Dusk Diver , Beat'em Up Set in Ximending
0Disclosure: This game copy was bought by the reviewer.
Yumo is thrust into a dangerous situation as the barrier keeping Chaos Beasts from passing into the normal world is weakening. She is forced to fight off the threat during her Summer vacation with the help of four guardian spirits and a large selection of food stands to provide proper buffs. These stands add to the general atmosphere of the exploitable area with plenty of detailed looking stores and silhouettes populating the town. To progress, one must complete missions or scavenge Ximending for shards that allow access to the next fissure, which adds to the length of the game once the ending is reached. Completing these missions and acquiring more shards provides skill points that can be used to upgrade Yumo's stats (as well as the Guardian's stats) or unlock a few minor adjustments to the attack combos that make up the buk of the combat. Weak and strong attacks are combined to create simple combos with the guardians adding a finisher on the end or a single button execution (in standard and power up mode). Essentially, the player will be reusing the same attack patterns over and over again with little growth. It is repetitive, but serviceable against the limited enemy types and the couple of boss fights that are on offer.
While some content is still being added, the game feels complete with the main story and side missions already available. It took about 6 hours to complete the main story, but you can fully upgrade everyone's skills and obtain all the shards to unlock the respectable achievements. Outside a couple of painful glitches (causing a restart of the level or crashing), the game runs pretty well even when the enemy count reaches absurd levels. The camera can be annoying if you don't use the lock on, the combat gets exhausting after awhile, and the localization has some poorly structured sentences.
Final Verdict: if you like beat'em ups with quirky characters and don't mind repetitive environments with limited enemy types, it is worth a look while on sale.