Azure Saga: Pathfinder – Review: Blending Sci-Fi And Fantasy In An Enjoyable RPG

Azure Saga: Pathfinder, while bringing nothing new to the RPG genre, still offers beautiful graphics, an interesting story, and simple yet fun gameplay mechanics to keep you busy for hours.

I was provided a free copy of Azure Saga: Pathfinder on Steam for review. The opinions are my own.

I have been looking forward to playing Azure Saga: Pathfinder ever since I got to know about it. MassHive Media, an Indonesian developer, has done an impressive job of creating a game that’s easy for all levels of RPG players. I really enjoyed looking at the hand-drawn art. There’s an anime-inspired feel to everything, complete with female characters wearing inappropriate battle armor (which I could have done without).

This title is the first non-mobile game for the developer, and it showed. The moment I began playing Pathfinder, I couldn’t help but think this RPG could work very well on mobile platforms. I hope MassHive Media decides to release a compatible version for iOS and Android devices.

Coming to the plot, we’re introduced to Synch and Noide, a spaceship pilot and his android assistant. They crash land on a strange planet and the sci-fi elements are combined with medieval fantasy, complete with spells and various monsters.

The planet’s inhabitants are suspicious of the new arrivals, but as Synch and Noide are efficient against Hollows, they stick around to help. There’s a lot of politics going on in the story as well as some twists and turns. Synch’s arc also involves trying to find his long-lost father.

Here’s a bit of my gameplay.

The combat system is easy to understand and is turn-based. Each character has specific skills. You can create a party of three, utilizing specific skills to take down enemies. Depending on the characters in your party, there’s a lot for you to choose from. You can go for physical attacks, various spells, taunts, and debuffs to create a winning strategy. Combining certain abilities unlocks powerful combo attacks. Every character also has a Fury attack which you can use when their Fury meter is full. Leveling up characters unlocks passive skills. You’re also allowed to use Items during battle. Characters can also wear certain items to increase their stats.

The world featured in Azure Saga: Pathfinder is large. You’ll notice a meter below each location telling you how much of it you’ve explored. Inside each location map, there are different sections for you to move around in as you solve puzzles, complete side quests, and battle enemies. While you can run away from random enemy encounters, I would’ve preferred seeing enemies roaming around on the map so I could avoid them better.

Like I said, while it brought nothing new to the table, Azure Saga: Pathfinder still found a way to keep players engrossed with beautiful art, an intriguing story, and simple gameplay. You can purchase it right now on Steam.

Have you played Azure Sage: Pathfinder yet? Let us know.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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