Our Verdict
Reynatis has great potential. I can look past a few flaws due to its gorgeous rendition of Shibuya, interesting story, and wonderful soundtrack. Unfortunately, with the PS3-esque character models, poor frame rate, and unintuitive combat, it doesn’t live up to some of the greats.
I would call myself a JRPG connoisseur of sorts. I love Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, and Xenoblade Chronicles, among many other series, and can appreciate even the ugliest of games if it has heart (I’m looking at you, original Final Fantasy 7). So, learning that Reynatis has an absolute powerhouse team of developers behind it, my interest was naturally piqued.
The scenario comes from Kazushige Nojima, whose name you may recognize as the writer behind Final Fantasy 7, 8, 10, and 10-2, as well as the Kingdom Hearts series. It features music from Yoko Shimomura, the talent behind Kingdom Hearts’ melodic tunes who also worked on Xenoblade Chronicles. Then there’s the passionate producer, Takumi, who gushed over the game during our Reynatis interview. So knowing that, it’s bound to be an impressive game, right?
Well, I may have set my expectations slightly too high, but that’s not to say that game isn’t enjoyable. Let’s start from the beginning, shall we? Reynatis follows dual protagonists Marin Kirizumi, a wizard who seeks freedom from oppression by becoming the strongest, and Sari Nishijima, an officer of the law who wants an orderly world where there are regulations surrounding the use of magic. The game flips back and forth between these two in separate chapters, so you get to watch their stories unfold separately before they eventually meet and their paths intertwine.
As the story of these two unique wizards slowly unfolds, you learn more about the motivations behind each character and stumble over twists and turns around each corner in Shibuya, Tokyo. It can be a little cheesy at times, but the best JRPGs normally are, so I’ll leave the rest up to you to discover if you decide Reynatis is the game for you.
The gameplay is intriguing. It’s interesting to see things play out from different angles and with two characters that have such opposing motivations. When playing as Kirizumi, you have to be much more careful than Nishijima, as he’s an illegal wizard who, if caught on the streets without suppressing his magic, risks capture by the police after the general public uploads his use of wizarts to social media.
This is a unique aspect of the game that makes exploring town a little more tense. Do you want to avoid a battle on the streets to steer clear of the law, or do you want to pick up a little extra XP but risk getting caught by the cops? I generally choose to leap headfirst into battle after securing an easy route to a safe spot that lowers your wanted level and allows you to continue as you were.
While playing as Kirizumi, you also get to enter mysterious foggy portals that lead into forests and other nature-filled areas. These are vastly different from the city the game primarily takes place in and usually house some difficult bosses for you to take on.
On the other side of the coin, there’s the straight-laced Nishijima. As she’s an officer of the law, she’s able to freely unleash her wizard powers in the city without worry. You spend most of the early chapters with Nishijima taking down addicts of a deadly magical item called Rubrum and making sure illegal wizards aren’t causing trouble.
While exploring as both protagonists, you’re thrust into numerous battles, so combat is a pretty important aspect of the game. Well, unfortunately, I didn’t get along with it at all. The combat focuses heavily on a slightly unintuitive dodge system that restores your MP and attacks that use up far more MP than I feel is necessary. This means you can get a few attacks in before you’re forced to mess about trying to regain MP so you can start dealing damage again.
To highlight just how unintuitive the combat feels, after my first play session, I stopped for a day or two, and when I returned, I found the combat so confusing that I had to venture deep into different menus to read through the tutorial again. I’ve never had to do this in a game before and found it pretty off-putting.
There’s also an incredibly infuriating issue with the camera angles during fights in tight spaces, where it will fly around rapidly above you, not focusing on anything, so your only option is to mash buttons wildly or try to dodge your way back into the center of the area. Despite this, I often got a four-star rating in fights, so it really doesn’t seem to matter too much how abysmal you feel you are at the game.
Then there’s the graphics. Despite having some gorgeous concept art, Reynatis looks like a PS3 game. The thing I find particularly jarring is that all of the women look oddly similar with uncanny valley vibes and large lips. This is a real shame, as the character introductions from the official website are amazing and make me wish the game lived up to those lofty heights.
However, despite the characters looking a little funky, you do get to see an incredibly convincing version of Shibuya, Tokyo, with stunning neon lights, bustling streets, and even one of my favorite ramen restaurants making an appearance. If the characters just had a little more polish, I would say the game has great vibes and looks good, but with such disparity between the two, it’s a little disappointing.
The only letdown while exploring the gorgeous Shibuya is the horrendous frame rate while running around town. When going between areas, the stuttering on Nintendo Switch is immense. Surprisingly, I didn’t notice it too much during the fast-paced combat, but the blazing city lights and cars zooming past seem to be more than my OLED can handle. This may not be as much of a problem on PS5, so I would recommend trying out the demo on that console if you can before making the decision to purchase. I also want to note that I experienced the game crashing once when entering a boss battle.
Now, I feel like I’ve been pretty harsh so far, but Reynatis isn’t all bad. Despite there being some slightly janky aspects, there’s also some good in there. I love the fact that you can speak to most of the people who wander around Shibuya and also partake in text message conversations with your party, allowing you to learn more about the world and become closer with your team.
Then there’s the gorgeous soundtrack that follows you through the game. That classic Shimomura feel is there with tense and pressure-filled moments along with calming interludes. You’re sure to be humming the tunes for days after you finish playing.
I enjoyed my time with Reynatis, but sadly it didn’t enthrall me like some other JRPGs I’ve played. If you want to give it a try, I recommend playing the demo on PS5 first to see if the gameplay is for you and to check how the frame rate fares on a next-gen console.
If you’re interested in trying similar titles, head over to our guides full of the best Final Fantasy games and best Switch RPGS.