14 DAY TRIAL // 
Edge of Eternity seems like a video game resulted after gluing together elements from JRPGs, from MMO’s, where the developers started in a direction than they changed their minds or just forget to see things through. It oozes enthusiasm but things do not make sense until you realize Midgar Studio was founded by just four developers. Is Edge of Eternity worthy of the more than six years invested in its development?
Edge of Eternity is more like an enthusiastic fan project, rather than a fully-fledged game. Developed by a 13-member dev team, the game plays like a love letter of a Final Fantasy and MMO afficionado suffering from ADHD. It throws you in a prologue that serves as a beta and then start the actual game after a big and unexplained break. It gives you a mount in the first 30 minutes that after 10-15 more minutes is left behind, just to reactivate the mechanism a couple of hours later. And the examples can continue.
It is like the game was built on a blueprint dreamt up by JRPG fans who wanted to melt together the best elements of their favorite games without thinking if they can work in harmony. Although this might already sound like a conclusion it is actually the impression Edge of Eternity imprints on the players after the first few minutes.
The world is Heryon is a strange mix of fantasy and sci-fi, where alien technology is in conflict with ancient dark magic. The ambiguity continues with the characters, their motivation making them a mixed bag of cats rather than champions of good or heralds of evil.
You learn the basics of the game through the tutorial that brings the early demise of your companions, way before you could form any attachment to them. After learning a bit about Decay, a lethal biological weapon, our hero, Daryon risks court martial by abandoning his duties as a soldier to meet one last time his mother suffering from the weaponized illness. Teaming up with her sister, Selene, the former soldier sets out on an adventure to find a cure for the Decay and reveal his inner turmoil with the willingness and eloquence of Dirty Harry.
As is the case of JRPGS the adventure will take our heroes to different areas, where they will meet more or less colorful characters and help the folks with tasks both big and small. You are looking forward at a 40-50 hour stroll full of elements inspired by the classic games of the PS2 era, together with unexplainable gaps in the story and the gameplay.
If you ever played older Final Fantasy, Xenoblade or Dragon Quest games you will be in you comfort area with the turn-based combat system, the endless farming, the pointlessly complex skill and evolution system, the crystals that can lend you magical abilities, and even the cats that are hairy placeholders for the well-known Chocobos.
Edge of Eternity reminds a bit about a knock off market full of products copied after famous brands. Every element of the game is copied from somewhere else, every character is a clumsy copy of an archetype, and often the lack of experience can be felt acutely. Some game mechanics are introduced briefly just to be taken away and given back some time after, many of the side quests are fillers, the puzzles stand out from the rest of the gameplay mechanics as giraffes in the tall grass.
Yet Edge of Eternity is rather endearing and feels like a game put together by the biggest JRPG fans. It is an indie, developed by a small team and while it can be faulted for several aspects, it is a complete game, that was mostly fixed before launch. There are still some errors, but the game breaking bugs have been eliminated.
And if we started to talk about the technical part, we cannot pass by the fact that the game has quite long loading times and the frame rate is not exactly stable. Also, many of the characters look acceptable and finished only from afar. Especially the faces leave a lot to be desired.
On the other hand, the environments can be really spectacular, just as is the soundtrack of the game. Overall, some more polish could have really benefited the console version especially if we take into account all the feedback the developers received after launching the PC version.
The Good
- Heart and soul only JRPG fans can appreciate
- Very good soundtrack
- Plenty of content
The Bad
- Lack of focus and consistency in gameplay
- No original element or content
- It fails to connect with you emotionally
Conclusion
If you are a JRPG fan you already saw everything this game has to offer in other places with a superior implementation. Edge of Eternity offers plenty of content, but it feels like it was released at least a decade too late for its own good.
Review code provided by the publisher.
