Nights of Azure

 PlayStation 4
User Score
7.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 99 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 67 out of 99
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 99
  3. Negative: 22 out of 99
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  1. vahn
    Nov 28, 2017
    8
    I recently bought the second game, but I haven't touched the first game ever since its release so, in complete curiosity, I decided to try the first game "first" and I was pleasantly surprised by the game, leading me to over 40 hours of game and even platinum it for how much fun I had (I usually don't care about platinum games, if I don't have fun with them). I enjoyed every single hour ofI recently bought the second game, but I haven't touched the first game ever since its release so, in complete curiosity, I decided to try the first game "first" and I was pleasantly surprised by the game, leading me to over 40 hours of game and even platinum it for how much fun I had (I usually don't care about platinum games, if I don't have fun with them). I enjoyed every single hour of it and I couldn't wait to move on the second...but more to that later.

    Let's start from the beginning: this is an action rpg game that is HEAVILY reminiscent of another old underrated classic Chaos Legion, where you lead a small legion of demons (the servans) into battle while you also fight against them with your weapon of choice. The list of servans is quite large (I didn't count it, but I'm sure it's about 30) and they all work very well with certain combinations and while some are stronger than others (Steel Hellion for instance), I just found myself making several groups for several types of battle.

    The game has you into a bunch of linear dungeons on a timer of 15 minutes - 20 when upgraded - and don't be worried about it, as you never really run out for your mission and you usually need no more than 5 minutes plus boss fights have the counter off, so no rush required. If not in a "dungeon" you'll be back at the hotel, your game hub, where you can accept quests, do the arena, upgrade yourself and eventually follow the story.

    Yeah, the story...well, it's complicated to explain but the best word I can get for it is "unfocused". I sincerely had a hard time following it because on one side you have a love story between Arnice - the protagonist - and Llilysse - the damsel in distress - and on the other you have a story of saving the world from an entity called the Nightlord, where you will be tasked to send Lilysse as a sacrifice.

    Essentially speaking you want to protect her from the nightlord and that's the story, but it's so badly focused I can't understand what went wrong. It's not BAD but I just found it to be "there" and really not very focused on: the game had its own pace and never really seemed to bother telling us that the nightlord is coming, or that lilysse is in trouble: everything seemed normal, yet it wasn't.

    Other things weren't explained either, like the identity of the traitor (one of the two male protagonists is a traitor, but nobody ever tells you who) or how the black manages to reach you or how you can beat the nightlord. Not much is explained and that's a problem.

    The story isn't the only thing with flaws, unfortunately: combat is very...floaty, but stiff at the same time. It's very hard to explain: the weapon hits don't feel very heavy and they feel like I'm hitting the air, but at the same time they have a specific hitbox and don't feel smooth either.

    Combat also feels chaotic and I often die not because I got hit, but because I have no clue what actually got me. Sometimes the enemies attacks don't have a very good amount of telegraphs so I end up being hit without realizing it.

    In addition you have 5 weapons - sword, daggers, gun, hammer, and longsword - but all of them become useless as soon as you get the longsword: it does almost as much damage as the hammer, it has a huge range, it hits for multiple times at once and its special attack - by pressing X - it's an AoE stun that can be used endlessly. As long as you got sp of course

    And for last, Servans are extremely good when levelled up...but I ended up using only 4 - 2 if I don't count the aggro and aoe servan - which are the Steel Hellion and his Burst that can do insane damage (and endlessly so if you got the vlad's Crest) and the Meteor Bomber, whose burst essentially makes him spin around you and hit all enemies for 200 damage per hit AND charges your demon bar. The Demon bar is fine, but among the 5 forms you can use (Demon, Rabbit, Phantom, Armor and Nightmare), only 3 are worth anything and as soon as you can the upgraded nightmare form (and Boomerang), you're never going back at anything else really.

    Sorry for the long rant, but what I'm trying to say is, this game has flaws but not so gamebreaking to be unplayable and I truly enjoyed the experience despite them: add the fact that the game has a small post game, an additional harder dungeon mode that you can have "fun" with it, and slightly different endings depending on your relationship with Lilysse (which can be changed at the altar, after finishing once), overall the game is good and I highly recommend it if you're looking for something different than the usual action or rpg game.

