Odin Sphere Leifthrasir (Vita) Review

All paths lead to Armageddon.

 2007's Odin Sphere kickstarted Vanillaware's reputation as the go-to developer for beautifully crafted 2D action games. Originally released during the twilight years of the PlayStation 2, the game experienced difficulty getting published as Vanillaware was a relatively new studio back in the day. Odin Sphere would later get picked up by Atlus and soon after garnered a cult following for its gripping story and action gameplay. A couple of years later and now comes Odin Sphere Leifthrasir, a remaster of Odin Sphere that addresses much of the original game's shortcomings while adding a few new additions such as HD graphics and streamlined gameplay mechanics. Odin Sphere Leifthrasir is nothing short of a great remaster as it allows new players to now experience one of the PS2's hugely underrated gems.


 Odin Sphere begins when a little girl named Alice, stumbles upon various books in her attic telling a tale of two kingdoms the land of Erion that were fighting over a powerful artifact known as the Cauldron, said to unleash unlimited amounts of energy known "Phozon". The story follows the perspectives of five main leads, all taking part of the war: Gwendolyn, a Valkyrie warrior who yearns for the affection of her father; Cornelius, a prince who aims to return to his human form after being turned into a beast; Mercedes, who must lead her people as the new queen of the fairies; Oswald, a knight who is struggling with his dark powers; and Velvet, a princess of a fallen kingdom who aims to escape her cursed fate. 

 I'm not a fan of playing a certain character for a while then switching as a new one as by the time that happens, I get attached to said character. Fortunately, the game's five leads are all equally interesting and unique that you might end up liking all of them. That and the game's narrative does a good job of hooking you in as you learn about their motivations and struggles. In order to see the full picture, the story requires multiple sittings as each character arc introduces new events and insights to overarching story. While I was pleasantly entertained by the story, there are times where the it just takes a back seat to the slick action-packed gameplay.

The story is lengthy and engaging as the 

frequent plot-twists keep things interesting.

By now, Vanillaware has proven themselves to be more than capable in crafting excellent 2D games as evident by their work on Dragon's Crown and Muramasa Rebirth. Odin Sphere is similar with it being a 2D action game with RPG elements. Each of the five main characters have their own special weapons and perks to distinguish themselves. For example, Mercedes utilizes an insanely quick bow gun at the cost of draining her power gauge fast while Oswald fancies a sword and can use his "frenzy" mode to give him increased damage for a limited time. At its core, you'll be moving from room to room battling hordes of enemies in your way. After a battle, you're immediately graded based on your performance. Take little time and damage and you'll receive some extra money and items. Thankfully, battles are made short and simple to alleviate some of the repetition that might ensue later on. 

 That being said, I wish that there was a bit of enemy variety as fighting the same old goblins and fairies again gets boring after a while. As you play through each character's arc, you'll start to notice that you're fighting some of the bosses all over again, which quickly gets boring. However, the game did surprise me in Mercedes' run where a new boss came in the form of a shoot 'em up game, which I very much enjoyed. The game also incudes a classic mode in which you can switch the game's interface to the original game if you're a purist or longing for nostalgia. Velvet was easily my favorite out of the bunch due to her fast and flashy ranged attacks that made battles way more chaotically fun than they normally would.

Gameplay is fast and hectic with tons

of button mashing involved.

 The game features a traditional role-playing system that has you defeating enemies to gain experience in order to level up, which raises your character's attributes. Planting and eating food is also a good way of gaining fast levels as some foods often have huge experience gains. Reaching certain levels will net you phozon prisms, which unlocks new skills for characters to use. Phozons are purple energy scattered throughout levels and can upgrade your weapon's magic "psypher" skills that include special attacks such as unleashing a flurry of stabs or hurling a giant fireball onto enemies. The bulk of your phozon is spent upgrading your skills as enemies and bosses will get tougher as you progress, they're also helpful when you want to quickly mow down enemies. 

 Other skills include more supplementary ones such as getting a 20% discount in stores and a permeant health increase. There's a lot to explore in the game's wide levels. Scattered across are extra money you can collect, hidden treasure to open, tougher versions of enemies to defeat, and cooking ingredients to gather. There are also rest points that feature a teleporter to help ease the constant backtracking and a merchant offering you a wide selection of equipment that provide useful perks and items such as health and magic potions for battles. My favorite was Maury's Touring Restaurant, in which the titular Maury will cook you food based on the ingredients you bring him. He's especially useful as the food he cooks often has serious experience gains.

There's a lot of extra challenges and ingredients 

to find in the game's wide levels.

 To say that the presentation of Odin Sphere is stunning is an understatement. The game's artwork, character animations, and backgrounds are absolutely eye-catching and are brimming with detail. There were times where I just zones-out just to admire the detail in the backgrounds. It goes to show the sheer beauty of Vanillaware's artistic capabilities. The game runs well on the PS Vita though at the price of portability, there some occasional frame-rate dips when the action gets too demanding. Not a deal-breaker by any means, as the overall experience remains a stable one. 

 The game supports both English and Japanese (with subtitles) languages. No doubt purists would go after the latter but regardless of which you opt for, the voice work is good with many commendable performances. Amusingly, it gets pretty weird at times with enemies yelling out some awkward sounds when you're constantly plummeting them with attacks. I especially hated Mercedes' annoying scream every time she gets knocked back by an enemy. The game's soundtrack is also worth commending as the battle tracks, Titania theme and many other tracks compliment the game's action-packed fantasy setting very well.

Odin Sphere looks absolutely stunning, thanks 

to Vanillaware's artistic talents.

 Odin Sphere is by no means a short game, it took me over 20 hours to finish my run of the game including its seven different endings. Admittedly, I got fatigued towards the end as the story really dragged on but I nonetheless enjoyed it. The gameplay was a lot of fun as hacking and slashing enemies with five different characters was entertaining. That and the game's fantastic presentation delivers on all levels of detail. I found that Odin Sphere is easily my favorite of Vanillaware's works and Leifthrasir does a lot to satisfy both returning fans and newcomers alike. Sure the gameplay might get a tad repetitive as you'll be seeing the same places and fighting the same bosses more than often, but Odin Sphere Leifthrasir remains a solid 2D game that action fans should check out.