Although NIS America has said their plans to launch The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails late subsequent 12 months for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Change, do you know it’s technically already out on PC? Sure, the corporate revealed studio PH3’s PC port on Steam early late final 12 months – solely in Japanese. I picked it up at launch however by no means actually meant to play it earlier than it acquired its English patch; however resulting from a number of circumstances, I had an excuse to play by means of the sport on my Steam Deck. Regardless of what I’d heard in regards to the sport heading in – the way it was, in some ways, a Zwei!! 3, and solely had a tertiary connection to the remainder of the Trails sequence at greatest – I wasn’t ready for what Nayuta really is as an Motion RPG.
First issues first; you’ve learn the title. Whether or not you’re new to the Trails sequence, or a veteran who’s performed all of them, everybody begins on equal floor with Nayuta. Any connections it could or might not need to later entries don’t matter, as Nayuta as a sport is fully standalone. You can begin right here with none worries; and even in case you decidedly dislike Trails, there’s nonetheless loads of purpose to provide the sport a shot. The gameplay, story and presentation are all vastly completely different from Zemuria’s long-running epic.
Gameplay-wise, whereas Nayuta has all the staples of an RPG – ranges, stats, gear that modify mentioned stats – it’s in all probability higher to name the sport an motion platformer with RPG development. As a substitute of exploring a big open world, Nayuta is a stage-based affair, by which gamers will obtain a grading relying on their efficiency inside the degree. There’s platforming, puzzles involving hitting switches, maneuvering packing containers, and contending with no matter environmental gimmicks a given stage possesses. RPG development is dealt with by each story progress gating Gear Craft skills, in addition to incomes stamps to your tally card you’ll be able to return to Nayuta’s swordmaster in change for brand new abilities, buffs, and even occasional gear.
There’s a really good loop to all of it, particularly owing to Nayuta’s background as a PSP unique upon its unique launch. One comparability that’s positive to return up is with Nihon-Falcom’s different 3D platformer – Gurumin – and there’s actually loads to check. For as a lot as there’s to check Nayuta to Falcom’s Zwei!! franchise – with Noi appearing in an identical position to the secondary playable characters in each Zwei!! titles and the power to eat meals to each restore well being in addition to acquire EXP – there’s simply as a lot Gurumin DNA current as effectively. Whether or not it’s the enemy designs, the hub world that gamers can return to for facet actions and rewards, or in fact the a lot greater reliance on platforming gameplay.
Falcom has at all times been an organization that has been fast to reuse gameplay ideas in its titles. The Legend of Nayuta might be one of the best instance of that working in a sport’s favor. As an example – Nayuta’s fight completely mops the ground with Ys Seven. Not solely does Nayuta progressively acquire a lot of Adol’s moveset from the Napishtim-era Ys video games, however he learns his personal distinctive set of strikes, whereas additionally retaining dodging and blocking from the extra trendy party-style Ys video games. It’s one of the best of each worlds, and arguably Nayuta continues to be the best-feeling 3D motion fight that Falcom has ever made. Particularly as soon as gamers have full management of Nayuta, with all of his and Noi’s Gear Crafts; the sport feels stable sufficient to play in the beginning, however by the point you’re within the post-game and into New Sport+ it’s actually a pleasure to mess around with.
Between how effectively Nayuta feels to manage, some stellar artwork course, glorious degree design that absolutely makes use of all the participant’s motion, boss fights that really feel completely tailor-made to your fight choices, and an interesting methodology of re-using belongings within the Seasonal Shift system, by the point I used to be accomplished with Nayuta I used to be hard-pressed to think about something I’d actively disliked in regards to the sport. It’s simply in my top-3 Falcom video games in the intervening time, and one thing tells me it would keep that manner into the foreseeable future. Even the story – with its diminished focus – was nonetheless a superb time, although by this level it was simple to see a lot of its twists coming.
There’s much more to be mentioned in regards to the sport, however the one factor I need to stress is that if there’s one sport I’d suggest to just about each RPG participant to maintain an eye fixed out for subsequent 12 months, it’s this one. The Legend of Nayuta appears like the kind of sport you might suggest to everybody; and but I can very simply see the title fall between the cracks with what’s seeking to be a really stacked 12 months for JRPG releases in 2023. That will be a disgrace, as a result of even when it’s not essentially the most bombastic Falcom launch that NIS America is placing out subsequent 12 months – it’s undeniably one of many firm’s greatest. The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails is a Falcom basic, and one no one ought to need to miss.
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