Demo Impression Review: Aegis Force – The Scorian War
/By Ashley Williams
Aegis Force: The Scorian War comes into the spotlight with such a level of assurance that is only characteristic of a team who has got their concept perfectly figured out. The trial version does not delay in establishing the style: a devastated earth divided into the magical and the technological camps, a hundred-years-long conflict without known origin, and a cast of youngsters-soldiers who are forced to find their way out of the aftermath. In short, the game is a tactical RPG with a retro vibe and gameplay evolution, and surprisingly, it mostly achieves its goal. The demo first and foremost impresses the audience with its combat. The fights take place on a battlefield where deployment and steps weigh as much as the characters' power. Victory or defeat depends on the correct use of terrain, the selection of characters for different setups, and the efficient management of resources, etc. It is the same type of game that satisfies the strategic need of classic tactical RPG fans, but it is far more user-friendly and comfortable due to the better UI and the camera, which can be moved in a smooth way to create a cinematic effect while the action remains on the traditional 2D maps.
Short of a few characters that appear in the demo, the game already has a very solid base. The fights are engaging, clear, and involve tactics which will be rewarded.
The demo, through its outside-the-combat segments, reveals the game’s most attractive aspect, i.e., its universe. Rather than putting the player into missions arranged like a line of shelves, Aegis Force allows him to visit villages, stroll through the artistically made environments, participate in side activities and get pleasure from its pixel-meets-2.5D art style. The combination of sprite characters and diorama-typed scenery makes everything look like it has layers and gives it almost the charm of a small-model set.
Here is a sense of scale and of numerous possibilities, the feeling that the world is live apart from the fights and that there is more to discover in the full release.
At its center, the demo uses a known JRPG model: opposing countries, increasing problems, and young heroes who are thrown into a fight they did not choose. However, what lifts it up are these details — A highly tech-savvy empire fighting against a magic-powered one, political intrigues going on beneath the surface, and characters that bear the burden of war for years on their shoulders.
The relationships, particularly among the main three, have the potential to develop. The conversations are to the point, the worldbuilding is done with a lot of confidence, and the narrative elements introduced at the very beginning suggest that the complete game will deal with these themes: loyalty, identity, and the dangerous blurring of the line between friends and enemies.
Demos are made to demonstrate the potential a game has, but they also point out the parts that are still to be improved, in which category Aegis Force is included as well.
Some characters may seem to be mechanically similar in this initial stage of the game. Although the main fight is interesting, the absence of clearly defined roles and distinctive abilities results in the characters becoming a mere blur of the same kind. This is not a mistake to a great extent, rather a possibility; since a bigger roster is announced for the full game, deeper character differentiation will be necessary to ensure the diversity of long-term strategies.
There are also some minor inconvenientness arising from the operability of the game. Changing the camera in some areas can make looking at certain angles more difficult than is necessary and a few interactions with the menu can seem stiff or somewhat challenging in terms of understanding. These sorts of problems are usually resolved well before the final release of a title following a demo, but they are quite noticeable to the extent that they need to be pointed out here.
One of the major achievements of this game is the way it boldly integrates the old with the new.
The characters made in pixel art are very lovable, while the 2.5D settings are vibrant in a way that the developers of the older tactical RPGs would scarcely be able to visualize. It manages to be both an ode to the past and a step forward, hence the nostalgia-loving audience is still courted but the creators are not staying stuck in the past.
The limited music and sound effects in the demo are chosen to support the sense of a voyage. The overall warm-toned presenting style gives away that the team is passionate about this particular genre.
What makes Aegis Force: The Scorian War different from other tactical RPGs is not that it completely reinvents the genre, but that it comprehends the very core of the genre that made it popular and modifies those core concepts for today's audience. The demo is a vehicle for the effective combat, the attractive world, and the characters who seem to have more layers. At the same time, it talks a little about the features that can take the finishing release to a higher level: deeper unit customization, more expansive exploration, and richer narrative turns.
It is far from perfect, but that is what demos are for and all the evidence here shows that the full game is leading up to something amazing.
If you are into tactical RPGs, retro-styled adventures, or story-driven strategy games, then Aegis Force: The Scorian War is definitely a game you should be keeping an eye on. The demo is a clear indication of the game's ambitiousness, its firm understanding of its inspirations, and the beginning of a world worth diving into.
