A dark fantasy world on the brink of disaster, Redemption Reapers sees the Ashen Hawk Brigade battling monstrous creatures known as Mort. Inspired by Fire Emblem titles, Redemption Reapers focuses on grid-based strategy gameplay. Taking place in a grim fantasy world, the Mort is a large army of undead that have started to decimate nation after nation. In a desperate effort to resist, a small band of operatives known as the Ashen Hawk Brigade cross swords with them in a series of turn-based battles.
Redemption reapers has several intriguing components, both in gameplay and narrative. The game is designed by Masayuki Horikawa, the same developer behind Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, and boasts a scenario penned by Tomokazu Fukushima and a musical score helmed by Rei Kondoh.
A Zombileland-like Fantasy Story
The story follows a group of mercenaries named the Ashen Hawk Brigade, who protect settlements from the Mort, zombie-like creatures sweeping across the world. Their past haunts them, and their cunning band of surprise attackers is about to become humanity’s only hope against Mort. As they fight for their lives, the five characters in Ashen Hawk Brigade develop an underlying theme of unity and belonging that is explored over time.
The story in Redemption Reapers does a great job of putting you into the mindset of its characters, constantly feeling loss, fear, and pain as they struggle to survive in this dangerous world. The characters can express these feelings through their actions and dialogue throughout their journey.
Intense and Brutal Gameplay with Hard-to-Learn Mechanics
Combat in Redemption Reapers is intense and small-scale, requiring you to plan your moves and team up for each attack. This means positioning your characters well so they can hit as many enemies as possible. You’ll also want to consider how your attacks impact their bonus and counterattacks and how you can use your team’s abilities to help you defeat tough enemies.
Unlike similar games in the genre, Redemption Reapers puts a lot of strategic consideration on group cohesion and individual character performance. Each character in Redemption Reapers brings a unique skill set they can use during battle to attack, cure injured comrades, or knock down enemies. You can also position your reapers during battles to provide bonus attacks and buffs that can make a difference in the outcome of the battle.
It’s a game that will be difficult to master, but when it clicks, it can be incredibly satisfying. Redemption Reapers delivers a solid experience if you get into it enough to overcome its early frustrations. But, as it is, the game is hampered by a control system that is difficult to use and menus that make you work too hard to understand what you are doing.
The title’s UI is impressive in its own right, but it can be a real pain to use. For example, it is sometimes difficult to tell how far away your enemies are from your characters because of the color scheme. It’s difficult to tell an attack’s effectiveness without seeing your character in action. In particular, a “follow-up” attack that’s available when one of your reapers attacks an enemy and gets a chance to hit them again.
High-End Graphics and Soundtrack Boost the Storyline
The visuals in Redemption Reapers are stunning, with detailed environments and cinematic cut scenes that bring extra life to the game’s storyline. The darker setting and ravaged towns give the game an eerie atmosphere that ties in well with the dark themes of redemption.
In addition to stunning graphics, Redemption Reapers also has a good soundtrack and audio effects that perfectly fit the game’s theme. However, this is hampered by the voice acting, which is cheesy and stunted in both cutscenes and gameplay.
A dark fantasy simulation game set in a medieval world, Redemption Reapers, was released on February 22, 2023, for PCs on Steam, Nintendo Switch on Nintendo Store, and PS4 on PlayStation Store.
