Ex Astris review – a truly premium mobile RPG

A premium cellular recreation is a uncommon breed, and a premium cellular anime RPG is even rarer – particularly one which doesn’t function any microtransactions or different monetization past the entry charge. In truth, builders usually stuff premium triple-A video games on PC and different consoles with shops, skins, and in-game objects which can be out to empty your real-life pockets. As such, I used to be exceptionally excited to tackle this Ex Astris evaluate – particularly as this intriguing turn-based RPG comes from Hypergraph, creator of the hit gacha recreation Arknights.

I first set my sights on Ex Astris someday in late 2022, and it instantly captured my consideration. Not simply due to its premium standing, but additionally as a result of it appeared completely lovely, with promotional supplies hinting in direction of a splendidly wealthy, futuristic world filled with deep lore, some very cute anime-style characters, and a novel fight system. And I’m glad to say it actually lived as much as my expectations and, for my part, is a powerful contender for among the best cellular video games of 2024.

Now, let’s dive into the sport in a bit extra element. Ex Astris is a single-player, real-time/turn-based hybrid 3D RPG set on the planet Allindo within the distant future. You initially take management of an ‘Earther’ referred to as Yan, who has been despatched to Allindo as a part of an investigation accompanied by her drone-like companion, Roy. Nevertheless, throughout the first jiffy of the sport, the practice Yan is touring on crashes, and she or he quickly finds herself teaming up with a peppy Allindo native referred to as Vi3.

The 2 kind a considerably abrupt but very endearing friendship, touring collectively and uncovering a bunch of mysteries and secrets and techniques alongside the best way. In addition they meet a wide range of new characters who find yourself tagging alongside, all of which have their very own distinctive fight expertise and gameplay types, permitting you to tweak your crew to your liking. The final vibe of the sport, together with its gameplay, characters, and story, provides me a powerful sense of nostalgia, because it actually jogs my memory of the single-player RPGs I grew up enjoying on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360, solely with some severe graphical and mechanical upgrades.

The world-building of Ex Astris could be very spectacular, with a backdrop of extraordinarily wealthy and deep lore filling each nook of the planet. From conversations between characters to readable articles that supply glimpses of the world round you, it’s clear that a number of love and a spotlight went into crafting an intricate basis for this recreation, and it had me intrigued from the second I took management of Yan.

Sadly, the principle narrative does battle slightly with readability and pacing in some areas, with massive exposition dumps often thrown at you thru partitions of textual content, making it laborious to synthesize every little thing completely, and characters utilizing distinctive terminology as if you’re alleged to already know what it means. Consequently, there are some parts of the sport the place chances are you’ll really feel as if you’re enjoying a sequel relatively than ranging from the start. Nevertheless, these are very minor niggles, and the story nonetheless saved me engaged all through.

The deep lore isn’t the one factor that makes this world a deal with to discover, because the visuals are additionally completely gorgeous and actually spectacular for a cellular recreation. Versus an open world, every space is individually instanced, permitting extra room for element. Each location you go to has its personal distinctive vibe whereas nonetheless working as part of a cohesive planet, with beautiful views within the distance, spectacular water, shadow, and lightweight physics, some actually distinctive structure, and a plethora of interactable objects, fauna, and flora. It maintains a beautiful stability between high-tech futuristic-fantasy components, nature, and buildings that look as if they belong within the historical past books.

On high of that, you additionally get the chance to discover some distinctive, dungeon-esque areas alongside your journey, together with secret underground hideouts and historic ruins from bygone occasions. Whereas enemies populate many of those areas, there’s additionally a bunch of puzzles so that you can face. The puzzles are usually fairly easy and received’t be a match for you when you’re into different puzzle video games, however make use of some intelligent mechanics that go well with the sport’s total vibe. The majority of puzzles revolve round you utilizing one character to maneuver containers alongside a monitor by swiping alongside the display.

A few of these containers do nothing, merely performing as an impediment, however there are others which you could activate with one other character with a purpose to open doorways or reveal objects. There are additionally some containers which have ladders on the facet, permitting you to succeed in larger locations. Many of those areas are fairly easy to get by, but additionally function a wide range of secret platforms or paths that result in treasures. I really like this strategy, because it means that you can blast by the sport with out penalty when you favor, but additionally rewards you for actually taking in your environment and exploring every little thing – one other component that jogs my memory of the most effective RPGs that I grew up with.

