The Caligula Effect Reviews
With all of the great JRPGs that have been releasing lately, I see no real reason to seek out this title. It’s a game that imploded on its ambitions, creating a title that doesn’t really offer anything worth experiencing.
Sadly, The Caligula Effect really just amounts to a waste of time.
Technically messy and relentlessly shallow, The Caligula Effect is one taboo better left unbroken.
Offering little excitement and interest, The Caligula Effect is easily skippable.
The Caligula Effect is an average JRPG with a memorable soundtrack that has some ambitious ideas for mechanics, but fails in executing them in a constructive manner.
I wish I didn't want to like The Caligula Effect as much as I do, but it's just tragic how far it falls from its own obviously lofty goals. For a game about a virtual world where everyone appears as their best possible self, The Caligula Effect is a walking worst-case scenario, representing the most disappointing possible execution on the huge potential of its best ideas.
There is a lot of content to experience, but it is all riddled with flaws, making it an unsuitable replacement for Vita fans disappointed in the lack of Persona 5.
The Caligula Effect is intended for a niche crowd that's made even smaller by the lack of fun it offers.
I know it may sound like I’m being a bit hard on The Caligula Effect. The problem is that with so many great RPGs available right now, FuRyu’s latest adventure does very little to stand out from the pack. With ho-hum dungeon designs, a half-baked Social Link system, and numerous technical issues (don’t even get me started on the constant frame drops and lengthy load times), this Vita exclusive is a pretty hard sell.
Overall, you could do far worse than The Caligula Effect, but you could do far better as well. Due to its myriad of issues both technical and otherwise - and despite the solid story and music - there's little reason to check out this RPG until it's deeply discounted.
If you're a JRPG fan and can see past its dull dungeon design and grindy friendship system, then there is still fun to be had here, but you'll have to push through layers of tediousness to get to it. The Caligula Effect is a game with plenty of good ideas, but sadly, they're just not executed very well. It feels like developer Aquria has tried to implement so many ambitious concepts, but it doesn't actually take the time to flesh them out, and instead, repetition has been used to fill in the gaps.
The Caligula Effect tells an engaging story that has a deep thought-provoking message.
The game fell flat at times and I wish they would’ve spent more time on the characters all together to help make the story a little better. With all the flaws present, you could still find yourself enjoying a game that others may question because of the slow yet fast paced of everything and the way it doesn’t really tell you where to go exactly. You’re forced to just explore every single section of the area you’re in to get to the next point in the game. All in all, The Caligula Effect is a fun game but it could’ve been better.
With an uninspired story, leaning on several cliches,relying on just a few aspects to stand out like the soundtrack and the art, The Caligula Effect is a game that's just worth checking out after the other, more interesting releases of the year.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
In the end, The Caligula Effect has some cool ideas and a cool battle system that is often weighed down by other areas of the game lacking. There is simply far too much fluff that gets in the way of enjoying the good parts, keeping it from being truly great. Gamers with a high tolerance for grind will find this a really enjoyable game, but JRPG fans looking for a smoother ride will be put off by how often the pace slows to a near-glacial crawl.
Deep and important exploration of psychological issues in an underwhelming package.
The Caligula Effect features a nifty concept as well as some notable minds behind its story, music and character design. At the same time, the PS Vita JRPG is also the victim of bad timing as everything it does, Persona 5 does much better. If you haven't played the latter, then I recommend getting that instead. Otherwise, if you're looking for a more old-school Persona-style game, then The Caligula Effect can be worth checking out.
The Caligula Effect has a turn-based battle system that is refreshingly fun.
The Caligula Effect offers a fascinating story inside of a huge virtual world. Filled with heavy concepts, writer Tadashi Satomi weaves a complex story about human suffering, artificial happiness, and the lengths people will go to find inner peace. While not nearly as developed or immersive as Persona 5, the game's flashy graphics, star-studded soundtrack and solid story help to make up for what the game lacks in a depressingly shallow and unfulfilling social system, unclear objectives within dungeons and a rather tedious battle system.
The Caligula Effect is another interesting take on the high-school social aspects mixed with dungeon crawling genre, however it features a rather lackluster combat system and suffers from some technical issues that make the experience less than enjoyable overall.