Battle Chasers: Nightwar

Battle Chasers: Nightwar is a turn-based role-playing video game developed by Airship Syndicate and published by THQ Nordic. It was released in October 2017 for Microsoft Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One,[1] and in May 2018 for Nintendo Switch and Linux.[2][3] Based on the Battle Chasers fantasy comic book series by Joe Madureira, the game involves the cast of that series being marooned on an island and being forced to stop the plans of an evil sorceress in order to escape.

Battle Chasers: Nightwar
Developer(s)Airship Syndicate
Publisher(s)THQ Nordic
Director(s)Ryan Stefanelli
Designer(s)Steve Madureira
Artist(s)Joe Madureira
Composer(s)Jesper Kyd
Clark Powell
EngineUnity
Platform(s)macOS, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Linux, Android, iOS
Release
  • WW: October 3, 2017
Nintendo Switch
  • WW: May 15, 2018
Linux
  • WW: May 28, 2018
Android, iOS
  • WW: August 1, 2019
Genre(s)Role-playing

The game received positive reviews from critics, who cited the game's graphics and visual style as a strong point, but criticized its difficulty balance and high level of grinding.

Plot

The main cast of characters include Garrison, a brooding swordsman, Calibretto, a kindhearted war golem, Red Monika, a rogue, Knolan, an old wisecracking mage, and Gully, a young girl with a pair of magical gauntlets who is searching for her father.[4] When the airship of the game's main characters is shot down over a mysterious island, they are forced to contend with a large group of ne'er-do-wells who are flocking there due to the discovery of a motherlode of mana. This includes Destra, an evil sorceress.[5]

Gameplay

Players explore the game's overworld in linear fashion, fighting enemies at set instances, until they enter a dungeon, where they explore in an isometric view that has been compared to Diablo. There, they can fight enemies, and dodge traps using special abilities. During battle, the game features an "overcharge" mechanic, where using non-magical attacks generates "overcharge" that can be used in place of mana.[4] The player can set the difficulty of dungeons before entering, and completing dungeons at higher difficulties results in receiving more experience points.[4]

Development

Battle Chasers: Nightwar was the first game developed by Airship Syndicate, a company formed of former Vigil Games staff. Though Airship are based in the United States, the game is a traditional Japanese role-playing game, with some additions such as procedurally generated dungeons.[6][7] The game was part-funded through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign, raising $856,354 towards its development in October 2015.[8]

Reception

Battle Chasers: Nightwar received positive reviews, with an aggregate score of 78/100 on Metacritic for the Microsoft Windows version.[9]

Rich Meister of Destructoid rated the game 8/10, calling it "fun and visually striking", but criticized a jump in difficulty that led to grinding as the player got deeper into the game.[4] Bryan Vitale of RPG Site also rated it 8/10, calling the narrative and gameplay unoriginal but saying that it is more than the sum of its parts due to its novel presentation.[13] TJ Hafer of IGN similarly rated the game 8/10, saying that it is a "skillfully modernized" retro-style RPG, but criticizing the characters as "two-dimensional", saying that character development was lacking and that they did not "grow, evolve, or face personal adversity".[14]

References
  1. Matulef, Jeffrey (June 1, 2017). "Darksiders dev's Battle Chasers: Nightwar gets a release date". Eurogamer. Retrieved September 25, 2018.
  2. "Switch On: Battle Chasers: Nightwar finally gets a date on Nintendo Switch®". THQ Nordic. April 5, 2018. Retrieved September 25, 2018.
  3. "Linux version is out now!". Steam. May 28, 2018. Retrieved September 25, 2018.
  4. "Review: Battle Chasers: Nightwar". destructoid. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
  5. Clark, Justin (2017-10-02). "Battle Chasers: Nightwar Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
  6. David Tach (2015-09-01). "Battle Chasers: Nightwar revealed". Polygon. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
  7. Matt Purslow (2016-11-10). "Battle Chasers: Nightwar sees Joe Madureira's cancelled comic evolve into an American JRPG". PCGamesN. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
  8. Airship Syndicate (2015-09-08). "Battle Chasers: Nightwar". Kickstarter. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
  9. "Battle Chasers: Nightwar for PC Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2019-06-26.
  10. "Battle Chasers: Nightwar for PlayStation 4 Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2018-07-03.
  11. "Battle Chasers: Nightwar for Xbox One Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2018-07-03.
  12. "Battle Chasers: Nightwar for Switch Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2018-07-03.
  13. Vitale, Bryan. "Battle Chasers: Nightwar Review". www.rpgsite.net. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
  14. Hafer, T. J. (2017-10-03). "Battle Chasers: Nightwar Review". IGN. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
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