    And now that the first game is out, let's talk about the second someday....    … Expand
  2. Xethyrus
    Apr 10, 2016
    9
    The game starts off a little slow, but if you bear with you it turns into a great game. Mainly once you get access to different weapons and you need to start using a little more strategy. Once I got very that initial slow period I could barely leave the game down.
    The story was also nicely done, in particular the love story in the game felt very natural and believable.
  3. War_Horse
    Apr 2, 2016
    9
    Pre-ordered this kind of on a whim a few months ago and it just came out yesterday. Got to playing it today and ended up being quite pleased with the decision. It's the first game in a long time where I could sit down for hours on end and be entertained the whole time. It doesn't start out as much but within a couple hours you get several cute critters to command and sort into decks thatPre-ordered this kind of on a whim a few months ago and it just came out yesterday. Got to playing it today and ended up being quite pleased with the decision. It's the first game in a long time where I could sit down for hours on end and be entertained the whole time. It doesn't start out as much but within a couple hours you get several cute critters to command and sort into decks that you can switch between on the fly, side quests, stat building activities for you line up so you can buy upgrades for your character, an upgradable hub/base where characters you meet and even critters(yes, they talk and it's cute) you collect lounge around for you to talk with and the occasional personal quest and you can equip items to yourself and each monster for various stats and effects. Combat is pretty cool with holding R1 and a face button controlling and summoning your party while the rest of the time you fight with light and heavy attacks and a special move that uses meter. It pretty basic early on but eventually you can swap weapons mid combo and get some more moves. Also depending on your deck(your party of critters) compositions you get access to one of several demon forms with their own twists which is pretty cool. The story gets interesting with things leading up to dark choice with a bit of suspense so far. The characters are pretty much all likable and have humorous dialogue, with the main character being the best of them. It is hub based with zones you explore and the quests do a pretty good job of making the most of re-running some areas and unlocking new ones.

    I know this is a long ramble but I just brought up stuff as I thought about it rather than sit down and organize some formal review.

    TL;DR: Game is a pretty fun action/adventure/RPG and recommend checking it out some time.    … Expand
  4. simio86
    Apr 4, 2016
    10
    I have been playing Nights of Azure all the weekend long, and I definitely this is something that deserves more recognition. It has touched me deep, this game is a little blue marvel.

    Nights of Azure only have one real flaw: bad graphics. Thats it. Its simplicity is a point in its favour, it is what makes the game so adictive and so fun to play. Its music is simply OUTSTANDING. The    I have been playing Nights of Azure all the weekend long, and I definitely this is something that deserves more recognition. It has touched me deep, this game is a little blue marvel.

    Nights of Azure only have one real flaw: bad graphics. Thats it. Its simplicity is a point in its favour, it is what makes the game so adictive and so fun to play. Its music is simply OUTSTANDING. The Characters desing and its Art is just something special, in the best way possible.

    Nights of Azure brings us back to simpler times, like PSX-PS2 era, where games were not a movie attempt or sandboxes crap, where hack n slash and rpg games were most popular. From now on, PS4 has this little special game, and some of us will remind it and raise it as one of the most underrated games of the generation.    … Expand
  5. Tenoko1
    Jul 17, 2016
    10
    This is a solid action RPG with a interesting story, great characters, and a lovely soundtrack. A low-budget game by a very small company, the game still stands strong and is so much fun. I really recommend it, and am so glad I got it. This game is very special, and I hope Gust will be putting out more original titles like it in the future.
  6. snakekill321
    Mar 29, 2016
    9
    I honestly didnt know what to expect from the game when i picked it up this morning, I was drawn in by the art, and when i put it into the system I was greeted with a beautiful piano piece that would showcase this games amazing soundtrack. The game follows a kind of generic anime trope based game, but it isnt so glaring that it was a factor, the controls were fluid and the story so far hasI honestly didnt know what to expect from the game when i picked it up this morning, I was drawn in by the art, and when i put it into the system I was greeted with a beautiful piano piece that would showcase this games amazing soundtrack. The game follows a kind of generic anime trope based game, but it isnt so glaring that it was a factor, the controls were fluid and the story so far has been engaging. The combat does get a little repetitive but each background is so gorgeous you can button mash and enjoy the scenery. Not the best JRPG ever made, but for a console JRPG to hold you over and play again later on down the road i would definitely pick this one up. A solid game.… Expand
  7. tomvs123
    Dec 26, 2016
    3
    The typical Gust game has a couple of unique amazing things that sets it apart from mainstream games. It's the main reason to play Gust games. Unfortunately, Nights of Azure has nothing amazing and very little that's unique. It is by far the worst Gust game ever released in the US on a console.

    Combat: Below average. The bulk of combat is done by 4 monsters that you can summon. These    The typical Gust game has a couple of unique amazing things that sets it apart from mainstream games. It's the main reason to play Gust games. Unfortunately, Nights of Azure has nothing amazing and very little that's unique. It is by far the worst Gust game ever released in the US on a console.

    Combat: Below average. The bulk of combat is done by 4 monsters that you can summon. These are copies of the ~30 monsters in the game that you basically capture and level up. But because your default monsters are good enough to get you to the end of the game, there's no reason to use other monsters.

    Your main character fights along side your monsters, Diablo-style. You've got 4 weapons to choose from, but there's never a reason to switch from the starting sword. Spamming the sword's light attack (ignoring heavy attack all together) is simply the most efficient way to clear a room and gets to you end-game with no problems.

