Sunrider: Mask of Arcadius

 PC
User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 24 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 24
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 24
  3. Negative: 4 out of 24

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  1. Strunk64
    Jul 19, 2014
    10
    I first discovered Sunrider through a gaming news site, during the middle of the Kickstarter. I followed it for a while, eventually downloading the demo. Though nowhere near as refined as it currently is, the combat and the story drew me in, and made me want more. It wasn't a hard decision to back it, in the end, and I haven't regretted it since.

    Each of the characters have tropes and    I first discovered Sunrider through a gaming news site, during the middle of the Kickstarter. I followed it for a while, eventually downloading the demo. Though nowhere near as refined as it currently is, the combat and the story drew me in, and made me want more. It wasn't a hard decision to back it, in the end, and I haven't regretted it since.

    Each of the characters have tropes and cliches making up their general personalities, However, that's not all there is to them. They each have life and depth, which, in my opinion, makes it worth fighting through even the toughest battle, just to see what happens with each of them next.

    And believe me, the battles will be tough. Love in Space designed Sunrider to be a very difficult game, in which you always feel as if you're just about to be overwhelmed. I think they have succeeded at this, as I certainly never feel completely at ease during battle.

    Still, there are different difficulty levels, if it's too much for you. I don't mind admiting that I switch to Easy on occasion, myself. However, if you're one of those people that finds "nearly being overwhelmed constantly" too easy, there's always the Hard difficulty, which is sure to blow you out of the proverbial water. There's also Visual Novel difficulty, which is good for testing out strategies, or just speeding through the game, if you simply can't wait to get back to the story.

    The plot itself is interesting, though if you're a big fan of the genre, you've likely seen the basic idea before. Still, having seen Love in Space's past works, and some of the bigger twists in Sunrider, I can safely say that, by the end, you'll be shocked at where this story goes.

    If you're not sure about Visual Novels, Strategy RPGs, or both, I'd like to remind you that the game is free, and not going anywhere. You can try it out at any time, for no cost, so just think it over for a while. If you ever get bored and have nothing better to do, Sunrider might be the right thing to pass the time. And who knows; you might just end up liking it.    … Expand
  2. halberdman
    Aug 5, 2014
    9
    Full of heart and obviously a labor of love for the developers, Sunrider will blow you away if you keep in mind the scope of the project. Don't expect AAA levels of optimization, detail, or effects, but what is present is highly polished. The soundtrack is refreshingly quite good, and the visuals manage to do quite well given that the game is built on Ren'Py. The combat system is enjoyableFull of heart and obviously a labor of love for the developers, Sunrider will blow you away if you keep in mind the scope of the project. Don't expect AAA levels of optimization, detail, or effects, but what is present is highly polished. The soundtrack is refreshingly quite good, and the visuals manage to do quite well given that the game is built on Ren'Py. The combat system is enjoyable and quite challenging but can be modified with a difficulty slider if you're just wanting to blaze through the story or if you want an additional challenge (and are a masochist) to top off the package.

    A hybrid VN/TBS, anyone who has played games such as Utawarerumono, Tears to Tiara, Galaxy Angel, or any of the Sakura Taisen games will recognize the layout quickly. The majority of the game is an ADV style visual novel, with text and sprites on a background to present the events occurring in the game universe with frequent and sometimes quite nuanced decisions presented to the player. Occasionally, the game will drop out to a tactical, turn based grid strategy game reminiscent of Final Fantasy Tactics or any of its many spinoffs in which the titular Sunrider and its complement of giant mecha (all female pilots of course) battle their way through various hazards while attempting to halt the expansion of a despotic interstellar regime.

    As Strunk64 pointed out in his review, the characters contain common tropes and the story is based on a pretty common idea, but the devs have managed to make the characters sympathetic and the story deeper than you might think at first glance. I've played nearly every major visual novel in the English language, and I was still surprised by how much I came to care about the characters and story even in the beta phase of the first entry to the trilogy.

    On the negative side, and really the only thing preventing me from giving this a better score, is a lack of optimization. Ren'Py is not really designed to handle the level of complex content that Sunrider presents, and as such the game suffers from slowdowns, incorrectly displayed combat data, and occasional trigger failures (allies fail to spawn for example) during scripted events. It's certainly not show-stopping, but it will frustrate you to have to wait out the (very long) enemy turn before you can load a save or to fire a shot with "100%" hit chance only to find out that it actually had a 12% hit chance.

    As an added bonus, the developers have published 100% of the project to their Git at the time of this review, and all the content is open-source and available for modding, adjusting, or expanding if you want to dig into the code.

    Also worth mentioning is that this game contains NSFW content, though nothing so extreme as H scenes, and you should approach it with the understanding that there will be nude scenes and suggestive content.

    tl:dr It's free, it's open source, it's surprisingly good. Get it.    … Expand
  3. Oreo_Blue
    Jul 17, 2014
    10
    One of the best totally free to play games on Steam. It's like the combination of Mass Effect and Dark Souls. Great story and challenging Turn Based Strategy.
  4. Damascus
    Feb 16, 2015
    7
    Left me craving more.

    The strategy part of the game ends up having rather spesific solutions for each battle. This is well-crafted enough to be quite enjoyable. The mercenary-mech aspect of Sunrider is also very nice, where I find myself enjoying slowly developing my carrier and my fighters. The economy is tight enough to keep me prioritizing througout. The VN-part of the game    Left me craving more.

    The strategy part of the game ends up having rather spesific solutions for each battle. This is well-crafted enough to be quite enjoyable.

    The mercenary-mech aspect of Sunrider is also very nice, where I find myself enjoying slowly developing my carrier and my fighters. The economy is tight enough to keep me prioritizing througout.

