Despite the years that they bring with them, pixel-art video games remain an important genre in the current videogame world and, with the arrival of Cladun Returns: This is Sengoku developed by Nippon Ichi Software, lovers of this immortal style of play will certainly not be disappointed. Choosing the great feudal battles of Japan as the setting, the Nippons wanted to recreate many of the traditional themes of 2D Action RPGs, without giving up new and more modern features such as online multiplayer. The right mix of retro and modernity as we will tell you in this review of Cladun Returns: This is Sengoku for PlayStation 4.
First steps
As already mentioned, the title takes place after the Japanese feudal battles. After a first section of introduction to the story, here we go to the creation of our alter-ego in pixels: the editor is anything but gaunt and will allow us to combine different types of characters, obviously within the limits of a fairly archaic 2D system. As for any self-respecting JRPG, we will then move on to the class, where we will find a rather rich and varied choice, albeit very classic. For our test we chose the Samurai, a classic Japanese land warrior, but it will also be interesting to try other styles of play such as the magician, the priest or the master of swords.
The beginning is the end
First twist: in Cladun Returns: This is Sengoku we are already dead. The story starts right from our apparent death and from discovering that we are in a sort of said “Paradise” Arcanus Cell, which is none other than the main gaming hub. A singular choice of setting that turns out to be original and quite intriguing. The Arcanus is well cared for and full of life - so to speak, as we are all dead! - with the ability to talk to other people and unlock the good number of shops, armories and much more as you advance. Exploring the Arcanus Cella is anything but boring, thanks also to the fast travel that will allow us in a very short time to go from one point to another on the map. Another point in favor, i uploads: these are really very small not making us weigh at all moving through fast travel.
But the real action begins when we learn how to return to Earth, regenerating the reincarnation cycle that seems to have stopped. To do it our protagonist he will have to help other dead souls who restlessly wander in the Arcanus Cella with the guilt of having left some unfinished works on Earth. To be able to reincarnate our protagonist will have to fulfill the requests of the souls and explore various levels of the game, up to the killing of a boss who will allow them to return to the world of mortals. But in this adventure we will not be alone, or at least we will be only apparently. In fact, one of the most important functions of the title comes into play, namely the Magic Circle that is, a system of vassals that can be created and inserted into this sort of magical scheme, to give us support during the battles. As it is described in the game, it is an invisible shield that increases our life and other parameters such as stamina, strength and so on.
Il Magic Circle turns out to be fundamental for the continuation of the adventure, and there will be many hours that you will spend treating it with extreme attention since there will be many different schemes to customize with artifacts, bonuses that can be purchased or found in the various game dungeons. An effective Magic Circle will allow you to continue smoothly through the levels, or on the contrary it will backfire if not well thought out.
Classic gameplay, aged well?
Going with more detail and depth in the gameplay of Cladun Returns we can say that it is in all respects a classic 2D RPG, with the use of different weapons, opponents with weak points, repeated patterns to be studied with care, and levels that are not too extensive but full of secrets and treasures. Dungeons suffer from an underlying repetitiveness quite strong, which however does not affect too much on the continuation of the adventure, while one we can make slight criticism about the use of the bow which always manages to be too effective and hits opponents even behind some glimpses of the wall. Nothing that, however, cannot be solved with patches or small fixes by the development team.
The enemies all have a life bar and a level, a very useful function to understand whether or not to attack a particular opponent. In Cladun Returns we don't have to kill all enemies to continue, but some dungeons can only be overcome by running at high heels and reaching the end level symbol. In others, however, it will be mandatory to kill some key enemies, which will allow us to exit the dungeon. Slight disappointment with the boss-fights, not too original and definitely not very thorough.
Cladun Returns: This is Sengoku is a pleasant blast from the past in this hot summer, with some interesting features like the Magic Circle. The adventure to come back to life is very long and tortuous, but leaving out some defects in the gameplay and settings, we recommend it to all fans of the genre to spend a few hours between terrible dungeons and a crazy gaming hub. An interesting 2D action that doesn't excel, but is fun.
