If you’re a fan of games published by eastasiasoft then I’ve got my thoughts on three of their new ones released this year. Check below for my review of Pocket Witch, Omen of Sorrow, and Twice Reborn: A Vampire Visual Novel all covered on PlayStation 5.
Pocket Witch (PS5)
Pocket Witch is a new precision platformer with a retro pixel art look from eastasiasoft and developer Naoka Games. The game has a Halloween flavor to it but you don’t have to wait until October to play this one. Not much of story here as it’s all about playing through 30 levels on offer. Nothing about this game really stands out as a platformer as you do the standard jump, double jump, and dash as you play through each level that really only takes a few minutes. Enemies like spiders and witches are about that need to be dodged and hazards like spikes need to be avoided. This is pretty much all you do through the game except in some later levels which add keys that you need to collect to open doors. The game is only $5 so if you feel like plopping that down to enjoy some Halloween themed platforming while earning some easy trophies then Pocket Witch isn’t a bad choice.
Score: 6/10
*Pocket Witch is available now on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. PlayStation 5 version reviewed. Review copy provided by the publisher for this review.
Omen of Sorrow (PS5)
Up next is the horror-themed fighting game Omen of Sorrow from eastasiasoft and developer AOne Games. This title released a few years ago on PlayStation 4 but has now come over to PlayStation 5 along with other platforms. It’s a 2.5D 4-button fighting game with a roster of characters that pay homage to many classic monsters found in horror, mythology, and literature. The game boasts 12 fighters in total and 11 stages to duel it out on. For modes you get Story mode, Survival, Battle, Practice, and Online. Battle is a standard fight CPU or local player, Online lets you join lobbies or search for a quick or ranked match complete with full cross-play support, Story lets you play as most of the characters in a narrative, and Practice is well practice.
The gameplay is solid although it doesn’t hold up to the more bigger budget fighting games on the market. Each character has light and heavy punches and kicks, a throw, combos, and special moves. You also have a few different gauges on screen that fill up like your decimation move that can help deal out some serious damage. Whether you play as Dr. Frankenstein’s monster or Elizabeth Bathory everyone has their own unique quirks and feels different enough from the next. The visuals look good and are dark and creepy just like you’d want from this. The sound effects and music are OK but the voice acting that is in the game is pretty subpar. I’ll also say that while the game has a practice mode it could’ve done a better job explaining all of its systems like the different gauges as the text descriptions aren’t good enough. I’ll also call out that if you’re a trophy hunter then this game will not be an easy completion. You’ll have to spend dozens and dozens and dozens of hours to earn them all.
Overall, Omen of Sorrow is a solid fighting game with some cool characters but one that won’t stand out competitively. It doesn’t have a ton for modes and it doesn’t teach the player as well as it could. If you fancy fighting as some creatures based on real myths and such though it can be a solid pick-up.
Score: 7/10
*Omen of Sorrow is available now on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. PlayStation 5 version reviewed. Review copy provided by the publisher for this review.
Twice Reborn: A Vampire Visual Novel (PS5)
The final game in this review round-up is another spooky title called Twice Reborn: A Vampire Visual Novel from eastasiasoft and developer First Step Cinematics. As the name suggests this is a visual novel so expect to do a lot of reading here and not much else. The game follows Mark Delaware who has become a vampire recently and finds himself having to manage various vampire families in the game’s society. Mark also has to walk a line between embracing being a vampire and holding onto his humanity. There are choices to be made throughout that can lead to 20 different endings but I didn’t really care to see them after playing through it. The story wastes a lot of time explaining things in far too much detail which ended up ruining any sense of pace for me and had me quite bored often. While there are some interesting moments the game takes too long getting to them and I don’t think many players will stick with it long enough to see them.
What I will give the game props for is having voiced characters which isn’t something you see in these games very often and having some nice artwork. The animation though leaves a lot to be desired and while there is voice acting it isn’t the best so take that as you will. If you’re a trophy hunter you’ll find 13 trophies here including a Platinum and while playing normally would take you a long time to earn them all, there are ways around that. Twice Reborn: A Vampire Visual Novel has a lengthy tale to tell with a ton of endings to see but it has a big problem with pacing that I fear a lot of visual novel players won’t want to mess with. If you really like learning every single little detail about a Vampire society though then this will probably be right up your alley.
Score: 6/10
*Twice Reborn: A Vampire Visual Novel is available now on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. PlayStation 5 version reviewed. Review copy provided by the publisher for this review.
