Earlier this year I ended up really enjoying Odin Sphere Leifthrasir due to its combination of gorgeous visuals, an interesting story and skillful combat. It really won me over, and I’ve been looking for another 2D action RPG that could scratch that itch ever since. Due to this, my interest was immediately piqued when I heard about Earth’s Dawn, a similar brawler made by Japanese studio OneorEight.
Basically combining a 2D brawler with Monster Hunter‘s structure, Earth’s Dawn puts players in the shoes of a soldier who is tasked with eliminating groups of violent monsters. Missions tend to be on the shorter side, some especially short ones being less than 30 seconds long, but there are dozens upon dozens of these quests to make up for it. There’s a decent amount of variety between rescue missions and having to collect items, but this is almost always achieved by killing a bunch of baddies. This means the player is essentially doing the same thing every time out, just for slightly different reasons. Upon starting Earth’s Dawn, the game’s zoomed-in camera really stood out. The game is uncomfortably close to the action, which makes it nearly impossible to see what lies ahead, above or behind the player. This decision caused a weird sense of claustrophobia, but I assume it’s this way so that the gorgeous artwork gets seen by players. This makes sense, and it’s certainly a cool visual when a boss takes up literally ha...