Battle Chasers: Nightwar

 PlayStation 4
User Score
7.0

Mixed or average reviews- based on 89 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 55 out of 89
  2. Mixed: 16 out of 89
  3. Negative: 18 out of 89
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  1. tomvs123
    Jul 27, 2020
    4
    Decent game if you're looking for an American comic-book-like turn-based RPG without a lot of depth.

    This appears to be based on the Battle Chasers comic book series and does a good job at representing it in video game format. The primary issue here is that the world and characters aren't fleshed out very well in-game. That's supposedly done by the comic books. So don't expect much    Decent game if you're looking for an American comic-book-like turn-based RPG without a lot of depth.

    This appears to be based on the Battle Chasers comic book series and does a good job at representing it in video game format. The primary issue here is that the world and characters aren't fleshed out very well in-game. That's supposedly done by the comic books. So don't expect much character or world building here.

    The story takes you on a very generic young teen comic book journey. The main plot consists of your group coming to this unexplored land for mana (which I can only guess is valuable to them), and then eventually encountering a demon who wants to rule/destroy the world, so you go on a quest to defeat it. There is a minor interesting twist near the end, but overall, the story is sub-par and generic and we're given little reason why our heroes are doing what they're doing besides that they're comic book heroes and you're just supposed to accept this.

    This leaves us with very little character building since the target audience has either read the comics or is fine with one-dimensional heroes. The only worthwhile character interactions happen during your stay at the inn. Each time I stayed there, the characters talked with each other, which helps you better understand their personalities, but not so much their motives for partaking in this journey.

    The gameplay is simple, but relatively unique for recent turn-based RPGs. It's challenging, but not very rewarding and has lots of annoying aspects. I could go on and on about the annoying parts, but I'll explain just one here. You're frequently poisoned or given some other de-buff that causes damage every turn. Turns are individual-based and start when it's that character's turn. Casting spells takes two turns. So if you have a character that can cast a spell to remove poison, you must wait for that character's turn, while your other characters are having their turns and taking damage, take damage yourself when you start the spell, wait again while all of your other characters take damage again on their turns, and then finally get to your spell-casing turn, where you take more damage from the poison before it's cured. And sometimes, by the time you finally cast the poison-curing spell, it has already worn off on other characters (especially if they've been taking fast actions on their turns).

    The game is also grinding-based. Don't expect to just go into every dungeon once, clearing out all enemies along the way to get enough experience to beat the game. You will eventually need to go back into a dungeon or grind enemies on the world map. Though the amount of grinding isn't bad and I was able to beat the game in slightly under 40 hours.

    The game world is pretty small and there's normally no reason to go back to a place you've already been, giving it a linear feel. Though at least there's various things you can do, such as fishing (which doesn't give much benefit besides trophies), a battle arena, at least two puzzles, at least three side quests, and about six extra areas where you can explore for treasure or your final ultimate weapons (which are very easy to get compared to other RPGs).

    The art style of the game is quite good and seems faithful to the comics. Though many dungeons are overly-dark and there's technical issues here and there. While simply walking through a dungeon, the game will pause occasionally, seemingly to load more data. And that's on top of already long loading times. I encountered graphical glitches occasionally; normally during battle where sprites, such as the blast from a gun-firing, would sometimes show up as big squares.

    So it is an interesting game to get though, although its difficulty and challenge was more about overcoming its annoyances rather than it being intellectually challenging. I'd say it's a worthwhile game to play if you like turn-based RPGs. While it doesn't have a lot of depth, it is at least unique.    … Expand
  2. Matttwidale
    Oct 15, 2017
    3
    Unfortunately despite all the positive aspects of this game, the art, the battle mechanics, possibly the story it's all let down by the impossibly poor level progression.

    You grind to complete one dungeon only to move into the next area and every mob on the world map is 3 levels higher. So you have to go back to the last dungeon and grind it out again and again until you match their    Unfortunately despite all the positive aspects of this game, the art, the battle mechanics, possibly the story it's all let down by the impossibly poor level progression.

    You grind to complete one dungeon only to move into the next area and every mob on the world map is 3 levels higher. So you have to go back to the last dungeon and grind it out again and again until you match their level. Example i complete a lvl 13 dungeon and the next story quest sends me to an area where they're lvl 16 and can 1 hit kill my lower HP characters. No level 14-15 mobs to grind on for moderate exp. Only choice is back to the last area for minimal exp gains until you have 3 characters min high enough but you'll want your others at that level too so that doubles the grinding.

    It is pretty much the only negative aspect but it sucks any momentum and enjoyment out of the game.    … Expand
  3. SpikeSpiegel_
    Nov 30, 2018
    0
    Boring game, just visuals with stolen gameplay from Jrpgs it desperately tries to mimic. Kickstarters still waiting for their promised comics Joe Mad, you little liar.
  4. gamer664
    Apr 22, 2023
    0
    This game is a wanna be souls like. No manual save and punishing death. The game is not hard, but incredibly grindy because all enemies respawn upon death. I dislike grindy games like that make you fight the same boring enemies and walk the same path over and over again.

Awards & Rankings

100
#100 Most Shared PS4 Game of 2017

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 34 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 34
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 34
  3. Negative: 0 out of 34
  1. RPG Fan
    Nov 29, 2018
    95
    Akin to nights in the basement, with a party gathered around a friend brooding behind the DM's screen, Battle Chasers: Nightwar feels like a classic romp in a dungeon with some dragons. Though the adventure is new, it still feels familiar. Airship Syndicate has impressively refreshed some staple conventions with modern concepts, maintaining a comfortable level of nostalgia that exemplifies the best qualities from RPGs of yore. It's just fun to load up and be enchanted by.
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  2. Playstation Official Magazine UK
    Nov 22, 2017
    70
    The story's not great, but the battle system behind it is carefully thought out. [Dec 2017, p.87]
  3. games(TM)
    Nov 3, 2017
    50
    Fails to capture the imagination. [Issue#193, p.84]
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