Baldr Sky

Baldr Sky is a game that knows no compromise. Where most developers would opt to craft a crushingly lengthy visual novel or a complex free-form beat 'em up, GIGA chose not to pick and instead did both simultaneously. Gameplay: Baldr Sky's non-VN segments are comprised of omnidirectional pseudo-3D beat 'em up combat informed by games like God Hand and Armored Core. Much like God Hand, the player's move pool per loadout is quantitatively minimal while being qualitatively robust. The player will only have access to 12 moves and 2 metered supers at any time, but a significant portion of the game's moves pull double duty (or triple or quadruple etc.) with properties that give them high utility in a variety of situations. Much to its benefit, combat in general is highly granular; most moves carry inertia from dashes or other moves, and dash canceling can preserve momentum as well. "Niche" moves will reveal their broad utility as you begin to master the game's movement, physics, and cancels. In addition to its aesthetic, Baldr Sky splices many traits of mech/mecha games into its combat formula, with heat and boost (dash) management, aerial gliding, and a vast array of ranged weapons that beautifully complement the game's melee attacks. Writing: Too much juvenile innuendo (at first). Too much unskippable repetition in the starter routes (and that one part). With a high enough tolerance to hackneyed circa-2009 anime cliches you will pierce this veil and discover a gripping narrative that will Stockholm you into retroactively enjoying all the time it spent torturing you with banal college students doing banal college things. Few, if any, characters are wasted, and you will come to understand the perspective of everyone you meet and their place in the greater whole that is Baldr Sky. It's existential, it's hotblooded, it's heartwarming, it's cosmic and it's personal. It's Sisyphus rolling the boulder up the hill only to realize it's getting lighter as he goes.

Game is good, story is good, but lots of "Overtranslation" and "Undertranslation" are done to normal dialogue. For example, don't overexert yourself may be translated to don't make troubles. "You bastard" may be translated to "You *swear word" bastard *swear word" *swear word." and there are lots of examples I cannot quite all remember. It seems a common problem with Japanese translation nowadays. Not it affects the story but the mood setup is quite different. Still a good game though.

First step: Get the unofficial restoration patch. Second step: Have brain destroyed by amazing story. Stay on this step for a very long time (60+ hours). Third step: Regret that there is no more story to discover. Hunt for next VN.

... into a delightful blend of a cyberpunk visual novel and piping hot mech action. As the opening sentence says, this is a game with visual novel segments and intense action segments. Since whether you like what you see and hear or not is subjective and it's rather easy to check out for oneself, I'll mostly talk about the gameplay, which deserves a LOT of praise. The action segments are incredibly well done and ease the player in rather gently, but don't be fooled, the kid gloves come off soon enough and you won't get anywhere with button mashing. The tutorials are there for a reason, as is the practice mode. Use them or you WILL NOT be able to progress the story. There is actually a pleasantly surprising depth in the combat. Combos, heat management, paying attention to your surroundings, they all matter. The save button is your friend, as in the final third of the game, you are looking at a lot of action and you can save between encounters. The game makes auto-saves too, but it's ill-advised to rely on them alone. If you did poorly in a sequence, it's best to load at a point where your mech's condition is the best possible. Also, you may want to customize it a bit differently if your setup doesn't seem to work out. There is a humble selection of customizations at the beginning but it starts expanding rapidly around chapter 9 or so. The visual novel part is mostly kinetic, but a few choices are there. Bear in mind, it's not just your choices that determine the endings you'll get, outcomes of certain battles do as well. So be sure to be on top of combat skills. Routes unlock as you complete them, that's another thing to keep in mind. The story is not exactly for the faint of heart. The themes are very adult, despite the tropey school life sections. And speaking of adult... there is a community patch for some steamy scenes. A little browsing is enough to find it. All in all: plug in that Neuro-jack and dive!