Yohane the Parhelion: Blaze in the Deepblue Review – Inti Creates Misses a Rare Mark with this Love Live! Spinoff

Love Live! is a multimedia juggernaut franchise born from the unholy union of ASCII Media Works’ Dengeki G magazine, the Lantis record label, and the animation studio Sunrise. Through a mix of anime, manga, music and games, Love Live! has enthralled legions of idol fans. Now the franchise dips its toe into the world of 2D action platformers with Yohane the Parhelion: Blaze in the Deepblue.

Developed by Inti Creates, no strangers to the genre, Yohane follows the fortune-telling schoolgirl Yohane and her wolf Lailaps as they plunge into a mysterious underwater dungeon. Their goal? To rescue Yohane’s fellow idol friends who have gone missing within its murky depths. Inti Creates has crafted classic 2D action games for over 20 years, including standout titles like Azure Striker Gunvolt and Blaster Master Zero. Can their expertise translate Love Live’s bubbly idols into a compelling metroidvania adventure?

In this review, we’ll dive deep into Yohane’s watery world to evaluate if Inti Creates managed to strike gold yet again. We’ll assess if the gameplay delivers satisfying 2D action or if it ends up sinking under the weight of its ambitions. And we’ll examine if this spinoff can appeal to fans of both Love Live! and metroidvanias alike. Strap on your oxygen tanks as we submerge into the pixelated paradise of Yohane the Parhelion to determine if this unlikely mashup is a treasure trove of fun or simply all wet.

A Shallow Story Anchored by Charisma

Don’t expect Yohane the Parhelion to draw you into its story or worldbuilding in any meaningful way. The barebones plot basically expects familiarity with the Love Live! anime and makes no effort to bring newcomers up to speed. All you need to know is that the fortune-teller Yohane and her pet wolf Lailaps are venturing into a mysterious underwater dungeon to rescue some missing friends. Their motivations and relationships are left undefined, so you’ll be lost at sea trying to understand dramatic exchanges between the cookie-cutter anime archetypes.

The limited interactions boil down to energetic but borderline nonsensical banter, full of random name drops and oddball exclamations. While charming and silly in tone, the narrative does nothing to develop the wafer-thin characters beyond their archetypes – tsundere, genki girl, shy wallflower, and so on. The voice acting matches the kooky personalities, but good luck trying to invest in the stakes or reasons driving the adventure. Frankly, the barebones premise seems designed primarily to justify tossing the cute idols into a metroidvania setting.

Despite the narrative shallowness, Yohane and her cohorts brim with infectious charisma and quirky appeal. The vibrant character designs and animations pop on-screen, radiating more personality in a few frames than the entire script affords them. So while you likely won’t shed a tear when they reunite for silly non-sequiturs after each rescue, their dynamic presence and stellar delivery helps energize the experience.

Yohane the Parhelion clearly cares more about fast-paced 2D action hijinks than weaving an engrossing tale. Just temper narrative expectations, try not to overthink things, and enjoy the amusing company of its lovably oddball heroes. Their endearing charm may be the only thing preventing the paper-thin story from fully capsizing into the abyss.

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Fluid Exploration Meets Clunky Combat

Yohane the Parhelion delivers the core 2D sidescrolling action and light Metroidvania elements one would expect from an Inti Creates platformer. Yohane’s movement and exploration abilities control smoothly, letting players freely navigate the branching underwater labyrinth. But the sluggish, unresponsive combat reveals a disappointing lack of polish.

Yohane’s abilities expand in typical Metroidvania fashion as she rescues her friends from imprisonment. Each offers a new movement or combat ability to open up previously inaccessible areas and hidden secrets. For example, Hanamaru can break blocks obstructing new paths, while Riko can freeze enemies to use as platforms. Despite the limited integration, it feels satisfying to revisit earlier zones with newfound powers to uncover previously missed chests and upgrades.

Fast travel between the sparsely populated save points complements the light backtracking. However, the straightforward level layouts rarely require much mental mapping or recall to navigate. Outside of hunting down a few stat-boosting collectibles, the basic design discourages extensive re-exploration. Randomized “dungeon” sections also underwhelm as filler rather than a novel means to remix challenges.

The biggest weakness weighing down Yohane’s aquatic escapades is the combat. Attacks feel slow and unresponsive compared to the smooth movement and platforming. Yohane’s default summon suffers from stiff animations and lengthy recovery time. Even with more damage options unlocked, the sluggish inputs create a disconnected, start-stop cadence to battles instead of precise, visceral acrobatic action.

To compensate for the clunky attacking, enemies and bosses have elaborate patterns to memorize and counter. This results in painful trial-and-error learning curves, with failure until their attack rhythms are ingrained. Once the patterns click, you feel untouchable, but this tedious process favors rote memorization over reactive technique. The addition of purchasable healing items and instant revives does help ease the harsh difficulty spikes. But the learning process remains more frustrating than fun.

On the plus side, the accessible difficulty and gentle learning curve accommodate series newcomers better than veterans. Yohane won’t impress hardcore genre devotees, but serves as a playable intro for casual fans. Just expect to rely more on pattern recognition than demanding dexterity and reflexes.

In the end, Yohane’s strengths lie more with relaxing exploration than intense action. The tranquil underwater environments and soothing music complement low-stress hunting for hidden collectibles and upgrades. But the lackluster combat and progression expose an uncharacteristically mediocre effort from Inti Creates. The result is a functional but shallow plunge lacking the tight gameplay and creative level design of their best titles.

