Freedom Wars Remastered is the triumphant return of the fan-favourite, fascistic Monster Hunter-style motion sport, initially printed by Sony for the PS Vita in 2014. Because the PS Vita (sadly) by no means achieved the breakout success it deserved, we all the time felt this forward-thinking title did not get a good shake. With “volunteers” on PS5 and PS4 to probably energy it, Remastered places the IP’s finest foot ahead, even when it does drag interminably in locations.
Set in a grim future, environmental destruction and nuclear battle have compelled the remnants of humanity into huge subterranean Panopticans, impartial metropolis states competing for scraps through which many of the inhabitants is imprisoned, penal labour.
Resulting from excessive useful resource shortages, these “sinners” are penalised for the excessive crime of present, with newborns handed million-year sentences, which might be shortened by serving within the fixed battle between Panopticons. These overseas aggressors, in addition to superior folks from a spot known as On Excessive, ship futuristic Abductors to grab unwary sinners, and combating these giant foes is a giant a part of gameplay and a surprisingly concerned spectacle.
The unique Freedom Wars was developed in collaboration with a trio of studios and is kind of a wierd beast. Shift dealt with idea, artwork, and common design, whereas Dimps labored with Japan Studio to hammer out the mechanics and gameplay (technically making the title a first-party launch).
Push Sq.’s Robert Ramsey reviewed it at launch, and lots of the issues of the unique stay in Remastered, however a wonderful graphical improve enhances it. Like all video games (no less than in efficiency mode), it is made way more playable by a persistently excessive framerate, and the swap in enter from PS Vita to DualSense is to not be understated; the unique’s controversial controls have been modernised, haptics add heft, and with L2 and R2 triggers, you do not have to depend on the PS Vita’s bizarre again contact pad for primary gameplay capabilities.
Freedom Wars’ best strengths are its setting and gameplay, and each are robust however fail to evolve as the sport progresses. The premise is compelling, and whereas it is meaningfully utilised in-game, penalising gamers for issues like working inside or venturing too far out of your ever-present Accent (till the suitable privileges are unlocked) all compounds to make (particularly the opening few hours) sort of a slog, which is the purpose. Equally, whereas the vary of weapon varieties is appreciated, the simplistic crafting system required to maintain tempo with dramatically escalating Abductor well being swimming pools looks like a bunch of busy work.
The sport’s quest and mission construction does not assist; it is nonetheless foundationally designed for moveable periods on the PS Vita. The loop often has giant swathes of dialogue and working round as your custom-made character meets their fellow sinners and captors, requiring gamers to navigate the tasteless depths of the Panopticon on seemingly limitless fetch quests.
After you have a fight mission, you’ll both be assigned or in a position to choose a squad of NPC allies to take to the sector, participating in pretty easy elimination or rescue operations, securing sources, and issuing orders. Because the participant and every NPC have their customisable Accent (cyborg bodyguard/parole officer), these missions is usually a spectacle and a blast to play via, if finally a bit repetitive.
The flexibility to equip varied Thorns, vine-like appendages that can be utilized as grappling hooks or to heal or buff allies, provides depth and verticality to gameplay. Ultimately, you may even command your squad with a listing of {custom} orders that will probably be obeyed with shocking effectivity. When it is singing, the fight in Freedom Wars stays extremely participating. Sadly, whereas serviceable (enhanced by haptics), each melee and ranged fight fall far beneath the complexity of comparable action-hunting video games, with a decrease talent ceiling, and feels a bit floaty.
NPC combatants might be changed with actual gamers, and it will presumably be the extra environment friendly technique to play (relying on the participant), however Freedom Wars can completely be performed alone. Whereas we could not discover any associates throughout the evaluate interval, we’re glad to report the League of Panopticons leaderboard is purposeful; Redundant gear might be donated “for the larger good”, boosting the standing of the participant’s chosen ‘Con.
You possibly can select from certainly one of 47 representing Japan’s prefectures; the additional 50 representing worldwide cities had been added to the unique post-launch, and we would see related growth sooner or later. Rising your rating, in addition to your communities, stays rewarding, with varied motivational leaderboards ever-present in every sinners’ cell.
We guess that, because of this being a remaster and never a remake, the {hardware} limitations of the PS Vita stay. Freedom Wars Remastered is simply continually loading, and whereas you’ll finally be permitted to fast-travel, you higher imagine which means one other loading display screen. Each transition out of your cell within the Panopticon will value you a great few seconds, in addition to earlier than and after fight; now we have turn into spoiled within the age of PS5.
With a definite artwork fashion and dark-synth soundtrack, Freedom Wars is aesthetically fairly pleasing for what it’s. There’s additionally fairly a bit extra voice-acting this time round, with even your Accent chiming in (sounding like a text-to-speech app, which admittedly begins to pull). Within the chaos of fight, the barks of your character, allies, and Equipment can typically be a bit annoying, however your mileage might fluctuate.
Lastly, the characters you work together with are comparatively flat, fall into acquainted archetypes, and really feel skinny. We suppose the purpose was to offer a big sufficient pool of potential allies for gamers to discover a favorite, but it surely might need been extra helpful to deal with fewer and supply some depth. Edgy and enticing, the vibe Freedom Wars goes for is considerably spoiled by characters whose motivations and issues appear, at occasions, at odds with the supposed gravity of the setting.
Conclusion
Freedom Wars Remastered is a superb technique to relive the restrictive motion sport. In 2025, the sport’s forward-thinking multiplayer elements have a larger probability of capturing a devoted neighborhood, and graphical and technical enhancements make it the definitive technique to play. However it’s a PS Vita sport at its core; fixed loading, uninteresting characters, comparatively easy fight, and limitless busy work have considerably dented our rosy reminiscences of the unique sport.
