Reynatis Review
Not Wizardry
Reynatis is a curious title. There’s no denying that it comes with a lot of interesting ideas in the narrative and the gameplay. Sadly, however, its execution of those ideas falls short in many ways. The ultimate experience is one that at its best illicits curiosity at where its story might be heading while easily beating up foes and wandering between checkpoints within Shibuya, while at other times it creates annoyance at the game’s systems that tend to hurt more than they help.
Reynatis is set in an alternate timeline where magic is real, although that has still led to Shibuya looking almost exactly as it does today. Magic is largely feared by the general populace, with wizards forced to conceal their powers and come under the control of the Magic Enforcement Administration (MEA). However, an organisation called the Guild acts against the MEA, seeking to put wizards at the top of the pecking order. In addition, a drug called rubrum is causing havoc among the citizens, giving them access to magical powers, but soon turning them into monstrosities with prolonged use.
The game features two protagonists sitting on different sides of this conflict. Marin Kirizumi is a 19-year-old college student who has found himself under the restrictions of magic users and aims to free himself of them by becoming the strongest wizard there is. Meanwhile, Sari Nishijima is a 24-year-old MEA officer, who is being used as the MEA’s poster child. Marin finds himself pulled by both the Guild and MEA, before soon encountering a third faction called Owl that supports those not connected with either, while Sari’s single-minded attempts to get rid of rubrum put her into conflict with her superiors.
The story starts out its nearly three dozen chapters switching back and forth between Marin and Sari’s perspectives, each quickly joined by two steadfast allies, before the threads soon converge and Marin becomes the obvious true protagonist. It’s easy to see some of the hallmarks of scenario writer Kazushige Nojima; even though it readily abandons its initial supposed theme of freedom versus order, the plot and setting have some interesting elements that keep players guessing as to just what will happen next, and the main cast is all quite likable and easy to root for, helped by some entertaining messages they send to each other. However, the direction of individual events is frequently bizarre, with certain beats brought up suddenly and then just as quickly forgotten about, while at times the game feels like it is skipping good chunks of conversation and details. The game’s conclusion also leaves a large amount hanging, although there are further post-launch content updates incoming that appear to continue the story where the credits leave it.
Reynatis is spent travelling around either Shibuya, which is divided into small interconnected maps, or an alternate realm known as Another, which mostly takes the form of an ethereal forest. Fights in Shibuya come from running into MEA agents, vigilante groups, or rubrum addicts, while fights in Another see players assaulted by monsters at various points in the map. The driving force behind combat is the game’s hoodie system, which sees players switch between Suppressed Mode and Liberation Mode. Out in the world, Suppressed Mode hides their magical nature, allowing players to talk to NPCs and otherwise act like regular citizens, while Liberation Mode lets them use magic. In combat this translates to Suppressed Mode acting as a defensive mode, making enemy attacks easy to dodge, with Liberation Mode seeing players able to unleash their full attacks but being more vulnerable.
The hoodie system works alongside an MP gauge to ensure that players can’t just go all out and will need to spend time in Suppressed Mode to recharge. In addition to regular combo attacks, each character can equip two spells with a wide variety of different effects and attacks. Dodging using a QTE-style button hold while in Suppressed Mode allows the player to absorb magical power needed for their attacks much more quickly, and switching to Liberated Mode while at full MP grants a short period where enemies are down and can be readily whaled upon. Players can also readily switch between controlling one of the three active party members — each with their own MP gauge and health — to allow a period of continued offense across them, with the swapped out party member often sticking around for a short time for further offense. It makes for a fast-paced action system that works well enough to start off, but it isn’t particularly strategic and becomes quite rote as players establish the cycle of building up MP, attacking, swapping characters, and repeat if needed. That said, it is pleasing when players are able to use their character builds to create some fun synergies between the different spells on offer.
Unfortunately, those synergies are themselves undercut by the game’s balancing. Most enemies will provide little resistance as the system for dodging attacks is overpowered on regular enemies. The game reduces this by giving bosses attacks that cannot be countered and must be dodging fully by the player. For the most part, this makes boss battles decently engaging. However, boss battles towards the end will throw out some utterly ridiculous attack patterns that are virtually impossible to avoid even if the game’s camera and sheer amount of stuff thrown on screen wasn’t also actively hindering the player. While this might be cause for great annoyance, players can readily obtain more than enough healing items and the impact of levelling is such that it’s still readily possible to brute force one’s way through them.
It’s a continued theme of the game of systems that sound interesting at face value, but are rendered ineffective in their execution. While an interesting idea in the combat and narrative, outside of it the hoodie system mostly just acts as an annoyance while in Shibuya, as any fights start a countdown to being accosted by overpowered MEA agents that necessitates leaving the area, usually just to come straight back to it. One of the key skill growth systems is introduced around the midway point, but the ingredients for it are present from the outset, which is quite confusing as players obtain masses of what initially appears to be pointless loot and nothing to do with it. Meanwhile, a stress level system that increases attack but reduces defense is largely ineffective and ultimately can be entirely ignored.
The countdown can be particularly annoying when it gets in the way of completing the various sidequests available, although a fast travel system can bypass much of the grief. Completing these sidequests is necessary to reduce the “malice” in the city, which in turn unlocks Wizart that can be found all across Shibuya. Viewing this Wizart unlocks new spells or passive ability boosts, and later allows those spells or boosts to be fully upgraded. Sidequests are largely the same in their format, requiring that players go elsewhere in Shibuya or Another to beat up someone or something, but provide some decent engaging story tidbits to justify themselves, and the Wizart rewards at the end of of things are satisfying enough. The game’s vaunted NEO: The World End with You collaboration is a weird 45-minute diversion midway through the game that adds very little to either property, though it does reward players with one of the most useful Wizart spells in the game.
Reynatis’s representation of nighttime Shibuya is quite impressive. Great care has been taken in getting down the accuracy of its streets, including getting the correct building signs and storefronts, and the locations in general look great. The implementation of Another is duller, particularly the forest sections that are only really differentiated by a different colour of fog. However, its biggest problem is the character models and animations, which both look multiple generations behind and waste some very good character art. Meanwhile, the game’s performance on Switch is also generally quite poor, with a struggling frame rate and a notable number of infrequent crashes. Audio is easily the game’s strongest point, thanks mostly to engaging and catchy music from Yoko Shimomura that ably demonstrates the contrast between Shibuya and Another. However, it never gets any opportunity to stand out, while the full Japanese voice acting is solid without catching much attention.
Unfortunately, it’s very hard to find reasons to recommend Reynatis. The story has some intriguing elements that provide curiosity about where it’s going to go next, while there are some interesting gameplay ideas and the music is decent. However, the game’s execution across the board undercuts all of these. The stronger parts just don’t have what is necessary to make Reynatis much more than a curious disappointment.
Disclosure: This review is based on a free copy of the game provided by the publisher.
Characters and plot are interesting at times
Solid music
Numerous ineffective systems
Lacking coherent direction
Poor character models
Performance issues on Switch
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