If you’ve played the acclaimed indie RPG Astlibra Revision, released last year, then you’re likely familiar with its satisfying progression system and engaging combat. This expansive JRPG offered a thrilling power fantasy as you transformed from a humble adventurer into an unstoppable magical warrior.
Now developer KEIZO is back with a meaty new DLC dungeon crawler that remixes elements of the original game into bite-sized roguelite chunks. In Astlibra Gaiden: The Cave of Phantom Mist, you’ll step into the shoes of a new character – the daughter of Astlibra’s castle town baker. When a surprise demon invasion traps the legendary heroes of Astlibra inside a mystical cave, this unassuming baker’s daughter takes up her sword and ventures in to rescue them.
What she discovers is a ever-changing set of floors filled with familiar foes and locations from Astlibra Revision. Each floor caps off with one of the main game’s major bosses. While touted as a roguelite experience, progression stays with you between runs. You’ll still be decking out your gear, upgrading skills, and becoming powerful enough to flatten legions of foes with spectacular magical attacks. It’s the satisfying loop of combat and advancement that made Astlibra so memorable, condensed into brisk dungeon diving sessions.
So if you’re craving more of that sweet Astlibra progression but with a fresh twist, load up The Cave of Phantom Mist and get ready to cleave through hordes on your quest to save Rispadar’s heroes. Just beware the onslaught of enemies waiting behind every door!
Hack, Slash, and Smash Through Memories
When it comes to gameplay, Astlibra Gaiden remixes elements of its predecessor into a swiftly-paced roguelite structure centered around dive after dive into the Cave’s random floors. Instead of a more linear progression between story beats, you’ll be teleporting back to the Cave to take on self-contained chunks of 10 floors at a time.
The basics will feel intimately familiar to fans of the original. Combat maintains that crunchy, visceral appeal whether you’re swinging giant two-handed weapons or hurling spectacular screen-filling spells. It’s still immensely satisfying to mow down crowds of foes, watching numbers fly with each landed hit. Hardcore players can crank up the challenge for tense battles where death lurks behind every door.
And the core loop of steadily gaining power run after run remains fully intact. Everything you obtain – weapons, gear, upgrades, magic – carries over between Cave visits. The only penalty for defeat is losing your current level, which resets to 1. So even while the floor layouts randomize each time, your overall strength persists.
New to the mix are supplemental progression systems like interchangeable classes and subclasses. These function like RPG archetypes, conferring unique bonuses and skills. Leveling them independently allows for deeper customization toward specific playstyles. It gives veterans yet another avenue for further optimization.
So with the appeal of smashing through waves of baddies with screen-filling spells intact, where does the DLC stumble? Repetition proves the greatest pitfall. While floor chunks pull from familiar locales, the level generation lacks variety. You’ll quickly grow tired of monotonous boxy corridors as you grind through floors that seldom surprise.
Compounding this repetition is the heavy reuse of assets and enemies from the base game. Relying too heavily on familiar content makes runs blend together, offering little sense of progress. A few new mid-floor minigames and rare room types struggle to offset the monotony over long sessions.
Yet for players yearning for another hit of Astlibra’s core hack-and-slash progression, The Cave of Phantom Mist certainly delivers. Just be ready for the endless procession of familiar foes in uninspired floor arrangements. Smashing through the Cave can satisfy in short bursts, but the lack of fresh sights seriously dulls its staying power.
Revisiting A Familiar Tale
Narrative proves the weakest link in Astlibra’s roguelite sojourn. This hack-and-slash focused DLC puts progression and combat atop a pedestal, leaving story by the wayside. You’ll get mere morsels of plot between floor sets to loosely frame each dive into the dungeon as the castle town baker’s daughter pursues her quest.
A few familiar faces make cameo appearances, hinting at connections between this side tale and Astlibra’s overarching narrative. But such ties mostly manifest through reused environments and enemies, relying on nostalgia over meaningful continuity. Without the motivating anchor of the original’s story beats propelling you onward, grinding through floors feels detachted from purpose.
There’s an earnest charm when recognizing a sequence as a fractured memory of Astlibra’s journey, but not enough substance to compel investment. Brief narrative bites, while occasionally charming, can’t alleviate the repetition of floors that come across more as a training montage on loop than a hero’s epic journey. Devoid of storytelling stakes, you lose that forward momentum pushing you into the next big reveal.
