Ys vs. Trails in the Sky: Alternative Saga is a well-done remaster of a 2010 PSP arena fighter that brings together characters from two of Falcom’s most beloved series. Combat is fast-paced and accessible, with aerial movement, assist attacks, and a style reminiscent of Ys SEVEN. The PC version adds a lot of valuable features: 60 FPS support, updated visuals, ultrawide resolution, rollback netcode for online play, and dual audio (English and Japanese). The menus and UI have been cleaned up nicely for modern displays, and performance is rock solid. The story is light and mostly fan-focused, with a few potential Trails spoilers. Still, the big roster, smooth gameplay, and thoughtful remastering make this a fun side title—especially for fans of Ys, Trails, or Falcom in general. All in all....not deep, but a polished, nostalgic brawler that's easy to enjoy nonetheless.
Ys vs. Trails in the Sky: Alternative Saga is a well-done remaster of a 2010 PSP arena fighter that brings together characters from two of Falcom’s most beloved series. Combat is fast-paced and accessible, with aerial movement, assist attacks, and a style reminiscent of Ys SEVEN. The PC version adds a lot of valuable features: 60 FPS support, updated visuals, ultrawide resolution, rollback netcode for online play, and dual audio (English and Japanese). The menus and UI have been cleaned up nicely for modern displays, and performance is rock solid. The story is light and mostly fan-focused, with a few potential Trails spoilers. Still, the big roster, smooth gameplay, and thoughtful remastering make this a fun side title—especially for fans of Ys, Trails, or Falcom in general. All in all....not deep, but a polished, nostalgic brawler that's easy to enjoy nonetheless.
I would like to preface this review by stating that I am a huge critic of Bloober and of their games. I have played everything that they have developed from Observer to this title, and it is impossible to speak of this game in isolation as Bloober has undergone a sort of metamorphosis in and of itself. Basically, I have always considered Bloober to be Eurojank. What is Eurojank? Well, it's Eastern European games having a grand vision, but a sloppy and buggy execution. While all their previous titles: Blair Witch, Observer, The Medium, Layers of Fear were "good enough", they were always buggy and poorly poorly optimized. Those games were acceptable to me because they were not presented as a AAA masterpiece. They fit the budget and fun was had, but were still rather somewhat annoying at times with the performance issues. Then we fast-forward to my utter contempt for Bloober....Silent Hill 2 remake. I feel as though it were not actually much better or worse than their previous attempts (optimization included), but received far far far too much praise because of the IP and nostalgia. I feel if it (SH2) were judged upon its own merits, it wouldn't stand out at all, but would be just another middling AA title. Now, we come to Cronos. There is no IP to back it, nor are there any nostalgia glasses clouding anyone's eyes. Bloober has taken their experience working with Konami, it seems, along with UE5, and also the newfound fame, and are doing their best to transition to a competent AAA Dev team. This game has ambiance for sure. The combat is brutal, the resources scarce, and the struggle to survive is ever present. Now, there are technical hiccups....I mean...It's Bloober after all. Hardware Lumen (RT) absolutely tanks fps even on the 5090, and there is still the shader compilation traversal stutter ever present in UE games. The price is absolutely ridiculous too for a new IP. However, all things considered, Good Job, Bloober Team!!! You have made it!
Brok:The Investigator- One of the most innovative adventure games I've seen in a while. Brok is set an anthropomorphic universe where one as an InvestiGATOR must either use his brains or his fists (via action mode) to accomplish his goals of gathering info. This unfolds across 6 chapters via numerous investigations. The characters are well-written and the narrative can be rather deep and emotional at times. All in all....quite a unique and enjoyable mashup of beat-em-up and point-n-click. Brawl Bar- Allows us to strap those boxing gloves back on Brok and become a prize fighter. It has multiple playable characters and is entirely focused on the combat aspect along with various challenges. All in all, an excellent innovative title.
Not happy at all with this release. It looks to be a great addition to the Brok universe, but it's standalone on GOG whereas its rightfully DLC on STEAM. I have been testing since release, and there are issues. 1. The Dev forgot to add the option to switch to the investigator outfit for fighting during the VR missions. This has locked us out of using weapons in the game and forces us to use the new boxing mechanics without any weapon pickups. 2. If you load a save from the basegame or have an autosave from the base, or even configure through the base game (both games even though they are standalone share the same APPDATA folder configs, and settings) last.....you will be locked out of the new boxer outfit in the standalone Bar Brawl and be forced to only have the investigator outfit locking you out of boxing mechanics. I will say that the Brok Universe is amazing and keeps getting better. After all, the Dev did take input from the community and fixed some wonky combat mechanics.. However, this has been a very rocky release.
This game is simply amazing and a worthy successor to the Ninja Gaiden 8-bit classics (though this one is more 16-bit based). If you are interested in high-speed 2-D side-scrolling Ninja mayhem, then look no further. The artwork is sprite based with the additional options of having a CRT-style filter and HD text. Just as in the classic NES titles, the cutscene interludes are used to convey the story (light though it may be). I reiterate that this game is more reminiscent of the 16-bit era though as there are effects such as parallax scrolling, Mode 7, etc. seen from that era. The sound is a combination of synthwave, rock, Japanese retro tunes and arcade music. It's good enough to listen to on its own merits if GOG were to sell the OST. The controls are tight and responsive without a lot of complicated combinations to learn or remember. It's basically the OG Ninja Gaiden with more precise climbing, some added charge attacks, and some character swapping mechanics that I do not wish to divulge as it is a storyline spoiler. The story? Let's just say that this is a concurrent adventure of a different Hayabusa clan ninja while Ryu was travelling to America in the original to handle business after his father's death. TL;DR It's good. I'm gonna give it 5 stars. As for the performance.....go outside, dig up a potato, and install. It will work.
