SolSeraph

I hate to say, but this game was not what I had hoped for. A spiritual successor to Actraiser that doesn't have the same spirit in it. The sim half was reduced to being a tower defense game, with resources heavily restricted. There was no interaction with the villagers, like destroying a rock with lightening, so that the villagers may reach fertile lands or powerups for your character. You don't lead them to goodies for you, and their growth is no longer your growth. You don't have towns need resources and technologies from other towns to fully thrive. Even as your towns grow in size, you don't see them grow in advancement. The straw roof houses stays straw roof houses. The two halves of the game don't really connect. You don't see little Timmy wander into the dark clouds knowing that his parents will beg you to save him in platforming mode. The only connection between the two modes is that you use the TD mode to unlock the platform levels, and 5 platform levels to initialize new towns. There are some changes in here that might've been major improvements had they been handled better. This game could have been good with a few small changes. The tower defense pressure and resource management had the opposite problem, too much for one, not enough for the other, respectively. Music was good though! They did get that right! ACE Team, if you guys want to make a SolSeraph 2, I offer my services as a consultant to provide refined concepts for development. I guarantee I can bring in good reviews, not mixed ones.

I don't think that when you make a spiritual successor to a SNES game you've necessarily got to imitate its bad response time and replace a simple city-building mechanic with a tired-as-hell tower defense mechanic. If you need me, I'll be looking for my old copy of Actraiser.

I love ACE Team, and I wish I could recommend this game, but no developer can nail it every time. If you were a fan of ActRaiser on the SNES growing up, this is basically a spiritual sequel, but it doesn't quite have the same oomph. Overall Sol Seraph is just "okay" whereas ActRaiser is a classic. I'd only really recommend this game if you want to support ACE Team for the other great work they've done. There are moments of good game design here, but it feels incomplete, and it needed some more play testing. It's not buggy, but there are small things that just feel off. Sol Seraph is a tower defense game where "boss fights" (located in hubs on the strategic map) are fought in a 2D platformer adventure game. These 2D platformer segments feel very undercooked. For example: [list] [*]Some enemies can approach from the background or foreground. The distance before you can hit them is poorly telegraphed, leading to some unnecessary damage that adds up. [*]The attack animations have a sort of wind-down portion, where you can't really cancel out of them easily. This can lead to you sort of standing there and taking damage. [*]The jump height feels just a smidgen too short. Many of the platforms you need to double jump up to are at nearly exactly the max height. [/list] This is especially disappointing because it feels like they had, just a few years prior to this, made a pretty decent action platformer called Abyss Odyssey which would have been a good foundation for the platformer levels. The tower defense segments are a bit better, but there are still issues. For example: [list] [*]The order that you should complete worlds in is not indicated clearly. This can lead to you trying to tackle a more difficult world too early. [*]The "seals" where enemies spawn from don't deactivate after cleansing them. I'm not sure if this is a bug, or intended, but it seems like a bug to me. [*]The screenshots show somewhat extensive looking settlements, but many of the chapters are more of a balancing act where you need to sort of spread yourself thin based on the available wood. [*]The circles surrounding some of the utility buildings such as forges or watchtowers don't really accurately represent which buildings they will power up. So, you sort of just have to build them to see. When a tower or barracks is enhanced, it will have a sort of "halo" indicating such. But often I found that buildings that were even within the circle would not get enhanced unless they were, say, 60% within the circle. Something in the square directly diagonal to a forge might not be affected even if the corner of the building is [i]touching[/i] the forge/watchtower/etc. [*]The amount of resources you have or need is a bit... unclear? You have Wood, Souls, Food, and Population as resources. Only wood and souls are intuitive as they decrease as you spend them. Population only indicates your current max, and doesn't indicate how many people you [i]need[/i] to run your settlement, or how many people are currently idle. Food doesn't really make sense mechanically in my opinion. Unfortunately wood is also not renewable, so completing a level is really just about how efficiently you use wood, and how fast you collect souls. [/list] The art, music and graphics are all fine. It's not as weird as some of ACE Teams' other games, which in my opinion is a weakness. ACE Team has always had a fantastic eye for bizarre-yet-cohesive designs and soundscapes, so it's a bit disappointing this doesn't fit into that. Like I mentioned in the intro, I'd only recommend this game if you want to support ACE Team for the other games they've made, and honestly I'm okay with kicking $20 CAD their way to support them.

