It’s no secret that Sword Art Online is one of the biggest light novel series out there, with over 30 million copies sold as of 2022. Since its debut in 2009, the series has cemented itself as one of the most popular adventure sci-fi series out there, with popularity only growing with each passing year. Beyond the light novel, SAO has gone on to receive a massive and widely popular anime adaptation from A1-Pictures. A total of 96 episodes have released since 2012, with a handful of films and spin-off series to boot. In addition to anime, over ten video games have been released, with Bandai Namco largely leading the charge on publishing. In short, Sword Art Online is extremely popular—and for good reason.
I first stumbled upon the series years ago after learning about it through social media and online forums. While it undoubtedly has its flaws, Sword Art Online is a series I love. The gripping story, immersive worldbuilding, and standout anime have kept me hooked for years, and I’m always happy to experience any piece of this franchise. Currently, the anime is on hold while A-1 Productions develops a new original film that will likely link directly to Season 4. Despite this, a new SAO experience is still available for fans in 2024: Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream.
A new SAO game so soon after Last Recollection was not on my 2024 bingo card, but Bandai Namco and developer Dimps surprised us all with the announcement of Fractured Daydream in February. Eight months later, the game is now available, and so much separates this release from any previous SAO title. While there are certainly shortcomings, Fractured Daydream is the best game in the series since Fatal Bullet. There is a lot to love, but it’s important for new fans to understand what they are walking into.
A New Frontier
Fractured Daydream is similar yet different to previous SAO titles. When starting the game, a very strange character dynamic between Kirito and Quinella is displayed, throwing everything you know of the story thus far out the window. It’s revealed that the world of ALO has been injected with a new system called Galaxia, which brings forth memories of the past and manifests them into ALO. This is why we can interact with Quinella, whose existence within ALO is unexplainable.
Throughout the story, you will encounter various characters from the series and experience all kinds of mayhem. Interactions once never thought possible play out before your eyes, and Fractured Daydream does not shy away from some wild team-ups. Characters who once faced off to the death with Kirito now join forces to restore ALO back to normal.
As a longtime fan of the series, this story mode was nothing short of a treat. I never thought I’d see characters like Quinella appear in the fashion she does, but Fractured Daydream makes the impossible possible. With so many of the games focusing in on the original storyline, it was refreshing to see a new and original take from Dimps. This narrative plays out over a total of five chapters, with each offering a variety of main and side quests to take on.
I don’t think this story will resonate with all fans, though. It is not super complex, merely dragging you along through scripted cutscenes and a few bosses here and there. Moreover, it’s easy to see how some might perceive this as ‘filler’—no substantive character development really happens. This is simply a fan service mashup with the series’ entire roster of characters. Maybe it’s just my yearning for more SAO content, but I very much so enjoyed the mode despite these issues.
Upon loading into the character select screen, you’ll find over 20 characters across six different classes. Of course, Kirito Asuna, Leafa, and the rest of the main characters are here. There are even more niche picks like Yuuki, and you can play as villains like Death Gun or Oberon. Plus, Quinella, Eiji, and Yuna even appear as playable characters! I was not expecting a roster this diverse, especially with the niche picks available. Sword Art Online has dozens of characters who appear across the series, and it was great to see some of these fan favorites be playable, receiving the same amount of care as the main characters.
Every single one of these characters offers a unique move set and weaponry to test out. I had a ton of fun experimenting with different party combinations and seeing what worked best against different enemies. With some characters using swords and others utilizing guns, your approach to combat can quickly change, so it’s essential that you carefully select your party around this. Characters have a variety of skills and abilities, including four select abilities on a cooldown and an ultimate attack. These deal massive damage and can wipe away hordes of enemies in a hurry.
One gripe I have with these abilities is that you can’t switch them around and experiment with new combinations. You’re stuck with the fixed abilities you get at the start with each character, and that can get dull over time, especially if you plan on only sticking with one or two characters throughout. Another issue that popped up involved the lock-on camera, which just felt inconsistent at times. This certainly isn’t a deal breaker, as you can easily move the camera with the right stick in a hurry, but it is something that can be annoying when dealing with hordes of enemies.
Overall, gameplay in Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream is fun. I will not sit here and praise it as something evolutionary for the action genre, but it is more than serviceable and fun to play. Once you peel back the story mode, though, the gameplay begins to truly open up with the new multiplayer features.
Multiplayer Madness
The true star of the show here is the multiplayer elements found in the game. As many others have pointed out, Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream acts very similarly to Granblue Fantasy: Relink, as you can unlock multiplayer features to squad up with your friends. While previous games have experimented with co-op and multiplayer offerings, it’s clear that Fractured Daydream is a step above the rest, making tremendous strides overall.
The single-player content for the game really stops once you finish off the story quests. Multiplayer modes open up with two main offerings. The first is Co-Op Quest, which puts you with 20 other players to complete a string of quests and bosses. Secondly, you have Free Roam, where you can explore the various game worlds with other players and grind levels or collectibles. There is also a mode that allows you to tackle a boss in a “raid” type setting alongside 20 other players called Boss Raid. Unfortunately, I found this mode to be mostly lacking, which is a shame considering all the unique boss designs throughout the series.
