The last time Odin Sphere was in the public consciousness was nine years ago — ’07 — on the Playstation 2. Two console generations ago. In the video game industry that’s equal to a long time. Forget specific technology improvements. The direction gaming is going is astoundingly awesome, so it’s frankly about time a game that was clearly ahead of its time simply based on its gorgeous graphical fidelity. But then again, who’s surprised there especially when it comes to Vanillaware. Just look at its most recent release, Dragon’s Crown.
Its games are rendered beautifully with a painterly aesthetic and a well-crafted combat system that’s unique in every way. From the gameplay mechanics of button pressing to all of its characters.
And they aren’t half-assing a port in Odin Sphere‘s jump two gens to the PS4. It’s actually revamping almost every aspect of the game’s return in Odin Sphere Leifthrasir.
Here’s what else is new, per an Atlus press release:
How could Vanillaware improve on the combat of the original Odin Sphere? Step 1: take all the lessons they learned from Dragon’s Crown and apply them to this game. Step 2: Diversify the way each character can be played by including a ridiculously deep system of skill trees unique to each of the game’s five main characters. Seriously, Vanillaware added almost 200 skills and abilities in Odin Sphere Leifthrasir! You’ll have the freedom to unlock powerful active skills, passive skills, and abilities to unleash the true potential of the main characters. The leveling system also has been streamlined so characters and Psyphers now level together. But of course, nothing is free in Erion: defeating enemies and exploring different areas is the only way to obtain Phozons and Phozon Prisms that are spent on unlocking/upgrading skills. That’s right – the source of your power only comes from the death of enemies. You would do well to remember that.
Besides the addition of the skill trees, Vanillaware also tweaked many different gameplay elements in order to give Odin Sphere Leifthrasir a modern touch. Improvements include the ability to assign skills to button commands, full 1080p/60 fps support (say goodbye to frame rate drops!), a more fluid combo system, and more. Basically, gameplay is now smoother than the Rabbit Cafe’s Yogurt Cheesecake!Of course, for the purists out there, the included Classic Mode features the original Odin Sphere‘s systems (but keeps the upgraded HD graphics/performance improvements).
Odin Sphere Leifthrasir releases in the U.S. on June 7.