Alterium Shift

I purchased this game, knowing it was in an Early Access state, and set my expectations to a realistic standard. There are imperfections and room for improvement, sure. However, these do not warrant the amount of sheer hate and anger I keep seeing around here. I took the time to read through their current Kickstarter campaign, their updates, and their insightful responses to feedback. There is a LOT of respect I am giving to the devs and the team. They are showing that they genuinely care, and want to deliver a final product that they are all proud of. There is no scam, no grand plan to steal money from people, no wrongful acts being committed here. It is shocking to see people spend so much time/effort to write glaringly negative reviews from such a narrow perspective. With all that said—this is a game that has a lot of potential. It’s going to scratch that JRPG nostalgia itch so many of us have. I am very excited to see where the full story goes, to see our cast grow and develop, and to explore everything this world will have to offer.

Has a lot of cute ideas and a certain amount of charm, but it's also really buggy (severe UI issues when switching between separate savefiles for characters), has some confusing concepts (again, that multiple-savefiles-somehow-interact thing), weird gender politics, and it either gives you a sudden game over after a certain bandit-cave section without explanation or that's the game not being done yet (and not having gotten an update for over a year). The UI issues also include making it too easy to tap past a conversation decision when you're just trying to advance a slow conversation. The music is good in parts but way too repetitive, and there are a lot of menial quests (particularly at the start, although there's a water-level-puzzle that's really, really annoying a few hours in). Some of these things are fixable, some of them look like deliberate choices, and it's unclear if they're still working on the game. Probably best to avoid this one. (note that if there were something middling between yes and no, I'd probably give it that, and also note that the developer Mottzy is being really fantastic in his reponses to reviews - if I were reviewing him, I would not hesitate to give him a thumbs up)

I wasn't prepared for just how UNFINISHED this game is ("early access" doesn't really mean anything these days). The game looks and sounds good in principle, but I bought it TWO YEARS AGO and it's looking like I pre-ordered a game that's maybe coming out in 2029 and perhaps I'll actually remember to go back and play it some day. Would not recommend paying full price for the current state of the game.

----Buyer Beware---- Fun game, but definitely not enough content to warrant buying. Dev updates are painfully slow and is an unfinished game.

I can't think of a worse came that's came out in recent history. The entire game comes off as a scam to keeping soliciting funds via Kickstarter while not actually making progress. Everything about the game is sub-par, broken, or just clunky. Mismatched graphic resolutions, and poor text placement make even reading the game painful on the eyes. The mandatory key input for keyboards is atrocious. The game mechanics area a generic ripoff off classic games, but done so in a manner that strips the game play of any charm or enjoyment. The in-game world is tedious, uninspired, and boring. Combat mechanics are a snooze fest. The User Interface across the board is sub-par. I want to give an extra shout out to the fishing game for being the worse fishing mini-game ever. And given how hated, and dislike fishing games are across the board, that's an impressive feat. The idea of the game has some merits, and I see the potential charm of the game. But clearly, the Developer lacks the ability or interest to make even a basically functioning game. I can't shake the feeling the game is just a scam to keep raising funds from Kickstarter.

no updates in 3 years, early access scam

Review Edited: 3/3/2025 On Top of Kickstarter Backing being fully funded, they have given out rewards for purchasers of the early access. Please read their latest dev-logs, and discussion pages for updates. The mixed reviews of the game are opinions on a game in early access, and are judged based on a game going through a lot of growth. I wanted to put this at the front of my quick review. I have only played a little more than an hour or two, only a bit of which is counted on my profile due to internet troubles. What I have played so far is promising, and I have chosen to put it down, only for the fact that I want to wait for the game to be done. What I experienced has the makings of something that, when I come back to it, when the game is hopefully complete, will be worthy of this pre-emptive recommend. I love the snarky interactions with the characters at the start. I love how I was made to fail, with my character choices, to further the plot, because the character needed to grow. I was angry at myself, because I personally min-max everything, and bust my ass to beat everything the best I can, but I just could not satisfy certain requirements. The story put that on me, and the character I chose to start with. So I am putting this on whoever reads this review, pick this game up in early access, support it now if you cant on kickstarter.

