Sunrider: Mask of Arcadius

Sunrider was fun & interesting, but actively worked against its own strengths. The writing, at times, had some really creative ideas & twists, but was borderline childish at others. I love setting, backdrops, soliloquys/introspective sequences - but why were there sudden rants? Random titties? Coming from a pervert... These sequences could have been added in a more fitting, more tasteful, less out-of-nowhere way, but it was shoehorned in, like other sequences (a "beach" sequence - in space). The strategic gameplay had some nice ideas on paper, but I found it much too difficult, even though I love strategy games - all I could really do was have every unit target 1 enemy at a time because their power was much too high & I got far too little money to upgrade my units. You could argue "git gud," but even on the normal & easy difficulties, unless I turtled & took dozens & dozens of turns for a single battle, I struggled. I almost quit the game & realized Sunrider had a difficulty setting. Had it not had one, I would've quit maybe 1/3 through the game. The characters are pretty... stock, though still endearing. I wish there was more to them - perhaps there will be more in the sequel. As it stands in this title by itself, you don't get much more than some introductions & a couple meetings here & there. Unfortunate. As a full title, there should be much more in a game/VN of this caliber. Great ideas, great style, I really enjoyed the voiceovers & music, but almost everything else required patience & suspension of belief. C'mon, guys.

Battlestar Galactica + Mass Effect + Master of Orion + Gundam + uh... harem anime? The Sunrider story (not counting the alternate-universe spinoff Sunrider Academy) spans four chapters: First Arrival, Mask of Arcadius, Liberation Day, and [RE]Turn. This game (Beta 7.2) contains the first two chapters. The next two chapters are sold separately in Sunrider: Liberation Day - Captain's Edition, which imports your save game (only your story choices; not your combat upgrades) and makes some changes to the aesthetics, interface, and game mechanics. Sunrider is a visual novel with turn-based strategic space combat. As the captain of a lone battleship in the midst of a brewing war, you'll gather a motley crew of female mecha pilots, fight intense battles against space pirates and intergalactic conquerors, upgrade your units, and make dozens of decisions that influence the story in some way. Combat involves strategically moving units around on a grid, prioritizing targets, and selecting the right weapons and special abilities for the situation at hand. Battles are exhaustingly tough (even the most casual difficulty requires some strategy) but usually very satisfying. The interface is notably buggy and clunky, but tolerable once you get the hang of it. The opening credits suggest the game is a dating sim full of fanservice and action. While there's some romance, it's more or less on rails, and the thrilling heroics are mixed with surprisingly dark moments highlighting the horrors of war. The story is engaging, but the tone keeps shifting—the game can't decide whether it wants sexy shenanigans and nude shower scenes, or children getting murdered and people losing limbs. The archetypal characters have a lot of personality, thanks to the writing, art, and voice acting. The dynamic soundtrack is a highlight. 3D graphics are serviceable. The ending is awkward—more like "wait for the next update" than "go play the next game." It's a mixed bag, but certainly worth a look.

Graphics - The anime parts look crisp and modern (same comment for Academy). And yes, there's an uncensored version, though this game has way less sexy time than Academy. The battlefield graphics are ok. Fight scenes are nothing to write home about though. Sound - On point. No complaints here. Be careful when wearing headphones though, the volume tends to be loud if maxed out. Gameplay: Tactical aspect - Challenging for me, a newbie to the genre, even at the second easiest difficulty level, especially since I want to finish fast without losing any units. Endgame could get tedious at times with waves incoming even if I'm almost done. Good thing there's a turn rewind system and save options are plentiful and easy (just not during enemy turns). You'd be surprised at what you can squeeze out of your fleet sometimes if you want to finish battles fast. Weapon balance makes sense for me VN / dating sim aspect - Wish there were a way to see how well you're doing with each woman (see Academy for a good example of how they dealt with this). Then again, it feels like the canon story is going for one particular woman (good thing she's ok) Story - Swings from surprisingly serious to over-the-top anime. It's well-written though, the funny bits were genuinely funny for me. I wish there were endings for each woman, as well as a harem ending because why not? It feels like there's one or two strong relationships for Kayto, then maybe 2 possible ones, and the rest are there for comedy. It's a shame because each of the women have their own appeal so I was hoping for at least one special sexy time and feels-y moment with each of them. Replayability - Yes for the turn based tactics, maybe not for the story (see above) Got this for free but I would happily pay for it! I'm not surprised that this did very well on Kickstarter. Hopefully my points for improvement were addressed in Liberation Day, which I'll probably end up buying when it goes on sale.

Started by enjoying the story and gameplay, but the UI is hard to read and during 2 hours I found sever gamebreaking bugs or random errors crashing the game. Would be a great game with some more polish.

Have you ever watched a mecha anime and wanted to take command? Now you can! Sunrider is a weird cross between a harem VN (which is forgettable), and epic space opera with good world building and an innovative, challenging battle system. The battle system is turn based, where your small squadron faces off against hordes of enemies (as should be expected when challenging a galactic superpower!). Each of your vessels is unique and irreplaceable, featuring different offensive and defensive systems that are mechanically different and interact in interesting ways. Between battles, players allocate funds to upgrade their fleet, being able to incrementally improve every aspect of each vessel's offense or defense (and sometimes even adding entirely new abilities). Since funds are limited, choosing where to spend them can spell the difference between victory and defeat. The overarching plot is mirrored on the battlefield in terms of varied mission objectives (sometimes affected by player choices), and enemy force composition, which gradually evolves to show the increasing technological and tactical sophistication of the enemy, requiring the player to adapt or perish. (Speaking of perishing: You'll do a lot of that. It wouldn't be heroic if it were easy, would it?) Production values: Decent visuals, great music, superb voice acting. Interface a bit clunky. No bugs found. (There are also some weird interludes with harem elements and juvenile humor. I don't know what that is doing here. Fortunately, there is a skip function ...) Overall, Sunrider has vastly exceeded my expectations. Spending 100 hours on what amounts to a free demo is pretty much unheard of, and I am nowhere near done yet. Must perfect my tactics!