In a time where gacha games are redundant cash grab garbage, there are still gems waiting to be found. Among the newly released titles is Reverse: 1999, a story driven turn based gacha rpg, which boasts great art and an all-star cast of voice actors. Given how loyal people are to their gacha games, will Reverse: 1999 be seen in their radars? Is it worth the effort to put it in the dailies rotation? With how so many promotions and ads pushes this game to the gacha gaming community, does it live up to the hype?
Having played the game for awhile now, I may have the answer!
Just a moment of your time will do, as I want to share some of my thoughts and opinions on Reverse: 1999. So, join me as I dive into a review of the game!
The Story and Art
Without spoiling the story too much, you take the role of Vertin, a time keeper (sorry no self inserts here), in a world where time goes backwards, with reasons beyond known in the beginning. Your job is to save society and brave the storm (an anomaly which causes the fabric of time to shift). Will you be able to save the people you care about and find out the mystery of the reversal of time?
Being a story driven gacha game, the narrative is what keeps you logging on and tuning in. Reverse: 1999 does not disappoint in this aspect, because it is a well-written story, convuluted at times, but it takes on an emotional roller coaster ride and makes you empathize with the characters. If you’re very into anime-esque plotlines, then you’d enjoy the Reverse: 1999 story. Though the genre or themes of the game may not be everyone’s cup of tea, given that gothic horror is a very niche genre.
Supplementing to the great story, the game’s art is amazing! Character designs go beyond the stereotypical waifus and husbandos in every gacha game (you can even have an apple as a playable character). You know they didn't skip out on the art department, because even the effects and animations during the other aspects of the game are well done. All character designs were done well despite differences in rarity. Lastly, I liked how they really stuck to the gothic horror art style as it suits the game’s depth and eerie-ness of the plot. You know the developers and artists chose to stay in theme rather than cop out for some fan service.
Aside of the visual aspect of the game, the sound design of the game is great! It is a game you have to play with the audio on! With an all-star Japanese voice acting cast and a great English cast, you cannot miss on whichever you dub choose. Though the voice lines are generic at times, but the way the voice actor's deliver the lines make up for the lackluster script (BONUS: accents are on point). Adding to this, the soundtrack and music played during gameplay and cutscenes add to emotions felt during the storytelling. The audio design of Reverse: 1999 really ties up the thematic experience of the game.
The artistic appeal of Reverse: 1999 may be a subjective topic, because of how niche gothic horror is. But to me, Reverse: 1999 hits all the bases, given everything works! Theme aside, Reverse: 1999's art and design is well thought out and well put together, because each aspect of the game: story, audio and visual styling mesh well together. It is a cohesive piece of game development and design!
The Combat System
Another feature Reverse: 1999 boasts about is its unique combat system. At first glance, it may seem like a Fate: Grand Order copycat, because of the similar card based combat system. This comparison of combat systems is skin deep and you can see that Reverse: 1999 combat system has more depth the more you play the game.
If I can liken the combat system to any game, it would similar to deck building games like Slay the Spire or Ancient Gods (Both are digital deckbuilding rougelikes). Because in Reverse: 1999, you don’t just consider the typing/elements of your team, but also how each of the characters' skills have and effect on the combat deck you fight with. You have to have a perfect balance of support and damage card synergy. Not to mention, the card combination system which adds another level of combat decisions, because new effects may show up when you level up cards during combat. All this sounds like too much thinking during gameplay that will be done once, but Reverse: 1999 got you covered. They have quality of life in place during combat that guides you into making optimal plays!
The turn based card combat system of Reverse: 1999 is a fresh take on the deck building genre. The combat system requires deeper thought in action selection and a more gratifying result when you chain combos together. For build crafters, the depth adds to the fun, because you can always find a more min-max way to do things. For newbies to this type of gameplay, Reverse: 1999 has tutorials on how to play more efficiently and with the quality of life in combat, which highlights which cards are empowered with your chain of actions, it becomes more casual friendly.
Reiterating: The visuals during combat are amazing and you can tell that the art and gameplay teams put in extra effort to make these ideas work well together.
The Gacha and Grind
Moving on to the very essence of what makes a gacha game a gacha game: the gacha system and the grind-y nature of the gacha genre. This tends to be the make or break factor of every gacha game reviewed. Does Reverse: 1999 feel like a second job? The answer may surprise you!
Personally, the gacha of the game is pretty standard. There are summon banners, 10 pull guarantees and a mercy system in place. Duplicates are not required to “break through” level caps, which means you aren’t paywalled into playing a sub optimal team. Though rarity plays a part in how viable team compositions are in the late game, the combat and leveling system can compensate for it in the earlier stages of the game. So you can take your time on pulling your waifus and husbandos and be smart about where you place your resources.
Speaking of resources, the daily grind is key in every gacha game. As for the grind-y aspect of the Reverse: 1999, it is not as grind-y as other greedy gacha games! While other games feel like another job, the dailies in Reverse: 1999 is quick and easy. You can easily go through the daily missions in less than an hour (probably even 30 mins). The game is pretty generous with the energy refresh and the replay stage feature makes grinding in game a breeze. Reverse: 1999’s replay system is a great feature, because you can gain multiple resources in 1 cycle, which means you don’t have to watch an autoplay multiple times, which saves battery life too. Supplementing the grind, they also have a quality of life measure in place when farming for character specific resources for leveling, which allows you to go to a character and farm the resources and head back to their leveling page to complete the grind.
The quality of life in Reverse: 1999 is amazing! It is obvious that the game developers really thought about their player base and understood that not everyone has the time or money to spend on their game. Yes, this is an optimistic way to look at it, because developers need to make money too. But given how seamless and effortless the grind is, I don't feel as bad when I miss day or so.
The Verdict
With all that being said, would I recommend Reverse: 1999? My answer is a resounding, YES! But…
With Reverse: 1999 being a story driven turn based gacha rpg, it is a hard sell if you don’t like the story and gothic horror theme of the game. Basically, the story is what gets you hooked on Reverse: 1999 and keeps you playing, so if it doesn’t do that, maybe the game is not for you. But if you do enjoy the story, then the features and quality of life are an added bonus to keep you playing.
So again, would I recommend you to play Reverse: 1999? Yes, if you enjoy the story, the art, the gameplay, and the quality of life it offers. As a last attempt to appeal to the iffy players, given its not so time consuming daily grind of the game, you can play it as side game or a busybody’s main game. The combat system is really worth checking out if you are into deckbuilding games. Reverse: 1999, may not be everyone’s cup of tea, it is still deserving of a try or a look at.
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