PC
EARTH'S DAWN
Vanillaware light
Earth’s Dawn is the sort of thing you get if take one part Vanillaware, one part Epic Games, mix it all together and garnish with a dash of QWOP. It’s all sounds pretty crazy, and while not the greatest game, Earth’s Dawn does give us something pretty unique.
When I first caught the screenshots for Earth’s Dawn I would have put money down on it being a Vanillaware title. It clearly has that Odin’s Sphere/Murmasa styling which gives the game its unique look. The game also plays a lot like those games being a 2D side-scrolling hack-and-slash with RPG elements, only set in some post apocalyptic future world. But when you peel back the veneer of better games, you find that Earth’s Dawn falls a little bit short. It’s not terrible by any means, it’s just the sort of game that comes together when developers focus more on copying rather than innovating.
The basics are all here for a fantastic game. The visuals are top-notch across the board, even if the QWOP like joints will never not be creepy. The enemies you have to dispatch throughout your adventure are unique, varied and a lot of fun to take on. You also have a Metroidvania like level layout to explore along with some crazy huge boss battles. On paper you are looking at a hit video game.
The main issue that plagues and holds back Earth’s Dawn comes from the repetition that hits pretty early on. The game feels very rinse and repeat and while the extra crafting and ability tree the game features helps, it isn’t quite enough to keep most players involved. The game itself is broken up into regions, each of which has a number of levels for you to tackle. The positive is that each of these tend to only run a few minutes, so you aren’t going to be slogging through many. You can choose whichever mission you want from the menu and each has different objectives that earn you all sorts of goodies.
These are fun, but even before I finished the opening New York region I was already bored enough to take a break from our livestream. I wasn’t turned off by the game as I did come back, but you just sort of want a break so as Earth’s Dawn does not wear out its welcome. The real cool bit comes from the timer on the main menu that is constantly ticking down. You can craft weapons, upgrade all sorts of things, and play region mission tills the cows come home, but when the timer reaches zero you are whisked to the next main region.
"Earth’s Dawn is a good game that just never fully builds on all the ideas it throws your way"
// Publisher: Rising Star Games // Developer: One or Eight // 227
Platform: PC, PS 4,
Xbox One
Developer: oneoreight
Players: 1
Genre: Action, RPG
Release: Q4 2016