Nine Parchments Reviews
A near miss for "instant classic" that could have been so much more, and possibly could still be someday, with some quality of life updates from the developers.
A game lovingly made by a studio with big ambition that, for the most part, succeeds. Single player and a lack of story are its downfall, but, none of that matters when you are adventuring with your friends and writing your own story!
Nine Parchments can be enjoyable in small doses with others. Playing alone can feel depressing as the grind of pressing on feels strongly palpable. There really isn't anything wrong with the mechanics since it controls nicely and feedback is satisfying. The art direction is top-notch and fantasy atmosphere has a much more colourful Magic the Gathering vibe going on. It is the sheer unimaginative level design and pedestrian scenarios that will bore most people. There is very little variation from the first stages to the end game stages and there is desperately a need for something to mix up the action.
Nine Parchments isn't necessarily a bad game. It's a very basic experience that lacks many different qualities, and from what I've witnessed, the title has to work out some major technical issues. However, many people will find a very enjoyable experience here, with a lot of unlockable characters and stuff to find. If you're into co-op experiences, you can't go wrong with Nine Parchments on Nintendo Switch. If you rely on online play, you may want to hold off until a patch is released to fix the connection and save file issues.
We had mixed feelings about our experience playing Nine Parchments.
Nine Parchments has its problems, but for the most part, it is still an entertaining dungeon crawler.
Nine Parchments is a game I've been looking forward to playing since it was announced by Fronzebyte, and I have to say that the wait has been worth it. I've been a fan of the Trine series, and enjoy playing Has Been Heroes on Switch (even more so after the massive recent update to that game!), and I'm happy to say that Nine Parchments is a solid and fun single-player/co-op release
If you're looking for a cooperative twin-stick shooter then you can't do much better than Nine Parchments.
Graphically, the game holds up well with the odd occassional screen tear when water physics come on screen. However in regards to magical spells flying around on screen, the frame rate is pretty stable and doesn’t affect any enjoyment of the game.
Nine Parchments might not be the most complex experience, but it's certainly an enjoyable time.
Nine Parchments doesn't go out of its way to add anything new to the genre. It could actually do more by being less linear and freshen up enemy encounters. What it does do good, makes it fun, however. Dungeon crawling with friends makes for a great time especially when everyone has to work together and play off each other's strengths. Nine Parchments certainly meets the players expectations more than half the way, just not the full nine yards.
"Some kind of magic."
Review in Finnish | Read full review
Nine Parchments may not be Hogwarts, but it is certainly a fun time. With up to four players, local co-op, and an army of spell variations you can enjoy yourself for hours. If you like Diablo, jump in for a few hours and before you know it, you’ll be spellbound!
Nine Parchments is a great twin-stick shooter style game – one of the best looking and most responsive you will find out there. The multiplayer is tonnes of fun both locally and online – although if you want to play it online be sure your friends buy a copy as well as the multiplayer was a little empty this morning. If you strive to collect all of the characters, variants and trophies then you are looking at a lot of time and effort – however, it's worth it as each time you defeat a boss you'll feel a rush of satisfaction and just want to carry on playing!
After watching a quick video or two of Nine Parchments I instantly grabbed the review copy for some single player action on the Switch that I was desperately looking for. Coming in later, the multiplayer action was more fun than I could of hoped for. Spending at least a good 20 hours of playing the game in single player and roughly the same in multiplayer, there was more than enough time to experiment with the unique items and spells trying to figure out which would suit my tastes. Taking my time exploring through the beautiful scenery I am happy to share my thoughts on this co-op twin-stick magic based shooter. So here is my Nine Parchments review on the Nintendo Switch from Frozenbyte.
Nine Parchments is a perfectly fine dungeon crawler-esque experience that sadly never really manages to deliver on its true potential. While it might tick a lot of the genre checkboxes, these ideas are never expanded upon enough to help the game truly stand out. As a multiplayer adventure, there’s definitely fun to be had in working together to tackle swarms of enemies, but alone, you’ll be hard-pressed to keep engaged through to the end credits.
With Nine Parchments, Frozenbyte managed to create something new and fresh, even if doesn't achieve excellence. It remains a decent title to pick up, with a fair difficulty, lots to unlock, a colorful universe and a beautiful soundtrack.
All said there are many things I really like about Nine Parchments. I found that combat was far more engaging and difficult than the genre normally offers. Each skirmish, especially once you amp up the difficulty to Hard, will test both your planning and your skills as you try to pick apart the combination of enemies thrown at you. That said, for the most part getting through these challenges tends to be very weakly rewarded as the game’s loot system doesn’t ultimately have much to offer. As a whole I’d consider my experience with multiplayer to be a draw with the downsides of joining a group of people, and the chaos it can add, roughly coming out even with the upsides. Playing it solo is most definitely different than with a group though and I can see where people could settle on either as their preference. In the end it all makes for a game that is both compelling and, at times, frustrating but also very unique in its play style.
Nine Parchments is a charming little dungeon-crawler that boasts some truly stunning visuals and intuitive gameplay, but suffers from a distinct lack of depth. Nevertheless, if you can get a group of pals together, you'll be in for a spellbinding time.