Battle Chasers: Nightwar Reviews
This is the type of game that should be an automatic hit for RPG players, but there is something missing in the complete package. The graphics are good, and typical genre staples are present, but ultimately it gets lost in itself. Overall this is a solid title, but in the end it lacks heart. It does everything averagely, and nothing especially rises above, or provides anything unique - unfortunate, as its ingredients definitely lend itself to what might have been a really great game.
Battle Chasers: Nightwar is a love story to 90's JRPGs merged with one of the most recognizable names in comics, Joe Madureira. Based on "Joe Mad's" own Battle Chasers comic line, Nightwar is a gorgeous dungeon-diving affair with a story that is instantly familiar to old fans of the franchise. Unfortunately what would largely be a stunning and extremely approachable game with affable characters, excellent pacing, and tons of replayability due to its randomly-generated dungeon, is a hot mess of technical issues. Given another two or three months of QA testing and Battle Chasers: Nightwar would be a contender for best RPG of the year.
Battle Chasers: Nightwar features a deep and rewarding battle system that is the crux of the entire experience. Save-erasing crashes, a passive narrative, and balancing issues can't help Nightwar compete in a year where RPGs reign supreme.
Battle Chasers: Nightwar is a proper adaptation of the comic that it is based on as far as artstyle, soundtrack and environments are concerned. However, as a lengthy, old school turn-based RPG and a narrative perspective, it is not without issues.
At the end of it all, Battle Chasers: Nightwar is a novel triumph within the RPG genre with a few glaring faults. Battles are exciting and easy to get a grasp of, I’d even say it's very welcoming of beginners to the genre due to the lack of need of party diversity and strategy.
Battle Chasers: Nightwar would've had potential to be surprise hit but fights with some of the worst technical problems this year and doesn't deliver a very gripping story. If you can live with constant crashes and broken cutscenes you'll still get a solid turn-based jrpg with a nice Darksiders feel.
Review in German | Read full review
Battle Chasers: Nightwar cast, amazing soundtrack and art direction more than makes up for its dull and often grindy combat mechanics.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Sporting more interesting mechanics than you can shake an oversized sword at, Battle Chasers has a little bit of everything from classic turn-based JRPGs for everyone. Even though it loses the wow factor on subsequent runs, the dungeon delving has a lot to offer and can hide some rather sneaky secrets. Not a bad title by any means, only a little repetitive, despite its efforts to be otherwise.
Battle Chasers: Nightwar is a quality JRPG throwback. It's grindy and can be difficulty, but for people looking for a more casual experience the lower difficulty settings are a good introduction to the genre as a whole. With plenty of lore and heritage behind the game to further build it out, it's a fresh new franchise and a good proof that western developers can emulate the JRPG style when they want to.
Airship Syndicate has almost created something very special with Battle Chasers: Nightwar's overall package. But those difficulty spikes are just too unforgiving, and there's only so many times you can be completely obliterated by the same set of enemies before you have to throw in the towel.
A beautiful JRPG throwback with deep combat, held back by punishing difficulty spikes and far too many technical issues on PS4.
Battle Chasers : Nightwar ends up being a solid RPG with some deep combat systems and interesting components, in a lovely universe. But beware of the fact that it needs you to grind a lot, and so accept redondance and a few huge breaks in the progression, and that some crashing issues and bugs can truly poison your experience on PS4.
Review in French | Read full review
Many bugs in console version and shortcomings cause a slight disappointment. But at the same time Battle Chasers: Nightwar remains an enthralling and strong RPG, which can be even better after all the fixes. In the meantime, the console version is worth playing only if you really miss turn-based battles and fabulous adventures.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Battle Chasers: Nightwar delivers a satisfying game, but it really shines in moments where it blends a comic book with an RPG seamlessly. Fans of the series will fall in love with it, but it doesn't revolutionize the genre or come close to reaching the upper echelons of it.
There is so much to love about Battle Chasers's take on the JRPG. Its strategic elements, well-crafted characters (although the attempts at self-referential humour with Red Monika's physique are not always successful), brilliantly judged battle system, and satisfying crafting all combine with a good, albeit not groundbreaking, fantasy narrative. Sadly it's plagued by frequent crashes which impact the score at launch, but this game is otherwise easy to recommend for fans of the genre.
A great attempt at modernizing the JRPG, Battle Chasers: Nightwar is but a few steps away from being truly great.
Overall, Battle Chasers: Nightwar is a solid port on the Switch with a great presentation and familiar gameplay mechanics.
Battle Chasers: Nightwar is a fine example of how to iterate and improve upon a tried-and-true game genre wth its take on a modernized turn-based RPG. It's far from perfect, but the combat system alone is engaging enough to warrant a recommendation for any fan of old-school JRPG-style adventures.
When Battle Chasers: Nightwar works correctly, it’s a fantastic game.
Battle Chasers: Nightwar makes an awesome first impression and features solid dungeon crawling gameplay.