These raids require extra strategy above and beyond what you might need elsewhere in the game. The best part of Hollow Realization is the four area bosses that take the form of raids where groups of NPCs join you to take on a large and imposing creature. Speaking of grinding, I didn’t actually have to grind out levels or skills until the extremely challenging final boss. The music doesn’t really stand out either, so I played much of the second half of the game while listening to podcasts, which also made grinding more tolerable, too. Traversing the environment can feel a little slow as enemy variety is lacking and the scenery is nothing to write home about. However, these dungeons, and much of the Deluxe Edition DLC, are locked until you complete the main game. Of course, most of the basic enemies you encounter in the world don’t require a lot of skill, but there are frequent instances and special events in each area that task you with taking down unique or empowered monsters, and these do require more strategy than just jamming the attack button.Įach map within a given part of the world contains treasures and a teleport pad that you can unlock to send you back to town or to a particular dungeon on that map.
It’s always satisfying to stun or weaken an enemy, and then unload a multi-hit combo on them, which drives up your damage multiplier. You can travel with up to three other party members, and they will fight fairly passively beside you until you create chain attacks and combos that can deal massive amounts of damage. I played through most of the game using the sword, and it’s easy to see how the game can be compared to an MMO when you have all of your skills and items listed in a toolbar in the bottom-middle of the screen.
You can equip a variety of different weapons such as swords, axes, and spears, and these have different special attacks that you can use by spending stamina points. The combat feels similar to that of Ys VIII: The Lacrimosa of DANA, which came to Switch in 2018. Ultimately, the dialogue in these scenes is pretty repetitive and inane anyways, so yeah. The bed mini-game can lead to a loosely-animated cut-scene with your partner in a seductive pose, and the best thing I can say is that these scenes aren’t the most egregious things on the Switch. One particular element of the dating sim aspect can safely be ignored, but could still put some people off: upon reaching a strong enough bond, you can “bridal carry” a character into bed, which leads to a simple mini-game where you can move the camera around and give basic reactions to that character’s comments. Although there are a smattering of animated and in-game cut-scenes, these were too few and far between, and it would have been nice for a greater part of the story to be delivered in more entertaining ways.įor those that are interested, there are dating sim elements as well, and these allow you to strengthen bonds with different characters, increasing their power.
That said, Hollow Realization relies heavily on dialogue, and the lack of English voices means you are going to be doing a lot of reading if you want to follow the story. I was still able to enjoy the game and understand the story without playing the previous games, but I have watched much of the SAO anime and was able to recognize many of the characters. Hollow Realization is actually the fourth entry in the series, but it’s the first to come to Switch. Her data doesn’t reveal much about who she is, and it’s the player’s job to find out more about Premiere as you journey through Hollow Realization’s five main areas. In Ainground, the world of Sword Art: Origin, Kirito and crew meet an NPC whom they name “Premiere,” who seems to be something of a blank slate. The story of Hollow Realization centers around Kirito and his friends-Asuna, Leafa, Lisbeth, Klein, among others-entering a new game called “Sword Art: Origin,” which seems familiar to them since it reuses assets from “Sword Art Online,” the game they participated in three years prior. The combat isn’t bad, and there is a ton of content, but much of the narrative is told through dialogue interactions between characters, so some previous attachment to them is almost a precursor to enjoying the game. Much of the content and story of this action-RPG focuses on seeing recognizable and beloved characters interacting with one another. If you aren’t familiar with or a fan of the Sword Art Online (SAO) light novels or anime, I can safely say that Hollow Realization probably isn’t for you.
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