Masquerada: Songs and Shadows - Switch Review

I love masquerade parties, dressing up and hiding ones true identity behind nothing more then a face mask decorated with jewels, fancy ribbons, lace and plumage galore. But this game has more than just music and rich aristocrats parading around, for in the shadow lurks danger that will strike to kill you if you aren't careful.

Masquerada: Songs and Shadows is a pause-for-tactics RPG style game set in a dark Venetian Renaissance inspired tale for the ages. Released back in 2016 for Steam by the development team of Witching Hour Studios and produced by Ysbryd Games, originally green lit from a Kickstarter, it is now available for the Nintendo Switch. If the hand-drawn art style doesn't tickle your fancy, then maybe its rich lore and careful storytelling, fully voiced, will intrigue you.

The story opens up to our protagonist, Cicero Gavar, who is summoned from exile to help solve a kidnapping that could derail the Citte Della Ombre's and drive it into the chaos of war. During your daring adventure you will gain allies that each wield the elemental power of these mysterious masks, giving your heroes magical ability to match with their fighting style. Will they unveil the deep scars that hide in the shadows of the city.

I've never played a game quite like this. My first impression of the game trailer left me uncertain by its new style of gaming. But it was its unique look that drove me to explore this style of combat and adventure. Almost as if it was made from a coloring book each chapter opens up into brilliantly detailed backgrounds and character construction, making everything pop out in each scene.

The music is also no laughing matter. If you feel like you're being pulled into medieval Europe, then you're not wrong. I honestly felt like I was dipped into a Spanish painting crafted to take me through time, a time of war and religion. The music does a great job in guiding you through each moment, never letting you forget that you may be killed at any given opportunity.

The game tends to follow the traditional tactical approach. You choose every step your party makes, at your own pace, from position, to planning which element to cast, giving you the power to customize your AI's behavior. There is always a default option if you find that customizing your individual party members gets to be to much. As you fight your way through waves of enemies you will earn Skill Points and these points can be used to upgrade your parties abilities by either learning new spells or enhancing them.

Each member of your team also has something called a Focus. Think of it as your magic shield that gives you an extra layer of protection. As enemies attack you this shield will diminish and can only be recovered with certain skills or when a battle has ended.

Being a band of powered individuals you have an Ultimate Ability. Through the power of the Mask you can unleash a powerful attack upon your foes. It will require that you charge it through combat, but once it is full you can retaliate with force. This is the only action that can not be activated when controlling your party members moves.

If an ally falls in battle you can help them back onto their feet by standing near them and holding your action button. This will stop you from doing anything else and can only be done by the player, your AI companion will not provide support. As you help your fallen companion this will leave you open for attacks and if the enemy hits you it will cause you to restart your recovery action.

As a user of elemental power you have these effects known as Tags. These tags allow you to combine another element with another member to inflict status on your enemies. Such as Air + Earth creates Blindness or Water + Air to freeze your opponents movement speed. The combinations are many with the four elements at your disposal.

Even with talented teammates Cicero, the fearless leader, is not someone you'd want a one-on-one with. The Inspettores of Ombré is skilled at fighting in more than one style. In the mist of battle he can change into one of the three stances that he has mastered, which gives you advantages in fighting your enemies.

Sicario: In which he becomes more vulnerable to attacks, but gains an advantage on speed and agility. This gives him the ability to run behind and backstab his foes for double the damage.

Pavisierre: Gaining extra defense on his Focus and charging his Mask Charge faster, though his attack power will be cut in half.

Dirge: Most of his abilities are in the moderate rate of damage, but he does gain an advantage to dealing ranged damage from a distance.

This game has done nothing but surprise me. I never would have thought I would find myself so immersed in this historical, war ridden adventure. The story is deep and the characters are engaging, with a fantastic script we are gifted with the talented voices of Mathew Mercer, Robbie Daymond, Jennifer Hale and Crispin Freeman. The combat is fun and easy enough to follow and can also provide a challenge to keep the gears in your mind turning, but in a way that allows you to customize the outcome of a battle. Maquerada: Songs and Shadow is definitely a RPG game I would recommend to anyone who can get their hands on it. 10 out of 10 in my books.

To everyone who worked so hard and tirelessly on this piece of art... Well done!

