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Reincarnation is an upcoming cyberpunk Roguelite action game from eBrain Studios that will be released this year. This game looks promising, and I also went through the demo version to find out and experience the specific performance of this game.
The opening story tells the story of a detective named Xiang Zishu who was killed during a mission to track down the underground crime boss. However, in the blink of an eye, he woke up again in his apartment in the early morning. Yes, our detective is trapped in a mysterious time loop, but at the same time he can remember his past "life". Finding out what triggered this cycle will be one of the cores of the entire plot. eBrain said that the experience accumulated by players during the game will play a crucial role in shaping the game's plot.
For example, your actions will lead to multiple outcomes, and you can make different choices based on what you experienced in the previous cycle. Due to the limited space in the demo, it's hard for me to see how this design could have had a bigger impact later on, but I can still get a glimpse of the details, such as the protagonist trying to warn his boss about what's coming, and then they slowly take what he says seriously (or maybe just perfunctory).
Xiang Zishu is equipped with various types of melee weapons, can play swords, can breathe fire, and the whole combat process makes people feel happy. I shoot at enemies at close range, dodge their attacks in time, or wait for an opportunity to replenish my gun at a distance, and as a cool fighting enthusiast, "Reincarnation of Life and Death" perfectly pokes my preferences. You can make good use of auxiliary equipment, such as mines and grenades to clear mobs, and if that's not enough, the protagonist also has a robotic arm that unleashes multiple attack modes such as lightning or flames.
Reincarnation encourages players to practice their positioning skills as enemy attacks are painful and often unleash powerful attacks that cannot be interrupted to eject the player far away. Death is commonplace in the game flow, so I recommend spending as much money and points as possible in each loop, and permanently upgrading skills, weapons, and attributes.
This game contains common features such as two-stage jumping and grappling hooks in platformers, which can help the protagonist reach a higher platform. Levels are randomly arranged from time to time to keep players on alert, and in the process, they also need to keep an eye out for hidden e-coin rewards, which are an important resource for investing in weapons. The checkpoint design of this game is quite unique, and the logistics terminal can restore the amount of health, but it will fail after it is used up. Consuming the Core upgrade "Be Prepared" increases the number of blood vials to carry, further adding motivation to exploration.
The combat experience of Reincarnation is challenging and promising, and the art style of the cyberpunk world influenced by Eastern culture looks quite different (but also a little familiar). However, there are places where the experience is a little rougher, and the reboot cycle always has to go through the apartment and the detective house again, and while the player can quickly skip these areas, I sometimes really crave to get back into action immediately.
The need to skip the same cutscenes over and over again also annoyed me, the same was true of the knowledge notes that needed to be collected repeatedly, and the randomly changed environment didn't really change much, and I went through the same level layout at least 3 times in a row. Character dialogue is a well-established B-movie standard, and enemies utter words that make people laugh, such as saying things like "Does it hurt?" when they are hurt. Or something as bland as "someone fell" sounds more like a little trouble than being brutally slaughtered.
So far, Reincarnation has given me the impression of being a qualified Roguelite game, but there are still some details to polish before it goes on sale. The game's fight design has great potential, and the quality of the story depends on how it uses the concept of time looping. It's a pretty interesting game, and I hope it really reaches its full potential when it goes on sale this year.
Compile: Zoe