Review: Alter Age (Nintendo Switch)

Alter Age is a JRPG with turn-based combat, developed by EXE Games and published by KEMCO. This title allows the player to explore a vast world through crisp pixel art, fun characters, and an interesting growth system. However, this game comes with a lot of bells and whistles that may or may not be needed.

With RPG titles, I want a strong story. The combat system is important, but I need it to support a solid storyline. Unfortunately, Alter Age lacks in the story department.

You play as Arga, a young man striving to be a Braver so he can eventually face his father in battle. His father is known to be the strongest in the world (and the leader of the Bravers). Arga holds a grudge against him for abandoning him and his sick mother many years ago. Typical family issues kept the characters moving from one place to the next, but I wasn’t engaged. I lost interest in the story the more I played the game. The cast repeat themselves a lot, and the stakes feel too low.

That doesn’t mean the characters themselves are bad. Arga is a strong protagonist and, in order to be a Braver, he needs to have a special skill. Once awakened, Arga realizes his skill is Soul Alter, which allows him to swap between being an adult and a preteen. It sounds useless, but the game utilizes it well and it’s certainly unique from any other RPG I’ve played.

Arga’s Soul Alter doesn’t just work on him, though. It also works on his party members, Elsie and Lillieka. They’re two young girls who join Arga on his journey and, when Arga is an adult, the girls are young. But when he turns into a preteen, the girls become adults. Depending on Arga’s age, different conversations and side quests will appear with NPCs. In battle, preteens won’t hit enemies as hard, but the cost of their MP is reduced, so they can still use support spells. By doing so, they’ll earn Brave Hearts, which give their adult form a boost in attack damage. Swapping their ages in battle allows another level of strategy in combat.

However, given all the other upgrades and experience you earn throughout the gameplay, I became so overpowered that I rarely used the Soul Alter in battle. I only used it in the dungeons when a puzzle called for it.

How did my party get so overpowered? Let’s talk about those bells and whistles I mentioned earlier.

As with most RPGs, Alter Age uses a leveling-up system via experience points earned in battle. Arga, Elise, and Lillieka increase all their stats by leveling up. In addition, their respective weapons will increase their attack and their armor will increase their defense. There are also strengthening items that you can give to any character at any time. These items will increase their HP, MP, speed, strength, and all the other stats. You’ll earn these strength items via chests in the dungeons, item spots in the overworld, rewards from battle, etc.

There is also a synthesize mechanic where you can merge old weapons and armor together with the new, increasing its level and stats. Weapon Up stones and Armor Up stones are also items you’ll find throughout and can be used to synthesize. I love and hate this mechanic.

I like it because you’ll earn so much gold in-game that there’s little need to sell old weapons and armor. Being able to recycle them to strengthen the characters’ current attack and defense is a brilliant idea.

On the other hand, I don’t like it because you’ll become overpowered quickly. Not only does this make the game easier, but the shops lose their novelty. When playing RPGs, I look forward to checking out the armory shop in every town. There’s something satisfying about seeing which new and special weapons I can give my characters. Seeing the “plus” beside certain stats makes me giddy because who doesn’t want to get stronger?

Unfortunately, it got to the point where I’d go into a shop in the next town only to see that the next set of weapons and armor would actually decrease my characters’ stats. I had so much gold that I bought them anyway and then synthesized them right away, so they didn’t go to waste, but it was still a bummer to go into a shop and have no reason to buy anything.

Each character only has one type of weapon they can use, too. Arga wields swords, Elise has a rod, and Lillieka uses a scythe. Their magic attacks, in my opinion, are where they shine best. Arga uses earth, Elise uses water, and Lillieka uses fire magic.

The party can also master passive skills through the use of phantom stars. You get phantom stars by earning them as battle rewards or, most commonly, using the composter. You can put anything into the composter (except weapons and armor) and once you reach 100 points, it’ll spit out one phantom star.

Cooking is also in the game. You can find ingredients in the overworld, earn them as battle rewards, and try to mix them together to make recipes. The recipes will turn into meals that act as battle items, such as boosting your attack power for a certain amount of time. I didn’t use the cooking mechanic. I didn’t care. I tried it once for the sake of the review, but the ingredients I threw together didn’t create an actual meal. It’s trial and error. I knew I’d get frustrated, so I threw whatever ingredients I found into the composter for the passive skills.

I wasn’t joking when I said Alter Age has all the bells and whistles, and I don’t think this game needed all of that. The longer you play, the more you’ll get used to it all, but it’s overwhelming in the beginning.

Despite being overpowered for most of the game, I do believe the combat system is its strongest feature. Battles are turn-based, and each character’s speed stat decides the turn order. Between physical attacks, magic attacks and support, and the Soul Alter skill, battles can get pretty interesting. There’s a lot of strategy involved, though I found it best to stick to the physical and magic attacks. It’s how I preferred to play, even though I think the Soul Alter is pretty unique.

There’s a Rush Gauge that, when it reaches 100% by hitting enemies, you can unleash a group attack. Again, I got to the point where I was so overpowered that I barely got to use it. My party would defeat all the enemies before the gauge reached max. When I did get to use it, such as in boss battles, the bosses had so much health that the group attack barely made a dent in their HP. That’s not to say it’s a useless mechanic in-battle, but it was a hit or miss for me.

If you need to grind, or you’re fighting weaker enemies, there is a handy auto-battle function that you can toggle on and off. Grinding is easy, too. The game gives you Encounter Bells that you can turn on and off in the overworld and in dungeons. One decreases the encounter rate of wild battles and another bell makes it so you’ll encounter a battle every single step you take. This mechanic was useful when there was a particular boss I couldn’t get past. Experience points are generous, too, so grinding a couple of levels doesn’t take long at all.

The dungeons in Alter Age are bland. Once in a while, you’ll encounter a puzzle, but the characters will figure it out for you in a cutscene. Every dungeon is essentially walking around, getting into a couple of battles, and then making it to the next boss. The graphics are cute and the dungeons look good, but aside from the scenery and map layouts, all the dungeons are functionally the same.

When starting a file, the game lets you choose a difficulty level: unparalleled, easy, normal, hard, or very hard. The only replayability you’ll get out of this title is if you want more of a challenge. Otherwise, I found myself going through the motions just to get to the end. The story wasn’t engaging enough for me to want to relive it.

Alter Age has a great art style and the music’s a bop. I’d totally add the soundtrack onto my video game playlist. However, the gameplay was too much at times. I think the developers were ambitious with the amount of mechanics and features that are included. Yet, the game ran smoothly, which is certainly a plus.

Overall, Alter Age is worth checking out if you’re a fan of RPGs. You’ll still sink a good amount of hours into the game. I’m glad I played it, but I’m not sure I’ll play a new file anytime soon.