    Equipment: Consists only of a single item type. Your monsters can equip one each and you can equip up to four. These are just random drops from monsters that give set bonuses to attack, hp, defense, etc, and sometimes a special attribute, like reducing fire damage or recovering hp over time. I ended up equipping only high attack items on my main character and was able to easily complete the game at character level 8.

    Menu system: Bad. The layout is just plain bad. Though you can get used to it over time.

    Environments: Bad. You've got a hotel as your main base and it's way out of proportion for your characters. For example, it appears to have 12-foot doorways, 4-foot books, and 60-foot ceilings. Outside of the hotel are the combat areas, that are all very bland. They're mostly corridor/maze-like areas with flat floors and walls made of building/brick textures. The proportions of these areas are not consistent with each other or your base.

    Music: Forgettable. Most tracks are generic stock-sounding music. Not nearly as good as the Atelier, Surge Concerto, or Ar tonelico series.

    Characters: Just plain dumb. There's 4 you normally interact with and 2 that you rarely interact with. Their actions are dumb for the most part and their motivations aren't explained much at all (leaving everyone feeling very shallow). You can tell they tried to put in some Atelier-style interactions between the characters, but it all falls flat, considering the weak main story.

    World building / atmosphere: Basically non-existent. The world is supposedly ending, but you see none of it. Your interactions with the world are limited to 7 characters and a few text logs of activities you took during the day (you never actually get to see the daylight). And interestingly enough, those activities you take during the day give you no indication that the rest of the world thinks the world is ending. It's like everyone except you are going about their daily lives.

    Story: Very bare-bones. You, as a woman, are trying to save your girlfriend from being sacrificed. It starts like that and ends like that. There's no big revelations, twists, or anything that makes a good story. Though about half-way through they have a lover's quarrel (over something stupid) and make up fairly quickly. It's the sort of thing that might be appealing to you if you think teenage-girl drama is appealing. This is unfortunately the most unique thing about the game and it was downright boring for me.

    Fan service: Abnormally large breasts and a bit of frontal-panty from your main character. If you like ass, you won't find any here.

    I found nothing great or amazing in this game and was glad when it ended. I recommend playing it only if you like the idea of being a lesbian saving your girlfriend from being sacrificed, and think you can become easily invested in those characters with very little backstory. Being a fan of the character designs (abnormally large breasts), and liking girl-drama helps too.    … Expand
  8. vijatiya
    Apr 30, 2016
    10
    While this game definitely had some redundant gameplay, and maybe some pacing issues..
    Overall.. I really can't get over how special I feel like it is.
    Wish there were going to be more games with these characters.
    Great art/ setting/ story/ music.
  9. nicolas_sky
    Sep 28, 2016
    8
    Otra joya exclusiva de Ps4 de la mano de Gust (creadores de sagas fantasticas como Atelier Iris y Ar Tonelico). Nights of Azure es un muy buen juego que pese a tratarse de un action rpg, es al mismo tiempo un adictivo hack and slash. Todo esta muy bien hecho en este juego, y sera del agrado de los que disfrutaron a la saga Hack/G.U. en Ps2 por su jugabilidad similar.
  10. Vectus
    May 11, 2017
    3
    this game is quite a mess. its game play is quite boring and repetitive and attacks have no satisfying impact to them. and the story is just a mess to set up a lesbian romance that is barely touched on just to pull in those teenage boys and shut ins
  11. Olakasexd
    Feb 26, 2017
    10
    Es muy adictivo por su sistema de combate, por su toque hack and slash. El nivel grafico es muy aceptable, la ambientacion atrapa muchisimo pero la historia no la entendi del todo por estar completamente en ingles.
  12. Killerpummkin
    Aug 10, 2023
    7
    Nights of Azure is a very good game that, despite being an action RPG, is also an addictive hack and slash. Everything is very well done in this game.

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
67

Mixed or average reviews - based on 40 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 40
  2. Mixed: 32 out of 40
  3. Negative: 1 out of 40
  1. GameCritics
    Jun 5, 2016
    45
    Nights of Azure’s a disappointing game for sure, but it’s not exactly awful—the mindless combat is balanced by the tremendous art and sound design, and despite the negative tone of this review it’s not offensively bad at anything it does. It’s just aggressively bland and tough to recommend when the action’s too toothless to keep players engaged.
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  2. Hobby Consolas
    May 31, 2016
    70
    A new and dark history makes its way into the world of the JRPG offering a frenetic and entertaining in equal development.
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  3. Gaming Nexus
    May 27, 2016
    70
    Gust has some pretty good ideas with the Servan system, and the gameplay is pretty smooth once you get yourself properly kitted out, but Nights of Azure has a few boring aspects that really make it a chore to play.
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