I’ve always wanted to get into Edens Zero, especially as Hiro Mashima’s Rave Master was the first manga I ever read, but I never got around to it. Fortunately, Konami’s video game adaptation of Edens Zero is created with novices in mind, as it follows the events of the original story. This review seemed like the perfect opportunity for a complete newbie like myself to check out what all the fuss is about and to see if this is truly a good entry point for beginners. Twenty hours later, I would still consider myself a newcomer to the franchise, but I had a great time with the game, even if it took a few hours for the action to warm up.
A Grand Story Awaits
Edens Zero is an action RPG that is split into two game modes that overlap with each other. But as you need to start the story mode before you can unlock the other, let’s delve into this aspect first. The story follows Shiki, a spirited young boy who has spent his entire life on the planet Granbell surrounded by androids. His idle life takes a dramatic turn when he meets a fellow human for the first time, a video content creator (known as a B-Cuber), Rebecca, accompanied by her feline companion. After a dramatic chain of events, Shiki and Rebecca embark on a bold departure into space, dreaming of grand adventures while hoping to create a few viral videos along the way.
Overall, the story features a strong cast of characters with a healthy blend of comedy and action, which you would expect from a Shonen show. The story progression felt very fast-paced at times, but nothing too extreme or dramatic that it became difficult to follow. However, I don’t doubt for a second that the manga/anime has far more nuance in explaining why certain events or actions occur. The two main protagonists also share great chemistry, as their personalities complement each other, delivering both comedic and heartfelt moments incredibly well. Shiki’s whimsical and optimistic attitude instantly makes you feel connected to him, and he will probably be most people’s favourite character. My only minor critique is that, if you’re familiar with Hiro Mashima’s previous works, you’ll notice that many of the characters feel recycled from Fairy Tail, so you may be able to anticipate some characters’ personalities before getting to know them.
The makeup of the story mode is very straightforward. You’ll be transported to a new location, usually a new planet related to the narrative, and then travel to specific areas on the map while fighting low-life criminals in random encounter battles. Once you reach the location, a cutscene will then commence, where you’ll either fight a horde of enemies or take on a boss battle. This is then usually rinsed and repeated until the chapter is concluded. This basic gameplay loop is not necessarily a problem in itself, but the world sometimes feels a bit empty, which makes the gameplay repetitive. There are chests to open and collectable food items to pick up, but besides that, there’s not that much else going on. It might sound like an obvious statement to say, but you really are playing for the story when you pick this mode.
Ether-Fueled Fun That Takes A While to Warm Up
The combat is a little bit rough around the edges, but I would say there are more admirable characteristics than bad. It adopts the Musou format, where you will have to defeat several clusters of foes, usually ranging from six to twenty opponents, before you can finish the battle. Admittedly, the bombardment of enemies does not compare to Dynasty Warriors or One Piece: Pirate Warriors, where there are literally dozens of enemies charging at you. However, there is a healthy difficulty spike later on in the campaign, and if you’re not careful, you can easily be caught off guard and get knocked out by all the enemies charging at you.
Most characters possess an Ether Gear, which enables them to manipulate their energy through their body (known as Ether) and utilise it as a form of power in the physical realm. Think of it as Edens Zero’s form of magic. This gives the cast a distinctive fighting style, which translates well into the combat system. The first character you gain access to is Shiki, who possesses the power of gravity. This allows him to specialise in close-quarters attacks with his fists. To begin with, the moves within your arsenal are a basic attack and a finishing attack, which can be strung together to create combos. Once enough time has passed in the fight, you can then perform a signature move, which will deal an almighty blow to multiple opponents in a certain radius.
As you can tell, this is a fairly simplistic battle system, which sometimes leans more towards the button-bashing end of the spectrum. But when you level up, you will earn points that can be used on a skill tree to unlock more moves and abilities. This substantially spices up the fights, as you’re no longer just repeating the same moves over and over again. What helps this even more is that you can unlock additional characters when progressing through the story, which you can switch between during a fight. There are eight playable characters in total, but my standouts were Homura, who slices her adversaries with a sword, and Weisz, who possesses four types of turrets, including an assault rifle, which is excellent to use when you want to fight from a distance. No matter what your preferred fighting style is, you’re bound to gel with one of the characters.
As I alluded to before, there are a few aspects of the combat I was not too keen on. Whenever you perform a move, you’re unable to cancel it midway, which can leave you vulnerable to incoming aggression. Now, this isn’t necessarily unusual for a Musou title, as this format can encourage you to think before you act, but the move animation really does feel particularly slow here. You can unlock abilities on the skill tree that will reduce the amount of time it takes to perform a move, but again, it takes a while to reach this point, which leads to the first few hours of the game feeling more sluggish than they should be. The lock-on system felt heavily redundant in Edens Zero as well. Whenever I locked onto an opponent and then performed a dodge manoeuvre to get out of the way of an attack, it would usually change the opponent I was locked onto. This ended up being rather annoying, so I would often ignore the lock-on system altogether.
Between story chapters, you will return to your ship (called Edens Zero), which serves as a base for your operations. It has facilities where you can upgrade your equipment, change the appearance of your clothes, and cook dishes from all the ingredients you’ve collected (which can either restore your health or provide buffs). You can also start conversations with your crew members, which gives you a deeper glimpse into the characters’ personalities. The ship facilities heavily reminded me of Star Ocean: The Last Hope, as you can easily invest a lot of time walking around the ship and interacting with different facilities. There is also a bizarre minigame where you can receive massages from the oil you’ve collected during the story campaign. Why do they have something like this? I’m not entirely sure, but it will definitely please those looking for some fan service alongside their gaming experience.
Once you join the adventurers’ guild, which is part of the main storyline, you will unlock Exploration Mode, where you can explore the planet Blue Garden in an open-world experience. There are quite a few things you can do in this mode, from picking up quests at the guild, taking on unique enemies to earn exclusive items, or simply soaking up the environments and taking photos. Blue Garden has some of the most interesting backdrops in the game, ranging from a hyper-metropolitan city to a derelict desert. There is even a nighttime pool district with a fireworks display hidden in the city. You feel far more heroic in this mode, as you can fly around the planet using Shiki’s gravity ability, which is a ton of fun. I far preferred this mode because it was fun to get lost in all the side activities, and all the items and experience stay with you regardless of which mode you play.
However, Edens Zero has one glaring problem, and it will probably be the biggest reason why fans of the franchise will struggle to get into the title – the graphics are incredibly outdated, making them more at home on a previous generation console. The enemies are also very copy-and-pastey, as you’ll usually be fighting the same generic goons in horde encounters, which gives everything this outdated vibe. Luckily, the boss battles have far more flair in their fighting style and creative design, so it’s not all bad. There were also a few framerate drops on the PS5 when exploring the environments, especially when running or navigating up and down staircases. Ultimately, this will be more detrimental to your experience depending on how much you appreciate visuals.
A Good Entry Point, But Not Enough for Existing Fans
So, the big question is: Is the video game adaptation a good entry point for beginners? I would say yes, it is, if you bear in mind the caveats that it takes a few hours for the action to find its rhythm, and the graphics are not a massive concern for you. Edens Zero’s world and premise have intrigued me enough that I’ve started watching the anime, so I’ve successfully been converted into a fan by the experience. But with the few episodes I’ve watched so far, I wouldn’t say that Konami’s video-game adaptation offers anything distinctly unique, that you’re massively missing out by not playing it, either.
Disclaimer: Konami provided a PlayStation 5 copy of Eden’s Zero for review purposes.
