Reverse: 1999
Last updated: 2025-04-10
- Compelling story and well-developed characters.
- Generous and F2P-friendly gacha system.
- Visually stunning and unique art style.
- High-quality English voice acting enhances immersion.
- Engaging card-based battle system.
- Convoluted story and poor translation hinder experience.
Verdict
Mostly positive
Summary
Positive 92% · Negative 8%. Score: 8 / 100
Positives:
- The game excels in its rich narrative, featuring well-developed characters with unique designs, backstories, and motivations. High-quality voice acting, diverse accents, and immersive world-building further enhance the storytelling experience, making it a standout feature.
- The game is praised for its generous gacha system, providing players with ample opportunities to acquire new characters and resources without feeling pressured to spend money. The game is also beginner-friendly and power creep is not a significant concern.
- The game boasts a visually stunning art style, with detailed character designs and animations that are both unique and appealing. The overall aesthetic is consistently praised for its quality and memorability.
- The game features exceptional English voice acting, with diverse accents and native languages that add depth and authenticity to the characters. This enhances immersion and makes the voice acting a standout feature.
- The game features a memorable soundtrack and excellent sound design that complements the story and enhances the overall atmosphere. The music is diverse, fitting various moods and settings within the game.
Negatives:
- Many reviewers found the story convoluted, confusing, and slow-paced, especially in the early chapters. Poor translation quality and overly complex dialogue further exacerbate these issues, hindering player immersion and understanding. The lack of support for multiple languages is also a significant barrier for many players.
- The core gameplay loop is criticized for being boring, repetitive, and lacking depth. Some find the game too easy, while others find it grindy and tedious, especially after the initial stages. The game's heavy reliance on narrative over gameplay may not appeal to all players.
- Character progression is slow, grindy, and requires excessive resources. The power creep of new characters invalidates previous investments, and the game lacks a level sync system, making it difficult to build new characters. This creates a barrier for new players and discourages experimentation.
- The game features a confusing array of currencies and predatory banner practices. Accidental spending on the wrong banners and the presence of 'scam banners' without shared pity systems are major concerns. Some events require specific banner characters, further incentivizing gacha spending.
- The mid-game progression feels like a slog due to resource scarcity and excessive tasks. The game is not free-to-play friendly, and the need to grind daily to progress was a major reason for some players to stop playing.
Gameplay:
- The game incorporates gacha mechanics for character acquisition, with varying degrees of generosity towards free-to-play players. Team composition is crucial, with character rarities ranging from 2 to 6 stars. Weapon acquisition is separate from the gacha system, obtainable through missions and events.
- Character progression involves leveling up, ascending ('Insight'), and configuring stats through 'Resonance.' The absence of an artifact system simplifies character building, focusing on skill upgrades and resource management.
- The game features a story-driven experience presented in a visual novel style, often involving time travel and historical elements. The narrative is generally linear, guiding players through a series of chapters and nodes.
- The game lacks cooperative or competitive player interactions and some reviewers found the gameplay simple or boring. This may not appeal to players seeking social or highly challenging experiences.
- Team composition and character synergy are crucial for success, especially in later content. Some reviewers noted that new characters often have specific mechanics that require other characters to combo and work properly.
Performance:
- The game features a fast and dynamic user interface with smooth menus and quick loading times. This contributes to a fluid and responsive user experience.
- The game is largely bug-free, with reviewers reporting very few technical issues. Some reviewers noted occasional typos, but overall the game appears to be stable and polished.
- The global version of the game is missing some attack effects that were present in other versions. This may detract from the visual experience for some players.
- Frequent loading screens, even if brief, can disrupt the flow of UI interaction, especially when navigating between areas. This issue is lessened on SSDs.
- The game's framerate is unlocked, even though it offers 30/60FPS options. This could lead to inconsistent performance or unexpected behavior on some systems.
Recommendations:
- Many reviewers recommend trying the game, even if you're not usually a fan of gacha games. They highlight its unique qualities and suggest it's worth experiencing to form your own opinion. Some suggest trying it for an hour or two to see if it suits individual preferences.
- The game is recommended for players who enjoy turn-based combat systems that require strategic thinking. Reviewers highlight the blend of visual novel experience with strategic turn-based combat.
- Many reviewers consider this game to be one of the best in the gacha genre. They highlight its unique qualities, story, and gameplay as standing out from other gacha games. Some even recommend it to those who typically dislike gacha games.
- Some reviewers dropped the game due to disappointment with the plot and other issues. One reviewer states they will not return to the game, especially since there are no free character selection tickets offered for returning players.
- The game can be cleared without chasing meta, and players can stick with characters that fit their game style and use strategic thinking to succeed. Tooth Fairy is a very strong healer and the only "must-pull" unit within the game.
Miscellaneous:
- The game features a strange story involving a cataclysmic Storm that reverses time. The protagonist works to stop it, studying different eras as a Timekeeper, with conflict between factions.
- Some reviewers note the game may be targeted towards female audiences and is LGBT-Friendly. One reviewer dislikes the Ouija board aesthetic.
- New character banners are released every few weeks, and after a couple of months, new characters are added to the standard banner. The game has a 50/50 system, with hard pity at pull 80, or 140 if the player loses the 50-50 chance.
- The game is set in an alternate 1900s universe with magic in Europe, America, and other regions. It blends historical fiction elements with magic and time travel, incorporating diverse cultures and traditions.
- The game features a lot of lore and world-building, focusing on the visual novel aspect of it. The art style is beautiful and more artistic than the trendy "moe" style.
