Fallen Legion Revenants Switch Review – Ghosts and Politics

Fallen Legion Revenants, developed by YummyYummyTummy and published by NIS America, is an action-RPG with a little twist of visual novel, a dash of puzzles, and a few hints of stealth.

Set in a world ravaged by a terrible disease caused by an unknown miasma, a few elites have managed to quite literally rise above the troubles of the common man by seeking solace in a floating castle. However, even these few are not immune to the troubles of the common man, at least not forever.

The miasma flowing across the land slowly begins to turn people into horrible creatures known as “the Slaugh” as they succumb to the plague, and as such humanity is on the brink of destruction as more people fall ill and the number of Slaugh rise.

It appears that a prison warden and powerful mage named Ivor foresaw this reality or something akin to it, as he used his considerable magic power to raise Castle Welkin into the sky, both protecting and imprisoning the people that were in it, somewhat similar to the train in comic, film, and series adaptions of Snowpiercer.

What appears to be a few years after the miasma spread started, Castle Welkin has begun to run low on supplies, people are sick and dying (However it appears to be other diseases as none have transformed), and Ivor’s influence has begun to wane among those that remain.

Among these people are one of our playable characters, Lucien, a charismatic politician looking to use his wit and wiles to take control of Castle Welkin. While his motives are not made transparently clear, he does seem to be a genuine person, at least for a politician.

Another occupant with no choice is a young boy named Edwin. He is not playable but his existence does lead us to the other playable character, Rowena, the young boy’s mother. Sadly, Rowena has passed away prior to the events of the game, but death is not the end in this world and she remains as a phantom whose goal is to return to life to take care of Edwin again.

And with that, Lucien and Rowena strike up a deal: Lucien assures Rowena that Edwin will remain safe in his care, and in exchange Rowena will explore the lands below in an effort to disrupt the flow of power in Castle Welkin so Lucien can attempt to oust the tyrannical Ivor.

The gameplay in Fallen Legion Revenants is split between the two characters with Rowena and her squad handling the combat while Lucien’s segments focus more on puzzles, visual novel elements, and decision making, similar to the Princess Peach sections from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, except far more prevalent and woven into the story.

The game opens as most games do with a sort of tutorial experience in which you learn a little about the characters, the situation they are in, and the basic mechanics you’ll be using. Lucien’s section of the game is comprised by exploring the various rooms of Castle Welkin, speaking with NPC’s, gaining favour as well as information, and in between battle segments acting as a hub section where you can save the game, set up and view various aspects of Rowena’s team, and as you progress you’ll be able to revisit previous sections of the game as well.

Rowena’s side of the gameplay is an action-RPG in which you control Rowena and her assigned Exemplars, pitting them against the Slaugh, and anyone that stands in the way of their goals. Each battle consists of a few waves of enemies. Once all enemies on screen have been dealt with, your team will run forward until they reach the next set, and they will typically continue this pattern until all have been cleared and they return to Castle Welkin.

However, at some points, Rowena and Lucien will use an artifact to communicate with each other, generally when Rowena’s squad require some sort of guidance.

In these instances, gameplay will swap back to Lucien to procure information in order to guide Rowena’s team. Some times these segments will be time-bound, and Lucien will need to ask questions and find answers before the timer counts down. However, in these instances, nothing seems to be “required”, they are more to provide the player with information to make an educated choice on how Rowena’s squad should proceed.

Other times there will be no time-constraints, and typically these sections will offer two branching decisions that are both beneficial leaving it up to the player to gather information and decide on their own terms. However, certain choices and discussions will impact the feelings and inclinations of the other committee members which may come into play later in the story as the game progresses.

Lucien also has a number of extra mechanics that unlock during the game allowing him to do things such as listen in on conversations and hide from guards as he sneaks around the Castle. He also has access to the important Library and Wharehouse locations that are used to unlock new Exemplars, techniques, and spells.

As mentioned earlier, battle involves multiple waves of enemies. Rowena and her Exemplars will fight the enemies together, but they are used in a differing fashion. Rowena is the leader of the group, and as such she controls which square the team are assigned to stand. She can also cast spells if the team has generated enough mana via physical attacks.

Each Exemplar is assigned to a different button on the controller which is used to unleash their attacks assuming their action meter has at least one action slot filled. Attacks can be combo’ed together between one, two, or all three of the Exemplars, and you can also combo with Rowena’s spells too.

There are a number of ways to maximize damage (combo attacks, exploiting elemental weaknesses, using debuffs, breaking an enemy guard, etc), but you’ll also need to work on minimizing the damage your team takes. This can be done by moving them around, interrupting an enemy, or blocking attacks. Blocking an attack will reduce damage, but if you time it correctly you can perform a perfect guard and reflect the attack, generally causing a fair bit of damage to an enemy guard meter or outright breaking their guard, leaving them open to assault.

Bosses are significantly harder than the regular enemies, and you’ll likely die a lot if you don’t get their attack timing down. Exemplars that fall in battle can be revived by holding their associated button, but if they all fall then the battle ends and you’ll need to try again or give up. Rowena herself cannot take damage, which means with a full team you have three lives (Yet a strong attack may wipe out a few of your Exemplars, possibly even all of them at once).

Overall, Fallen Legion Revenants is a fun game with a fair bit to unlock and a lot of lore to enjoy, quality voice acting, and a beautiful art style. The battle system on a surface level seems quite similar to the game Indivisible, but that is just on a surface level. The difficulty curve may be a bit of a turn off, but do not let that deflect you. The game is loaded with content, and it is such a wild mix of genres.

If you are looking for a unique JRPG experience, then look no further. Fallen Legion Revenants is exactly what you are looking for.

Fallen Legion Revenants Review Provided By Nintendo Link
Developer: YummyYummyTummy
Publisher: NIS America
Release Date: Feb 16, 2021
Price: $39.99, £35.99, €39,99
Game Size: 1.2 GB