“Immerse yourself in a magical deckbuilding adventure with our Yohane the Parhelion – Numazu in the Mirage review. Discover how this anime-inspired game combines strategic card combat with an enchanting story. Perfect for fans of Love Live! Sunshine!! and newcomers alike, embark on a journey filled with charm, strategy, and engaging gameplay.”

A Pixelated Paradise With Mismatched Polish

Yohane the Parhelion delivers a gorgeous retro visual feast fitting of its aquatic environments. The expertly crafted pixel art gives each sprite a subtly textured charm absent from smoother indies. Yohane’s elaborate animations burst with personality as she somersaults through ancient ruins and writhing sea life. While lacking the hyper-polish of modern indies, the intentional roughness adds nostalgic authenticity.

Vibrant colors and varied backdrops reinforce the fantasy underwater setting from murky shipwrecks to glowing volcanic vents. The detailed backgrounds immerse players while avoiding distracting congestion. Perspective shifts in larger areas provide welcome depth and scale. It’s clear Inti Creates lavished attention on the realm itself even if the action lacks the same care.

Regrettably, this retro-revival aesthetic clashes with UI and menu elements lifted from a modern mobile game. The crisp HD illustrations of Yohane and friends jar against the intentionally rough pixel sprites. Streamlined menu navigation comes at the cost of stylistic cohesion better suited to a cheap gacha game.

The audio falters between strengths and weaknesses as well. Energetic Japanese voice acting captures the anime characters’ infectious charm and suits the fast-paced action. But the soundtrack, while pleasantly ambient, lacks enough melodic hooks to elevate the experience. Catchy idol songs during curative musical interludes provide delightful exceptions. However, the Switch’s weak speakers flatten and muffle the mix absent a good sound system.

Overall, Yohane’s stunning fantasy aquascape remains the crowning achievement over the uneven audio or mismatched visual polish. For all its rough edges and inconsistencies, Inti Creates leveraged their pixel art prowess to craft a suitably lush undersea playground. It’s just a shame the artistry solely benefited the setting rather than every design element.

Unpolished Mechanics Fail to Coalesce

For all of Yohane the Parhelion’s clear strengths, a host of minor issues conspire to diminish the overall experience. While none of these flaws alone derail the adventure, the cumulative effect exposes a lack of mechanical polish and integration.

The anime tie-in does the game no favors by assuming familiarity with the characters and lore. Without context, dramatic story beats fall flat and the thin premise fails to compel. The setting exists solely to toss cute idols into a metroidvania, not to weave an engaging narrative.

New abilities unlocked from rescuing Yohane’s friends rarely open alternative paths or hidden secrets. Their containment to scripted puzzles wastes potential for meaningful ability-gated exploration. And the straightforward level layouts lack complexity, funneling players along a single solution path.

The crafting system sounds good on paper but disincentivizes using the signature companion attack abilities. Since enemies never directly drop restorative items, you’re forced to conserve your limited resources. As a result, players default to only the most overpowered options, rendering other unlockables dead weight.

Similarly, the lack of enemy weaknesses to exploit through loadout customization diminishes the combat variety. Once you discover the most damaging abilities, there’s little reason to experiment further. This lack of strategic depth hurts replayability.

While the fast travel system provides helpful accessibility, it also eliminates interesting gating that encourages revisiting previous areas. With unlimited warping, world traversal feels less like piecing together a complex mechanical puzzle.

The clunky combat compounds these issues, creating disconnects between inputs and actions. Slow wind-ups and lengthy recoveries undermine rhythmic flow during fights. Enemies compensate through elaborate patterns, but this leads to frustrating trial-and-error rather than rewarding reactive technique.

Finally, the lack of meaningful post-game content offers minimal incentive to revisit already completed zones. A few collectibles and outfits only superficially extend longevity rather than providing substantive new challenges.

None of these critiques alone would tank the experience, but together they expose a lack of mechanical cohesion and polish. Too many features incentivize neglecting other elements, underdelivering on their promising potential. While Yohane provides plenty of scenic relaxation, its core gameplay lacks the satisfying synergy and creativity of Inti Creates’ best titles. Some fine tuning could have yielded an aquatic metroidvania gem rather than this flawed pearl.

A Middling Metroidvania For Diehard Fans

Yohane the Parhelion: Blaze in the Deepblue is a faithful adaptation tailor-made for Love Live! devotees but largely unfriendly to newcomers. Without familiarity of the source material, the wafer-thin story and dramatic character exchanges will leave most players adrift. The vibrant art and characters capture the anime’s infectious charm, but in terms of narrative, it assumes pre-existing investment rather than earning it.

As a metroidvania, Yohane delivers serviceable side-scrolling action but fails to stand out within Inti Creates’ pedigree. The polished visual presentation and relaxing vibes provide laidback enjoyment for genre novices. But the straightforward level designs, clunky combat, and lack of mechanical cohesion show a surprising lack of quality and depth from such seasoned developers.

The result is a middling experience failing to fully realize its promising ingredients. Some clever abilities and crafting mechanics flounder due to imbalanced implementation and incentives. There are glimmers of the clear passion and talent underlying Yohane, but a lack of polish squanders its potential.

In the end, this spinoff best serves as fan service for Love Live! devotees hungry to see their beloved idols platforming through cute underwater locales. Series newcomers may find the character charm and accessible action appealing enough when discounted. But overall, Yohane the Parhelion reinforces that charming style and competent gameplay don’t necessarily combine into an all-around satisfying game. For that, we’ll have to keep hoping Inti Creates return to peak metroidvania form with their next title.

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