Review - Rise Eterna Trilogy... No, Don't Get Up.

 
Image Credit: Makee Games & Forever Entertainment S.A.

Once in a while a game series comes along that just snaps up your attention and refuses to let go. 

    This is not one of them.

    Rise Eterna tells a familiar tale of woe and ruin. We are first introduced to a hard-nose mercenary who has limits to what he will and will not do. Rob townsfolk? Sure. Let others butcher them in cold blood? Okay, fine. Participate in said butchery? No, ma'am! Absolutely not.

    These are the morals that compose Natheal, the man who arguably fills the role of lead protagonist in the original game. His cynical view on the jaded aspects of everyday life changes once he starts to "connect" with Lua. I put connect in quotes because the connection here is minimal, at best. Lua is the stereotypical "I may be small but don't mess with me" female that we see in a lot of these types of games. Her connection to Natheal is that of a daughterly one, we're told instead of shown, and it doesn't really hit home.

    Rise Eterna: War takes place a decade before the events of the first game. It also has a different tactical style and feel than the first game, but that actually works a little better in this case. We fill the shoes of Arthbane, a general who stood against the main protagonists of the original game before they completely obliterated their opposition. So we're really just witnessing that obliteration firsthand, this time, instead of getting it delivered in exposition. Story is minimal, and so is the improvement of troops and tactics.

    Rise Eterna II continues a couple years after the original leaves off but with a new protagonist and, seemingly, a new point of view. Jacht is half Athracian and half Ars Rarean, so he represents a bridge between the world of the villains and the heroes... respectively. The game gives us a glimpse into the notion that the grass isn't always greener, at first, before it suddenly does an about face to hamfistedly remind us that these Athracians are just bastards no matter what way you cut it.

The Good

The tactical side of things was fun. There are some RPG elements to each of the games as well that give bonuses and tricks to use that make for a decent little romp against the objectives. I would say that this is clearly the game's strongest point, as it is what kept me coming back for more as time went on. I would have lost interest much more rapidly if I'd relied on any other component of the games.

The Bad

There's actually quite a bit here. I'm surprised I even made it through the games.

    First off, the visuals. There is often a bit of charm behind a 16-bit approach to gaming visuals, and that can even be said for some of the aspects of these games, but there still needs to be more. The art of the characters, their specific portraits, left a lot to be desired. Also, they each only had two looks that would vary between the moments. Stern or happy. Those are the only two emotions being played out, apparently. It would have been really easy for Makee to do a bit more with it. My other issue with the artwork would definitely also stem from the regurgitation of the same ol', same ol'. In Rise Eterna II no one has aged? No one has even changed their outfit!? Really? Lua is the only one who seems to have grown in any capacity at all, but narratively that couldn't be said of her.

    That brings me to my next point.

    The story is lackluster. It lacks polish, or even true caring about what they're setting up here. Take some pride in your lore, people. If we're playing it, we want to dive into the world. Instead, we got a toe dipping in with some superficial explanations and storyline weaving that could use some edits. Even grammatically and spelling-wise... I saw the same characters' names spelled a couple different ways in each game. Consistency, guys. Where is it? Especially when those characters were consistent in everything that pertains to their specific archetype. Mercenaries with hearts of gold, and asinine officers who suddenly realize the error of their ways... Gotta' love those cliches.

    Audio was another letdown. I'm a huge fan of storybook games, as evidenced by my ventures in anything Owlcat-related, so I don't need every line to be voiced. And that's good, because not a single one is voiced in this series if you don't count Arthbane's brief narrations in War. That said, we could do with some music. Some variation in music, I mean. Every cutscene has the same tune played over and again in all the games. Every battle does the same thing. Gotta' spend money to make money, boys. This was an easy fix. You don't need to hire a world-renowned composer to get some good music sprinkled throughout.

The Middle

Rise Eterna and its offshoots are by no means the worst things I've ever played. They're not good, either. What is disappointing is knowing that the bones of these games make it so they could so easily be much more than they are. But... they'd have to learn how to rise above.

5/10

Middling at Best

To see my own dive into building a fantasy story and the lore behind it, check out Severance.