. You earn extra Remnants for each 4 shards you discover. You’ll additionally get a freebie after defeating a boss. By the tip of the sport, I had 13 of them.
Raxes have gimmicks, too. Some can solely be defeated by being hit within the again, whereas others are “twins” and are related. You kill one, and the opposite will heal it, so you have to kill each concurrently. And sure, the twins are sometimes at reverse ends of the battle space, so that you want two Remnants to work collectively, timing it excellent.
As you progress in Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior, battles don’t get any simpler. You earn extra spells, runes, Goddess powers, and Remnants. Nevertheless, as an alternative of having the ability to grasp these expertise, the sport repeatedly throws new gimmicks at you every battle. A few battles earlier than the boss, the Raxes may solely be defeated by a specific weapon. Imë has a sword, rings, and a trident, so I needed to swap weapons in the course of fight. You’ll be able to’t swap weapons until you’ve gotten a selected rune geared up, so it pressured me to make use of a rune I didn’t need.
Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warriors forces you to make use of your complete arsenal all through the sport. At first, that is positive. I would like the sport to point out me alternative ways to make the most of my expertise and skills. Nevertheless, by the tip, particularly for a hack ‘n’ slash recreation, I need to use my favorites and button-mash my approach to victory. And, with the rewind and Remnants, there’s nonetheless loads of technique to go round, so I wouldn’t lose the primary level of the battle mechanics.
Regardless, I did have a superb time with the sport. I beat the primary story in beneath 14 hours. I want I had gotten extra into the story and the world-building. Nevertheless, the sport solely permits Imë to maneuver from one battle to a different, sometimes discovering chests if you happen to look laborious sufficient. The sport crashed on me just a few occasions and lagged sometimes, which was annoying. Nevertheless, it autosaves so usually that it was by no means a loss.
