Odin Sphere – Leifthrasir Review

It should come as no surprise to any fan of Vanillaware’s work, that Odin Sphere would be a fantastic game, and it always makes me chuckle that gamers keep saying the PS vita lacks quality titles, but then those same gamers have never played Muramasa Rebirth, Dragon Crown and now their Vanillaware’s new game, Odin Sphere – Leifhrasir.

Odin Sphere is set around Norse mythology, and it’s hard to give an overall picture of the complete story as that story is split between 5 playable characters who each have around 10 hours gameplay of their own adventure. Each of these 5 individual epic stories crosses over each other, and you may at times fight battles with a character you may well be playing later. Because of which it plays with your emotions,  for when you see the story from another point of view it questions the feelings you had for a character you thought you knew as seeing the same story from a different point of view will change your opinion. These 5 beautifully told stories arc together for one big final hurrah, and it’s story gaming heaven, that takes around 40 to 50 hours to complete, yet utterly compelling from start to finish.  

Hidden in all this is a game that has multiple endings depending on many different player-controlled events during the 6th phase of the game. There is even a 7th phase of the game that is only unlocked if a certain criterion is completed during the last boss fight if the 6th phase of the story.

A long story would be boring if the gameplay was repetitive, but it isn’t. There is a lot to get your head around in this action 2D RPG and it all felt rewarding and empowering, especially to level up and defeat hard fights with a top grade at the end. The difficulty level is pitched to perfection, even as things get more difficult as you progress.

The gameplay is a side-scrolling 2D hack and slash and each character has a main weapon, but each character also has slightly different move sets, but all are simply controlled with the square button and one of the analog sticks. It’s stylish, simple but ever so effective. It is a mixture at times button mashing, but to be elegant, and still get the same result, holding the square button and being more circumspect with your movement and blocks was much more satisfying.

Adding to the main weapon attacks, are skills you learn that can be used with the circle button. These actions are like super moves, can only be used sparingly and best used at the right tactical time, and range from small but ferocious frenzied stab attacks to the ultimate, but costly to your reserves of strength and magic, a complete and utter wipe everything out on the screen, “nuke them” move. In all, though there are around 30 moves to unlock and upgrade as you wish, but the beauty is you don’t have to use them all. You can just select the kind of attacks you want for the kind of play style, or indeed enemy you face, but are each of them are nothing more complicated to use than pressing one or two buttons.

The third way to attack is via the use of alchemy. You learn how to mix potions from whirlwinds, volcano’s, toxic clouds, and much more, again to suit your playstyle, but also depending on the kind of items you find around the world. Different items in your inventory will make different potions.

Then the RPG elements arrive with other potions, like healing, restoring, shining a bright light in dark places, or turning every item of food on the ground into something else. The art of alchemy is very simple to use, just find the right ingredients, mix in the required amount into an empty bottle and hey presto.

There is, even more, depth to this as you have the ability to grow what you need from seeds, which is a little time consuming but rewarding. This being a Japanese game, though, and they are always on the crazy side of things, you can even grow a plant that gives you two live sheep to kill and eat!

Finally, there is an eating establishment to frequent that travels with you to each location, that when you find recipes, the cook will make them for you which then upgrades your XP, health and power bars. It was a bit surreal to sit down for a fine dining alfresco dinner of chicken gratin whilst in the volcanic tunnels of the underworld, but hey, a man’s gotta eat when a man’s gotta eat!

The maps are fantastic to explore and each region you find can be revisited as many times as you want later on via portals. Each land has specific enemy types and typically a mid-level half boss fight before the full blown boss at the end.  The boss fights themselves are gloriously different. Your normal massive dragons to anything like a mega dwarf airship bomber will be found!

Finally, the audio and graphics are just industry leading stunning. To be honest even the word stunning doesn’t seem to do them justice. Each screen shot could be a breathtaking piece of artwork you’d be happy to hang on your wall and each piece of music something you’d expect to hear on Classic FM! It’s just perfection in a bottle, wrapped up and called a game named Odin Sphere.