Born again.

It wasn’t that long ago that Square Enix announced a new studio, Tokyo RPG Factory. Their mission statement was to make new JRPGs that harkened back to the early days of the genre and to feed in to fans’ nostalgia. Their first two games, I am Setsuna and Lost Sphere, while okay games, fell short of their goals for most people. However, with their third game Oninaki, Tokyo RPG Factory have decided to shake things up a little.

Oninaki takes place in a world where its citizens believe that reincarnation is fact and that once they have died, they will be reborn anew. Because of this believe that no one questions, death is not something to fear, but something to be embraced. But this religion has its own special complications. Firstly, there are those that would take advantage of people’s beliefs and sell them hokey trinkets that claim to be able to help the user control certain aspects of their reincarnation. There is also the issue of lost souls; people who have clung on to the world because they have unfinished business. If these souls hang on too long, they will turn in to Daemons and haunt the living.

Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4 (Reviewed)
Price: $59.99
Price I’d Pay: $49.99

To help in all areas of the dead the city employs the Watchers. These elite guard help the lost souls find their way across and defeat any monsters. They also help promote the idea of reincarnation and break up any groups that may challenge that way of thinking. Our hero, Kagachi, is one such Watcher and one who has grown cold to the idea of the afterlife since his parents died. But no matter his feelings he still holds his role as a Watcher with great importance and responsibility; but that all gets challenged when The Night Devil appears, shaking not only the world, but all of the ideals the world holds dear.

I often find many JRPGs feel the same when it comes to the narrative; reluctant heroes have either inner powers awoken within them or are bestowed them from a magical crystal, all in aid of saving the world. But although Oninaki is guilty of many JRPG sins, the story isn’t one of them. The religious reincarnation themes and the way in which the game approached them was surprisingly adult and well thought out. It is a shame however that Kagachi is a difficult hero to like, even after he starts to grow as a person. Some of the other characters are well developed, but the time spent with them is limited. It is also in the characters where some of the JRPG clichés stem from. Things like misguided bad guys, shady heads of state, cheesy female side-kick with amnesia and betrayal are all present here. But I guess it wouldn’t be a JRPG without some of these things.

Where Oninaki differs from their previous two games is in the combat. Both I am Setsuna and Lost Sphere employed variations on the usual turn-based combat. Here the action is real-time. No battle screens, no waiting for bars to fill up and no fighting through the use of a menu. Actions are mapped to the buttons, similar to a hack and slash game, but unlike one of those there isn’t a combo system to learn. Instead Kagachi’s combat style is determined by which Daemon he has equipped. As I mentioned previously, lost souls that do not get reincarnated can become Daemons. If these Daemons are strong of spirit they can actually become self-aware and attach themselves to Watchers in order to lend them their strength. Kagachi already has one Daemon to aid him when we first meet him, but he quickly finds more, building up a large arsenal.

Each Daemon will fight with a particular weapon and style. The first one is a sword wielder and her attacks are quick, but further down the line players will meet Daemons with Whips, guns, Hammers and Scythes. Each Daemon has their own leveling up system that increases their strength but also gives them new abilities that can be mapped to the face buttons. Leveling them up also unlocks some of their backstories, which adds depth to these characters that don’t actually have a voice. Players will quickly find out which Daemons work best for their play style and I think it is great that the game allows the players to choose how they want to tackle combat. It is unfortunate that the combat doesn’t flow that particularly well. This isn’t a hack and slash game after all, and the combat is meant to be more thought out, but I couldn’t help feeling that I would have had a slightly better time if it did lean more into a faster style of action.

The other thing that felt a little off was the ‘Beyond’. This is the world of the lost souls, where they go and wander when they die. A Watcher has the ability to phase between the two worlds in order to do their job, but the game doesn’t really make much of it. Whenever the player phases, the map repopulates with enemies and they can progress the story or their missions, but that’s about it. It would have been cool if there was more to it than that. Maybe some puzzle elements or at least something that made switching between the worlds worthwhile. Alas, I feel it was just another way to help you grind those levels.

Oninaki is my favorite Tokyo RPG Factory game to date, with its gorgeous art style and melodic music and its more appealing storyline. It may be far from perfect, but it is certainly worth a look if you fancy a slightly different take on a well-established genre.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.