The year is 2024 and wizards conceal themselves and roam the streets of Shibuya, Tokyo. Society fears magic and there are those who see wizards as dangerous and needing to be controlled. A young wizard and an officer, on separate sides of the conflict, cross paths and and a darkness that will transform the world descends onto the people in this action adventure RPG developed by FURYU Corporation and published by NIS America.
Gameplay Elements
REYNATIS is set in the real city of Shibuya, which has been recreated with famous landmarks. It appears to be open world but on rails in the demo. As your character(s) traverse the city, you’ll need to stay in “Suppressed Mode,” which is effectively a fancy term for stealth. When in Suppressed Mode your identity is concealed and you can interact with civilians to acquire information and questions. However, when it’s time to get buck wild, one can activate “Liberated Mode,” which allows you to use the full extent of your magical powers. This comes at a cost, though, as the citizens are very much into social media and will record and report you to the authorities known as the M.E.A, who will send elite troops to end your fun.
The battles are fast-paced and twitchy. There are various attacking abilities to use, but they all use MP or magic points, which can run out fairly quickly, leaving you to slum it in Suppressed Mode, where you can’t even attack. Thankfully, there’s a way to quickly accumulate MP points and Liberate yourself due to the dodge mechanics.
Dodging mechanics seem fairly pedestrian at first: Essentially, you dodge with the right bumper at the last second and are granted a bit of MP. However, there’s mores facets to this that require a bit more nuance. When in Suppressed mode and a long-range attack approaches, dodging will slow time; however, the same can not be said in Liberated mode. In other words, I could see where one might want to give up their ability to attack in order to deal with an onslaught of attacks before jumping back into attack mode.
Then you have Dodge and Absorb, which was a bit more of a mystery to me. The tutorial tells you right before an enemy attack hits that time will slow and a magic circle will form. At this point, you’re supposed to hold RB and release it when full to dodge the attack and absorb more MP. For whatever reason, I had a terrible time getting this to register at first. I ended up simply holding RB the entire time, waiting for a strike, and then quickly releasing and hitting RB once again to fill the circle. Just felt really awkward to me. Could be user error, though. Just couldn’t get it to hit fluidly all the time.
Also, there is a ranking system after every battle that grants you more experience points if successful. Then your typical leveling up periodically happens and you can then upgrade abilities. Most abilities were locked during the demo, though, so can’t give a ton of insight here.
Interestingly, one of the mechanics introduced at the very end of the demo was changing characters on the fly. While attacking one can switch characters and the previous character will stay around a bit fighting on your behalf. It feels nice and fluid, making me think there could be a lot more to the combat here. Unfortunately, the demo ends shortly thereafter, so would have to get your hands on the full release to find out.
Graphics & Sound
Probably the biggest knock on REYNATIS at the moment is the graphical fidelity and seemingly bland looking NPCs walking around the city. While the City of Shibuya has some truly stunning visuals, NPC characters look a bit off and it makes the city feel a little less alive. It’s probably most reminiscent of Playstation 3 era graphics. I wouldn’t consider it a game breaker and it could be different in the full release, though. Just something to be aware of.
What really was hitting for me was the soundtrack. I just love the score. It is so nuanced whether you’re in the menus or just traveling around the world, especially the whimsical sound when traversing the forest. Have a listen during the title screen; it’s fantastic.
Conclusion
There’s a lot to like with this story. You have present day Tokyo mixed with social media and two protagonists from different sides presumably coming together to fight off a greater evil. Sure, the graphics seem a bit Playstation 3 era, but I can overlook that if the gameplay and story continue to be inviting. We will see shortly when REYNATIS releases on September 27, 2024.
