Review: Astor: Blade of the Monolith (Nintendo Switch)

Astor: Blade of the Monolith is an action RPG, developed by C2 Game Studio and published by Versus Evil. If you’re looking for a somewhat simple adventure game with light hack-n-slashing, then you’re in luck. However, if you want a game that involves a strong story and fun world building, maybe look elsewhere.

Let me begin by saying I enjoyed my time with Astor: Blade of the Monolith, even though it had its moments of frustration. So, let’s begin with the characters and story.

You play as Astor, a Diokek, on the planet of Gliese. Everything is peaceful until the Hiltsik (the bad guys) appear and cause mayhem. Astor must travel across the planet to figure out what’s going on, defeat these monsters, and save everyone. It’s a typical story for an adventure RPG.

Narrative is told across brief cut scenes between the mute protagonist, his friend, and other NPCs who try helping. Exposition is also told via voiceover as Astor travels from one area to the next. The voiceover explains more of the overworld and the history of the planet and the ancients. However, I was often too busy figuring out where I was going to pay attention. Also, if I got too close to the next part, a cut scene would activate, thus cutting off the voiceover. So, even if I paid attention, I wouldn’t always get the full story.

The cut scenes were sometimes rough to get through. The camerawork was slow at best, often trying to gather the scenery. Setting the scene is good when there’s something to look at. According to the game’s description, the player can “explore the vibrant planet of Gliese.” The colors are vibrant, yes. The actual setting? Not so much.

Astor: Blade of the Monolith has lovely cities, but you can only explore so much. The shops aren’t actual shops, and you can only speak to NPCs that will help push you forward in the story. The exploration doesn’t exist because the game holds your hand in where it wants you to go next. Trust me, I enjoy it when games target the direction you’re supposed to go in. However, when I tried going off the main path, an invisible wall would often stop me after going so far.

With that said, I didn’t continue this game for its world building or story. I enjoyed the hack-n-slash battles, even if the controls were tricky to master. You attack with X. You use A for your special attack. B is to jump, Y is a special runic power you’ll eventually unlock. To dodge, you press ZR, but to shield, you press L – not ZL, just L. The further along in the game, the more controls you unlock. So, R and ZL do eventually get used, but it didn’t feel even for a while.

The right analog stick allowed you to control the camera, but you could only do so much before the game forced it back to its original position. This was especially frustrating during battles because Astor would sometimes end up directly in front of the camera. So, I either couldn’t see myself or what I was doing and where I was facing, or I could only see Astor and have a difficult time seeing the enemies in front of me. Otherwise, the enemies in Astor: Blade of the Monolith are relatively easy. The difficulty doesn’t spike too much, which was nice to a certain extent. After a while, the game didn’t feel challenging enough, thus causing the battles to be unexciting.

Even though this game is an RPG, you don’t level up. Instead, you’ll earn experience-like points from defeating enemies and busting red crystals you find within the world. You’ll also find crystals lying about in each area to use as currency. Each new area has a dome-like hub that allows you to spend this currency and points to earn upgrades. For example, you can buy more healing crystals, boost your sword’s damage, unlock combo moves, and the like.

Overall, the story and the world aren’t strong enough to keep your attention. The battles are fun, but the more you unlock and the stronger you get, the battles become easier. Soon enough, you’ll feel you’ve seen all the game offers before you’ve completed the main story. Still, Astor: Blade of the Monolith is a fun hack-n-slash action game, at least for a little while.