Return to the Middle Ages
In this case we are talking about Cladun Returns: This is Sengoku!, the third chapter of the saga released on PlayStation Portable in 2010 and now on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita.
We are talking about a hack’n slash with important GDR elements, which always requires the player to prepare properly before he or she agrees to venture into battle. Graphic style is that of the 8bit of the NES era, not only for sprints and backdrops, but also for music and especially menus, which look just like that generation.
The game released by NIS America begins in a village called Arcanus Cell and, as a title, the setting is generally that of the Sengoku era, or the equivalent of our Middle Ages in Japan. The narrative plot starts with an immediate twist: you are dead.
There is a chance to get to reincarnation, but to reach it we have to extinguish any form left behind, both on our part and on the part of the unlucky ones who find themselves in the same situation. From this narrative pretext is the adventure for the dungeons that are unlocked sequentially, and at the end of each chapter you will need to find another lost soul to help you get back into other labyrinths of greatest difficulty.
Excess of freedom
If this is all that sounds complex, the game immediately starts with a character editor that gives access to some aesthetic presets, or you can launch your own free hand and draw one pixel at a time to your favorite character. Then go to the class, which brings with it obviously different statistics and types of gameplay, to end with the cadence of the speech.
By interacting with the various entities of the village, you will immediately discover that it is possible to create other characters that will accompany us during the adventure. Creating life with other men will not only serve to test the different classes, but above all to fill the spaces in the Magic Circle.
With this system you can create a training with which your team will move, although in action you will always see and only your character. Depending on the layout chosen, the skills of the various characters, the objects inserted between them, you can unlock the benefits in battle. It’s a complex system that will take you several hours just to be able to come up with a single solution.
Move with pixels
Once in battle, as described above, you control only the protagonist (which can still be easily selected from among our men’s handpiece): Depending on the weapon you choose, there are different hack’n slash declinations. If you are a direct assault person you can take swords and shields to engage in direct collisions, if you are more reflexive you will be able to equip a bow that will attack you from the distance but will let you uncover it without shields. Also in the equipment there is a lot of work to do to try and find the best setting, and with as many combinations as possible you could find the best combination after several hours of play, or you could enjoy all the possibilities offered by the game by testing the different weapons weapons just for the sake of discovering them all.
In general, the structure of the dungeons is dotted with doors to open and traps to dodge, but is always thought to be able to start at the end of a short time. If we take into account the 8bit graphics, certainly style, but not its best on the more modern 4K screens, the enjoyment of Cladun Returns: This is Sengoku! is definitely more rated at PlayStation Vita than PlayStation 4.
