- Save the rest of humanity with the true Animus
- Collect super frigid characters with ultra frigid powers
- Sneak past enemies because you’re stealthy
Welcome to Ahead of the Game, a series in which we talk about an upcoming game that, although not yet released, is available to play at the time of publication. With this series, you can get the chance to play games well before their release date, whether through supple launch, open beta, demos and more.
There’s no shortage of post-apocalyptic adventures in JRPGs, and Etheria: Restart is no exception. You assume some sort of power and it’s your job to lead a team of true warriors to save what’s left of the human race.
I initially thought that the upcoming XD offering would be another typical anime style gacha hijack, but after reading the first two chapters I realized that this is not the case at all.
First of all, the animation here is simply outstanding, with cinematic cutscenes (powered by Unreal Engine!) and fully voiced dialogue that mirrors triple-A counterparts in the same genre. Secondly, the characters are wonderfully designed and all too attractive to collect, which means you may have to say goodbye to budget constraints after the official release.
Yes, the characters are anime-inspired, and yes, this isn’t the first game to incorporate Bizarre Adventure Stands ala-JoJo into its hero lineup. But my God, the projects – the list looks amazing and finally, there are super frigid husbands on it from the very beginning.
HUSBANDS! That’s a pretty uncommon thing when it comes to mobile gacha RPGs, so when you add in Anima’s powers, which manifest in the form of giant phoenixes and menacing grim reapers, how can I resist the literal pull of gacha?
Before you think it’s all about aesthetics, the gameplay is also quite intriguing – it’s not an open-world adventure, but it does give you the freedom to move through different chapters and levels, with a quirky mechanic for sneaking past enemies. You can hide around corners, run up to unsuspecting corrupt creatures, and ambush them if you want.
Combat is turn-based (I’m afraid there’s no escaping automatic combat here), and you can operate strategic skills to turn the tide of battle in your favor.
In many ways it reminds me a lot of Honkai: Star Rail (at least the game I played when it was first released), and considering how the HoYoverse series has skyrocketed exponentially, I think it’s unthreatening to say that things are looking good for the virtual world of Etheria.
So how do you play Etheria: Reboot?
Etheria: Reboot has officially launched in select Android regions, but if you don’t find it in your app store, don’t worry – the global closed beta is currently running until January 20. This means it may not be too long before we see an official global launch, but until then you’ll need to pre-register on the website official website to join the fight.
