Redemption Reapers Review

Tactical RPGs are great. They can often almost feel like puzzle games as you try to figure out a plan of attack, or strategise on the fly when the enemy has you outnumbered. So, I was rather excited to try Adglobe’s Redemption Reapers, as a fairly big fan of the genre myself. Whilst I’ve spent many hours in the bright and flashy Fire Emblem series, this game has a much more mature, dark fantasy tone with a design to match. But can its gameplay match the impressive atmosphere?

Redemption Reapers takes place in a bleak world overrun with a race known as the Mort (which bear a striking resemblance to The Lord of the Rings’ Uruk-hai) as they lay waste to anything and everything in their path. Combating this threat are our heroes, the Ashen Hawk Brigade: a small band of mercenaries looking to put an end to the Mort.

Despite an interesting premise — set in a world I was aching to learn more about — everything feels rather one-dimensional. Characters aren’t fleshed out as well as they could be, backstories go untouched, and the driving force behind why the Mort are on a rampage is never explored. There is enough narrative to break up the combat, but, unfortunately, it never quite reaches the potential that Redemption Reapers’ teases during the opening story sections.

The whole style of Redemption Reapers meshes really well with the story of “evil army tries to destroy the world”. It’s drab, gritty, and oppressive atmosphere makes for an interesting design choice that I actually really liked. Graphically, it’s not going to be winning any awards — although some of the cutscenes are impressive-looking — but the mostly unique character and enemy designs and the environments, ranging from war-torn battlefields to dilapidated cities, all had their own distinct feel. Sure, it’s not a brightly coloured title, but it really does help to draw you into this world on the brink of destruction.

As does the music, which can be eerily haunting, yet surprisingly beautiful, during many of the game's sombre moments. The composer, Rei Kondoh, has many great titles he’s been involved in, including the likes of Bayonetta, Ōkami, and even some of the Mario Party titles. What I mean to say is that the music is superb, and perfectly fits within every battle or story scene.

If you’re even slightly familiar with tactical RPGs, then you’ll immediately feel at home when playing Redemption Reapers. Each battle map is laid out as a grid, with characters and enemies taking turns to move, attack, perform skills, or use items. As it’s tile-based, you’ll move each hero a set number of squares to close in on (or escape from) the Mort, with a follow-up action performed after moving.

A rarely seen feature in the genre is the option to move again after an attack, allowing you to perform a sort of hit-and-run manoeuvre. I often felt like a tactical mastermind as I had my mercenaries with lower health run in, cast a spell, then retreat behind their more physically powerful companions.

This all depends on your AP, however, as you’ll need a set amount to do anything each turn. Movement and basic attacks don’t use up too much, but travel a further distance or use a powerful ability, and that may be all you can do during that character's turn. Of course, it regenerates when a new round begins. It allows for some nice tactical gameplay and thinking a few moves ahead. Should I rush in and attack with a simple strike, or defend for this turn to unleash a much more powerful skill, but potentially become surrounded by the Mort? Which is something that will happen a lot, as you are consistently outnumbered on the battlefield! You never have more than a handful of team members during a combat scenario, and whilst none of them can permanently be killed, it does lead to the odds being stacked against you.

The difficulty, especially in the early portions of the game where you aren’t able to grind character levels, can be brutal. Hit points are far too low for each team member, and when levelling up only grants you with one additional point, it leads to being wiped out rather easily by the Mort. When one wrong move results in the entire party being wiped out and having to replay a 15-minute mission, it was tempting to give up and call it a day.

That being said, once you are able to go back and play previous levels to buff up the team, it all becomes much more manageable, and pulling off a new special attack on a bunch of low-level Morts was always satisfying! It’s just a shame that I felt forced into having to grind out stats to be able to continue with the main quests.

In closing, Redemption Reapers is a fairly good tactical RPG, with some amazing music and unique mechanics that forced me to rethink how I usually play titles like it. It’s a shame that the narrative isn’t fleshed out enough, nor is a reason given to care about any of the characters. In tandem with the punishingly unfair difficulty for the first couple of hours that is sure to put players off from continuing, although those that do will be faced with hours of replaying older levels in order to progress.