Eternights from Studio Sai brings us an action RPG/dating sim set during the apocalypse. Learn more about it in our Eternights review!

 

Eternights from Studio Sai brings us an action RPG/dating sim set during the apocalypse. This is a Rated M for Mature experience in which you’ll be scavenging for supplies, exploring dungeons as you take on deadly enemies, and trying to go on a date or two. You know, the usual “the world is ending, so we gotta make the most of things” situation. A mysterious plague ends up destroying the sense of peace and society as we know it. People turn into monsters, and violence is the only language they understand.

Yes, you do need to find a way to survive – and hopefully even manage to find a cure to turn everyone back to normal? – but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t just try to live as normal of a life as possible. Maybe downloading a dating app is just what you need to keep you motivated during the cold apocalyptic nights up ahead? Oh, and you’ll have to do all of this while using a peculiar energy arm since your good old-fashioned regular arm is chopped off very early in the game by a woman with a huge glowing sword!

The good news is that the girl you met on the dating app that your friend Chani suggested to you is actually an ancient, all-powerful deity. She had mentioned you should go on a yacht date, and you sorta end up doing that since you’ll find yourself on a boat with her after getting your arm chopped off. While flirting with you, she mentions that you now have a chance to join her team so that you can become a hero who can save the day with the power to destroy all monsters thanks to your new arm.

That arm will be able to transform into a weapon, thus allowing you to take on the newly minted monsters that are now spreading through each area like the plague. Once you get started, you’ll control your character with the left analog stick as you move the camera around with the right one. You can sprint by pressing in on the left analog stick, which is useful for quickly moving through an area or avoiding an incoming attack.

 

You can attack by pressing the Square button, performing combos by attacking in quick succession. Pressing the Triangle button will unleash a slower but more powerful attack. Pressing the R1 button at the end of a combo will allow you to deal extra damage. Always pay attention to your opponents so that you can find the right window of opportunity for attacking. Knowing when to dodge an attack will be crucial so that you can get out of the way and counter with all your might.

Dodging is an important part of a fight. You can do this by pressing the X button. Even more important than dodging is performing a perfect dodge. By dodging with the X button right before an enemy’s attack lands, time will slow down considerably, giving you a chance to dish out some extra damage. As soon as you see a red ping from an enemy, press the X button for a perfect dodge! Just be sure to press in on the right analog stick to lock onto an enemy to make fights easier on your end. You can also swap between targets by using the right analog stick.

As soon as you make your way to the bunker, a breaking news item will pop on the TV. It seems that a giant wall has appeared in the middle of the city, effectively blocking people from one half of the city to make it back home. Your task, should you accept it, will be to use your new magical arm to defeat all enemies standing between you and the Wall so that you can find a way to destroy it. Once you destroy the Wall, you’ll have to rinse and repeat with another wall. And then another one. You get the idea.

Which characters will you meet during your time with Eternights? Along with yourself, there’s also Yuna, Min, Sia, Yohan, and Chani. Yuna is a strong-willed, kind, and reserved girl who also happens to be an extremely popular pop star! Min is a sweet but shy girl who is very athletic and will put her strength to the test during this whole apocalypse scenario. Sia is someone who really loves science and is pretty much a genius. Yohan is a bit of an unknown since he doesn’t share much about himself. Will you be able to find what makes him tick? As for Chani, he’s your best friend and a very energetic guy who is always ready to help.

 

The choices you make along the way and how you reply to other characters will matter. Your actions will start to impact your different Social Stats. This will, in turn, allow you to take your relationships with each of your confidants to the next level. Take, for example, an early interaction as soon as you exit the bunker. While desperately running as you search for survivors, your character ends up bumping into Yuna. Because of this, your head starts to bleed! When she points this out, saying, “Does it bring out my eyes?” will provide you with a boost to your character’s Confidence. Your Social Stats are Expression, Confidence, Acceptance, and Courage.

Each Wall will act as one of the dungeons in Eternights, which means you’ll need to find a way to defeat all enemies on your path, avoid deadly traps and hazards, and solve some puzzles here and there. As you battle monsters of all shapes and sizes, don’t forget to press the R2 button every now and then to check which confident skills are available to you. The earliest one you can use is Yuna’s healing power, which will help you recover some of your lost hit points.

By searching through dungeons and beating powerful monsters, you’ll be able to collect Black Essence. Black Essence can be used to unlock sword skills to help you in combat. These include the GreatSword skill, which makes it possible to use heavy attacks that can go through an enemy’s shield. You could also unlock the DeathBlow, a devastating attack that can be released once you’ve built up a long enough chain of attacks.

There’s also White Essence to consider. White Essence is used for unlocking and powering up skills tied to your companions. You could, for example, unlock the Stinger ability alongside Yuna. The Stinger is a powerful sword thrust that moves you closer to an opponent while also dealing some damage along the way. Another option is the Blast ability alongside Mia, which will shoot a wave of energy toward your target. You’ll also need to rank up each companion to be able to unlock further upgraded skills.

 

And now, let’s talk about the trophies! The game has a full trophy list with a Platinum waiting for you. The list is split into 13 Bronze trophies, 5 Silver trophies, and 7 Gold trophies for you to work on. Eternights is also a Cross-Buy title, so if you happen to own a PlayStation 5 console, you can download both the PS4 and PS5 versions of the game and work on two separate trophy lists. What needs to be done for each of those shiny Platinums?

As mentioned before, each location has a very dangerous area known as a Wall. As expected, that means that some of the trophies are tied to destroying each of the walls within the time limit. There are also trophies for scavenging 10 city items, for completing specific story segments with each of the characters that you can date, going on all dates with each of the characters, reaching max rating with each confidant, and for only dating the one girl through the whole experience. Will you be able to do whatever it takes to find love in such dark times?

Eternights brings us an action RPG/dating sim set during the apocalypse. As a deadly virus spreads and transforms people into monsters, and getting your arm chopped off while getting it replaced with a powerful energy arm that can transform into a sword, you’ll need to give it your all to try and destroy all of the walls between your group and Umbra, so that you can recover the magical stone needed to keep the world in balance. The game is fully voice-acted, and the actors do a good job of portraying the different nuances of each of the characters, which is always a plus. Eternights is out today as a Cross-Buy title, so your purchase will allow you to download both the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 versions of the game at no extra cost.

Disclaimer
This Eternights review is based on a PlayStation 5 copy provided by Studio Sai.