Swordbreaker from Sometimes You is a new adventure game on PS4 and PS Vita that will feel great for fans of old-school books in which you pick your own adventure. Check our Swordbreaker review!
In Swordbreaker from Sometimes You, players will take on a new old-school infused journey on PlayStation 4 or PlayStation Vita, as they select from a variety of options that will send them down branching story paths… or towards certain doom. The story for this one is as classic as it gets: you end up at an abandoned castle, with your sword and armor and a peculiar contraption called the Swordbreaker. Your choices will lead you towards one of the many endings the game has to offer, as you make allies – and foes – in this somber and creepy location. Perhaps you might find a Princess to save or a great treasure to collect?
The gameplay is simple and to the point, since you’ll be doing a lot of reading as you move through the game’s story, selecting between the different numbered choices that you can read by scrolling through the text with the right analog stick so that you can then use the left analog stick or the D-Pad to select the numbered option you want by pressing the X button. And if you want to get a better look at the art for each scene, you can remove the UI by pressing the Triangle button. When playing on the PlayStation Vita, you can use the physical inputs, or use your fingers to scroll through the text in the window at the bottom of the screen, to then touch the number for the selection you want to make.
The choices you make will have consequences and will start to lead you down specific story sequences that will make it impossible to take a different route until you start a new playthrough. If you make a wrong choice during a fight, then you’re going to end up losing one of your lives, represented by the large hearts you can see when you press the pause button – or when you receive damage. Lose all of your lives, and you will be killed, thus getting a game over. There are more than 120 death scenes to experience.
On top of the over 120 death scenes, there are also more than 330 story scenes to experience, which means there’s plenty of replay value for this one. You can’t see everything during a single run, so you’ll have to play Swordbreaker more than once so that you can experience all of the story segments. If you’re someone who likes to 100% a game, you’ll be playing this one for a while! All of the scenes can be checked under the Gallery section on the main menu. And if you want to see what choices you haven’t made, you can check the Castle Map section to review the different branching paths you can take.
Trophy-wise, since this one is from Sometimes You, we’re getting a full trophy list with more than 50 trophies and a Platinum trophy at the end of your journey. These are split into two Gold, one Silver, and a ton of Bronze trophies to unlock. Since they’re tied to the different choices you can make in each branching path, I won’t be spoiling them here, but rest assured you’ll be hearing the trophy unlock “ding” sound a lot during your time with this one.
Swordbreaker is a fun adventure that has hundreds of paths to take, over a hundred gruesome deaths to suffer, and several different endings to unlock as you play this one over and over again. It will greatly appeal to those of you who are fans of the old-school gamebooks that allowed you to pick your own paths as you weaved your own adventure, and it’s just as fun to play on PlayStation 4 or PlayStation Vita. Although this one is not a Cross-buy release, you can get the game on either console for only $4.99.
Disclaimer
This Swordbreaker review is based on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita copies provided by Sometimes You.
