A gacha with fluid visuals and an action-packed gameplay | Full Review - Aether Gazer
Aether Gazer is a hack-and-slash ARPG game available for Android and iOS, featuring gacha elements driven by a compelling, fully voiced narrative.
🟩Pros
+Visually stunning with a colorful and cel-shaded art style
+Full voice-acting, and in English
+Fluid and action-packed combat system
+Smooth and responsive controls
+F2P friendly experience
🟥Cons
-Combat gets repetitive after a while
-Confusing terminology for newcomers
Aether Gazer is a Action RPG gacha game set in a virtual world where humans have transcended into after a catastrophic war and have since forgotten their true origins. Players take on the role of the administrator of “Aether Gazer''. Fighters called Modifiers are tasked to protect this virtual world from corrupted beings called Visbanes.
The game offers a visually stunning and vibrant game world inspired by anime and fantasy aesthetics. The game adopts a colorful and cel-shaded art style with the environments and characters. The art direction embraces a mix of fantasy, futuristic, and anime elements, creating a visually appealing and over-the-top experience.
The majority of the game is fully voiced in English, which speaks highly of the game's production value, unlike other games that rely solely on text-based dialogue. It also features awesome EDM music that keeps players pumped during gameplay. I did encounter some issues with the sound, with voice lines and music overlapping each other when skipped, however much of it has been fixed immediately with a recent patch.
Aether Gazer offers a wide array of playable characters to collect, each with their unique designs, personalities, and abilities. With all the waifu games coming out lately, it’s worth noting that this is not one of them, as it also features male characters to collect. The characters are beautifully designed with anime-inspired art style, featuring elaborate costumes, expressive facial features, and eye-catching animations.
As said earlier, these fighter characters are called Modifiers, and are obtained by playing the game and through a gacha system. You can upgrade these characters in a traditional RPG system commonly seen in mobile gacha games, but the terminologies used may get confusing and hard to grasp at first. Simply put, it isn’t very engaging as a new player experience, for example: Characters are instead called Modifiers, weapons are called Access Keys, perks are called Codes, magic items are called Sigils, etc. However, once you get past this minor barrier, the game is actually intuitive when it comes to the menus and the progression system.
The combat in Aether Gazer combines real-time hack and slash action with role-based abilities and strategic team compositions. The game features fluid and dynamic animations that bring the characters and their abilities to life, effectively capturing the over-the-top kinetic feel of anime. Each character's attacks, skills, and ultimate abilities are visually distinct and impactful, providing a sense of weight and power during combat. The on-screen touch controls of the game are also commendable, as they are smooth and responsive.
Characters have access to normal attacks, which can be chained into combos, as well as abilities for more powerful strikes or support spells. There is a slight skill-based element to the game, particularly in how you utilize your abilities and employ the dodge mechanic, which slows down the game when executed perfectly. Combining the character’s different abilities allows you to unleash devastating combos and deal increased damage to enemies.
Before the start of missions, you have the option to select up to three characters to accompany you and designate a team leader whom you will control. Different characters will possess unique synergies with each other, particularly in terms of how the team's ultimate skill is activated. You can advance through various chapters, completing missions one at a time. However, it's worth noting that these missions primarily consist of countless battles against enemies,with no exploration, platforming, or anything else going on. As a result, the combat in the game can become monotonous over time, even if you attempt to switch characters for variety. This sense of repetition is further exacerbated by the absence of an auto-combat feature.
Ultimately, progression in the game boils down to your character's level, stats, and slightly, the extent of your skill. You can level up your character, enhance their tier level through transcendence, and upgrade their skills, abilities, perks, and stats, to be able to progress into higher missions. Naturally, there is the option to spend money to expedite your progress and gain an advantage more rapidly.
As a gacha game, it includes familiar features like login bonuses, weekly events, grinding game modes, premium currency, and a generous energy system to limit play — nothing out of the ordinary. However, as a free-to-play experience, I find the game highly enjoyable, especially if you have a genuine appreciation for the fluid combat mechanics and are willing to invest more time and embrace the added challenge that comes from playing F2P.
Aether Gazer features partial controller support, with the game working properly when I tested it with an Xbox Wireless Controller. You even have the ability to customize button and stick configurations to suit your preferences. However, it lacks button prompts in the user interface, does not hide the on-screen touch controls, and still necessitates the use of the touchscreen for navigation.
Conclusion:
Aether Gazer is a visually stunning hack and slash gacha ARPG in a rich virtual world with its striking anime art style, kinetic combat, and free to play friendly mechanics. While it may have some minor flaws, Aether Gazer's visual quality, production values, and intense combat may make it a worthwhile adventure for fans of action-oriented gacha RPGs. If you prefer directly controlling your characters in an action-packed hack and slash gameplay, instead of the usual auto-combat and idle gameplay, this game is worth a try.
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