FREEDOM WARS Remastered Review Summary

Enjoyable gameplay, excellent Steam Deck performance, and online multiplayer are undermined by an unfinished story, poor controls, and frequent freezes and stutters.

Fun and enjoyable gameplay: Many reviewers describe the game as very fun, good, and an enjoyable action experience. The core loop is engaging.

Loved on PS Vita: Reviewers express strong affection for the game on PS Vita, calling it excellent and a favorite. The port retains that appeal.

Enjoyable combat system: Combat is fun and feels better than the original, with a variety of weapons and playstyles to enjoy.

Excellent Steam Deck performance: The game runs well on Steam Deck, hitting a stable 60 fps with no reported issues. This makes it a great portable option.

Versatile Thorn tool praised: The Thorn serves as a grappling hook, movement aid, weapon, and safety rope, and can latch onto walls, platforms, and enemies. Its multiple uses are highly appreciated.

Unfinished and incomplete story: Many players report that the storyline is unfinished or incomplete, with unresolved plot threads. This is a recurring complaint across multiple clusters.

Poor controls: Controls are described as horrible, sticky, and dated, with terrible keyboard and mouse implementation. This significantly holds the game back.

Abrupt cliffhanger ending: The story ends abruptly on a cliffhanger, and no sequel has been made to conclude it. Players find the ending unsatisfying and incomplete.

Bad English voice acting: English voice acting is underbaked, with mispronounced words and poor quality. TTS voices on AI characters are also horrible and constantly mispronounce words.

Frequent freezes: Players experience frequent freezes during playthroughs, with many reporting multiple freezes and related problems.

Online multiplayer supported: The game includes online multiplayer with matchmaking, allowing players to team up with friends. This is a core feature highlighted across multiple clusters.

Monster Hunter style hunting: Players describe the game as a hunting action RPG similar to Monster Hunter, focusing on hunting large monsters or Abductors. The comparison is frequent and central to the game's identity.

Thorn grappling system: A grappling whip called the Thorn allows players to latch onto enemies, reposition quickly, and interact with the environment. It resembles a vertical maneuvering device and is used for movement and combat.

Character customization options: The game offers character customization including hairstyles, clothing, stickers, and a partner character creator. Customization is a notable feature for personalizing appearance.

Co-op hunting gameplay: Cooperative play is a core mode, with missions designed for teaming up to hunt Abductors. This reinforces the multiplayer and hunting aspects.

Frequent freezes and stutters: The game frequently freezes for several seconds during gameplay, menu operations, and loading screens. Micro-stutters and frame drops are also common.

Crashes and stuttering on PC: Many players report crashes to desktop, stuttering, and performance issues on Windows PCs. Problems occur across various hardware configurations, including high-end systems.

Launch failures and infinite loading: Multiple users cannot launch the game due to errors, black screens, or infinite loading. Workarounds like running as administrator sometimes help.

Optimization and framerate problems: The game suffers from poor optimization, with inconsistent framerates ranging from 200 FPS to 12 FPS, and drops to 0 FPS. Performance is especially bad on max settings at 4K.

Easy Anti-Cheat causes issues: Easy Anti-Cheat is linked to launch failures, false flagging, save data resets, and performance drops. Some players fix freezes by disabling EAC or adjusting processor affinity.

Buy only on sale: Many reviewers consistently state the game is not worth full price and recommend waiting for a discount, often specifying 30-50% off. The high volume of sale-focused feedback makes this a dominant purchase recommendation.

For Monster Hunter and God Eater fans: Reviewers frequently position the game as appealing to fans of Monster Hunter-likes, particularly older titles or God Eater. However, some suggest playing those alternatives instead of this game.

Technical issues and instability: Multiple reviewers report performance problems, freeze bugs, anti-cheat issues, and general instability that make the game unplayable or hard to recommend. Some have refunded due to these issues and advise waiting for fixes.

Mixed overall recommendation: While some reviewers wholeheartedly recommend the game, others give a qualified recommendation or advise against buying it altogether. The overall sentiment is split, with many conditional recommendations.

Not for everyone: Reviewers repeatedly caution that the game has niche appeal and is not for everyone, recommending trying a demo or having low expectations. It is often described as only for specific tastes such as masochistic or retro game fans.

Community fair range: $15.00 - $30.00.

Game completion: 75.0h.

Story completion: 20.0h.

Players often praise the nostalgic mission loop and online co-op, but repetition, dead multiplayer, and fading novelty make the experience less fun as it goes on. Early story pacing and gated options add friction for some.

Friction: Early story pacing drags; Japanese voice acting gated behind tutorial progress; Mobile-centric design causes pacing to drag; Dead online multiplayer; Repetitive mission and grind loop; Inventory system discourages experimentation.

Unlock drivers: Online co-op with friends; Mission variety; Weapon customization and experimentation; Persistent progression goals.

Vita Nostalgia Veteran: Plays through the campaign and familiar missions while comparing changes against the PS Vita original. Motivation: Relive and support the original Freedom Wars experience in a modernized port. Stance: buy.

Online Co-op Hunter: Queues for online co-op missions, mixes in casual PvP, and farms endgame content with groups. Motivation: Team up with other players for shared missions and the social multiplayer loop. Stance: sale.

Monster-Hunting Genre Fan: Runs repeat missions to hunt giant robotic creatures, grinds weapon materials, and optimizes loadouts. Motivation: Chase the hunting, crafting, and build-progression loop familiar from Monster Hunter-style games. Stance: buy.

Steam Deck: Steam Deck feedback is mixed but mostly playable: several users report stable 60 fps, good performance, and no crashes, while others note performance quirks, low-settings compromises, and occasional freezes with save-loss risk. The largest technical barrier in the dataset is Easy Anti-Cheat failure, including persistent launch errors and crashes that common workarounds do not resolve. No clear evidence of external launcher friction or battery-drain complaints appears in the reviews.

Linux and Proton: Linux/Steam Deck feedback is mostly positive: several users report that the game runs well on Steam Deck, and some specifically report no crashes or technical issues. However, there are isolated reports of crashes or freezes, performance quirks, and one user for whom compatibility mode, Easy Anti-Cheat bypasses, and manual workarounds all failed. There is no clear evidence of a repeated Proton Experimental/GE requirement or a broad Linux launch failure.

External guides: The feedback centers on wiki reliance for irreversible choices and complex game systems, with some mention that improvements make the game easier to play. There is no meaningful evidence of farming, drop-rate, inventory, crafting, navigation, or bug-related external data dependency. The primary Wiki Tax is therefore instructional: users need guidance to understand systems and avoid missable or irreversible content.

Remaster of PS Vita: The game is a remaster of a PlayStation Vita title originally released in 2014, now ported to PC and other platforms.

Remaster of 10-year-old game: The game is a remaster of a title originally released over ten years ago on a handheld console.

Compared to Monster Hunter: Reviewers compare the game to Monster Hunter, God Eater, and Toukiden as similar hunting games.

Works well on Steam Deck: The game runs great and is playable on Steam Deck.

Text-to-speech voice acting: The localization uses text-to-voice rather than full AI voice acting, similar to the original.