In fact, the characters additionally play a giant half in making this recreation so particular. Vi3 and Yan are particularly unbelievable, each of their contrasting designs and personalities that play off one another, making for a splendidly complimentary ‘darkish and lightweight’ vibe. Yan is mostly fairly quiet, standoffish, and really dutiful and work-oriented, whereas Vi3 is bubbly and upbeat, making pals in every single place she goes and displaying boundless empathy for others.

Even interactions with NPCs are a deal with, as their reception in direction of Vi3 and Yan give an actual perception into the world round them. As an Earther, Yan is usually met with a way of mistrust and prejudice by sure teams, whereas others strategy her with a way of curiosity and enthusiasm to be taught extra about her tradition and introduce her to theirs. Drawing on real-life experiences, this actually provides one other dimension to the world and the way Yan suits into it, whereas additionally stoking a way of curiosity within the participant as you wish to uncover what makes the individuals of Allindo react to Earthers in such a manner.

Whereas Arknights is a really totally different recreation, you possibly can clearly see that Hypergryph’s top-notch character designs have transferred over to Ex Astris. Every member of your ever-growing get together sports activities a beautiful look becoming of their persona and character, and animations to match. Fight, then again, actually strays away from the essential turn-based affair chances are you’ll anticipate from Arknights’ creator.

Ex Astris’ fight is actually turn-based with real-time components. You have interaction in battle by both hitting or getting hit by an enemy, you then immediately hop right into a basic turn-based battle formation. You’ll be able to have a crew of as much as three characters, with every character both aligning with Warding Gentle (blue) or Shadow Shift (pink). Naturally, Vi3 aligns with Warding Gentle and Yan aligns with Shadow Shift.

Nevertheless, not like different turn-based video games like Honkai Star Rail, your crew technically solely has one flip per spherical, whereas every of the enemies get their very own flip – however that is the place the distinctive, real-time components come into play. You get the choice to change your stance at first of every flip, which adjustments what expertise your characters have entry to. You’ll be able to then start the assault with one character and launch follow-ups along with your different characters, tapping them repeatedly to unleash a full combo.

Enemies have each a well being bar and one thing referred to as a stability bar. Sure assaults deal larger stability harm, and, while you handle to deplete an enemy’s stability bar, they briefly enter a weakened state, throughout which you’ll launch as many assaults as potential. There’s some selection with character expertise right here, with some merely requiring a button-mashing strategy, and others requiring exact timing to tug off correct combos. On high of that, you possibly can proceed attacking an enemy after you’ve defeated them for a quick period of time to rack up overkill, which may earn you further rewards on the finish of the battle.

Relating to the enemies’ flip, you management one character that the enemies will robotically goal, and also you instantly enter a defensive state that displays a sure portion of injury. Nevertheless, you even have the chance to parry enemy assaults by tapping a button on the proper time. Typically enemies unleash assaults that align with both Warding Gentle or Shadow Shift, and you must change to a personality that additionally aligns with that state in any other case you possibly can’t successfully parry it. Parrying additionally leaves you open to break for a quick second when you don’t time it proper, which creates a little bit of a ‘danger reward’ state of affairs.

Actually, that’s only a transient overview of fight – there are heaps of different components that contribute to how properly you do in battle, together with utilizing objects and meals for buffs or well being regeneration, crafting gear to your characters, utilizing factors to unlock nodes in your characters’ ability timber, choosing the proper expertise and formations, and extra.

It’s a really intricate fight system that has a number of transferring elements, and it might probably undoubtedly really feel slightly overwhelming at first, particularly when you end up bombarded with a number of tutorial home windows in fast succession. Nevertheless, it’s fairly straightforward to fall into a cushty rhythm, and it turns into very intuitive after a little bit of apply. I additionally love that it gives a lot room for personalization, particularly as you achieve entry to higher-level objects and expertise, and recruit extra individuals to hitch your get together. And, as somebody who’s a giant fan of each turn-based and real-time motion fight, this looks like the most effective of each worlds and undoubtedly had me excited for no matter massive battles had been on the horizon.

