Edge of Eternity Review – A Corroded Experience (PS5)

Edge of Eternity is a game that released on the PC back in 2021 from developer Midgar Studio. With an old-school JRPG feel and big scale, it had all the makings of a really solid romp. However, looks aren’t everything and its release on PS5 and PS4 is a bit tougher to swallow than it should be.

Edge of Eternity drops you into a world where a disease called the Corrosion is eating away at people’s bodies. Players take on the role of Daryon and Selene, as the two go on a mission to find a cure and in the process, heal their mother who is suffering. The core idea of the story is a good one and plays out very well in spurts, giving you just enough to get invested in, while simultaneously speed walking through other parts and leaving you kind of confused.

Daryon and Selene are actually solid enough characters, with Daryon getting in some really comical lines that feel out of place but work to break up the serious atmosphere. Having said that, none of the other characters outside of them are very good and while the story of the corrosion was a great idea, it never builds upon it, with almost zero tension to found. I generally never found myself invested much in the trials of this world and what was the cause of the corrosion because the game never made me care.

A big, barren world

There is a lot to explore in the world of Edge of Eternity, as the world you can travel around is rather large. This is nice for those who enjoy a lovely jaunt through the countryside, but there really isn’t much to look at here. There are some scatterings of enemies to be found, though more often than not they were found on accident as I didn’t see them until I ran upon them. If you don’t feel like running, you can get a mount to ride on or unlock various points on the map to teleport to.

I started this review and specifically this part of exploration with a big burr in my boot, as apparently the game started me on immersive mode, which basically killed enemy names and levels, took away NPC markers, and all other various ridiculous moves. Once finally removing that, the exploration did get a lot better, but it also added to my frustration as the names and levels of those enemies on the field blended in far too often with the environment and the color used above NPCs was a tad hard to see at times.

Things in-game being hard to see is a routine problem. The menu to look at quests specifically is about the size of an ant, meaning I spent a lot of time destroying social distance mandates to get closer to my TV and read a darn quest. This same sort of issue popped up in many towns as all the vendors were placed next to each other, causing a yellow blob on my mini-map, which you can’t zoom into for some reason. T

here was also no real explanation on the various vendors (far too many here it feels like per town), nor the benches where you can merge gemstones, build new weapons, etc. There is also a night and day system here, which I was told served a purpose but I have yet to see anything other than it being even harder to spot things at night.

Combat boredom

So the exploration is rather a mess and the story is very hit or miss. This means the combat has to be the show, right? Sadly this is just another part of the game that just sort of goes through the motions. There is nothing overall bad about the combat, it just doesn’t really do anything special. The active-time Battles take place on hex grids and feature plenty of strategy with things such as turrets littering the battlefield.  There are back attacks, magic, the whole nine yards, but it’s just not fun and made even worse by possibly the worst cameras I have experienced in a long time. Yes, you can move the camera around, but it just doesn’t feel fluid.

Each character in your party can have up to 4 items equipped for use during battle. Things such as traps, potions, and others. Each one also can have up to four magic attacks they can use, which become available as you equip different gemstones to your character. These stones add to attributes while also unlocking various different spells and special moves. Battles will also feature special conditions that you can meet, such as killing a certain enemy last, which will grant you additional rewards. XP is also earned not just by the characters in your party, but also their weapons.

The sounds and shapes

Outside of combat, the world itself is pretty, with wonderful-looking structures far off in the distance looking great, but stuff up close less so. Voice acting is actually fairly strong for most of the characters, but a lot of what is being said feels forced. The soundtrack is another aspect that I didn’t think was bad, but never made a huge impression.

At the end of the day, Edge of Eternity just sort of is. There is nothing really memorable here, just a bunch of ideas that don’t really deliver much of a kick. The UI is just disastrous, turning any task into a kick in the privates and the combat is just flat, with nothing really exciting about it.  The basic premise of the story is strong enough and the characters aren’t horrible, but the dialogue felt rushed far too often. Edge of Eternity as a game is something that I played, but I can’t say I really enjoyed much of it. It’s a big world sure, but there is not a lot to fill it up, leaving a lot of empty space. It’s not the worst game out there and that’s really the best you can say about it.

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