Per those who, like me, have spent hours and hours racking their brains alongside Professor Layton in front of countless puzzles and have kicked blazing soccer balls, tearing through soccer goals on the fields of Inazuma Eleven, knowing that a new Level 5 title will be released is the so-called manna from heaven.
For those who don't know it, it is the production house, rigorously made in Japan, that has become a point of reference for puzzle graphic adventures and above all because it has been able to breathe new life into recruitment role-playing games, those in which you can lose yourself for hours collecting little monsters slash yokai slash creatures with various powers.
Con Fantasy Life: The Girl Who Steals Time, out on October 10, 2024, the guys at "Level 5" take us back to the bucolic atmosphere of the first chapter of the series, released a full ten years ago!
The game will be a Nintendo Switch exclusive and comes boasting all those features that have become the hallmark of Level 5: great care for the settings, a sound design that conveys the moods and atmosphere of the current storyline, and quirky, colorful characters that win over gamers’ hearts within just a few minutes of play!
But let’s go in order: what is The Girl Who Steals Time about?
Ambiented in Reveria, on a seemingly abandoned and desolate island, we will have the task of traveling into the past, carrying out missions that will influence the present, and finding essential resources to restore the island to its former glory: myriad jobs available, as in the prequel for the Kyoto house’s handheld console, so we can customize the time-stealing girl to our liking, especially our own time, since the game promises remarkable longevity.
If you had the feeling of an echo tied to a certain Animal Crossing, I’ll let you in on a secret that isn’t much of a secret: the mechanics of Fantasy Life partly recall the concept of that title, as far as house building and resource gathering are concerned, but above all in the interaction with the island’s characters and the possibility of digging deep, as regards the dynamics and background of characters and unlockable events.
Playing with friends online makes the island experience even more engaging, expanding the strategic possibilities that will see us fighting to obtain the resources needed to progress in the game and unlock new missions to keep us busy: online mode is now hugely popular everywhere and Fantasy Life is no exception, once again showing that Nintendo wants to pursue this path as much as, if not more than, its next-generation competitors.
Fun Fact: it is not the first time we have come across a title like this.
I am obviously referring to a gem from the past like Dark Cloud for PlayStation 2, released in 2000, and as it happens another fantastic Level 5 title! A coincidence? I don’t think so.
It is precisely in knowing how to forge bonds that Fantasy Life points the finger, directing our gaze toward an important aspect of the gameplay, integrated into the main story in a functional way and which, in the cute-addicted nature of the characters, finds its quintessence.
I role-playing games, by definition, allow players to impersonate someone they cannot be in real life. It goes without saying, then, that forging metal as a blacksmith or cutting wood as lumberjacks, with the aim of building houses in which to take shelter in the evening, becomes part of the fun itself sought in a title of this caliber: it will be much more enjoyable to set off the next day on an epic quest, armed with a sword and with hearts full of the desire for adventure that we will not wait to satisfy.
Simon Larocca
Mi chiamo Simon Larocca, e sono un videogiocatore, collezionista e amante della cultura pop in tutte le sue forme. Vado al cinema ogni volta che posso, leggo da quando porto gli occhiali, quindi da sempre, e ho la passione per lo storytelling in tutte le sue forme, così dirompente da farla diventare una professione. Ma come direbbe Doc di Ritorno al Futuro, non ci sarebbe presente se non si guardasse al passato con rispetto e ammirazione, ed è il Simon bambino di più di trent’anni fa, anno più anno meno.
Simon Larocca
Mi chiamo Simon Larocca, e sono un videogiocatore, collezionista e amante della cultura pop in tutte le sue forme. Vado al cinema ogni volta che posso, leggo da quando porto gli occhiali, quindi da sempre, e ho la passione per lo storytelling in tutte le sue forme, così dirompente da farla diventare una professione. Ma come direbbe Doc di Ritorno al Futuro, non ci sarebbe presente se non si guardasse al passato con rispetto e ammirazione, ed è il Simon bambino di più di trent’anni fa, anno più anno meno.
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