    The VN-part of the game have some really wierd quirks that is gonna take a long time to grow on me. I guess it's part of the genre or something. Stuff like the staffs head popping up to convey their personality at very odd moments. Stuff like the bridge being empty outside of my leutenant who keeps shouting orders towards the seemingly empty chairs. Stuff like laserbeams that bends in vacuum.

    I would have liked being able to make some decisions on which figters to employ, but within the frames of economy of this game I know of nothing I would trade away to get it.    … Expand
  5. Luxangel7
    Dec 30, 2014
    10
    This game, which now goes by "Sunrider: Mask of Arcadius" and is FREE! on Steam, is flat out amazing. Here's why:

    (I'm about half way through the game, I think) Overview: The game is divided in two modes; visual novel and hex rts space fleet engagements. The visual novel is basically you getting to enjoy and even interact in a very competent anime story with yes, all the typical    This game, which now goes by "Sunrider: Mask of Arcadius" and is FREE! on Steam, is flat out amazing. Here's why:

    (I'm about half way through the game, I think)

    Overview: The game is divided in two modes; visual novel and hex rts space fleet engagements.

    The visual novel is basically you getting to enjoy and even interact in a very competent anime story with yes, all the typical things like a Tsundere, bashful loli, sexy nympho etc, but also done in a very thoughtful way with very good story telling and good art.

    The rts portion is simply awesome. You get to command a kick ass capital ship and several mechs with their own abilities and pilots, earning money to buy upgrades between missions and at intervals throughout the game more things become available such as eventually building your own FLEET. You heard me, as in command allies to make up a battle group...(EPIC)

    Here's a breakdown of my personal rankings for this game by category:

    Art: 8/10 It is well done, crisp, and detailed. You can tell it was on a budget, but also a labor of love.

    Sound: 8/10 Sound effects are sometimes a bit repetitive, but overall good quality.

    Music: 9/10 Music plays reacting to what you do, how the battle goes, and what happens in the story. Excellent music on it's own as well.

    Voice Acting: 9/10 The voice acting is superb, 9/10 because the game would have benefited from more varied character lines during battle scenes that can get repetitive, and the Captain's Iconic "FIRE!!!" during the Vanguard Cannon attack (Super Yamato Cannon kind of thing) is a very unexcited "fire.".

    Story: 9/10 While not perfect, the story is engaging, well written, exciting and full of expected and unexpected twists, but all of them are satisfying, even if you're able to see them coming.

    Gameplay: 10/10 The gameplay is highly satisfying, much more than what you'd expect for a game like this, there are multiple levels to the gameplay mechanics, and rpg elements like special skill system, levelling up skills, abilities, items and buying allies will blow you away.

    Overall Quality: 09/10 By this I mean the structure of the game, saving, ease of menu navigation, audio/video options etc. The only thing missing is an option to disable screen shake when someone takes damage during battle scenes. Well done indeed.

    Verdict: 10/10

    Yes, the scores themselves don't add up to a perfect 10, but when you consider that this game is an addictive, superbly made gem that delivers on way more than the standard VN (I usually NEVER play Visual Novels) and the last, but not least most important factor of it being ABSOLUTELY FREE when I would have happily paid at least 10$ for it, this game is a real special treat, and I hope that the creator(s) make much more for us to enjoy in the future.

    I'm very happy I stumbled onto this gem and will happily tell all my friends about it. It deserves all the support it can get!    … Expand
  6. cpt_manboobs
    Oct 26, 2014
    10
    Sunrider is a combination of two of my favourite things, Tactical turn based strategy games, and Kawaii Uguu waifu simulators. The game is still largely un-finished, but I have high hopes for the game. Asaga is the best girl anyone who says otherwise is a pleb.
  7. Coolaybo
    Feb 21, 2015
    10
    Where to start....
    This game is so lush with characters and artwork in my opinion Sunrider gives The Last of Us a run for its money. The game has intense ship battles( especially on hardest difficulty). Also you will definitely want play the game twice, once for the oh so prefect story that you will be easily brought into( for lowest difficulty) and once for the strategy and intense space    Where to start....
    This game is so lush with characters and artwork in my opinion Sunrider gives The Last of Us a run for its money. The game has intense ship battles( especially on hardest difficulty). Also you will definitely want play the game twice, once for the oh so prefect story that you will be easily brought into( for lowest difficulty) and once for the strategy and intense space battles.
    So get your popcorn and coffee ready because you'll probably lose yourself in countless hours of intriguing movie like story.
    Just wish their was a mobile version so I would never have depart for my crew.    … Expand
  8. hanmatthew
    Nov 5, 2015
    9
    Sunrider is one of the best FTP game I've tried! It marries all four of my favorites (Anime, Strategy, Space and Mecha) into one beautiful game. It ain't perfect, of cos. Here's a list of goods and not so goods:

    Goods: - Some strategy required for combat - Tough and punishing combat if you got your upgrades wrong - Good story-line - Good fleshed out of characters - Cool upgrading    Sunrider is one of the best FTP game I've tried! It marries all four of my favorites (Anime, Strategy, Space and Mecha) into one beautiful game. It ain't perfect, of cos. Here's a list of goods and not so goods:

    Goods:
    - Some strategy required for combat
    - Tough and punishing combat if you got your upgrades wrong
    - Good story-line
    - Good fleshed out of characters
    - Cool upgrading features
    - Great art work
    - Decent music

    Not so goods:
    - Linear story (more side quests or random events will be glorious)
    - No real romance option (so far at least)
    - No other way to earn $$ on the side line other than to progress in the story-line. This limits your upgrade options
    - Limited locations with no exploration option
    - Kayto (your character) has a personality as interesting as a wet cardboard
    -    … Expand