Fallen Legion: Revenants is the sequel to the two-part collection Fallen Legion: Rise to Glory published by NIS America. I enjoyed the original game’s unique, fast-paced combat system and was excited to see how the gameplay would expand in the sequel. Unfortunately, although Fallen Legion: Revenants improves some aspects of the original formula it also takes many steps backward.

The story of Fallen Legion: Revenants is interesting and requires no previous knowledge of the stories explored by its predecessor. Whereas the first game took place in a traditional fantasy setting, the story of this game is much more akin to the dark, gothic fantasy of Castlevania or Dark Souls.

The world here is nothing more than a barren wasteland infested with miasma. This substance warps all creatures and life, transforming them into grotesque monsters. Humanity’s last refuge is within the floating Welkin castle. The castle is ruled by a tyrannical dictator named Ivor. The two major characters are Lucien, a charismatic politician, and Rowena, a powerful mage who was once the previous chancellor of the castle. Rowena was wrongfully executed by Ivor but has returned to the world as a spirit. She joins forces with Lucien in order to free her son from Ivor’s clutches.

I enjoy the dueling perspectives present in this story and found the implementation to be much more streamlined this time around. You play both characters simultaneously rather than dividing their stories into two distinct campaigns. Rowena handles combat using her exemplar spirits, while Lucien works from within the castle to gain influence and undermine Ivor’s authority. Sometimes levels switch between the two which adds some nice variety to the repetitive gameplay loop, though the primary focus is still on combat.

Lucien’s storyline is meant to add more depth to the player choices that were present in the original game. Unfortunately, they still feel somewhat undeveloped here. Often, convincing another character to do what you want simply comes down to talking to them when prompted rather than responding to their woes directly with a variety of dialogue options.

Similar to the original game, Fallen Legion: Revenants is a side-scrolling action RPG. You control three exemplar warriors that each have attacks mapped to a button. Rowena can also provide support with various healing and damage spells. However, whereas the first game had extremely fast-paced combat focusing on combo potential this game chooses to focus more on the RPG elements. Deathblows are now executed with a simple button press as long as you have the mana.

Additionally, a grid system has been introduced that emphasizes the positioning of specific attacks. Enemy attacks also target specific tiles which adds an extra level of challenge. Blocking remains relatively unchanged here. Parrying attacks can allow your exemplar to refill action points to continue attacking. As a result of the improved graphics and less flashy animations, attacks are now much easier to block in this game which is an improvement.

I wasn’t the biggest fan of how much slower the combat has become. For some reason, link attacks are gone, making combos virtually impossible. This only further drags out battles. Bosses have now become tests of attrition and patience which is typical of JRPGs. I enjoyed how the first game divorced itself from this idea as it helped the game stand out from others in the genre. Though this creative direction isn’t executed terribly, I was hoping for a doubling down on the action. Thus, I was somewhat disappointed by the more defensive combat style, which rewards constant guarding while whittling down enemies with jabs and stuns.

Another big miss for me here is the music. This game reuses virtually every track from the original game. Given the completely different setting, it feels bizarre that the music doesn’t augment it in any way. I wanted to hear some gothic orchestras or heavier guitar work with lots of bass. It is a big missed opportunity as I enjoyed the visuals of this game. The voice acting is also slightly better here and the slower combat does allow for less persistent voice lines.

On the other hand, though models and graphics have improved from the first game, it seems to have affected overall gameplay performance. Transitions between levels and Castle Welkin are often accompanied by lengthy load times and I did have the game crash on me. It’s certainly odd because my Xbox One S is able to handle games with much higher graphical fidelity with fewer overall problems.

Unfortunately, Fallen Legion: Revenants fails to live up to its position as a sequel in my eyes. Instead of elevating and expanding on the ideas of the original, this game moves in a different direction and delivers a homogenous and clunky gameplay formula. Though the world is more engaging, the story is often disjointed at times and provides an illusion of player choice to disguise linearity. This isn’t the worst game I’ve ever played and there is certainly potential here, but I often found myself wanting to replay the original instead.

An Xbox one Review copy of Fallen Legion: Revenants was provided by NIS America for this review.     

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Fallen Legion Revenants

59.99

5

Score

5.0/10

Pros

• Interesting world
• Fun character designs

Cons

• Slower, grindy combat
• Underdeveloped political narrative
• Bland music