Exist Archive - The disciple of the valkyries

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Hello everyone! How is the summer going so far? Good? I hope you are using your precious (and well-deserved) holidays to play all the those games you had pending (well, and to go to the beach or party with your friends, you know, all those pointless secondary things we gamers have to do from time to time to pretend to be social creatures like the rest). In this new entry I´m going to talk about a JRPG game that was released a few months back in the west. The game is called Exist Archive: The Other Side of the Sky. Let´s have a look at the game behind this long title.

The first thing that would be worth to mention is that Exist Archive is the product of the collaboration between Tri-Ace and Spike Chunsoft, two of the most veteran Japanese game developers which include several hits in their respective curriculums, such as the Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile series in the case of Tri-Ace, or several entries of the Dragon Quest series in the case of Chunsoft (before its merge with Spike), so we are talking about a game with a certain level of pedigree. The story of Exist Archive puts us in the role of Kanata, a young Japanese guy who suddenly sees himself involved in a terrible accident in which he seems to lose is life. However, Kanata wakes up in a strange world with no memories as to how he arrived there, but soon he will discover that he is not the only in that situation, for many of his friends also seem to have been taken to that mysterious world, but is it really a new world? Maybe it is just a dream? Or perhaps Kanata did really die in the accident and he is now in the afterlife? The only way to uncover the truth for Kanata and his friends will be to explore the beautiful and dreamy world they are in, setting on and adventure where existential questions and sci-fi elements blend to deliver a pretty original (if a little bit uncooked) story with some interesting turns.

Despite being an RPG, we will explore the world in 2D.

Regarding the gameplay, Exit Archive has been considered by some as the spiritual successor of Enix´s Valkyrie Profile series, something that makes sense if we keep in mind that most of the game’s team is composed by members of the team behind the franchise starring the valkyries. Just like in Enix´s classic, despite Exit Archive being an RPG game, the action will take place in 2D stages with platforming elements. The stages will have several routes that we will be able to explore freely, however, just like in the Metroidvania games, some routes will be off limits till we find first the necessary skill in order to be able to access to them. This said, despite the Metroidvania elements, calling Exist Archive a Metroidvania game wouldn´t be completely accurate, for the game does not have an interconnected map or even a world map. Instead of that, the game will be divided in missions, and once we select a mission, we will be directly taken to the stage where the mission will take place. However, exploration is not the only thing in which Valkyrie Profile and Exist Archive resemble each other, for Exist Archive´s combat system also inherits many of the elements we could see in the game starring the valkyrie Lenneth. As we explore the different stages, we will come across red spheres floating around that will represent the enemies, and every time we enter in contact with one of them, we will taken to the combat screen. Like Valkyrie Profile, the combats will take place by turns, and our combat team will be composed of up to four characters, although during the adventure we will gather 12 characters that we will be able to exchange any time we want. Each character will be assigned to one of the buttons of our controller, and every time we press the button related to a specific character, the character will perform an action. Each of the characters will have their own attack type, and it will be up to us to combine their attacks in the most efficient way in order to make out the most of our attacks, but the real key to the combat system resides in the Action Points system that will limit the amount of actions that we will be able to carry on each turn. The battles will be dived in two phases: the Attack Phase and the Defense Phase. In the Attack Phase, as its own name indicates, we will be able to attack our enemies, being able to perform as many attacks as our Action Points allow us. Once our Attack Phase is over, it will the enemies´ turn to attack and we will move onto the Defense Phase, and it will be here when the big dilemma comes, for in order to be able to defend ourselves, we will also need actions points, so if we decide to use them all on an all-out attack during the Attack Phase, later we will be completely exposed to our enemies´ attacks, so it will be up to us to analyze the situation and decide when it will be better to focus on attacking or defending given the situation, thus adding an extra layer of strategy to the battles. However, there is one more element that adds depth to the combats, and those are the skills our characters will be able to learn as they level up. Every time we win battle, our characters will obtain experience, thus allowing them to level up, and as they level up, they will obtain Skill Points that we will be able to use to learn a wide variety of skills. Of course, as the RPG game it is, we will also be able to modify our characters equipment with the plethora of items we will obtain during the adventure. All these elements give a result a very dynamic and thrilling combat system that is one of the game´s strong points.

The game will be divided in missions.

We will be able to equip our characters with a wide variety of equipment and skills.

Regarding the game´s presentation, Exist Archive might not be the best-looking game out there, but it definitely looks good enough. However, where the game really shines is in its artistic aspect, and that is especially true when it comes to the stages where the missions will take place, which are full of all kind of details that make them feel alive, coupled by a color palette that really helps to transmit the feeling of being in a mysterious dream-like world. The character models are correct, with a style that mixes the realistic style with the “chibi” style (I don´t know why, but the models remind me somehow of the Xbox avatars…) that we can often find in many JRPG games. It´s also worthy to point out the game´s soundtrack, which like in many previous Enix´s games such as the Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile series, has been composed by Motoi Sakuraba, one of the most successful game music composers in the Japanese industry.


Exist Archive did not come to revolutionize the genre, limiting itself to please the fans of a genre that is going through a hard period despite having several serious contenders such a Final Fantasy 15, Persona 5, Tales of Berseria or the imminent Dragon Quest 11 and Ni No Kuni 2. However, I´m convinced that those who are looking for a solid JRPG game or who enjoyed the Valkyrie Profile series will have fun exploring Exist Archive´s beautiful world, for the game manages to convey all the magic of Tri-Ace’s 16/32-bit era classics. The game is available on digital version via PlayStation Network for the PS4 and PS Vita, as well as on physical version only in North America and Japan, although it is important to point out that the game is available only in English and Japanese, so certain knowledge of one of these languages is required in order to be able to enjoy the game fully. Enjoy it!


GAMEPLAY VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Jq6Cx8Srb4

The 12 protagonists of the adventure