A Premium Mobile Game Made With Passion - Ex Astris Review

Ex Astris

9.0

RPGSci-fiSingleplayer

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Ex Astris is a $10 premium mobile game developed by Hypergrypgh previously known for developing Arknights. This game does not have any gaccha or in-game micro transaction. It is simply just a single time purchase, single player mobile game.

At the point, Ex Astris is a game I have played on two instances. First at launch and now as of making this review. I thought I would mention this as there are a few improvements I have noticed between launch and now.

Pros:

+ No gaccha & micro transactions
+ Offline mode is available (after the first account synchronization)
+ Unique blend of turn based & action combat
+ Improved tutorial with better explanation of crowd control application and combo building
+ Overall an immersive story based mobile game
+ Better game performance (since launch of the game)

Cons:

- Localization can be better
- Lip syncing can be off
- Not much (if at all) replayability after done with a playthrough
- Story is ultimately bit barebones & alot of context and info are given in descriptions

TECHNICAL PERFORMANCE
I played Ex Astris on a phone with Snapdragon 750g Octa-core 12 GB RAM. This phone is between the minimum and recommended specs for the game. I was able to have a smooth gameplay experience at 30 FPS with medium resolution, medium character model details, TAA on performance and everything else at low. With these settings, the game did not crash and ran smoothly all the way. I did not experience any abnormal heating issues and could play the game for atleast 6 hours before my phone needed charging.

One thing I want to note is that when I played the game at launch, I met some FPS drop and stuttering in certain areas such as the Trade Zone. I am very happy to report I did not experience these issues while playing the game this time around.

GAMEPLAY
Ex Astris has a unique blend of turn based and action combat which makes the typical turn based combat model alot less stale and more reactive.

Defense: While you do take turns, you have the window to parry your opponents attacks and skills as you enter a "defensive stance" during the enemies turn. There are some enemy skills that will require you to switch your "defending character" which are either indicated as red or blue. For example, Yan can block red enemy skills and Vi can block blue enemy skills. These can come out unexpectedly and may even be stringed within basic attack combos to keep you on your toes.

Attack: Unlike typical turn based games, you can build combos between three characters in a combat scenario. Each character (at endgame) can equip a total of 6 skills divided evenly between two skill sets (which you can switch between before making the first move in a turn). Skills cost AP (action point) and you usually start with 1 AP however you can build up a combo by applying crowd control that sets up and leads into another. For example you can start with a skill that restores 1 AP upon use and apply "knockdown". Followed up by a skill that does "downed strike" as hitting a "knocked down" enemy with "downed strike" will restore 1 AP, allowing you to use another skill. That is just a very very basic combo and there are numerous crowd controls that can be applied on enemies. Trying to explain every possible combination here would frankly be overwhelming for someone that hasn't played the game (i.e you) to wrap their head around it.

TLDR: an enjoyable and fresh take on the Turn Based combat system mixed with action elements

CONLCUSION
Ex Astris is undeniably very much an passion project pursued by Hypergrypgh to break out of the gaccha market. Objectively speaking, this is just a very "OK" game but I simply want to applaud them for taking the chance and seeing this project through to the end. Games like these don't make millions unlike gaccha games however through the in-game arts and infographics, I can see that alot of love and effort was put into the world building. There is alot of potential with this IP especially since it revolves around the concept of a world in perpetual reset and renewal. I hope the developers get to build upon this IP or make more and better games like this in the future.

Initially I planned to give the game a 3/5 but the passion put into the world building, architectural & item designs and combat system impelled me to bump it up to a 4/5.

GameRecommendation