[International] Absented Age: Squarebound Reviews

Extremely good game. Story: Karen who died is trapped between life and death in short. While she is dead, she is still somewhat alive, existing as a ghost. With her chance of returning being to gather her Heart Fragments. As more is gathered, more memories return, which also causes her to confront who she was and is. The memories are how the falling out of the band club she was in, ended up leading her to make some invaluable friends. They are like a group of misfits, they don't really fit in well with others, but shine when together. As it goes along, you find out just how much of an abnormality Karen is, and how the church wishes to seal her away as a weapon to be used. Despite this, she does gain allies from two members. Who helps her confront her stolen life, and tackle the near hopeless situation. The story is very emotionally heavy, I think the only other time I have been this invested was Noel the Mortal Fate. System: Think Mystery Dungeon real time/semi-turn based. The base movement is real time, with battle engagement going semi-turn based. With a variety of equipment that gets stronger permanently, and the small boosts from the skill tree. The game is an immersive experience. There are also quite a bit of skills for many situations. The battles as well are meant to be approached strategically, and the boss battles? Extremely fun. Boss battles are a bit of its own thing, meaning you are playing real time combat for a bit. This goes with dodging, shield break, etc. Then you get into the semi-turn based, and it melds fantastically. To add on, your partner character gets elemental transformations which affects how they battle. The game is also a roguelike, so lose and you lose half your items. Your levels also go back to 1 when you win or lose a dungeon. However, if you save at a check point, you can use points you gathered to start a higher level up to the level you saved at. Note, the game does have a durability system for armor, so keep multiple during a run. Art Style: Amazing. Music: Amazing. Overall: This game was worth way more than $15, it was also pretty long itself. Then again, that might be due to me getting beaten a lot, but still heh. Anyway, I highly recommend playing it. Unfortunately, second game is not translated. I am playing through it, and doing my own, so there will be a review to the best of my understanding when that land. Though so far? Very fun game. You can also transfer your international file into the second game, so no lost progress.

This game is absolutely amazing, I love the art direction, the music, the gameplay, everything is super cool!! I appreciate that the game doesn't wait for a million cutscenes to play before the game truly starts, rather you jump right into the game, which keeps it from being another game that bores you before it even starts. The gameplay is smart and very strategic, and it's really neat how the item system works in terms of upgrading and all. I personally haven't seen really any games with this specific kind of gameplay, so I don't know if it's a stand alone idea or not in how this specific gameplay is, but overall, it's incredibly fun, quite difficult, and rewarding. At first, I was put off a little bit for it's outfit durability system, but I then found to really appreciate how it's integrated into the gameplay and has a meaning to being apart of the game, it's something to keep an eye on and be prepared for. I'm hoping that the sequel gets an international translation soon enough, as I really enjoy this game and hope to see more when the time comes.