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Step into the world of Noctuary, an upcoming Visual Novel – Isometric Action Role-playing Game hybrid, where light and darkness compete for supremacy, in our special preview article for the game.
Noctuary is a dual-protagonist game where players simultaneously take on the roles of two powerful heroines: Alina Nightsong and Fancia Dream. At the start of the game, they are still trainees looking to prove their worth to become Arborangers – protectors of the land they live in called Inlixaland against harbingers of darkness called Darkritters. In this game, you'll be treated to superb world-building and lore-building of a story that revolves around two vibrant heroines, told as a coming-of-age story of friendship, camaraderie, ambition, and duty.
A lot of care and effort has been put into the creation of the game. The presentation is as polished as an anime-themed game can be, making you believe that this game produced by a relatively unknown studio was produced by big companies known for these kinds of games like Atlus, NiS, tri-Ace, Bandai Namco, and Square Enix. The character designs are gorgeous, with animated scenes and sequences that treat the eyes with vibrant colors and effects. Noctuary is a thing of beauty in the graphics department, especially during its action sequences. It makes you wish there was more of the game's Isometric ARPG than there currently is.
That being said, the game is still a visual novel first and foremost. The majority of the game is told through conversations between characters, displayed with CG stills and other illustrations to move the story forward. Having two protagonists in the game opens up Noctuary to multiple playthroughs as players balance who they would prioritize between the two heroines. Every decision you make affects the ending of the story, so there is definitely some replay value to be had in this game.
That's not to say that the game's Isometric ARPG gameplay takes a backseat. In fact, there is in this game hides a versatile fighting system that seamlessly chains together three different fighting styles for each of the two characters you control in the game. Cycling through different fighting styles to chain combos and finishing them with a character swap to continue your rampage honestly felt like playing a fighting game with a tag system. There are also plenty of interesting enemies to fight against in the game that go perfectly well with what the developers are trying to go for in terms of gameplay experience. It's just a shame it isn't the focus of Noctuary gameplay-wise.
There are a couple of things that need to be said, though. While Gratesca Studio's presentation of the game is top-notch and high-tier, it is somewhat dampened by poor localization. The English in the game isn't bad, but it's obvious that whoever translated the game isn't a native English speaker thanks to some unusual word usage and speech patterns. The story is still competently told, but you'll also have to rely a lot on your own imagination sometimes to understand what the developers really wanted to convey in some parts of the game.
All in all, Noctuary offers a surprisingly good experience and a nice blend of Visual Novel storytelling and Isometric ARPG intensity. A great move forward for the development studio Gratesca Studio, showing that they can achieve more beyond their success in visual novels.
Noctuary is coming out on PC through Steam on November 28, 2023.
