Edens Zero Review – A Cosmic Misfire

Edens Zero Review

Edens Zero makes the jump from panel to pixels, marking Hiro Mashima’s second series to receive a video game adaptation. Packed with familiar faces, this action-RPG sets out to capture the magic of the manga in a galaxy-spanning sci-fi adventure. But will it soar to the heights of its peers, or get lost in the void?

You play as Shiki, a young, carefree boy who embarks on a space adventure with Rebecca, a content creator. Presented via episodes, you experience a range of strange and interesting tales that develop the range of characters who join you on your journey while progressing the overarching plot. The structure adds a nice pace to proceedings; however, central to this are the relationships between the ragtag group. Shiki and Rebecca have great chemistry, resulting in memorable segments that are a highlight of the game. The rest of the cast do get their moments, but never to the same extent as the protagonists.

A Fractured Story

The story jumps around and can be a little hard to follow. It’s stilted and at times, the needlessly long dialogue doesn’t help with engagement, making it a bit of a chore to follow. In terms of its presentation, it’s quite basic, with generic text boxes accompanying conversations, and only key moments receiving fully animated sequences. This results in a confusing and lackluster tale, which is likely to deter rather than engage.

Combat is central to the gameplay of Edens Zero. Most missions involve beating up several grunts on your way to a marker. You can combo between light and special attacks and avoid strikes to overcome anyone in your path. Unfortunately, fighting lacks the fluidity present in many of its peers. Movement is a little stiff, and attacks follow a simple pattern. A nice addition is the ability to instantly switch to any member of your party by tapping the corresponding directional input. While each of the characters has a unique fighting style, with some favouring ranged combat over close quarters, they all still feel quite rigid. Unlocking elements in the skill tree does help to make combat more interesting, but even with those aspects, it still pales in comparison to its peers.

Two Paths, Not One Journey

Most missions are linear, placing a focus on the story. Objectives are repetitive, often requiring you to monotonously fight groups of grunts until you reach a boss fight. While battles with larger opponents are more interesting due to having to learn and evade telegraphed attacks, they are still quite straightforward, requiring you to repeat the sequence until you defeat them. Interestingly, you can also explore an open world named Blue Garden. Here you can venture through the large expanse to complete side quests and collect items. There’s lots to do, but most of it feels like busy work, lacking purpose and therefore feeling meaningless. Although having an open area is a nice change of pace compared to the level-based story missions, its implementation creates a jarring divide. Having them intertwine rather than separate would have helped to tailor the game and maintain the player’s focus.

After missions, you go back to the hub area, which is located on a spaceship. Here you can access mini-games to earn money and cook delicious meals. While this allows you to purchase more items, they feel like an afterthought. Having these integrated into missions or story segments would have helped make these moments feel more beneficial.

Lacking Identity

Visually, the game feels dated, with bland textures and uninspired art direction. While the character models closely resemble their manga counterparts, the environments lack detail and fail to capture the imagination of the source material. This lack of creativity extends to the generic soundtrack, which merely accompanies the gameplay rather than enhancing the overall experience.

Edens Zero is a mediocre attempt to bring a well-loved manga into the interactive medium. The combat lacks the nuance found in stronger action-RPGs. While switching between party members adds some variety, battles quickly become repetitive and tiresome. The story is messy, and its basic presentation fails to hold your attention. Although the game throws together many ideas, none are fully realized, resulting in a disjointed and unpolished experience.

***A PS5 code was provided for this review***