Resonance Solstice

Resonance Solstice is a game that surprised me with how much it tries to fit into one experience. At first I expected another anime style RPG, but there is actually a lot more going on here. I play as a conductor for COLUMBA, travelling across a post apocalyptic world on the Eternal train while reconnecting cities and keeping trade routes running. The combination of trains, trading, exploration and real time card battles gives it a very different feel from a normal RPG. The train itself is one of my favourite parts. The Eternal is not just transportation between locations because I can actually customise it and turn it into a moving home. I liked having this extra space to manage while travelling around the world. There is something satisfying about watching the train move through the strange landscapes and knowing that it is basically my base of operations. The idea of rebuilding connections between cities also gives the journey a nice sense of purpose. Trading is another system that I found surprisingly enjoyable. Different cities have changing markets, so I can buy goods where they are cheaper and sell them somewhere else for a better price. This gives me another reason to pay attention to the map instead of simply following the story objectives. I liked that travelling around is not just about reaching the next quest marker. There is money to make and routes to plan, which makes the train management side feel useful rather than decorative. The combat is probably the most complicated part of the game. Battles happen in real time, with my crew using cards and abilities while I try to build a team that works well together. There are lots of possible combinations between characters and their skills, so building a useful team becomes a big part of progression. I enjoyed the faster pace compared with traditional turn based card battles, although it can take some time before I properly understand what all the different abilities and effects are doing. The story and world are also much stranger than I initially expected. The appearance of the Morphic Moon has completely changed the world, with humanity falling into a strange state of sleep and transforming into unusual beings connected to dreams. There are different factions and plenty of characters to meet during the journey, and the anime presentation helps make the cast memorable. I liked the combination of a serious post apocalyptic setting with colourful characters and a much more adventurous atmosphere. My biggest problem is that Resonance Solstice can feel overwhelming. There are trading systems, train management, card battles, character progression, exploration and plenty of other menus to work through. I sometimes felt like I was learning another system just as I had started getting comfortable with the previous one. The free to play structure also includes in game purchases and chance based purchases, which is something I am never particularly keen on. It does not completely ruin the experience for me, but it is noticeable. Overall, Resonance Solstice is an ambitious free to play RPG that I enjoyed because it has more personality than I expected. The train management and trading give me reasons to explore, while the real time card battles provide a more active combat system than I usually expect from this type of RPG. It can be overwhelming and the free to play elements are not for everyone, but there is a lot here to explore if I am willing to learn all the different systems. I especially liked the feeling of travelling through a broken world while slowly building up my train and crew. Rating: 7.4/10