Another Eden: The Cat Beyond Time and Space by
developer and publisher WFS, Inc.—PC review written by Pierre-Yves
with a copy provided by the publisher.Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
Another Eden: The Cat Beyond Time and
Space is a free-to-play Chrono Trigger inspired mobile RPG that launched about
two years back. Having seen several collaborations with other studios for cross
over content such as the currently running Tales of Series and Persona, this
small screen adventure has gotten a bit of an upgrade as it has now come to the
PC.
Up front, this is the same title that
exists for both iOS and Android which is great for some users that want to make
the switch as their data can be ported over. As I haven't played in over a
year, and for the sake of an actual from scratch review, I restarted this
adventure and while there are multiple great things about playing this on a
larger screen with a mouse and keyboard, or even just a keyboard, it's still an
internet based mobile title that could stall your progression with server
maintenance periods.
Herein lies my issue with Another Eden's
move over to the PC. Instead of having done a full move over, it feels more
like there's a middle man not unlike BlueStacks which allows you to sign into
your Google Play accounts and play whatever you own on the PC. After an almost
8GB download for the core, once loaded up you can choose to download the rest
of the assets upfront or as needed like on your mobile device. Being a PC
title, these should all have been done upfront as while it makes sense for a
phone or tablet with more limitations on space, everything should have been
present on the PC. Topping this off, occasionally you have to perform updates
through the game instead of through steam meaning that instead of being ready
to go, you now have to wait five or ten minutes for the process to run itself
through.
Once you’re in though, Another Eden is
the type of RPG that will check off multiple boxes. Nostalgia? Check. Cliches?
Check. Loads of characters to pick from? Check… ish. Another Eden while a
single player RPG has a few gatcha elements in order to get one to five star
characters to join you on your journey. There are default party members that
you can acquire throughout the story, but for the most part, you’ll be either
spending the in-game currency that can be acquired with daily logins and
accomplishing goals such as defeating monsters, making it through the story,
etc, or you can sink some real money in for another currency to move your
character collections along a little bit faster.
This was one thing that I appreciated
when I was playing off of my smartphone a while back and what I’ve continued to
appreciate now off of my PC or laptops. The acquisition of characters through
currency isn’t required, and if you save up about a thousand crystals, you can
get ten characters to join up giving you more than enough to work with. This
easily allows you to properly set out on the adventure for both the main story
line and the loads of side quests that any good player will obviously detour
for which in this case? Are worth doing if not for the rewards, than for the
immersion into the world and the lives of those that live there.
For the most part, I don't tend to play
games off either my smartphone or my tablet for the reason that most of the
time the experiences don't feel as refined as they would on the consoles or the
PC. More often than not the reason for this is because titles are designed to
be easily picked up and put down as who really has thirty of forty minutes
between save points when running from the bus stop to the transit station or on
break when in line for coffee at a shop five minutes away from the office on a
fifteen minute break. Personally, I'd rather have the time to sit down and
enjoy a full experience than a partial one.
This is where Another Eden blurs the line
a little bit. It's both. On one hand you have a long RPG with many different
areas inside quests and main storyline, but on the other these quests can be
completed within 5 to 10 minutes including all the dialogue with everyone
involved. It's self-contained but it also keeps the bigger picture in sight as
these side quests are along your way to your main goal allowing you to do them
now, or later.
Simplifying things a little bit is a
visual presentation of Another Eden. Keeping things simple you'll be moving
your party through multiple horizontal lines that are interconnected by moving
up or down to the appropriate locations. Only ever having to worry about going
left or right there are no metroidvania elements such as being able to jump
down from a higher level. Instead you just need to worry about what's in front
or behind you especially when out on the field or inside of dungeons.
While outside of the towns and the
cities, you’ll be facing off against different types of enemies both big and
small. For the small, these foes will occasionally test your party strength as
you move on but at the end of the day only really exist to help you grind out
experience points and level up your characters. If they are giving you trouble,
with all of the characters available to you it's easy to set up to six
characters in your party to figure out enemy weaknesses. Set up with four party
members on the front lines and two will be in reserve, characters can be
swapped in and out and while a character is in the back rows, they’ll be slowly
recovering both their hit points (HP) and their mana points (MP).
Combat itself is rather smooth and
battles won’t take much time. Taking a note from the likes of Chrono Trigger
and Breath of Fire III for example, battles start and finish without too much
fanfare never really wasting your time going through all of the animations like
a lot of others did at the time, and in some cases, still do. While in battle,
controls are pretty simple with each character being able to pick one of four
attacks or swap themselves out with someone in the back row in order to heal up
a bit. Once all of your characters are ready, there’s a giant attack button
that can be used and then that round of battle plays itself out between your
party and the enemy. Rinse and repeat until done.
From that perspective, there’s nothing
really new or innovative for Another Eden but for what it does? It does well.
The gameplay is smooth, the gatcha elements are not completely broken or
designed for you to shell out some money if you really want something, and the
battle system whether with your standard party members or those of the gatcha
system is just fun to go through as you move from one location to the next on a
series of side quests of the main story. The only thing that I wish is that
there had been maybe a bit more thought into the execution of the port to the
PC in order to better integrate the controls as who wants to have to click on
mobile like buttons when they have a keyboard or the actual laptop in their
laps?
Summary
So overall, if this would be your
first time getting into the adventure, or like me you’re returning for another
go, Another Eden: The Cat Beyond Time and Space is a decent RPG that caters to
both those that have loads of time to sink in and to those that may only have
ten to fifteen minutes here and there. The only difference between the two is
how fast you’ll end up finishing the adventure and being ready for the tougher
quests and storylines constantly being added.
Score: 7.5 / 10