Платформер + башенная защита в одном флаконе. Разработчики отсылают к 16-битной эпохе. В целом неплохо, но народ жалуется на высокую сложность в режиме стратегии

While it's not good enough to call a spiritual successor, it definitely is a love letter to the original ActRaiser; and dare I say, it had the potential to surpass the original. Keyword being "potential". Sadly that potential is squandered by a mixture of the town building and tower defense aspects being too fussy about building placements, especially farms (probably why the original ActRaiser stuck to both using larger grid units and keeping all buildings the same size on the grid), slightly annoying resource management (until you learn to prioritize chopping down all the forests first), and various design flaws (such as a very tight and unforgiving Enemy Wave timer that gave me very little time to keep up, conquered Enemy Lairs still spawning enemies, and the fact you can sidestep the timer altogether by exiting the lair or returning to the sky.). I like that combat is now a part of sealing lairs too, however, said combat is also in need of polish as most enemies and bosses have very lackluster movement and attack patterns, can easily be baited into AI loops (King of Floods in particular), and can be tanked and defeated with brute force mid to late game. The achievements are pretty basic, and except for 4 of them, are obtained simply by completing the game. I would've liked an achievement for finding all the hidden Weather Mana upgrades since it's possible to miss those. This is definitely a labor of love, one I wish to see thrive, but also a diamond in the rough. And while it's not nearly as polished as the game that inspired it, it's definitely worth the asking price in my opinion. I'd love to see the ACE team revisit this game and give it the much needed polish it deserves, along with hopefully a sequel that learns from this review.

a bundle of a horrible platformer, bad town build sim, and bad tower defense with very barebones combat system. This is a stain on ACE Team, devs that otherwise make competent games.

Primero lo más importante: si, lo compré porque soy fan de ActRaiser. PERO, no esperaba una copia de dicho juego, esperaba algo que me entretenga al mismo nivel con (por supuesto) mecánicas actualizadas y mejoradas... ya pasaron 28 años y hoy existen mejores herramientas. Niveles de plataformas: los enemigos y el entorno parecen hechos de plástico y en gran parte son los mismos pero en otro color. Los controles son buenos pero... no es suficiente. Aburre realmente. Niveles de Defensa de torre. Aquí pusieron buenas ideas... ejecutadas pesimamente. - ¿En serio era necesario interrumpir la accion cada tanto con dialogos que no aportan en lo absoluto? - La mecánica de que todo tiene que estar cerca de la ciudad pero colocar, por ejemplo, bosques bien alejados (porque hay que talarlos para conseguir madera, que es bien escasa) y tener que construir caminos laaaargos hasta llegar a los mismos es tedioso. Con los templos sucede igual... y esperar a que uno o más aldeanos lleguen corriendo desde el otro lado del mundo para activar el edificio. ¿Para qué? Es una pena no poder recomendar éste juego, realmente una pena porque tiene todo para poder ser bueno, tiene mucho potencial, pero está vacío, no tiene substancia. Creo no pudieron comprender lo que hizo grande a un juego como ActRaiser

