Nine Parchments (Nintendo Switch) Review

The core gameplay mechanic of Nine Parchments is that of a twin-stick action title. The controls work very well and feel natural for this kind of experience, with several people playing locally. Everyone has a basic melee attack and then has a selection of elemental spells that can operate differently. Some are more rapid-fire, others are tossed slowly like a grenade and one might even function like a shotgun blast. Since the enemies are often elementally coded, it is always important to use the right spell for the right enemy and since spells do run out of MP quickly and need to recharge, expect to take evasive action. This is mostly balanced for multiplayer, so when solo, expect to run around a lot while MP is recharging. In a team, this is less likely to happen. One thing worth mentioning is that the Switch struggles to maintain a stable frame-rate when the battlefield is exploding with magic. Nine Parchments's stability tends to tank pretty hard in the multiplayer modes. It is perfectly playable on the Switch, but it is not the smoothest option available.

The game cycle of Nine Parchments could not be more basic: run through the level, kill everything that moves, collectibles are optional. This is disappointing since every stage plays more or less the same. The scenery will differ, the path will vary but overall every level follows a very linear formula. The original Gauntlet Legends sometimes tasked arcade patrons to find a key hidden in the level or to hit switches, so why does Nine Parchments have to be so brain dead simple? Anyone who wants to collect all the feathers will get annoyed by how bridges will crumble preventing any backtracking for missed items. This was likely a technical bottleneck for the game so that past areas didn't need to be loaded to keep the running relatively smoothly; a price to pay for pretty visuals.

This is designed mostly for fans of multiplayer and not RPGs, so don't be fooled. Much of the loot is superficial and the skill tree is very basic. There are no shops or money to collect. There are no side-quests, unless if picking up worthless collectibles count. This is a party twin-stick action game first, with some glitzy RPG paint on it.

The core gameplay mechanic of Nine Parchments is that of a twin-stick action title. The controls work very well and feel natural for this kind of experience, with several people playing locally. Everyone has a basic melee attack and then has a selection of elemental spells that can operate differently. Some are more rapid-fire, others are tossed slowly like a grenade and one might even function like a shotgun blast. Since the enemies are often elementally coded, it is always important to use the right spell for the right enemy and since spells do run out of MP quickly and need to recharge, expect to take evasive action. This is mostly balanced for multiplayer, so when solo, expect to run around a lot while MP is recharging. In a team, this is less likely to happen. One thing worth mentioning is that the Switch struggles to maintain a stable frame-rate when the battlefield is exploding with magic. Nine Parchments's stability tends to tank pretty hard in the multiplayer modes. It is perfectly playable on the Switch, but it is not the smoothest option available.

The game cycle of Nine Parchments could not be more basic: run through the level, kill everything that moves, collectibles are optional. This is disappointing since every stage plays more or less the same. The scenery will differ, the path will vary but overall every level follows a very linear formula. The original Gauntlet Legends sometimes tasked arcade patrons to find a key hidden in the level or to hit switches, so why does Nine Parchments have to be so brain dead simple? Anyone who wants to collect all the feathers will get annoyed by how bridges will crumble preventing any backtracking for missed items. This was likely a technical bottleneck for the game so that past areas didn't need to be loaded to keep the running relatively smoothly; a price to pay for pretty visuals.

This is designed mostly for fans of multiplayer and not RPGs, so don't be fooled. Much of the loot is superficial and the skill tree is very basic. There are no shops or money to collect. There are no side-quests, unless if picking up worthless collectibles count. This is a party twin-stick action game first, with some glitzy RPG paint on it.