Maroc - 3RD-STRIKE.COM - A La Une - 23/Aug 00:01

Sword & Fairy Inn 2 – Review

Sword & Fairy Inn 2 is a management simulation title from SOFTSTAR about running an inn. The first impression we got was that it looked like a simulation game with lots of stories and mechanics to enjoy. We have heard about the Sword & Fairy game series and this entry of the series looks different than the normal games. Another difference we saw was that this was one of the few entries in the franchise that was also available in English. We were curious to see how well we could run an inn in the Sword & Fairy universe. Story The story in Sword & Fairy Inn 2 starts with a dream of Xiaoman meeting with Mistress Nuwa. Xiaoman is talking about her grandfather and the need to help him. To be able to help her grandfather, she asks for a blessing to back in the past to help him. She wakes up and mentions that Soul Reversal has been successful. This means that she went back to the past in the village of Yuhang, to help her grandfather with his inn. We then get introduced to two characters, Li Xiaoyao the inn waiter, and Zhao Ling’er the inn chef. They tease Xiaoman of sleeping in on her first day, but they do immediately make up for it by inviting her to a fun event with fireworks and candy. The story extends further in the game, giving us a more slice-of-life storytelling vibe. As you progress, more characters are introduced, and the story gets fleshed out a bit further. It’s not really a deep narrative, but everything serves as a cute framework for the actual gameplay. Graphics Sword & Fairy Inn 2’s graphics are in a chibi style. You’ll be treated to colorful and happy-looking characters, and the icons displayed are simple and not in the way. When it comes to the gameplay, the characters are done in 3D. The 3D versions of the characters aren’t bad either. The backgrounds look a bit simplistic, and we feel a bit more effort could have been made here. Some of the NPCs in the village have their feet clipping through the ground, but it isn’t that noticeable. The art panels that they use in some of the story bits are still in chibi style but in 2D and look nice. Sound The music in Sword & Fairy Inn 2 consists of an upbeat oriental soundtrack. The menu SFX sound a bit generic, reminding us of many mobile game titles. There is also voice acting in this game, but it is sadly only in Chinese and has no English option. If there were other voice options we could have made a clearer assertion of how good the voice acting actually is. As we don’t speak Chinese, it’s hard to judge the intonation and the overall quality. Even so, the voices did sound pleasant and we did appreciate that there was voice acting present during the dialogues. Gameplay Sword & Fairy Inn 2 gameplay is mainly focused on managing the inn, and thus it plays pretty much like a simulation title. You put the staff in the right place, train them, improve food, or let them buy ingredients. Automation is one of the key goals here, especially from the second day onwards when you hire a manager. All in all, the offset is quite simple, making this an accessible title. Sadly, this also came with the downside that the game felt a bit more like a mobile title that you’d just play for a few minutes each day. Running the inn is fairly simple. You can select a customer, it will display what he or she wants to eat, and then you can accept or refuse them to sit at a table. Do not let them wait too long as there are four different moods. Once they have a red angry face, they will leave. Once a customer is done with their meal, some coins are left behind on the table. You can select that table to collect the tip. If you do not collect the tip and place a new guest at the table, the money will disappear, and you see a lower tip at the end of the day. After the restaurant closes, you have some available options. Training your staff’s strength or speed, and improving some dishes. When done, you rest, and a new day starts. Like at the end of a day, at the start of a new day, there are some options that you can do before you open up the inn. You can either go to your farm or Yuhang, and this is where you get more ingredients, hire new staff, and so on. On the farm you need seeds, and you already start with 20 seeds each. Every three days the crops are ready to harvest. We actually liked this mechanic, as the harvesting was not tied to actual real-time progress but simply to how many times you opened your inn. Yuhang is basically a shopping street where you find different vendors, who will gradually offer more options as you progress. The progress curve is nicely done, as it does give you a bit of an incentive to keep pressing onwards. When you are open for some days you will unlock the rooms. Those will be rented out and are an extra income, but you’ll have to make sure that the room is clean. You can once again hire staff to take care of this, ensuring a quicker cash flow. There are some minigames, but so far we have seen them only come once in a while. Further along the line, you’ll also unlock the garden, where you can place two staff members to go on a date. This will increase their fondness of each other This will improve their fondness for each other. While the foundation is fairly decent, the issue lies with the fact that you as the player simply have very little to do. As stated above, the game feels more like a title you’ll check up on once or twice a day to check the progress, to then move on to other titles again. Conclusion Sword & Fairy Inn 2 is a fairly laid-back management simulation title that relies on automation with a cute cast of characters to support the unfolding events. We did quite enjoy the concept and we had some relaxing fun with the game, but everything feels a bit barebones and you could easily do other things while Sword & Fairy Inn 2 just runs in the background. We would have loved a bit more input and perhaps a bit more excitement. If you’re a fan of the genre, and you played the first installment, we reckon this one will also be your cup of tea, if not, there’s not really anything special here to win you over.