Top Critic Average
Critics Recommend
Old-School Mechanics
Beautiful Artwork
Light on Story
Warping you back to the halcyon days of console RPGs, Nightwar provides modern graphics and classical mechanics. It can be dense at times, but those that pierce through will find something special.
Battle Chasers: Nightwar - The Artifact Awakens!
Battle Chasers: Nightwar - Trailer 2
Battle Chasers: Nightwar - Gameplay Trailer
Battle Chasers: Nightwars' combat and activity-dense world scratch the JRPG itch, even if the storytelling and character development leave a fair bit to be desired. Its attractive dungeons and outdoor regions are fun to get lost in, and there are just enough hidden treasures to claim to make exploration rewarding in a more than visual capacity. I'd be very pleased to see more turn-based indie RPGs along the same lines as Nightwar in the future - and the ending heavily suggests this won't be the last we see of this universe in RPG form.
Battle Chasers: Nightwar is a gorgeous, challenging RPG that's light on story but big on tactically satisfying battles.
If you're in the mood for a grind, Battle Chasers delivers more than enough. Nightwar is full of tense action, but you have to be patient to make it to the end
Lots of work has gone into Nightwar since its first release, and the balancing improvements make it an easy game to recommend on all platforms.
I didn't go into Battle Chasers: Nightwar expecting much of anything, given the development studio's relative youth as a company and the spotty record of Kickstarted games. However, Nightwar's focus on style and character, coupled with a mostly excellent combat system, kept me hooked for much longer than I had imagined. Whatever your familiarity with its source material, this game builds a beautiful world with a surprising amount of depth just beneath the surface.
Despite a title that suggests it came out of a name generator, Battle Chasers: Nightwar is a satisfying slice of JRPG that forges a confident, colourful character of its own from formulaic ingredients. The approachable comic style, plus a couple of neat mechanics that encourage experimentation, give it a freshness that belies the age-old systems at its core, and it doesn't waste your time with filler. Depending on your skill, you'll probably spend around 30 hours on the critical path – comparatively breezy in RPG terms – though there's plenty of side content to occupy you beside the main quest, plus a trio of heroes you'll probably shun on your first playthrough. Disappointing performance dips aside, it feels at home on Switch. Ultimately, it's the same old story – numbers go up! – but it's shot through with an infectious exuberance and attention to detail that reinvigorates old tropes.
Battle Chasers: Nightwar shows what an independent studio that cares about their graphic novel IP can do. Through hours of RPG combat and dungeon exploring, the game manages to stay interesting and fresh, which makes it difficult to put down. It's clear that developer Airship Syndicate has created a unique and fun turn-based RPG, but most of all they breathed life in the Battle Chasers universe to expose the series to a new group of fans while satisfying the old ones with a brand new adventure.
A RPG RPG with an old school RPG spirit, that may not be the best choice for those used to more modern RPGs because of its rhytm. Besides that an excellent game.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