Talking of which, there’s a pleasant vary of enemies all through the sport, each in customary encounters and boss battles. The enemy designs are good, with a pleasant combination of people, animals, and a few extraordinary creatures blended in (this features a sentient pile of rocks, a bizarre gelatinous blob with a spiky nostril, and extra), and the bosses boast some distinctive mechanics that preserve the fights fascinating.

Now, onto the controls. Ex Astris takes the usual cellular RPG controls of utilizing your left thumb to regulate your character’s motion, and your proper thumb to maneuver the digicam – although the digicam additionally has a non-aggressive auto pan that lightly pulls again to heart behind your character over time.

Past that, the sport makes use of a mix of faucets and swiping motions to finish totally different actions – faucet to work together and battle, swipe to equip or use objects, and so on. It’s all very intuitive, and inputs are usually very responsive, although typically the ‘button mashing’ required in sure elements of fight doesn’t really feel as if it registers each faucet.

Whereas exploring you possibly can’t leap freely or climb partitions like you possibly can in Genshin Affect and different journey video games – you possibly can solely climb ladders by interacting with them, or leap off sure ledges by working as much as them. That is usually positive and reduces on-screen litter, however does result in some wonky moments throughout platforming sections the place you must hop between transferring platforms, although it’s nothing egregious.

When it comes to efficiency, I’ve been enjoying Ex Astris on an iPhone 13 with all of the settings pushed as excessive as they’ll go, and it appears to be like completely beautiful. It maxes out at 60 FPS which is greater than sufficient for a easy expertise on cellular, and I’ve solely skilled a really uncommon stutter at times. Load screens are fast, every little thing appears to be like crisp and exquisite, and I’m persistently impressed with how easy every little thing feels. After a protracted play session my telephone does begin to really feel slightly toasty in its case, and it’s fairly demanding for a cellular recreation, so older telephones might battle with the very best settings. However, total, it’s clearly a really well-optimized expertise that makes nice use of the cellular platform, and also you don’t want among the best gaming telephones on the earth to play it.

Ex Astris’ sound design is strong, with nice Japanese and Chinese language voice performing that actually helps to painting the feelings of every interplay, even when you don’t perceive the languages. The UI and subtitles are additionally well-proportioned, and the choice to skip or pace up cutscenes with faucets is all the time welcome. Plus, it can save you at just about any time and cargo again in as you please, so it’s straightforward to play on the go.

The music is nice and fairly, although it does mix into the background a bit at occasions – I can’t actually think about myself enjoying the OST as I work any time quickly, nevertheless it’s undoubtedly properly orchestrated and does praise the temper of every scene and setting.

Lastly, we return to the one distinctive issue that actually units Ex Astris other than different cellular video games – its standing as a premium recreation and whether or not it’s definitely worth the value. At the moment, the sport sits at round 15-20 hours lengthy, although it might probably definitely take longer when you tackle all facet quests and discover all areas.

It’s not a gacha recreation, and there’s no in-game store, battle move, or microtransactions to talk of – and for its RRP of $9.99 (£8.99), you’re undoubtedly getting a number of worth to your cash. It’s set to be an episodic affair, with extra chapters coming sooner or later, which I presume can even price a set value to buy. However, whilst a standalone expertise, this recreation is unquestionably price your time, and, if it’s half nearly as good as this, I do know I’ll be able to slap down that money when the subsequent half comes out.

Total, I’m actually impressed with Ex Astris. It stands out as not solely a powerful premium cellular RPG, but additionally a placing and engrossing trendy RPG that might get up in opposition to among the heavy hitters at present in the marketplace. From its gorgeous world and wealthy lore to its intricate fight system and lovable characters, it succeeds in nearly every little thing it units out to do, and it’s properly definitely worth the comparatively small entry charge for a recreation with no further monetization hidden under the floor. Let’s face it, all of us love gacha video games, nevertheless it’s good to return to an easier time when you would use each character with out spending a fortune on their banner first, proper?

Now, it’s about time for me to wrap this Ex Astris evaluate up, although I’m certain I may go on about this intriguing little gem for hours. Should you’d prefer to know extra about Hypergryph’s different hit title, you should definitely take a look at our Arknights tier listing. Or for slightly assist with a unique interstellar turn-based journey, head over to our Honkai Star Rail tier listing and Honkai Star Rail codes guides.