Welcome to our review of SWORD ART ONLINE Fractured Daydream, the latest entry in the Sword Art Online franchise.
SWORD ART ONLINE Fractured Daydream is an exciting new start as we depart from the 10th anniversary of the SWORD ART ONLINE game series! Galaxia, a new system allowing players to relive the past, has been added to ALfheim Online; however, Galaxia spins out of control causing players from all over time and space to be displaced! To set the timeline back on track, Kirito must work with fallen friends…and foes.
Each with their own specific role on the battlefield, 21 SAO characters from various arcs are gathered to fight. Team up with a total of 20 players from around the world in 1 of 5 parties comprised of 4 players each for multiplayer co-op action! True to the SWORD ART ONLINE series, join a raid party and prepare for a fight with high difficulty bosses together! How you prepare for the fight is the key to victory!
For those that do not know Sword Art games yet, they are masterpieces of the RPG genre and span 10 years and some various anime and other media. I first came in contact with them through their anime and I have to say, it was always one of those “additional” games for me, I would play them on top of others if time permitted. Which was sometimes more the case than others.
With Fractured Daydream I was able to invest several more hours more than usual and I will say this, I like it but I do not love it unconditionally. I appreciate the way the game was made, the principal idea behind it, Galaxia, being a really good approach for more content, but in a certain way, you get suspicious about many parts of the storyline right from the start.
Like how I immediately felt something was off from the new character accompanying Kirito, for her to be the Administrator (no spoiler really, this is known within half an hour of playing or so) At the same time, this does set up the premise for later on in the game. A game where you are basically getting sandboxed areas where you just have to beat the finall boss or whatever alternate goal has been decided upon like beating an amount of enemies and so on.
While the battle system is pretty much the basic fight till you drop system, I do very much enjoy all the upgrading of items and the management of your fighting squads. There is a lot of depth in this Fractured Daydream game, limited as it may be due to the sandbox fighting. At times I wished it was more like a true RPG, with all the searching for clues and all, rather than this “go mission to mission” style…
In conclusion, as much as Fractured Daydream is limited by its game mechanics and its sandbox, it does pass the test of being an entertaining and pretty addictive game. When you play it, there is just this idea of missed opportunities.
8/10
Played on PlayStation 5