With such a massive expansion of multiplayer content from prior entries, is this enough to differentiate the game? I’d say somewhat. SAO has never received a true MMO experience on consoles despite most of the games having a few multiplayer modes. Fractured Daydream, however, feels like the first step in that direction. It’s nowhere near perfect, but it’s the piece of this game that truly kept me engaged.
I received a code for Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream on release day, but I decided to wait a few weeks before finalizing this review for one reason: player retention. As of now, the game is averaging around 2,000 concurrent players a day on Steam. That number peaked at 12,290 players on launch weekend. For new users just now joining the community, you can’t help but wonder how much longer a sizeable online player base will exist.
I’ve already begun experiencing lobbies that are filled primarily with bots, maybe offering one or two active online players alongside myself. This is highly concerning for a title primarily focused on online modes. While the AI in the game is actually quite competent, it takes away from the modes that are supposed to be about collaborating with others around the world.
Fractured Daydream is a joy to play, whether playing online or alone, but the online element truthfully gives this SAO game that extra oomph for me. The most fun I had with the game was tackling major bosses with others or simply grinding away levels with friends. Despite this, I have a hard time seeing the longevity of this mode, both in player count and personal enjoyment. If the player count continues to dwindle rapidly, it won’t be long before finding even four players in a lobby becomes a challenge.
The Shortcomings Become Obvious Quickly
Despite hitting many boxes, Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream isn’t perfect. One of my biggest gripes with the game is its level design—it’s far too open. With each story level, you have access to a massive area that’s filled with enemies, chests, and more. This sounds great, but there’s not enough variety to keep things interesting after the first few quest cycles.
The same can be said for enemies. Now, I was personally fine with the smaller list of enemies considering the nature of this game, but I think it’s worth pointing out that you should not expect to see dozens and dozens of enemy types. Generally, the same few appear throughout each level, minus bosses and mini-bosses.
Speaking of, these bosses are all really fun to fight against. Dimps did a great job at capturing the scale of everything, so it’s not uncommon to find an enemy that is towering stories above the party. While I was not too big on the Boss Raid mode, the bosses themselves were great. Almost every story quest also ends with a boss fight, so these are common enough to keep you on your feet.
Additionally, I was not too big of a fan of collectibles. Chests are sort of just scattered throughout these vast open areas, requiring you to best a few enemies in the area to have an opening to open the chest. This formulaic approach got old quickly, especially as I opened dozens of chests after just a few minutes of playing. Changing things up and offering a solution other than just chests could have gone a long way.
Finally, I do want to touch on the leveling system. While you have a standard rank that levels up as you progress, every single character has their individual level, too. Leveling up is something that takes quite a bit of time, and even after 40 hours of playtime, I feel like some of my characters barely progressed despite significant time investments. In a future update, I would like to see Dimps increase the amount of XP earned from defeating each enemy or streamline the leveling process to be less of a grind.
Sword Art Online has never truly had an MMO release, as aforementioned. We’ve seen multiplayer elements over the years, but Fractured Daydream is the closest thing we’ve gotten to a true MMO-type game. This falls in line with SAO more than most of the other titles, but some of the issues here are going to be too hard for players to ignore. In this sense, Fractured Daydream unfortunately falls short of this amazing concept.
A Fractured But Somewhat Fulfilling Release
Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream is arguably the ultimate SAO game. Each arc of the anime is fully explored, including spin-offs like GGO. Bandai is planning to support the game for the considerable future, with one wave of DLC already released! For those searching for more story content, that will come with each of these waves. However, it’s unclear whether this will resolve the dwindling player count across the board.
For new fans, I cannot help but feel like Fractured Daydream will be a challenge to jump into for the reasons I’ve outlined throughout this review. If you’ve never experienced the world of Sword Art Online before, do yourself a favor and watch the anime and/or read the light novel. Not only are these both incredible experiences, but they will set up Fractured Daydream to be far more hard-hitting than it ever could be for a beginner.
Overall, Fractured Daydream is nothing short of a love letter to both the SAO games of the past and the series as a whole. While I wish it had more to give with its multiplayer modes and level design, the game is a good experience that is a step in the right direction for the series. I do have a hard time recommending Fractured Daydream to new or casual fans, but I think hardcore fans have plenty to look forward to here, even if some elements could be better. Coming off of the release of Last Recollection from Aquria, I wasn’t sure if we’d ever get back to the roots of SAO games like Fatal Bullet or Hollow Realization. That doubt was washed away with Fractured Daydream, and it feels like the future is brighter than ever for Sword Art Online video games. Let’s just hope the next one fully realizes the vision that Fractured Daydream attempted to capture.
Disclaimer: Bandai Namco provided Final Weapon with a PlayStation 5 copy of Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream for review purposes.
