![]() ![]() Linking Deferrals can provide a massive movement boon to one character, or let you lean into a strong attack over and over to complete fights faster. Along with attack options, units can also Defer their turn to one that’s already gone, giving a unit a second chance to attack, but also increasing their Madness. And much like Shin Megami titles, any rule a player character can use, the enemy can as well, so thoughtful placement is important to increase your damage, or protect yourself from excessive attacks. Attacking an enemy within range of an ally will cause those allies to also attack as an Assist. Units have varied movement and can take advantage of the terrain for back attacks, counters, or environmental hazards to damage opponents. Fights are turn-based and focus on strategy. While you pick up a variety of human companions throughout the story, your constant companions are customizable Legion aspected to one of the seven Monarks – Pride, Wrath, Envy, Greed, Gluttony, Sloth, and Lust. The Academy is split into several distinct buildings, and each of them has three Mist sections you need to explore and disperse. Speaking of gameplay, the general loop remains pretty consistent from the moment you become a Pactbearer. But when defeating a Pactbearer means they lose a part of their soul, is her request so easy to accept? Dean Sora Jingu requests your aid in hunting down and defeating your fellow Pactbearers, to stop the spread of the Mist and save the world from chaos. There are seven other Pactbearers in the school, each aligned with one of the Seven Deadly Sins, and by using their Authorities they’ve caused this calamity to occur. Using your Authority creates Mist, however, and causes more distortions in the world that allows the Otherworld to exert its influence. By accepting Vanitas’ help, you’ve now become the Pactbearer of Vanity and can wield Authorities – special abilities granted by a Monark to their human, that allow them to control Legions and perform magic. Monarks control Legions, which roam the Otherworld, and the Mist is a physical representation of where our world and the Otherworld begin to overlap. Whatever is happening at Shin Mikado, it’s unleashed daemons called Monarks who form pacts with humans. You prevail, and everyone escapes to the safety of the third-year building first floor. He calls himself Vanitas, and offers you the power to protect your loved ones, bestowing upon you Imagigear and the ability to fight the daemonic Legion in this Otherworld. But as things look bleak, a creature that resembles a stitched-together stuffed rabbit appears. Kakeru is injured, and neither you nor Nozomi can fight. Before you can, however, Chiyo receives a call on her cellphone, and when she answers it, the group is whisked into the same quasi-dimension from the opening, surrounded by the same skeletal creatures. You’ve completely lost your memory (as you do), but that doesn’t dissuade your companions from helping you escape the Mist. You awake within the Mist to the calls of upperclassman Nozomi Hinata, the school doctor Kakeru Hasegawa, and your little sister Chiyo Aikawa. The school has been cut off from the rest of the world, and covered in something called Mist that turns anyone trapped inside it too long, insane. Your answers determine your opening stats, and then you’re spit out into the game proper. Immediately after, we’re thrown into the introductory cutscene, where we meet the school dean and are given a pop quiz (as you do). Set in the prestigious Shin Mikado Academy, the game opens with a student being unceremoniously murdered by creepy skeletal monsters, with a mysterious voice asking the boy to show it his Ego. Not only does it have a healthy dose of all the above, it’s also got a really interesting world and lore that feels highly reminiscent of its Shin Megami Tensei spiritual roots. So it came as absolutely no surprise that Monark resonated so strongly with me when I got a chance to check the game out. PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Steam, Nintendo SwitchĬonsidering the state of the world the last couple of years, games about depression, despair, revenge, and coming to terms with one’s faults have been particularly striking to me (see my top three games of 2021 here, here, and here). ![]()
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