おススメ度：★★☆☆☆(2/5) 雰囲気は良いのだけれど遊ぶにはまだ早いという印象 邦訳は機械翻訳レベル、フリーズや装備変更不能になるなど 進行に問題をきたすバグがある状態なので もう少しアップデートされてから遊ぶことをお勧めします。 [h1]👍JRPG全盛期の雰囲気[/h1] 本作に目を留めた人は期待通りの体験が待っています 聖剣伝説２，３やグランディアなどの JRPGが元気だったころの雰囲気が楽しめます。 PVでわかるところ以外で言うと、 マップ表示がSFCゼルダの伝説のように現在地からの引きの絵で表現されます。 [h1]👍音楽も良い[/h1] 往年のスクウェア作品を連想させる雰囲気のある曲が良いです。 通常戦闘BGMは複数ありますし、ボス戦BGMもあります。 この点も推せるポイントです。 [h1]👎進行に支障のあるバグ[/h1] 突然フリーズしたり、仲間の装備を外すと以降えらべなくなったりと 割と低品質で進行に影響のあるバグにいくつも遭遇しました。 素材が良いのでとてももったいないです。 [h1]👎機械翻訳レベルの邦訳[/h1] 最後まで付き合う気が起こらないレベルの邦訳です。 また、NPCとの会話部分は確かに日本語対応されているのですが それ以外のUIやヘルプの部分の半分くらいは英語という状態です。 日本語対応を謳うのはもうちょっときちんと対応してからにした方が 良かったのではないかと思います。 体験版の範囲のみ日本語対応しているとの報告がありましたが 私は上記のバグの件もあり邦訳がなくなる前にギブアップしたのでわかりません。

This game is never coming out. Just grifters here, don't fall for it.

So far it's been fun. At first it was a mix of feelings where things felt bad in one part but other things were incredible to see as they turned aspects in a much modern form, without losing the essence, which in these games is what I'm looking for. But I realized I was comparing to some of the most successful games from back in the day, like Golden Sun, Final Fantasy 3~ etc. Which is unfair, I can't compare those big games with this one, this is a different game, different people, different brains working on their own ideas. Plus it's in early access. The art is super good in this game, I love the aesthetics mixing 3D with pixel art, the story at first didn't quite get me but after some time I'm super engaged and invested in it, and it feels like nothing is empty, there's always something to explore wherever you go ~ or if there's something empty, that's usually giving the player some breath before or after a big fight/event. Gameplay [ 7 / 10 ] Nothing new, the abilities are not something I haven't seen before and they're not dynamic. But the combat difficulty makes up for it, you have to think of what you're doing if you want to make it. It's not braindead press A until you win. Story [ 9 / 10 ] The story is super good, starts kinda slow, there is no expectations at the beginning of what would occur later. However later on... Oh boy it's good. Graphics [ 8.5 / 10 ] I love the graphics, the mix of 3D and pixel art, however it feels inconsistent in some things. ~It looks like there's no Texel Density~ And inside of caves everything is lit and visible, it's a dark place why not putting a light on the player or the vignette to be a lot stronger there Sound [ 7 / 10 ] No compression in some sounds, they feel scuffed~ I like how they feel impactful which is good, however they need some more mixing to blend better in the game. Music [ 9.5 / 10 ] Loved the music, it's super good and memorable. Some times I feel like the music didn't really fit the ambience but it didn't go too far from it either which is okay. Overall Opinion The game is nice, it feels like there's a lot of love put into it, I'm glad to say the tweaks it needs to be a 10/10 in my opinion are easy to fix. Hope the team reads this and a lot of respect to them, they made a great game. It's in early access and the team is not that big, at first I thought I lost my $20, but after some time playing it, it's definitely worth the money. TL;DR~ Starts slow and boring, gets good later on. It's like they were getting better at making games mid project. It's in early access, there's room for improvement and it seems like they're working on it with every update. The art style is a little inconsistent but not bad, the sounds are okay but the music is good. The story starts boring and there's no expectation at first, but later it gets super good. You can tell they put a lot of thought and love into it. Overall Rating [ 8.2 / 10 ]