Maroc - 3RD-STRIKE.COM - A La Une - 16/Feb 00:01

Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero – Review

The original Phantom Brave debuted on the PS2 back in 2004. Since then, it has been rereleased across several platforms multiple times, but we didn’t give it a try until its most recent iteration, when it was included in NIS’ Prinny Presents line of game ports in 2021. It was a fun but ultimately forgettable romp, and so we didn’t quite expect that the game would receive a full-fledged sequel two decades after its initial release. Is Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero a worthy successor or should the series have remained dormant? Story You needn’t have played the original Phantom Brave to understand what is going on in The Lost Hero, as a short cutscene summarizes the important stuff from the previous game. The gist is that our heroine, the young girl Marona, has the innate ability to interact with the phantoms of the dead. While regular people used to look at the girl with distrust because of her powers, Marona managed to save the world with the aid of her best friend, the phantom Ash. This earned her the reputation of being a hero, and people now rely on the duo of Ash and Marona to help them with their problems. Early on in The Lost Hero, however, Ash and Marona become separated, after Ash attempts to protect the girl from a masked man who tries to steal the girl’s power. Marona ends up in the company of a band of down-on-their-luck pirates. Together with phantom pirate girl Apricot, Marona sets out to find Ash while simultaneously building the greatest pirate crew the world has ever seen. Graphics The anime-adjacent visual design from the original Phantom Brave makes a welcome return here. We’re not sure if it’s officially considered NIS’ signature style, but the aesthetics certainly match those of the Disgaea series, with the chibi-esque character designs, pastel colors, and exaggerated facial expressions. Unfortunately, this relatively simple style can seemingly be too much to handle for the Switch, as we noticed that the game’s frame rate couldn’t always keep up with the on-screen action. Sound Two decades may have passed since that original game, but the English voice actors for Ash and Marona have reprised their roles, alongside a cast of newcomers to the series. The voice work ranges from good to great, although some characters, like the dramatic beastman Rouen, do tend to ham things up a bit. That’s probably normal for a game that leans so heavily into anime though. Music-wise, The Lost Hero kicks things up quite a few notches compared to the first game, with the tropical island setting seemingly being an inspiration for composer Tenpei Sato, as the violin-infused music carries a summery vibe with it. Gameplay Charming cast and beautiful presentation aside, the meat of The Lost Hero is truly in its tactical SRPG gameplay. Most of your time spent playing the game is going to be on the battlefield, and there is a meaty combat system to sink your teeth into here. Admittedly, when we say sink your teeth, we do mean that you’ll need to put in some effort, as The Lost Hero definitely isn’t a beginner-friendly SRPG, nor for the faint of heart. The game needs to get a ton of mechanics out of the way before it really can get into its own, and early on things are overwhelming and daunting. Layer upon layer of mechanics are explained in quick succession. Persevere, however, and you’ll find a charming and addictive title that will really put genre enthusiasts to the test. Once you make it past the opening stages, which set up both the story and act as the game’s tutorial, you’re taken to an island that serves as your base of operations and the game’s hub area. From there, you’re able to recruit new phantoms by having the game generate them from presets or by creating your own custom ones. Of course, you’ll need to have the necessary resources, but we found that it was easy enough to supplement our income by replaying prior battles. The island offers other facilities too of course, like a trading post, a workshop, and even a juice bar that lets you redistribute XP, allowing you to bring new recruits up to speed or simply power up one single character to have god-like stats. The island hub doesn’t do anything unexpected, but that’s fine, as it does what it needs to do: serve as a handy one-stop-shop to prepare for those all-important battles. Unlike Phantom Brave’s sibling series Disgaea, battles do not take place across a grid, and instead, your characters are free to wander around within a specific radius. At the start of each battle, only Marona is on the field, and she’ll need to interact with different battlefield objects to Confine her phantom allies to these. Once a phantom is Confined, it is summoned to the battlefield and receives specific buffs depending on which object was used. Confining a phantom to a rock, for example, will buff their defense. This approach brings a specific nuance to The Lost Hero, but that’s only the beginning. There is a nearly limitless range of customization options for your party, depending on their class and which weapons you equip them with. There are different attack ranges and elemental types to consider as well, and that’s without even getting into the fact that your phantoms can interact with one another as well as the environment. You can order a phantom to pick up another character or object and then throw whatever they picked up, allowing you to reposition units or even hurl enemies off the battlefield. It’s chaotic and fast-paced but really fun once you get to grips with the system. It’s overcoming that initial complexity that’s arguably The Lost Hero’s biggest hurdle. Master the mechanics, and you’re looking at a title that is going to eat up a lot of your time: apart from the 40+ hour main story, there are tons of side activities, including custom dungeons. We can imagine dropping hundreds of hours into this game. However, if the game’s complexity would be a deterrent, then you’ll feel like you have wasted €59.99. This is a game you’ll either love or hate, so we highly recommend giving the demo a shot this time around. Conclusion While The Lost Hero isn’t going to be for everyone, we’d still say that it offers up a worthy successor to the original Phantom Brave. Compared to that first game, The Lost Hero offers up a deeper, more tactical gameplay experience, while sticking to the roots of the series. The biggest issue is that the game doesn’t ease newcomers into the layered combat mechanics. It takes a while to really settle into The Lost Hero’s flow, but once you do, you’re looking at an incredibly rewarding SRPG that oozes charm and offers hundreds of hours worth of gameplay. If that sounds up your alley, give the demo a try though, just to be sure.