Yet Another Gaming Blog

Pokéyerolls, go!

Reviewed for: Nintendo Switch – Available on: Nintendo Switch, PC

A review code for The Edge of Allegoria was provided by a PR for the purposes of this review. This has not influenced the review in any shape or form. I just thought you should know.

I love Pokémon. I’ve loved it for as long as I’ve known about it. I’ll play every entry as they come out. I’ll play most of the spin-offs. I’ll buy plushes and clothes and generally deck out the flat with those little rascals. It’s a wonderful franchise, really. I do love it.

What I miss, however, is how they felt early on. I’ve got no real issue with the series becoming one that operates in a 3D space, but those top down, 2D, pixel-art centered Game Boy and DS entries certainly hold a special place in mine and many players’ hearts. I’ve long felt either Game Freak, or even another developer, could put together some smaller scale 2D (or HD-2D?) titles, in between the big main-entry releases.

Clearly I’m not alone with this line of thought, and Button Factory Games has taken it upon themselves to fill the gap with The Edge of Allegoria; a top down, 2D, pixel-art centered turn-based RPG that, at first glance, could pass for a release on the original Game Boy. It’s pitched as a Pokémon-like with a more adult tilt. Is this what I’ve been yearning for?

Try To Laugh Challenge

The Edge of Allegoria puts you in the shoes of a hero you can name yourself, alongside your dog (that you can name yourself), and sends you out to do something with your life. You’ll travel from town to town, solving whatever issue is afflicting the townsfolk or its leader, and, more generally, just killing dragons and deities.

If I sound a bit vague, it’s because I am. The story just didn’t catch. At any point. While there’s a wider Gods and Monsters-type tale being told, I’d be lying if I said it really registered. While the individual scenarios afflicting each town was something that kept me engaged, the wider plot got lost, and, by the end, it felt like an obligation to see through rather than something I actively wanted to see unfold.

I feel like a lot of that comes from the game’s voice. When you hear that something is a “more adult take” on a formula, it can go one of two ways; either it’s dark and moody, or it swears. The Dark Knight this is not. The Edge of Allegoria opts for the South Park route. It does not work as well.

I can fully see this hitting with some people. It didn’t for me. There’s only so many times you can read swears seemingly for the sake of it before it starts to grate. When entire game mechanics are built around the idea of being edgy (there’s a minigame where you roll a joint without any instruction whatsoever as to how the mechanics of it work), you start to ask where the joke actually is. Like I said, this will hit with some people. It’s just not for me.

Street Fighter

In the actual game, however, there are some pretty nice ideas. In lieu of a creature-management battle system ala Pokémon, all attacks are made by you. As you make your way across the game’s world, you’ll accumulate weapons which have their own special attacks. As you master each weapon, you can use that attack with another weapon. As with Pokémon, you can build your 4 attacks, and develop battle strategies around them.

It’s not overly in depth, but there is just enough here to make you feel like you need to do a bit more than just spam one attack. Building up chains of attacks that work off each other (one that causes your opponent to bleed, and following it up with one that causes more damage when your opponent is bleeding, for example) can be satisfying, and makes you wish there was a little more of this sort of thing kicking about.

That lack of depth makes playing The Edge of Allegoria something of a chore, and its traversal doesn’t help. Some of the game’s bosses are housed in dungeons, which often require you to hit switches to open doors. There’s not really much more to it than that, though. And, when you finally reach the dungeon master, you’re met with an enemy that feels a little too powerful for where you are. I did appreciate there being something of an in-game difficulty scaling system (after dying to a boss, the same boss will have its level reduced when you return, but the whole process comes across as more annoying than interesting.

It’s a shame, because what The Edge of Allegoria lacks in substance, it makes up for in style. It adopts of the green and black style of the original Game Boy, which just looks lovely, especially on the Switch 2 screen. If you squint even a little bit, you’d be forgiven for mistaking it for a Pokémon, it’s that effective. It passes music class, too, and impressively so. The “shop” theme bangs. Its chip-tune soundtrack plinks and plonks its way into your ears wonderfully. Most impressively, the music flows seamlessly. There are no gaps, the soundtrack moves from one theme to another without a break. It’s a gorgeous listen. 

Conclusion

The Edge of Allegoria will have its audience, I’m just not in it. While it has its moments, there’s just not enough to make up for its grating sense of humour, its largely uninteresting story, and its generally tedious gameplay loop. If you’re looking for something to itch a Pokémon shaped scratch and are still watching South Park or Family Guy religiously, you might get some value from this. For the rest of us, the wait for a 2D Pokémon-like continues.

Featured Image Credit: CobraTekku Games