Sword and Fairy: Together Forever recently released onto the Playstation 4 & 5 and is actually the newest entry in The Legend of Sword and Fairy, a Chinese mythology-based role-playing game series that is almost 27 years old! This game is actually the seventh numbered entry in the series and the ninth game released - with that just being the main series and not the large amount of spin-off games too! Published in the west by Eastasiasoft and developed by Softstar Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd - was intrigued to find out what this franchise was all about.
Luckily, like the Final Fantasy series, this game is a stand alone story that doesn't require you to have played the previous installments. This means you're able to jump straight in without having to dig into tons of prior story/lore to understand whats going on.
This entry introduces new dynamic real-time combat mechanics to the franchise. Whilst its pretty basic in what it offers, it's really enjoyable and its a shame there isn't more of it in the game. It handles great and feels really smooth to control. You can enter battles at anytime and you're able to switch between your party members on the fly during combat, choosing the one who best fits the situation.
Expect to use your dodge button alot as you jump out of the way of enemies attacks and then you can use your light and heavy attacks as well as combos to deal damage. With a variety of combos and magical abilities to unleash on your enemies - with more being unlocked as you level up, you will be cutting through enemies with ease. The combat was definitely easier than other RPG's I have played, with there being very few times during my playtime that I actually struggled with whatever was being thrown at me.
Outside of the action and combat you will be able to take part in a few different activities. There are multiple side quests you will be able to pick up from various NPCs located around the areas you're exploring. These side quests are the generic talk to this character/kill a certain enemy etc but they do the job of adding abit more content to the game on top of the storyline quests. You are also able to craft weapons and cook meals in the towns, with the latter giving you temporary buffs.
There are also two mini games to be found. There is one that is a weird jumping platformer style mini game where you work towards the end to win a prize, it's not very good and thankfully it's few and far between. Then there's the card game mini game. This is a very basic battle style game but it's pretty fun to play in between focusing on the quests/combats at hand.
I actually really liked that there were so many cutscenes present in the game. At times it felt like you were experiencing an interactive movie. It helped that the cutscenes are well made and look great. Unfortunately the English translation is not that great and all the voice acting is in Chinese, this leads to times where the subtitles may come across confusing or not quite right for what is playing out in-front of you. Luckily it's A very standard RPG fare so you still be able to follow along without having to understand everything that is occurring.
The game itself is pretty linear, but at around 30 hours of content, I found it to be just the right length to not outstay its welcome. I always like it when I can find a RPG that I am able to complete without spending 100+ hours on it just finishing the main story, I know that's probably sacrilege to some of you, but as a working adult with kids who only has a limited amount of gaming time (and one hell of a backlog) it's nice to be able to experience a game in the genre without being fully entrenched for hundreds of hours.
Overall the game runs really well too. I never really noticed any excessive framerate drops and the load times on the PS5 were very quick. There were a few issues, such as tiny fonts in places and the odd pop in when exploring the larger areas on offer. On the locations, whilst they aren't the biggest, they look absolutely fantastic with lots of detail.
Sword and Fairy: Together Forever will be a decent addition to anyone's RPG collection. Whilst it isn't as grand as the Final Fantasy series, it's an enjoyable experience full of extremely attractive environments, awesome monster designs and an interesting story. Whilst I enjoyed the more linear approach of the game, with the large amount of well animated cutscenes, I can see how this may not tick everyone's boxes. If you're looking for an alternative/new fantasy epic to play then I highly recommend giving this a try.
TOTAL SCORE: 7.5/10
Sword and Fairy: Together Forever was released onto the Playstation store on the 4th August 2022. It is playable on both PS4 and PS5 consoles and is priced at £34.99. You can buy the game HERE.
A copy of the game was provided for this review. A big thanks for that!
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