Game Information

Platform:
Nintendo Switch
Developer(s):
Witching Hour Studios
Publisher(s):
Ysbryd Games
Genre(s):
Action
RPG
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
Sony PlayStation 4
Microsoft Xbox One
PC

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Natasha

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Masquerada: Songs and Shadows - PS4 Review

Masquerada: Songs and Shadows in an interesting game. On one hand, we have a title that could have made a beautiful point-and-click or even a visual novel. On the other, we have the amazing adventure RPG that sees an unlikely group follow through an investigation that leads ever further down the rabbit hole.

I know what you’re probably thinking by this point. Unlikely group? Again? While the answer is “yes” it takes a different spin compared to the normal grouping of a ragtag bunch. Firstly, they are not ragtag. Your main character and protagonist Cicero is an exile called back in order to search for missing members of the society that he was cast out from.

Tagging along and using one another are characters such as Kalden who’s looking for his brother that happens to be at the center of Cicero’s investigation and Tiziana who’s openly spying on Cicero for her master and prepared to do what is needed to further their ambitions. They are all playing politics and keeping their cards close to the chest while still trying to figure out how to work together to find out what is really going on.

With the stage set and gameplay in hand, Masquerada uses a few elements that it probably could have done without. For the most part, Cicero will get to walk through shallow environments that have little or nothing to do other than move over to the spot that will take him and the party to the next location. Sometimes lore can be found lying about and if it’s in a crowded city then the conversations are worth listening to but otherwise it’s on a rail and you simply follow the points onto the next dialog and story segment.

It’s not a bad approach by any means as a lot of titles follow suit, but sometimes I felt like it could have been done without especially with no combat present in order to get your fingers moving. With the amount of dialog that is present the characters could have walked and talked instead of standing still which could have still have showcased the beautiful environments and their soft colors without making you needless have to move through corridors or streets with nothing in them.

When there are enemies and the swords are unsheathed from their scabbards however these environments are worth knowing. Masquerada uses a real-time system that has characters able to either auto-attack or have their skills set up to use in specific instances not unlike FFXII’s Gambit System. If that isn’t enough, direct control of a character can be taken can moving them behind that wall in order to evade an attack is sometimes much better than getting the hits in.

Combat is fun and it doesn’t feel out of place especially since you already know that getting your hands dirty is going to happen because some people don’t want you finding out what you need to. As mentioned above each character has access to standard attacking or skills that can be used on cooldowns. The cooldowns themselves aren’t ridiculous but neither are the power of these skills making them useful to use but not the be all end alls. From that perspective there’s a good balance to the system and as time goes on it requires more hands on and less letting the characters do what they want if you want to survive.

After each combat each party members receives points that can be used to either unlock new skills or upgrade existing ones. There’s no progression per say as you’re free to choose which skills you want and if you like them enough you can level them further. It was nice not to be locked in and forced to waste points on ones that you didn’t want. It adds a bit of flavour and a more personal touch to how you wish to fight your enemies.

If the stylistic approach of Masquerada wasn’t enough, the voice acting is top notch with VAs such as Matt Mercer, Jennifer Hale, Robbie Daymond and a personal favorite Yuri Lowenthal (Full List). With the amount of dialog that is to be had, this cast brings about an experience that could not have been done otherwise having simply gone with text or a half voiced approach. I personally have a bad habit of simply reading ahead and skipping most of the time but these combinations had me taking the slow way and enjoying every moment of it.

It is with these elements that everything comes together and the “empty” corridors can be forgotten because everything else is made more full through the unfolding experience. Also helping to alleviate this is the sheer amount of lore that is unlocked through characters speaking or through the odd node that can be found while exploring an area. Each entry is lengthy enough and helps develop both this world and Cicero’s past for a better understanding of what someone could have meant with the tone in their voice.

Finally adding to it all is an optional tutorial that can be accessed from the main menu. Optional. Words I really like to see as often tutorials could be covered with no more than a few sentences. In Masquerada’s case however this tutorial should be done as it acts as a prelude to the main event and is often enough referenced. You don’t have to but it helps to have seen it alongside the journal entries to give a more complete experience.

Masquerada: Songs and Shadows comes together to offer a wonderfully artistic experience. The visual art as well as the well crafted character dialog and their voice overs combine to create an experience that would have been less without the efforts put into each.

Game Information

Platform:
Sony PlayStation 4
Developer(s):
Witching Hour Studios
Publisher(s):
Ysbryd Games
Genre(s):
Action
RPG
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
Microsoft Xbox One
PC

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Pierre-Yves

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