Edge of Eternity Review (PS4/PS5) – Rough Around the Edges

Edge of Eternity is a PC JRPG which recently ported to PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Switch—and that is where this review comes in. While the PC version officially launched in 2021 and the console version released in February of this year, it only released on the Malaysian PlayStation Store as of today.

For this review, I played Edge of Eternity on PS5. As such, you may have a grossly different experience playing the game on PC or a different console. Before we get into the review proper, do note that the PS5 version of Edge of Eternity comes with the newly added Japanese voice option.

Story

The cornerstone of any good JRPG is the story. On this front, Edge of Eternity doesn’t disappoint. It tells the story of brother-sister duo Daryon and Selene who are caught in the middle of a war between their world, Heryon, and alien invaders known as the Archelites. The Archelites released a biological weapon called the Corrosion, which infects and kills its victims.

Daryon and Selene’s quest to find a cure for the Corrosion is an engaging one. It does feel draggy at times, but the plot genuinely has good development and does a great job at keeping me engaged. It’s apparent that the story draws inspiration from the story of early 2000s JRPGs and it succeeds in keeping up with older Final Fantasy and Tales of games writing-wise.

Gameplay

Borrowing another iconic element from the Final Fantasy franchise is the Active Time Battle (ATB) system, which is present in Edge of Eternity‘s combat. This is combined with the hex battle system from Wild Arms 4 and 5 back on the PS2 and Midgar Studio does succeed in blending the two systems pretty well.

Standard JRPG shenanigans like physical/magic attacks and elemental strengths and weaknesses aside, there isn’t really anything new that Edge of Eternity brings to its combat. While I understand that it’s a tribute to older JRPGs, the battle system is showing its age as it can feel rather slow at times. Occasionally, I did find the difficulty to be a bit unbalanced, as some fights can feel extremely easy, while other fights can be rather frustrating. I don’t mind hard battles—I mind inconsistent ones.

Visuals and Sound

Midgar Studio did a great job of bringing the world of Heryon to life. It looks stunning and the environments look varied and unique from each other. There is a real sense of fantasy here and it feels great being able to explore new areas.

While the environments are beautiful, I can’t say the same for the character models and animations. The characters look awkward and clunky. This is even more apparent in sad cutscenes as the character models struggle to convey said emotion.

Visuals aside, I have zero complaints about the audio. Both the English and Japanese dub voices are good. Above all else, the game’s soundtrack was composed by Yasunori Mitsuda, who worked on Chrono Trigger, Shadow Hearts and other legendary JRPGs. Edge of Eternity‘s OST really helps to carry many of its moments largely thanks to Mitsuda’s magic.

Bugs

Surprisingly, I encountered rather egregious bugs in Edge of Eternity. The first is a visual glitch of some sort, which causes UV textures to pop out occasionally, resulting in very uncomfortable rainbow-ish stripes to appear on the screen.

The second issue is a gameplay bug. Sometimes, I cannot move or make my characters act in battle at all. Enemies will then gladly attack and kill my unresisting characters, which really sucks the enjoyment away from the game for me.

Closing Thoughts

For a small indie developer, Midgar Studio has done a commendable job with Edge of Eternity. Sure, there are a lot of aspects of the game that still needs to be polished, like battle mechanics, character models and especially the bugs. In spite of that, this is a JRPG with a lot of heart in it. Despite its flaws, if you’re a lover of oldschool JRPGs, I think you’ll find Edge of Eternity to be an enjoyable ride.

For more information on the game, visit its website.

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