This is one of those circumstances where I’m honestly a little baffled not so much by the state of a game released on the eShop, though there’s room for concern to be certain, as the method. Having played a number of original games that have been followed up by separate DLC, there’s a sensible continuity to things. People who invested in and enjoyed an initial release can then spend a little more coin to return to that same base experience, but with new content and fun to be had. Storms of Time seems to be asking what if you straight-up released DLC as a stand-alone game, and people who never played the original then tried to start out from scratch just with it instead. At least in this case, unfortunately the answer is heavily pointed in a negative direction.

What it feels like, out of the gate, is a bit like being thrown into a meat grinder. You’re given a very rudimentary tutorial to get acquainted with what are honestly pretty terribly mapped and implemented controls for combat. Then from there you’re immediately assaulted by a variety of enemies which will likely wreck you quite a few times as you try to learn how to contend with said poor combat controls and their unusual button mappings. Even when you get past that initial hurdle though you’ll be left with questions like “Why are there platforms around if I don’t have a jump button?” and simply “Is there a story or a reason I’m doing any of this?” I will note that there’s also a roguelike mode included here to try to add some value, but again given that it’s then left to focus pretty well entirely on combat, its value is held back by the relatively weakly-implemented mechanics in that area.

Left with those burning questions I then found out that there was an initial release, one that’s on the Switch eShop, and though I’d still argue the game is buggy and has issues, that sounded like it at least made more sense. This DLC is almost immediately combat focused, what I’m guessing is the game’s worst foot to put forward, while the original appears to be more of an adventure, perhaps capable of glossing over the issues better by having combat only showing up periodically. Getting through that adventure, and then opting in for this add-on for a little more time with it would make sense. Selling this as a distinct release instead though, where people could end up having this be the first and only exposure to this game world? It’s a mess, and a terrible idea.