SolSeraph, developed by ACE Team and published by SEGA, is an ambitious hybrid that attempts to revive a classic design philosophy by merging two very different styles of gameplay: side-scrolling action and top-down strategic management. Inspired by older genre-blending titles, it sets out to recreate that dual-layer experience for a modern audience. What it delivers is a game with a strong conceptual foundation, though one that doesn’t always fully realize the potential of its ideas. The game places players in the role of Helios, a divine guardian tasked with restoring humanity and defending it from encroaching monsters. This premise drives the game’s dual structure. In one half, players directly control Helios in side-scrolling action stages, fighting through enemies and navigating environmental hazards. In the other, they oversee human settlements from a strategic perspective, guiding villagers, constructing defenses, and protecting territory from waves of invading creatures. The constant shift between these modes is meant to create a sense of balance—one focused on direct action, the other on long-term planning. The action segments are straightforward and accessible, offering responsive controls and a small set of abilities that are easy to learn. Combat revolves around timing attacks, avoiding damage, and making use of ranged powers to deal with threats at a distance. While these mechanics are solid at a basic level, they lack depth. The range of abilities is limited, and enemy encounters tend to repeat patterns rather than introduce new challenges. As a result, the action gameplay remains functional but rarely evolves in a way that keeps it consistently engaging over time. The strategic side shifts the perspective entirely, placing players in control of settlement growth and defense. Here, the focus is on building structures, managing resources, and placing defensive units to repel incoming enemies. The gameplay resembles a simplified tower defense system, where positioning and timing are key to success. Early on, this mode feels satisfying as players establish their first settlements and fend off attacks. However, as the game progresses, the lack of deeper systems becomes more apparent. There are limited options for customization or expansion, and the strategic layer begins to feel repetitive as similar scenarios repeat across different regions. The interaction between these two modes is central to the game’s identity, but it doesn’t always feel as cohesive as it could. Completing action stages can influence the strategic layer by weakening enemy forces, while successful defense unlocks new areas for exploration. In theory, this creates a loop where both halves of the game support each other. In practice, the connection feels somewhat surface-level. The transitions between modes can feel abrupt, and neither side develops enough complexity to fully enhance the other. Instead of forming a seamless experience, they often feel like two parallel systems that occasionally intersect. Narratively, SolSeraph provides a mythological framework that supports the gameplay without becoming its primary focus. The story touches on themes of divine responsibility and humanity’s struggle for survival, but it remains relatively simple and understated. Characters and events serve to move the player forward rather than to create a deeply engaging narrative. While this keeps the pacing steady, it also means the story leaves only a modest impression. One area where the game stands out is its music. The soundtrack, composed by Yuzo Koshiro, adds a strong sense of atmosphere and grandeur, enhancing both the action and strategic segments. The audio helps elevate moments that might otherwise feel routine, giving the game a more memorable tone. Visually, however, the presentation is more restrained. The environments and character models are clear and functional, but they lack a distinctive style that would make them stand out. The overall look is competent but unremarkable, supporting the gameplay without adding much identity. Repetition is one of the game’s most noticeable issues. Both the action and strategy components follow consistent patterns that change very little as the game progresses. While new environments and enemies are introduced, they do not significantly alter the core gameplay loop. This predictability can make the experience feel longer than it is, as players begin to anticipate challenges without encountering meaningful variation. Despite these limitations, SolSeraph remains an interesting attempt at reviving a hybrid design that is rarely explored in modern games. Its mechanics are accessible, and the combination of genres, while underdeveloped, still provides moments of enjoyment. It is easy to pick up and understand, making it approachable for a wide range of players, even if it doesn’t offer the depth that more experienced players might expect. In the end, SolSeraph succeeds more as a concept than as a fully realized experience. It captures the essence of a classic formula but stops short of expanding it in significant ways. For players interested in genre hybrids or nostalgic design ideas, it offers a solid, if somewhat repetitive, experience that is worth exploring within its scope. Rating: 6/10

総じてつまらないです。 アクションパートは非常に単調。 ライフがあればボタン連打で勝利できます。ラスボスもそれで倒しました。 ライフがゼロになって死ぬよりも、滑落しての即死のほうが多かったです。 操作面では、バックステップ中が無敵でないことや、斜め上方向に向けての弓の射撃の難しさなどがとても疎ましいです。 開拓パートに関しては、敵の巣穴？みたいなのを破壊しても敵がわいてくることが非常に疑問でした。 タワーディフェンスだから敵が出てくるのでしょうが、物語としては問題あるのでは？ 各マップの特徴もあまりなく、特定のユニットだけで、太陽（英雄召喚）や雷を使用せずとも攻略でき、同じことをすべてのマップでやらされている気持ちになります。 結局のところ、拠点から一番近い巣穴？までの位置に防衛ラインのほぼすべてを投入せざるを得ないため、 タワーディフェンスらしさも戦略性もなく、また開拓しがいもなく、非常に中途半端で底の浅いものでした。 良い点： マップ移動（世界を俯瞰している）のグラフィックが綺麗なことです。

Great game, especially as an Actraiser successor. I'm going to go 9/10 though. Because the town building didn't feel as meaningful as it did in Actraiser. Music? Great. Banter? Story? Loved it. Mythology based feeling? Awesome. Controls? Some guy at Gamespew said they were janky. Frankly I didn't have issues. I just had to learn not to hit backwards while shielding. But the dodge skill was handy. Just have to learn to play. As for intense combat? A lot of stuff comes at you at once. You can run through most areas and skip monsters if you want. If you actually know how to dodge hits and bait targets, you'll do fine. If you're a spaz who can't stay calm? You'll have a hard time. Not a good game for the neurotic, great game for normal players. I never had any of the problems that were listed in the "review" on Gamespew, which is where I stumbled across the game. And I'm going to say? Despite the issue I had with feeling like town building wasn't AS meaningful (and I didn't like the limitations on wood, but it DID make me get creative on changing the town at times...) Amazing game. I just wish the city building part was city building and not tower defense oriented. But I loved being able to attack the mobs and help my villagers or protect them myself. I'd recommend this game to any Actraiser fan.