Eternal Nights | Review – appointment with the apocalypse

One of them is Studio Sai, which was founded by a single developer and then expanded into a small team of people with the goal of bringing their first game to market. Eternal nightsavailable from September 12th PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4 And PC (Currently digital only, but a physical version is due out later this year).

In reality, as we will see, the comparison is with person it only makes sense up to a certain point, but the presence of a strong component based on social interactionsComplete with a calendar to manage and schedule appointments with potential partners Eternal nights a good candidate for those who stay away from the Atlus saga. Let’s see how it went for him.

Dating apps, supernatural powers and zombies

The history of Eternal nights begins with our nameless protagonist and his best friend Chani with the intention of solving one of the most important mysteries of her teenage life: Understand how get a date with a girl. The two use different dating apps, but despite Chani’s helpful suggestions, they don’t seem to be having any success.

Just when all hope seems lost, the protagonist finally receives an answer from a girl. Almost incredulous at the prospect of a date, our hero dresses up to meet his new flame, unaware of the chaos that is about to ensue.

Actually, a Anti-aging medicine, called Eternnights. As luck would have it The side effects of the medication begin on the day of the appointment: Eternal nights turns people into violent zombies.
As if that wasn’t enough, a mysterious huge wall appears in the center of the city. The protagonist cancels his appointment and, together with Chani, reaches shelters that have been specially prepared for an impending apocalypse.

Here the two meet Yuna, a famous influencer and singer who will soon join their group. The three decide to set off together Looking for an explanation about what happens, miraculously escaping the zombies already roaming the shelter.

While searching for a safe route, the three are found by a mysterious girl cuts off the protagonist’s arm; Everything seems normal, except for that The protagonist’s arm grows backIn a sense, in the form of a kind of phantom limb that can take the form of a sword.

As if that wasn’t enough, the protagonist has a vision in which he sees the girl he met through the application, who turns out to be more than just human and also seems to play a role in everything that happens .

All right, we’ll stop the story here. The first hour of the game seems to move at a frightening pacebut we can assure you that once you digest all of this, the plot will return to a normal rhythm and things will make sense again.

Honestly, It’s not the story the main focus of Eternal nightsalthough we must admit that it represents a really unexpected horror touch; The strengths are more like that Personalities.

In addition to Chani, meet four other characters (including Yuna) with whom you can also form a romantic relationship Dating sim component of the game.

Each supporting character and the supporting characters are seemingly characterized according to the classic stereotypes of Japanese animated films, but in reality They all turn out to be quite profound.

Take Chani for example. At the beginning he is the classic perverted best friend, with a penchant for humor, but also a fair amount of jealousy of the protagonist’s powers. Before long, however, Chani gets over his charade: when a girl rejects him because she’s aromantic, Chani has no problem understanding that, or even proves to be a total supporter of homosexual romance if we decide to pursue it. They may seem like obvious things, but they are not at all in the context of mainstream oriental animation.

Generally, A lot of your enjoyment of the game depends on how much you appreciate the characters and their writing. At times the humor is very juvenile, but given that the characters are actually teenagers, we didn’t find it that heavy.

Aesthetically, the game is mid-range last generation and doesn’t take advantage of the PlayStation 5 in the slightest (that you can find). on Amazon). However, the chosen anime style hides the technical limitations very welland the game still remains enjoyable to watch, especially given the size of the team that worked on it.

However, very good Soundtrack. There are no memorable songs, but an incredible variety of genres, with the express intention of adapting to the moment in the story. None of these genres feel out of place and you will find yourself moving from relaxing jazz melodies to electronic music without any dissonance.

Fights and dating

From a gameplay perspective Eternal nights It is essentially divided into two sections: The first is that of dungeon exploration, the second is a life simulator, so to speak.

To begin, we contact the first of the two. In the dungeonwe can control our protagonist while we explore the area; The cards are predominantly linearbut occasionally there are gods Alternative routes which give additional rewards.

The fight of Eternal nights (We remind you that you can buy it with the available cards on Amazon) follow him Hack’n’slash style, without too many frills; We have a button for the basic attack, two buttons for the special attacks (one only activates at certain times, while the other requires charging a special bar), a button for dodge and one for parry.

It’s a system very simple but also functional, which manages to entertain without making too many demands. During the adventure we can also unlock additional skills that will be used by other party members who take on a supporting role.

Aside from the extreme simplicity, which certainly won’t appeal to everyone, there are some elements that we didn’t like in combat. Firstly, sometimes you need to use a special attack to break the shield of some enemies. Apart from being one unnecessarily repetitive mechanicsthese attacks are associated with gods QTEwhich can prove to be quite annoying in the long run.

Furthermore, although the Evasion system Works pretty well in most situations. However, there are situations where the enemies’ visual and audio cues are too brief and random, so getting the timing right is just a matter of chance.

All in all, these are minor defects that do not detract from the overall experience, which remains pleasant in its simplicity.

The second part of the gameplay is represented by Life simulationand here comes the comparison person makes sense. Once we pass the prologue we will actually have a limited time with a Manage calendars. We can choose whether to dedicate our hours to exploring dungeons or to spend time with allies, choosing from different options for the activities we want to do with them.

This is a very simplified version of what we saw persongiven this here Activities are extremely limitedbut it’s still a very compelling mechanic, thanks in part to the good writing of the characters.

By interacting with them you can do this Improve your relationship; This will also have an impact on combat, as new abilities and upgrades can be unlocked, and will also allow you to delve deeper into the stories of each supporting character, right down to the possibility of building a relationship with your ideal partner.

The game makes it clear to you that you must reach maximum relationship level with at least one character before the end in order to witness the “true ending.” So keep that in mind.

The adventure lasts about ten hourswhich may seem small, but turns out to be small Ideal for preventing fatigue towards the combat system. In any case, there are different options in terms of romance and mode New Game+ However, it will be an incentive for a second game, which you can also do by varying the three difficulty levels present in the game.

Definitely, Eternal nights It certainly won’t be anything new personbut we are still facing one solid titlewhich has no ambition to go down in the annals of the genre, but which still manages to say something, especially thanks to its cast of protagonists.