AeternoBlade (Nintendo 3DS) Review

The story follows Freyja - the sole survivor of an attack on her village - who is on a quest to defeat the villain called Beladim with the aid of a magical sword that can manipulate time, the Aeterno Blade. Much like the rest of the presentation, the story is okay, but nothing special.

The game is split into seven stages, most of which have a particular theme. They are far from linear and feature a lot of branching paths for additional exploration. Navigation is made more convenient by the option to teleport between several checkpoints per level, but the map could use some improvements to make it easier to spot any unexplored areas. Exploration is usually worthwhile, offering additional currency and items to enhance Freyja's abilities. Up to three relics can be equipped at a time and enhanced with additional power-up relics. The effects range from providing boosts to HP or attack power, to more specific functions, such as decreasing the damage taken while rewinding time. Her base stats and attacks can also be upgraded with yellow orbs obtained by defeating enemies or selling spare relics.

The combat is definitely the best part of the game. It starts off fairly basic with simple air, ground and crouch combos, but gets a lot more engaging once additional abilities and attacks are acquired. Regular enemies aren't much of a challenge, but the boss fights are highlights and make up for it. There is a fair amount of puzzles, too, and they involve the three time manipulation abilities of the Aeterno Blade. The first one can be used to rewind time to cheat death and get another chance. The second version is similar, but only affects everything except Freyja, while the third one creates a warp point that the player can warp back to at any moment. All of them consume Mana, so they can't be used indefinitely, despite the fact that it regenerates slowly.

These mechanics are used for some clever puzzles and can be quite useful to have in combat, too, but they're also the source of some frustrations - particularly later in the adventure. The ability to rewind time allows for more trial and error compared to other games, but some segments feel very cheap and frustrating, dragging down what could have otherwise been a pretty good game.