The union of intentions between FuRyu and Aquria is quite particular: both Japanese, one in Shibuya and the other in Yokohama, are part of a very niche Japanese role-playing fabric, those types of experiences that were not even imagined in the 90s. cross the borders of the archipelago. Maybe you've heard Monark? Or Crystar? Crimachina enters the race, trying to give its opinion in an ecosystem of titles focused on girls mixed with elements of science fiction, fantastic and religious themes and a good dose of psychodrama always lurking.
We are in the territory of products for an audience very close to a new generation aesthetic, a little fluorescent, a little dark, a little cliché, a little shojo, a little anime: the Crymachina novel carries all of that. typically japanese girl power about a video game, which promises to offer a good dose of pure action in a quite inspired futuristic context.
Let's see how Aquria did in ours. crime review. We tested it on Nintendo Switch, although the game is also available on PC and PlayStation.
Four robot girls for you
Crymachina is a product that starts with a non-trivial punch in the face: deadly diseases, wars, people in the hospital between life and death. And then it's all over and you wake up in the future, two thousand years later, on a spaceship built to become some sort of survival place for humanity. Here, a group of machines with apparent human consciousness are forced to face a long and dangerous path back to full humanity, true feelings, and communication between entities. We are halfway between the metaphysical and the religious, with superstructures that evoke biblical and angelic figures in the form of robots, flying whales and girls with generous breasts: from the first moments, Crymachina hides under an almost cartoonish blanket, seen and reviewed, a ground from the good emotional impact, mysterious, fascinating, dark but pulsating. naoki hisaya has made a name for himself as a writer in the field of games featuring young girls as protagonists, albeit mechanical ones, and Crymachina is no different in its creativity.
The struggle of these machine girls to become "human" again, capable of putting an end to the civil war that arose between the Deus Ex Machina from the ship Eden, becomes a journey to discover their essence, their affliction and the suffering of those who suffered enormously before them before losing their lives. The message embedded between the lines of the numerous dialogues is clear and sinks its claws into a rather dark vision of the human future, perhaps matured after the latest global socio-political events: within this gaseous oblivion, however, we find hope, the classic light in the background that will shine only for those who fight to reach it. Fight yes, but how?
Straight into Eden by Crymachina
Unlike a labyrinthine structure, Crymachina is hooked on a fairly direct exploratory mechanism, without too many frills: there are no forced and soporific explorations, there is no need to return to the same map. The levels in which we will find ourselves catapulted to theEden They are essential, limited and aimed at getting us to the shift leader, navigating and exploring as little as possible. Since structuring interesting maps costs money and is not for everyone, the choice in this case was to create simple levels, instead of complex maps, but perhaps poorly made or with few resources. Dark, spatial, sufficiently fascinating in their expression, the settings of Crymachina take you from the first moment to a lonely environment, a boring science fiction with dark tones, cold colors and a feeling of enormous melancholy: the team has chosen a style capable of defining and transmitting the entire glacial essence of Eden, a ship adrift and dominated by artificial intelligences.
The core of the gameplay, apart from the dialogues with your traveling companions and a bit of arsenal management, lies precisely in the combat. Knowing the team's background, we are pleased to be able to say that there has been growth in this sense, with a recreational proposal that is not yet mature but that certainly richer in identity. In addition to the attack and dodge set, this time the attacks can be reversed or you can hit from a distance with a kind of scope. There is definitely more variety and more ability to convey a modern combat system, even if in the end attack scheme It is very limited and the game, apart from the bosses, does not stand out for its particularly varied design.
For those looking for a progression system, Crymachina offers a progression based on improving equipment and the use of support weapons, capable of helping the player perform better in battle and increasing the tactical sense of the system as a whole. Unfortunately, despite a larger list of elements, Crymachina's combat has those precise production values - low - so we do not exclude that it may tire some in the medium term. It must be said, however, that on Switch the game works decently, as long as obvious drops in resolution are tolerated, which, unfortunately, sometimes make the image look muddy.
Conclusions
Tested version Nintendo Switch digital delivery Steam, playstation store, Nintendo eShop Price 59.90 € Holygamerz.com 6.5 Readers (12) 7.3 your voteCrymachina improves the typical formula of the manufacturer's portfolio, offering an action adventure with known characteristics, without distorting anything that has been established. Without a doubt, the strong point is the setting, the story and the general atmosphere that is breathed, thanks to interesting writing, a narrative that, when it is not lost among the millions of dialogues between girls, also knows how to give its opinion. The combat system certainly takes a step forward towards modernity, but there is still a lot of work to be done, especially in terms of performance and enjoyment in the medium term. Crymachina targets fans of this specific product niche and probably only them.
PRO
- Interesting setting and story.
- Naoki Hisaya makes an important contribution to the narrative.
- The combat system is easy to play.
AGAINST
- Very low production values.
- Inexplicably long amount of dialogue
- There is little point in escaping the anonymity of this type of production.
