Reynatis Review – A Unique Action JRPG That Ultimately Misses the Mark

A Star-Studded Creative Team with High Expectations

Attaching notable, celebrated names to any project can build dangerously high expectations. This general philosophy overwhelmingly applies to the latest FuRyu action RPG Reynatis, which boasts the involvement of composer Yoko Shimomura and Kazushige Nojima in writing the scenario.

Add to that the evident Final Fantasy Versus XIII ambiance, the director’s unabashed love for Tetsuya Nomura titles, and even an in-game collaboration with The World Ends with You; it’s only natural that Reynatis would make waves upon its initial announcement. However, given FuRyu’s mixed track record, I was hesitant, and it turns out I was largely right to feel that way.

Intriguing World but Rushed Storytelling

Reynatis occurs in a setting roughly similar to ours, except wizards and magic are present. These magic-wielders are suppressed, with various organizations constantly aiming to exploit their capabilities. For instance, in Shibuya, where our story takes place, the most prominent force is the M.E.A. This police force recruits wizards to combat the unaffiliated unjustly under transparently flawed justifications. Another group is the Guild, a seemingly opposing force to the M.E.A. Then, you have countless stray wizards trying to live ordinary lives while keeping their identities secret.

Despite its star-studded creative team, the rushed narrative fails to leave a lasting impact.

Making matters worse is the drug Rubrum, which forcefully instills magical capabilities into those who ingest it, causing rapid addiction straight away and then causing the users to transform into abominations. It’s a rather chaotic world with plenty of moving parts, though protagonist Marin Kirizumi doesn’t fit into any of these categories. Instead, he travels to Shibuya with a straightforward goal: to become the most powerful wizard so he can be truly free. Still, matters aren’t quite so simple.

The intently aloof Marin finds himself entangled with several threads regarding the conflict between the M.E.A. and the Guild, the history of magic as a whole, and a compact group of strays known as Owl. On the other hand, a prominent officer in the M.E.A., Sari Nishijima, who’s dedicated to rooting out Rubrum once and for all, is granted her own squad. Then, when she and Marin meet, everyone’s ideologies begin to be challenged.

Firstly, it’s worth emphasizing that despite the marketing and the start of the game framing Marin and Sari as dual protagonists, Marin is the overall focus of the adventure. And as stated before, this quest has many moving parts, perhaps to an overwhelming extent. The immediate descriptor that comes to mind for Reynatis after completing it is “rushed.” This ambitious action RPG has a gripping premise, given no time to breathe or be explored adequately.

Throughout Reynatis, you learn about several lore terms, relationships, and in-fights across basically every group, with exposition en masse granted to help provide a foundational understanding of what is happening. To clarify, it’s not as if the story is hard to follow; it’s more that events just occur constantly back to back with no time to explore the ramifications of what just happened or leave a genuine impact. The narrative can be best assessed as a yet-to-be-written book that only exists as a draft. To better understand how lightspeed this pacing is, you can easily beat Reynatis and complete its side content in around 15 hours. Having a shorter RPG is undoubtedly welcome in some contexts. Yet, considering the vast scale of Reynatis, this journey should be considerably longer so that the narrative elements could have been given more time to establish themselves.

Thankfully, the main cast shines with endearing dynamics and relationships, accentuated by the in-game text system. After talking to certain townsfolk or making significant story strides, the cast may optionally converse via text, covering all sorts of matters from the main plot to their pasts. You actually learn quite a bit about the cast from these exchanges, and they boast genuine senses of humor to the extent that they feel like realistic conversations. Plus, you take on the perspective of different party members throughout these texts when formulating responses, giving you intricate deep dives into how everyone thinks. Granted, plenty of these talks should have been required scenes.

The sidequests can also be worthwhile since a decent chunk delve into the core cast and how abysmal the status quo is for the general public, chiefly those who fall victim to Rubrum. Generally speaking, Reynatis isn’t shy about highlighting how gruesome the reality of magic is. Then again, many quests are forgettably one-note, taking a few minutes to complete to the point where they don’t feel warranted.

Repetitive Dungeon Design and Missed Potential

Gameplay-wise, Reynatis has two overarching layers of systems: combat and town exploration. The former lets players control any party member, and everyone expectedly has their own playstyle. The fundamentals here are enjoyable, with snappy controls and movement alongside excellent feedback for striking enemies. Further, the option to swap the currently playable character in your team of three on the fly creates satisfying opportunities for fulfilling synergies.

