SINoAlice

 iOS
User Score
3.4

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 7 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 7
  3. Negative: 5 out of 7
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  1. daikon
    Sep 11, 2020
    3
    The focus of the game is guild based PVP, but because the game is aggressively pay to win, it's a pretty bad time as a f2p or small spender. The gear available in the cash shop is straight up better than anything that can be obtained in the gacha. On top of this, there is a weekly subscription which lets you access twice as much AP and level your character twice as quickly. And if theThe focus of the game is guild based PVP, but because the game is aggressively pay to win, it's a pretty bad time as a f2p or small spender. The gear available in the cash shop is straight up better than anything that can be obtained in the gacha. On top of this, there is a weekly subscription which lets you access twice as much AP and level your character twice as quickly. And if the above was not pay to win enough, the gacha rates are abysmal while new banners come really quickly. The amount of currency you get for free is pretty stingy, so it's basically impossible to keep up with the power creep unless you buy more currency.

    The game also isn't very fun to play outside of PVP. Events feature minimal writing and consist of doing a single stage over and over with no variation. Raids are difficult to complete as F2P with the most recent event requiring access to very specific gear and character levels that are out of reach for most. The grinding is also inconvenient because a lot of content in this game such as EXP dungeons, raids, PVP, etc. are all only available for a limited duration at set times throughout the day.

    I think the game is designed to appeal to only the most hardcore who are willing to sink a ton of time and money. The music and art are lovely though.    … Expand
  2. PhoenixShi
    Jul 31, 2020
    3
    The art, and music are quite good, but the rest, not so much.

    Here's my main points against it: -The writing of the "story" so far is actually pretty good, especially for a foreign developed mobile game, but what is written amounts to trivial text related to the deranged personality traits given to each character. -The game play loop is as boring as can be. -The whole game is largely    The art, and music are quite good, but the rest, not so much.

    Here's my main points against it:
    -The writing of the "story" so far is actually pretty good, especially for a foreign developed mobile game, but what is written amounts to trivial text related to the deranged personality traits given to each character.
    -The game play loop is as boring as can be.
    -The whole game is largely just a gear check.
    -You hardly get any of the pay currency used to roll stuff, and do other things in a recurring manner, and they're charging far too much to buy it with real money.
    -Just about everything you roll is trash, as the only thing considered worth investing in for the long run are top base rarity items, as only those can be evolved to the highest rarity, and the odds of getting those is very low. Then due to the power creep Japanese players admit exists (it's been out there for three years now) you'll need to keep rolling for new stuff as it comes out, and thereby spending to keep up.
    -Like with some other such games, you get a second currency when you roll for stuff, except here that currency is locked to the month the banner was released in, events also get their own pity currency, it expires not long after the related month/event ends, and you need a lot of it to get anything worth wild, so it will only be of much use to whales, because they don't have enough advantages as it is.
    -Even if you do collect enough of the pity currency to get a featured weapon that would unlock a class if you rolled it, getting the weapon that way does not unlock the class, and you need to spend just as much to also get the class (it takes fifteen 10+1 pulls to get enough pity currency to get a SR weapon, or class unlock).
    -Some classes are only obtained by purchasing cash shop currency packages, and you want to collect as many classes as you can, as levelling classes provides passive account wide stat bonuses.
    -Equipment, and classes obtained by spending money are objectively better than the stuff you get from playing the main game, with the stuff obtained from doing events sitting in the middle.
    -It's another mobile gacha game where after you "upgrade" your equipment, it actually becomes worse. Since it goes back to level one after you upgrade it, it doesn't actually become stronger until you levelled it back up to the level it was before you upgraded it, or to it's new higher level cap.
    -Getting four duplicates of your equipment is very important, as it significantly increases the level cap of an item.
    -Too many important rewarding dungeons, as well as PvP happen at set times of the day, for only 20-30 minutes at a time, and maybe only once a day, if you missed it, too bad.
    -Due to how slowly your stamina pool increases (called AP in SINoALICE), how quickly it regenerates, the function you can use to rapidly regenerate your stamina that becomes available every eight hours, and dungeons you're expected to continually farm, to be efficient, and effective in the use of your stamina, so that you can keep up with others, you need to invest a lot of time into the game, spread out over the course of each day. Some spend as much as thirteen hours a day playing to do so, and lose a lot of sleep.
    -The main focus of late game is supposedly PvP, which is guild based combat of 15 vs 15, guilds can only participate once a day, and guilds can only have at most 15 members. The result of this is guilds kicking people left, and right if those people missed a day, or such, resulting in added stress, drama, people rage quitting from the game, and guilds folding. If guilds could have some 30-45 members, the situation would be much better, but they don't, so if that really will be the main drive of the game, I don't see it working out well in the long run over here.
    -PvP is not balanced, so whales will dominate. Early on, like with other such games, a free player can more, or less keep up if they put in enough time, but the longer these games are out, the more important spending becomes, and the wider the gap between the whales, and free players becomes.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

28
#28 Best iOS Game of 2020
11
#11 Most Discussed iOS Game of 2020

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
58

Mixed or average reviews - based on 4 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 4
  3. Negative: 1 out of 4
  1. RPG Fan
    Nov 10, 2020
    90
    As the developers rightly suggested in the Space Invaders side story, the day will come when the servers are turned off and this game is forgotten. It will not be remembered or celebrated nearly as much as Yoko Taro’s masterpieces NieR and NieR Automata. But for those who want in on a strange, wonderful, and limited-time experience, SINoALICE is the perfect pastime for you. Prepare to be shocked by some of the strangest short stories you’ve ever read, and hopefully you’ll have fun bashing baddies along the way.
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  2. Noisy Pixel
    Jul 14, 2020
    70
    SINoALICE gives us a rather gripping narrative that mobile fans may not be accustomed to. The dark fairy tale themes are very much from the mind of developer Yoko Taro, and it works exceptionally well with the presentation. Unfortunately, that same genius isn’t found in the battle system outside of the standout online Guild Battles. It’s unlikely the current gameplay formula will change, but the game’s story and characters will surely keep you invested across future updates.
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  3. Metro GameCentral
    Jul 10, 2020
    40
    Despite its elegant art style and stirring musical score, it’s crushingly dull. The narratives don’t branch, and with auto-fight turned on, your role is reduced to that of spectator rather than player, and no amount of fourth wall-breaking humour or twisted fairy tale storylines make up for the boredom at its core.
    Read full review
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