Back in 2014, the 3DS eShop received AeternoBlade, a hack ‘n’ slash focused Metroidvania that’s centered around the gameplay concept of controlling time. After a failed attempt at Kickstarting a sequel, Corecell Technology has opted to port the game to the Switch eShop, no doubt in hopes of building up the fanbase further. We weren’t huge fans of the game when it launched on 3DS, but there’s always room for second chances. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem that much has changed.
The story of AeternoBlade revolves around Freyja, a warrior hailing from a village destroyed by the Dark Lord, Beladim. After being easily killed by him in the opening scene, Freyja is transported back seven days by the titular blade to prepare for her fateful encounter again. Though the plot takes some mildly interesting twists and turns over its seven-or-so-hour run, there’s very little here that hasn’t been done to death before. Granted, an engaging plot isn’t expected in a game of this sort, but the utter lack of charm or originality in characters doesn’t do AeternoBlade any favors.
It's a Metroidvania at its heart, but it opts to stack some interesting modifiers on that core formula which, unfortunately, aren’t terribly well executed. Rather than one massive map, the game is divied up into separate levels, and while this helps streamline level designs, it comes at the cost of incentive to explore. Secrets are often found in predictable and relatively easily accessed places, with time manipulation abilities playing into many of the basic puzzles you come across. Backtracking is encouraged by some paths being placed tantalizingly out of reach, though these can often have disappointing rewards waiting for you at the end. Overall level design, then, tends to feel unsurprising in many instances, and we couldn’t help but feel that the Metroidvania elements were added late in development.
Clearly, the focus here is being put on the combat, which is the best aspect of AeternoBlade, though it takes quite a bit of time to build up into an interesting system. Freyja starts out with some exceptionally basic combo moves, with more and more being unlocked with experience orbs you gain from downed enemies. The problem is that it takes quite a bit of time before Freyja’s options really start to open up, meaning that you’ll be spending lots of time mindlessly mashing the same button and watching the same attacks over and over. Adding insult to injury, most of the enemies - with the exception of end level bosses - fail to match your abilities in any meaningful way, acting as easily stunned sword fodder and little more. It’s a real shame, too, because the combat starts to get diverse and interesting once you pass a few levels, offering a tantalising glimpse at the better game that could’ve been.
Aside from upgrading her combo abilities, Freyja also has more traditional upgradeable stats, and a system of held items called Relics. These can be found throughout the game world and equipped to Freyja in sets, offering a wealth of different buffs and benefits. It’s nice that there’s this element of character building, as it enables you to skew your enhancements toward your particular playstyle, though it’s fairly surface-level character customization. Still, the potential of a better relic gives you some incentive to travel off the beaten path every now and then to see what can be picked up, and it breathes some much-needed life into the otherwise monotonous exploration.
From a presentation perspective, AeternoBlade falls quite flat, failing to provide much in the way of interesting audio or visual feedback. Its roots as a 3DS game are painfully obvious; the original release was considered so-so on that hardware, and not much has been done to pretty it up for Switch. Jagged geometry, stilted animations, a murky color palette, and blurry textures make for environments and characters that are passable at best and downright ugly at the worst. To be fair, running the game on more powerful hardware has allowed for some slightly better details in minor places, but the harsh reality is that putting lipstick on a pig does not do much to change the pig. The game appears to run the same whether docked or portable, but it looks better in portable mode, if only because the sub-par visuals aren't nearly as noticeable.
Conclusion
AeternoBlade is one of those games that’s frustrating, not because anything in it is broken, but because brief glimpses of excellence show what could’ve been. It's a decent game, but mediocrity rears its ugly head in nearly every aspect. You could do much worse with Metroidvania games than this, but there’s very little here that you haven’t seen done before, probably better. If you are chomping at the bit for every Metroidvania you can find for Switch, then perhaps AeternoBlade is worth the punt. If that’s not you, we’d suggest a better release in the genre - such as like Axiom Verge or Shantae: Half-Genie Hero - and to sit this one out.
Comments 29
Got this on 3ds for like a dollar and change during a sale. $15 is way too much of an asking price for this game in my opinion. If you're interested, wait for it to be $5 or less.
Played the demo last night and turned it off within minutes. Rougher than grade A sandpaper.
@Joker13z Even $5 is asking too much for this game. Sadly there are f2p mobile titles with more life in them than this game.
@OorWullie in this case grade F sand paper
Certainly wasn't convinced when I watched the trailer. Many better games on the eShop to spend money on.
So .. what do you have against pigs? They're beautiful animals! Even from the short demo I could tell this game is not worth my time. That is the problem with those productions when there are far more valuable options.
I can't believe it's not butter it's been churned out so much.
...well, guess where not getting that sequel.
Well, I enjoyed it for a little.
Oink, oink!
or mummy demastered, that and axiom are the top metroidvanias on switch, the first time ive heard shantae in that category...
I've seen this on sale on 3DS for VERY CHEAP and still didn't get it.
I actually enjoyed this Game , will probably get it soon.
Absolute skip...
im surprised they made free demo, noone will buy this after trying it out. in any case i wont
Nice review When I played it on 3ds it left such a bitter taste, it could've been way better and I'm glad it wasn't just me thinking so.
@SanderEvers It's a straight up port of the original game, no changes whatsoever.
This game is complete trash. Can't believe they had the gall to release a demo, they probably lost some accidental sales.
Picked this up when it was featured as one of the few games MyNintendo offered that I didn't already own. This would've been the time to clean things up, but I guess that is all for naught.
You can get it on PS4 with all the DLC for cheaper (not even on sale).. easy pass.
Doesn't bode well on how much effort and skill will go into a sequel if they just trying to make a quick expensive buck from a quick port.
@XenoShaun At least it looks and plays better than LIFE OF BLACK TIGER, tho.
@GC-161 It's exsistence and Sony's love of it still boggles my mind.
I'm passing it on 3DS and I'm still going to pass on it here too. The game just doesn't win me over.
It's a shame everything else sounds so bad. I was getting excited at the release of an eshop game that doesn't look like yet another 8 or 16 bit Retro game rip-off.
Yeah, good review. It's not the worst of all time, but you can do much better easily.
This culture of developers copying and pasting games they made YEARS AGO onto newer systems is gross. Like, I don't know, they could have used their time more wisely to develop a whole new game perhaps? I didn't know it was possible to run out of assets...
I went into this game with no hype just a general gameplay experience not on the level of Mario or Xenoblade games but either way I still found my enjoyment out of it because I didn't have high expectations out of it
I like this game. Particularly the atmosphere. The dark tone and simpleness this game had was actually quite charming in my opinion.
@LewisBurr Well I expected nothing and I was STILL letdown by it
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