Edge of Eternity Review (PS5)

Written by Anthony L. Cuaycong

Title: Edge of Eternity
Developer: Midgar Studio
Publisher: Plug In Digital Ltd
Genre: RPG
Price: $29.99

---

From the name of the developer's studio, to the story, to the gameplay, and to the plot beats that Edge of Eternity takes, it's clear that the game wears its inspirations on its shoulders. With timed actions to play with, skills to use, magic to cast, elemental damage and tile movements to keep in mind, and a slew of other mechanics to remember, it might not present many new ideas, but it certainly tries to take the best parts the JRPG genre can offer, and mix them together in an enjoyable blend.

In Edge of Eternity, you take control of the soldier Daryon, on his way to defend his home from alien invaders. After receiving news that his mother is infected by the “corrosion,” an alien virus that turns living beings into part-machine entities, he is compelled to desert his post and help his sister find a cure. In the process, he gets to face off against terrible monsters, meet new companions on his journey, and find a way to stave off the alien attack and save his homeland and his mother.

Edge of Eternity is a textbook story of a hero come to life, and while it does have a lengthy tutorial at the start, the forced preamble feels justified due to the way it does its combat. There's a lot of navigating menus and learning features that you have to understand and do, and while part of it may be second nature to veteran JRPG fans, some of it may come as a surprise just due to how much developer Midgar Studio has stuffed into the game.

Edge of Eternity provides you with an open world to explore. There are plenty of NPCs to talk to, and the world in general feels lived in, with expansive places to travel to and be immersed in – from seemingly simple towns to sleek and mysterious alien environments. The enemies you encounter range from giant insects and oozes to robots and xenomorph-like beings. It's a fantastic range of visual diversity to lose yourself in, and it's all displayed in wonderful colors, evoking not just a world overrun by monsters and foes, but also a new, rich world to lose yourself in. Enemies lurk around every corner, and the battles you face are pretty satisfying because of the mechanics.

A large part of this is really due to the tactical nature of combat in Edge of Eternity. You can move your characters around on hexagonal grids, and you'll be making use of good position to really get the best out of your abilities. Sometimes, you even get to use the landscape against them, triggering attacks that target its weaknesses, or triggering a backstab to deal major damage. And with the nature of the bonuses and maluses you encounter, you always feel rewarded for using these mechanics against your enemies.

However, while these are all pluses, there is a catch. Edge of Eternity took a while to be made, relying on Steam's early access to really springboard much of its development before its final release on the personal computer, and eventually on the Sony PlayStation 4 and PS5. The retail version reflects the development process, as it also does feel like an early-access game early on, and then building momentum and quality, as if built in parts. The tactical combat it features – right at home once you have more characters to play – feels very loose and tacked on at the start. While its story and visuals are ultimately compelling, it starts out slow, making it feel boring and disjointed. There's also the issue of some mechanics feeling like they could have been used better. Tactical positioning in combat could have been fleshed out better, crafting could have played a bigger part, exploration could have been made to play a more important role affecting the storyline.

Make no mistake.What Edge of Eternity has to offer is ample, even enjoyable, but it fails to really stand out next to its contemporaries. It does a lot of things well, but never does any one thing truly amazing. Its visuals are great, its combat is enjoyable, its story is engrossing, and the amount of content it has will entertain you long enough to feel like it's worth it. That said, it also seems to give out hints that it could have been more. There are bits and pieces of greatness in Edge of Eternity, in the way the environments look and in how the story unfolds before you, in how combat plays out fluidly with enough flexibility to let you experiment and play how you like. Now if only those bits and pieces were conjoined.

---

THE GOOD

• Great visual design and interesting world to explore
• Fun tactical combat allowing for flexibility during battles
• Good variety of quests to undertake and environments to explore

THE BAD

• Slow, boring early game pace
• Plays a bit too safe with its mechanics
• Has undercooked ideas that could've been implemented better

---

RATING: 7.5/10

---