Actraiser Renaissance (Switch)

 

And he has risen!

Got Actraiser Renaissance for the Switch. A remake from the original SNES which I got on the virtual console for Wii. I played it and got to the final boss, but couldn't defeat him, even though my character was maxed out. Funny enough also a Clan of the Grey Wolf-review. Always better to play a remake then.

Story is that you as the lord of light have awakened and must purge the lands from the darkness of Tanzra. You begin by being awakened in a forest in the land of Filmore where you have to defeat the Centaur and from there people begins gathering at your temple and you can begin terraform the earth in order to create a civilisation. Gameplay loop is rescue an area, create a civilisation, close all monster lairs and then fight off the big bad and then head to the next area.

Added additions for this game is monster sieges. Monsters will attack and by building forts and palisads you gotta use the angels powers and heroes to fight them off. To get more story they also introduced heroes from each area. Also some of the monsters got a bit more backstory like the Arctic Wyvern and the Werewolf. They also changed the level system. The old game you got health by how many believers existed so you wanted to max the number which was determined on your score on the monster stages that set how many residents you could have in the simulation levels. Magic was limited by scrolls that you had to find our get due to some quests. Now they added HP and MP and decides on level which you level up by finishing quests. MP can also be upgraded by finding scrolls in the levels that +10 MP for each which I guess is a reference to the original mana scrolls. Which make magic more usable and not as limited. The final boss rush was a lot easier. Overall the game was easier. They also added a new area beyond Deathheim with a new boss. A grand final where all 6 heroes joins you to protect the new area from monsters and its hinted at a former lord of light or something akin to that which killed all humans. 

Overall found it rather enjoying. The different gameplay styles is still fun and the added moments helps a lot to flesh out the games. The music is fantastically remastered with some new compositions as well. You can also chose to play the old versions of the songs (and the emulated sound for the new songs). Interestingly enough, Clan of the Grey Wolf spoke very highly of the music, but I can't help but hear that it at times sound like it's a bit inspired from Star Wars: A New Hope. Especially the world tree music sounds a bit like the run at the death star at the ending of the movie, or that might just be me.