So those hoping to further indulge in Astlibra’s peculiar narrative will come away disappointed. The DLC’s lightweight story functions adequately as a reason to dive back into combat and progression systems. But it can’t help but pale against the motivating richness woven throughout the original adventure. Without that narrative pull, the repetitive grind of floor diving feels all the more monotonous.
The tale told here entertains in fits and starts when tapping nostalgia. But bereft of the clever twists that defined its namesake, The Cave of Phantom Mist offers little to compel the imagination or invest oneself in the destiny of its vapid protagonist. This roguelite rendition stays true toAstlibra’s gameplay heritage while losing sight of the storytelling substance.
A Familiar View, A Fresh Soundtrack
On the visual front, The Cave of Phantom Mist makes conservative choices befitting its compact scope as a DLC. Beyond expanded character customization options letting you dress up your hero, assets remain essentially unchanged from the original Astlibra. Environments, monsters, gear models – all recreations of familiar sights for fans to appreciate…or grow tired of.
Without new vistas to behold, the repetitive random floor generation leaves little for the eyes to feast upon. While the core experience maintains its vibrant, stylized aesthetic, the lack of fresh imagery makes extended sessions more monotonous.
Fortunately, the DLC’s audio design picks up some slack through an entirely original soundtrack. The fast-paced tunes match the intensity of floor diving well, from upbeat tempos keeping you energized to sinister melodies setting an ominous mood. Familiar cues even make cameos just long enough to tickle nostalgia before new mixes take over.
So aurally, Astlibra’s first foray into roguelite randomness satisfies. But visually, over-reliance on recycled imagery doubles down on the repetition already hindering progression. Yet for any audiophile fans of the original soundtrack, the DLC’s catchy new beats should provide plenty of motivation to keep pushing further into the depths.
Wrapping Up Our Spelunking
When all is said and done, Astlibra Gaiden: The Cave of Phantom Mist makes for a enjoyable, if limited, detour for fans eager to revisit the hack-and-slash action that defined its beloved predecessor. Within the cave’s random floors lies the same appealing progression loop and screen-filling magical chaos, condensed into brisk sessions. Though while the slice-and-dice gameplay retains its potency, an over-reliance on recycled ideas dulls the DLC’s ability to surprise.
At its high points, The Cave of Phantom Mist captures much of what made grinding through Astlibra’s worlds so morishly compelling. There’s great satisfaction in overcoming the steep challenge presented by floors stocked with familiar enemies. The added class system and between-run progress scratches that completionist itch as well. The DLC understands its base appeal of eye-popping abilities and number-crunching customization.
But without the original’s motivating story as an anchor, repetition quickly deflates the experience. The sheer lack of variety across floor visuals, enemies, and level design makes each run bleed into the next. While moment-to-moment diving throbs with energy, the absence of meaningful change dulls long-term enthusiasm.
So for Astlibra fans eager to further indulge in some simple monster-bashing mayhem, The Cave of Phantom Mist certainly delivers. Just temper expectations in terms of originality or inventiveness in world design. This low-priced DLC provides precisely what its elevator pitch presents: more of the core combat gameplay minus narrative hooks.
That single-minded focus makes for a worthwhile nostalgic weekend or two. But the lack of substance beyond slaughtering familiar foes within familiar spaces leaves The Cave of Phantom Mist feeling inessential. Without addressing the base game’s weaknesses around repetition, this roguelite remix struggles to stand on its own absent story strings pulling you deeper into the abyss.
The Review
Astlibra Gaiden: The Cave of Phantom Mist
Astlibra Gaiden: The Cave of Phantom Mist is best treated less as a standalone adventure and more like a fond trip down memory lane. Its roguelite trappings remixed from familiar ingredients serve up plenty of enjoyable hack-and-slash chaos in concentrated doses. But a lack of variety and inventions quickly diminishes the replay value of this unambitious expansion. Diehard fans will certainly appreciate another vigorous serving of progression and ability-driven combat minus the base game's pacing issues. Yet without addressing the repetitive environments and enemies, The Cave of Phantom Mist leans too heavily on nostalgia over crafting its own identity.
PROS
- Satisfying hack-and-slash combat
- Great progression/customization system
- New class system adds depth
- Retains upgrades between runs
- Catchy, fast-paced soundtrack
CONS
- Very repetitive level design
- Over-reliance on recycled assets
- Lack of narrative substance
- Gets monotonous over extended sessions
