AereA is great for the family but may fall on deaf ears when it comes to veterans of ARPGs
When I say ARPG or Action Role playing game, the mind immediately comes up with some obvious examples. Diablo, Titan Quest, Torchlight, and Path of Exile, all fantastic titles with unique styles, graphics, gameplay. So when a developer sets out to make an ARPG it’s got to be able to rub shoulders with titans. I am not saying there isn’t any room for error but there is a measure that it must meet.
Looking at this completely reversed, what if the aforementioned titles never existed? It would certainly make this an easier genre to approach. Where does AereA fit in all this? Somewhere in the middle. There are plenty of things that AereA does to make itself unique but the entire package, as a whole, isn’t going to satisfy everyone.
Simplification, what a lovely and terrible word.
I am going to break this down into things that I liked about AereA and things that made me scratch my head.
AereA is a musical themed four player ARPG with local co-op support. The first thing that struck me about AereA is that it’s a very attractive game. I never felt once that anything clashed with the vividly detailed artwork. Watching the trailer, I was immediately enthralled. The games graphics are colorful, bright, eye catching, and the trailer does an amazing job of displaying those at the games height.
This is continued inside the game itself, AereA is extremely pleasing to the eye. Paired with its unique musical theme, AereA is alluring and was a world I wanted to be captivated by. Character models are detailed enough to get the point across and monsters kept my attention when they were on the screen. Bosses were very imaginative in design as each was based around a strange instrument. The bosses were probably my favorite thing as I felt they really took the time to design them. Other monsters, while fine, felt very generic for an ARPG. Giant rats, Scorpions, and some sort of goblins. I wish they would’ve committed more on that musical theme. I wouldn’t mind fighting an evil instrument or two.
While I don’t want to get to in depth with gameplay (not yet anyways) AereA is a very easy game to grasp. This is a very family friendly game that just about anyone can play. This makes it a great introduction to these types of games. Playing this with four players is always going to generate its own fun and chaos. This is more akin to something like Marvel Ultimate Alliance which was more about button mashing and playing with your friends. I can respect that. Playing with up to four players is going to work well for its future console releases.
Another area I give respect to is AereA’s music. If you’re going to make a musical themed game, it better have dang good music. Thankfully the orchestral OST is fantastic and each level has a wonderful track to go along with it. There is only a slight problem with repetition when it comes to your base. Sound effects were par for the course but I felt again, they could’ve gone all in on that theme.
The rest of AereA could use with some fine tuning.
When it comes to the rest of the game there are many times I just questioned why things were designed the way they were. As an example, in certain levels there are mud pits that serve no purpose other than to slow you down. As if that would be fun somehow? There is no risk of death just slowed movement, that’s it. Another example is every time you embark on a mission you are taken to an Airship that serves no purpose other than to load into the next screen, which is the actual level. It feels pointless.
It’s these types of things stacked on top of each other that take away from the overall gameplay. You have four classes to choose from. The only one that really feels any different is the melee class as the rest are all ranged fighters. The combat itself is extremely simplified to the point you could play this with your eyes closed. AereA is a game that needs extensive re-balancing, as it comes off very easy and I never once came close to dying. Even the bosses would die within the first thirty seconds of landing on the screen. No there is no difficulty slider, but perhaps that is something that could add to more dynamic gameplay in the future. Thankfully the developer has begun to address these issues in a recent patch.
Each of the four classes has unique abilities that they gain every five levels. Not that you really need them yet. Now unlike other ARPGs, AereA currently only has gold as a reward for victory. There is no equipment screen or loot. While there are opportunities to replay levels, I currently didn’t feel the need. You can use your gold to buy consumables and upgrade powers. While this is fine in general, it does take away from replay value as there is nothing to keep you playing beyond that initial story.
Level design itself is good but can be a bit confusing at times. There are no puzzles in AereA so between spurts of combat the only thing holding you back is an onslaught of switches or box switches. Yes, two kinds of switches. Another head scratching moment came when I realized that the moving boxes served no purpose beyond opening more doors or paths. While I personally never got lost, there are times in later levels that things started to the look the same. Particularly the ancient ruins level looked pretty much the same everywhere you went.
AereA like other ARPGs does bring in its own consumables. Sadly, these again really lack any explanation or benefit to you as the player. There are recipes littered throughout the games world that give you access to many kinds of items. Elemental crystals, fruits, potions, mushrooms and musical themed items. I never used any of them beyond health potions. I would’ve really liked it for AereA to take a little time to explain what these were and why I would want to use them occasionally. Being the only thing close to what you might consider ‘loot’, I would have loved to see this expanded on.
Finally, AereA commits a cardinal sin in making you play levels you’ve already been through. This is a big no-no for me. Every time you start towards collecting one of the instruments from the bosses, it does the same thing. The level layout as an example Sewer 1, Sewer 2, pause, return to base, repeat Sewer 2 with alternate path to Sewer 3 which is just the boss fight area. I didn’t like this formula and it felt very dry after a couple of hours in.
Speaking of your base, the area itself is gorgeous if not slightly confusing. There is many, many areas inside that felt just empty and hollow. There are recipes hidden in some of the rooms but beyond that it felt like such a waste of a beautifully designed and detailed space. This could’ve been filled with more musical themed events or displays of the engines graphics. In one of the rooms it shows off the collected instruments, but why stop there? A monster gallery room or “classroom” to give more insight into the universe. Another room where you could see the other non-used heroes practicing? Just felt like something could’ve been done to give it more life.
Let’s talk about the universe of AereA and all the other stuff.
The story itself is laid out well. The land at one point was one giant continent and due to some musical magical shenanigans, split into many pieces. They are maintained by the power of music and a powerful conductor who happens to be your teacher. Plot twist, your teacher had a friend who fell to the dark side. Guess he became a Metallica fan or something. Either way some ‘mysterious’ force steals the primordial instruments that help the continents float. It’s your job as a rising pupil to get them back.
In all no complaints when it comes to story. I did have questions about why there was such a huge academy though and only five people living in it. It seemed rather odd to me, but I digress.
Moving on to replay value, AereA has some but ultimately depends on how much you enjoy repetition. There is no real progression system beyond just leveling and gold like I mentioned earlier. You could certainly try out the other classes though. My only issue with that would be that three of them are ranged and play very similarly. Overall game length is in the six to eight hour range.
AereA does feature full controller support, I found this to be a bit more preferable to the old keyboard/mouse combo. Not that the game is complicated, but it feels suited towards a gamepad.
There are no rebindable keys though. When it comes to options, there isn’t much other than a light help section that I didn’t personally need to read. AereA does feature Steam cards and achievements for you collectors out there.
It’s ironic that AereA felt like an orchestra with no conductor.
There is so much potential here. AereA is a very unique game with a great aesthetic. The problems begin to stack up though after the first hour and nothing brought me back into enjoying the game. The truth is that AereA does have to rub shoulders with titans, but for me it did not quite reach. Other games have come and been more appealing to me. I had hoped for something a little more unique. Yes you can play with up to four friends but I can do that with other games.
At the end of the day AereA is asking for $29.99/£22.99 and it’s up to you if six to eight hours of game play warrants that cost. I can recommend AereA if you want to play something simple with your kids and if you enjoy the aesthetic and art style.