However, you can’t just spam attacking since combat has two modes. The first, Suppression, prevents you from attacking entirely. Instead, you’re solely relegated to evasion. Although the projectiles and physical strikes arriving in your vicinity slow down, enabling you to dodge in time and build the gauge needed to Liberate yourself for free action. Additionally, entering Liberation once your gauge is full halts time briefly, allowing you to inflict significant damage.

This mechanic is grossly overly lenient, but it proves itself in group battles where attacks can come in from anywhere around you. Later fights can be tricky due to the sheer numbers employed, and the sequence of dodging while Suppressed leading into Liberation is genuinely fulfilling. Admittedly, the fact that numbers rather than enemy design provide the challenge is alarming.

Yet, that’s not all the combat has going for it since everyone can equip gear called Wizarts. Tying into the town exploration, these sticker-like discoveries can provide entirely new special attacks for everyone, and they’re separately upgradeable via a currency earned when you level up. Additionally, finding duplicates of a Wizart will increase its leveling capacity and overall efficacy.

To be honest, in spite of its numerous flaws, I didn’t realize that I enjoyed the combat of Reynatis until I began to reflect. It’s far too easy for most of the game, you level up way too quickly, and there’s little enemy variety. Collectively, it’s an unpolished mess. Still, the foundations are delightful, and the Wizart experimentation can be captivating. If a sequel is ever made, the combat could truly thrive if its issues were addressed.

In town, besides the aforementioned Wizarts you can find, Marin and his allies are advised to Suppress their authentic wizard selves, as only the M.E.A. is sanctioned as wizards in the public eye. If you go against this warning and Liberate yourself in town, townspeople will take note and spread the word across social media, eventually reaching the eyes and ears of the M.E.A., which will then issue highly proficient officers to strike you down. Of course, these opponents are leagues above you and can only be taken down reasonably once you’re near or at max level. Making manners more concerning is how you cannot revert to Suppression for a good while if your Stress reaches its maximum threshold.

The only ways to relieve Stress are by waiting it out, participating in combat, or talking with your allies via text. At a glance, this system seems clever as it thematically ties into the alienation that Marin and other wizards face daily, taking Suppression and Liberation to a whole new level. However, the incorporations of Stress are utterly meaningless.

You see, if you’re Liberated in town and people spot you, you’re intended to find a labeled hiding spot, but that’s unneeded. Instead, you can simply fast-travel, and the watchful eyes vanish instantaneously. The fact that this can be done whenever you want in the span of a few seconds is ludicrous. So, rather than empathizing with the cast on a gameplay level, the consequences of being caught are nonexistent, negating the initially assumed thematic strengths. The only point in which Stress matters is when you’re searching for optional collectibles in town, which can only be seen if you’re Liberated.

Another major shortcoming in Reynatis is the dungeon design. Shibuya being created as accurately as it has been is impressive in its own right, especially given the lower budget. But that can only go so far. The locations you explore outside of Shibuya, which reside in a realm known as Another, are, without exaggeration, entirely identical save for one or two instances.

Regardless of whether combat is the emphasized focus, the fact that these areas have practically no distinction and are genuinely just copy-pasted hallways with inelegantly split paths is unacceptable; the asset reuse is taken much too far. Even if they remained entirely linear, having a handful of other dungeon themes would’ve significantly prevented monotony.

On a final note, Reynatis features a collaboration quest line with the Square Enix action RPG NEO: The World Ends with You. To temper expectations, the whole scenario is entirely negligible and nothing worth delving into. It contains Rindo and Shoka from NEO within a brief storyline that feels over before it even begins, alongside a questionable, tacked-on cameo at the end for good measure. It all comes across as hollow fanservice.

Conclusion: Reynatis’ Big Ideas Fall Short

When considering all of Reynatis’ facets collectively, it genuinely boasts some compelling building blocks for what could be a masterpiece of an action RPG. Still, misdirection and questionable design decisions bring the experience, such as an intensely rushed narrative and messy gameplay execution, down more than a few notches, ultimately making Reynatis an experience that is not worth your time.

At the very least, the soundtrack is absolutely phenomenal, and the cast’s dynamics may be enough to carry you through the adventure. However, the fact that the only inarguably delightful part of progression is tied to optional text conversations speaks volumes.