Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir Review

Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir is a side-scrolling action RPG with a combo-focused combat system and a very unique take on a Norse-style aesthetic. Leifthrasir is a HD remake of the PS2 classic Odin Sphere and brings a lot more changes to the table than just updated visuals.

The game tells its story using the framing device of a young girl, Alice, sat reading books in her attic. Leifthrasir has multiple plot threads told using five characters, with each character having their own book. These characters intertwine throughout one another’s story building up quite a complex narrative of honour, sacrifice, love and nations at war. It’s really rather uniquely told and something handled with a lot of care.

There is a fairy tale quality to each story, a naivety and sweetness that really helps you ignore some of the cheesiness of the game’s dialogue. Each character’s narrative is almost theatrically simple, but they are so charming and well put together that once you’ve seen them all play out they fit together in an interesting and complex way, whilst individually satisfying that ethereal fairy tale quality the visuals give you. Even the framing device adds to that in the end.

Ultimately, the story is about armageddon, told via the interactions of multiple nations in the world of Erion, Ragnanival; the realm of the titular Demon Lord Odin having invaded the forested Ringford, home of the fairies, with the now destroyed Valentine stuck between the warring nations. Neutral parties dragged into the narrative are the city-state of Titania and the rather fiery Volkenon ruled by Inferno King Onyx.The characters in each book offering a shorthand look at each nation’s ethos without getting in the way of the action..

But what about the game itself? Leifthrasir is a side-scrolling role playing game with huge amounts of action combat. In many ways it’s easy to think of how it plays as a 2D spectacle fighter in the vein of Bayonetta or Devil May Cry.

The combat has seen the most change from the 2007 version, adding new levelling mechanics: where you can upgrade your abilities and spend on skills that affect your character. This is done using a currency called Phozon that you earn as you eliminate foes. Each of the five characters has their own unique set of upgrades and all play quite differently; Mercedes in particular standing out with her crossbow and ranged abilities and Oswald being a rage-filled berserker.

You have a couple of resources to keep track of in combat such as PP and POW, which you spend on special moves and magic abilities; these can be bound to button combinations for quick access in the heat of battle. Gwendolyn, for example, has a heavy wind and ice focus to her skillset, enabling her to throw out cyclones and shards of ice from the ground. Whilst Oswald brings a fire/shadow theme to bear on his more direct attacks.

All of the characters have a unique feel to their combat: Gwendolyn, the character you start with, has a very juggle-heavy combo based combat style, with a lot of her abilities focused on knocking enemies into the air and gaining in strength as your combo chain grows. On the other hand, Mercedes plays quite differently: with her ranged attacks draining the POW bar along with her abilities.

The flow of combat has changed significantly, in the original game your POW bar acted more like a stamina bar, decreasing on weapon use causing you to become exhausted if you didn’t pace yourself. This aspect has been removed (for the most part, see Mercedes above) allowing the combat to become a much more fast-paced and exciting affair!

The game revolves around moving from area to area through horizontal stages that are connected via doorways. Each area is circular in nature, meaning that they wrap around if you keep moving in one direction. The exceptions to this are the rectangular areas which often act as junction points with multiple exits, or as checkpoint areas that allow you to teleport between others you’ve found.

Each section has an array of enemies for you to defeat, upon which you are graded on your combat prowess and given a reward. You work your way through the map ultimately ending with a boss fight, of which there are many fantastical and gorgeous entities ready to give you a hard time!

You level up via combat and also via the game's food system. Leifthrasir has a unique alchemy and food crafting system which involves planting seeds then using Phozon to make them grow. You can then eat the resulting food items, combine them into better food at the various chef areas and eateries or turn them into a variety of potions.

This leads to an interesting set of decisions throughout the game where you are balancing spending Phozon on upgrading your skills or on levelling up via food. This adds a nice strategic layer to enhancing your character, adding quite a lot of depth.

Vanillaware are known for their gorgeous 2D artwork, they have a distinct identifiable style thanks to George Kamitani.The original Odin Sphere on the PlayStation 2 way back in 2007 was one of the best looking titles on the system, fast forward nearly a decade and it still looks absolutely beautiful in this remake. The updated higher resolution art really pops and Kamitani’s painterly designs still look unique and interesting.

One oft-overlooked feature that survives the trip to this new version is dual audio support. You can opt for either English or Japanese voicework and it’s a lovely feature to have, the English speech is pretty respectable too; which is great, but having the Japanese dub available is a nice extra. Along with the voicework, the soundtrack really ties the whole game together.

Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir has quite a lot of replay value, allowing you to replay sections with different characters which is useful for unlocking all those abilities; it has Xtra New Game mode (Basically a New Game Plus mode where your abilities and items carry over) as well as a harder difficulty. As an added bonus it also includes the original Odin Sphere as “Classic Mode”, so you can play the 2007 original and realise just how much has changed in this new version of the game.

It’s not perfect though, the game does feature some backtracking, although Leifthrasir does help that a lot with its checkpoint system. Also, by its very nature of telling a narrative from five viewpoints you do see a lot of areas multiple times. The fact that you are seeing them with characters who play very differently does alleviate that somewhat, but it’s still a shame there isn’t a little more variety in backdrops across the stories.

All in all, Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir is a wonderful game: beautiful to look at, engaging combat, fun throughout with a satisfying and well told story. There really isn’t much to fault here, it’s a remake that really does improve on the original in every way and for its time, that original was also almost faultless.