I’m not much of an MMO person, I’ve dabbled over the years like with RuneScape in my youth, and a bit of Final Fantasy 14. These days it’s the level of commitment that puts me off, even though I really do love being able to partake in what feels like living, breathing worlds, the hustle and bustle of actual people going to and fro. Luckily, I think I have a lower-key way to get this kind of feeling in the upcoming action roguelite Starlight Re:Volver.
Right from the first second of Starlight Re:Volver you’ll absolutely be thinking to yourself “oh, this is anime as hell.” That’ll be offputting to some, maybe, but it does so with such a ridiculous degree of finesse and style, I was won over right out the gate. The core gameplay loop is that you set out on runs with up to three of your friends, going through different rooms with waves of enemies across them, picking up abilities and buffs along the way.
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It definitely seems like there’s a Hades-like approach to the game, though the demo that’s currently available for Steam Next Fest is more like an online playtest above all else. Right now I’d say there’s a bit of an onboarding issue, as the game doesn’t really do much to tell you much about anything, but with multiple characters to choose from all with unique playstyles, I had a fun enough time in the few runs I went through.
All of that can be smoothed over of course, I’m not that worried about that, so the real thing that’s pulling me in so far is the vibes. The game’s Steam page refers to itself as an “anime-inspired MMO universe”, and the game’s hub area certainly offers a slice of such a pie up.
There’s an in-world Suika Game rip-off to play, a fishing mini-game, clothes to unlock, different areas to just hang out in. You can see different players running around too, and even if there’s not much to do right now, it really does capture that specific feeling of being in a virtual place with a whole bunch of strangers.
How that may progress whenever the game comes out, I can’t tell you, it’s certainly something I hope to see expanded upon. In the meantime, you can wishlist the game on Steam here, and you have until June 16th to try out the demo for yourself.