AI Limit

Sync Rate, the left-hand Mechanism and three spell slots are the parts worth understanding before you start. Here is what the combat asks of you, and what the release has added since launch.

Sync Rate is the meter that matters

The game asks you to raise Sync Rate through bold attacks and measured defence, and it makes you stronger in the exchange once you do. Sync Rate tiers affect attack power, while abilities can consume the resource. The Shield Frame ability also has a Sync Rate recovery effect; that does not mean every ordinary guard restores the meter. The fights reward a rhythm between the two rather than pure aggression or pure turtling.

Weapons and their own skills are the surface you build on top of it. There is a wide spread of weapons to find, each with its own weapon skills, and the game is built around mixing which of them you carry rather than around a fixed class. Frame abilities and spells are what spend the meter, while Seals are passive boosts rather than another thing you have to pay Sync Rate for.

The left hand drives the spells

The transformation mechanism in your left hand is your spellbook. It can drive dozens of spells, attacking or assisting as you choose, and Arrisa now carries three equipped spells rather than the single slot the game launched with. Switching between them is its own input, separate from casting, so the decision about which spell is selected is one you are making during a fight rather than before it.

The rest of the systems sit around that. Spells, Seals and weapon skills are all in play as the exchange turns, and the aim is a combination of moves you can actually pull off rather than a rotation you memorised.

Death and the Branches

You are Arrisa, a Blade: a being who looks human, was made by something that is not explained at the start, and comes back from a fatal death through the power of the Branches. The Branches have been destroyed, so the campaign is a search across Havenswell to find and repair them, through sewers, slums and a city above a lake, with humans and fellow Blades caught in the same collapse.

That premise is also the shape of a run. A fatal death returns you to the last Branch you reached, so a boss you cannot beat yet is something to work at across attempts, and the exploration is built the same way: the ruins hide weapons, clothing and relics, and Arrisa can read the memories left on them, which is where the history of the city comes from.

What has been added since launch

The base game has been patched steadily, and the changes that matter most to a new player are the control ones. Arrisa's spell slots went from one to three and a dedicated spell-switch input was added, which moved the map and notebook bindings to different buttons to make room. Sprint and Dodge can now be mapped separately, with sprint supporting either hold or toggle once they are apart, and reading a collectible uses its own two-button combination so it no longer collides with opening the map.

There is also new content, and it is free. Eirene's Furnace of War went out to every owner of the game as a free add-on: it follows the ending of the main story into the Northern Parish, adds a Furnace Arena with its own trials, and hands out new weapons, armour, Seals and spells that can be carried back into the base game. It also introduces challenge versions of bosses you have already beaten. Separately, a free update added a high-difficulty mode called Semi-Void Form, which increases enemy health, damage and Sync Rate disruption in exchange for more Crystal drops.

Should you play it

Yes, if you like action role-playing games that build their depth out of one resource rather than several. The Sync Rate loop gives the fights a clear question to answer, and the free add-on means the release you buy now is larger than the one that shipped.

The considerations are straightforward. It is available on PC and PlayStation 5, the deluxe tier adds gear and consumables on top of the game — a coat and mask, a weapon, some items and a digital artbook — rather than another region or story, and the add-on that matters is free, so there is no paid expansion to weigh up.