Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World is a very popular light novel series, which of course by now has been adapted into multiple original video animations, an ongoing anime series, and now two video games. We’ve played and died as Subaru Natsuki multiple times, and have our Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World: The Prophecy of the Throne PS4 review ready below.
Re Zero The Prophecy of the Throne PS4 Review – Bring It Back
The Prophecy of the Throne takes place during the first season of the anime, just before and then during the royal selection storyline. If you don’t immediately know what we’re talking about, well, you might want to watch the anime again because the game doesn’t do too good of a job of explaining things. It’s pretty evident that this is a game for fans of the series. Those looking to play this game to get a feel for the anime will probably be confused, and would be better served by simply watching the show instead. An in-game album of characters fills up with information as Subaru encounters others, and does a decent job of giving background information on everyone. This is a good spot to brush up on the story if it’s been a while since you’ve read the novels or watched the anime.
The Prophecy of the Throne is a visual novel first and foremost, so expect to do a lot of reading as the story mainly progresses in a linear fashion. There are five loops to play through, meaning our boy Subaru dies four times throughout this particular adventure. Some of those deaths mirror those shown in the anime, but many of them are different due to the newly-introduced characters met along the way. The new characters are as well fleshed-out as those in the anime, which makes sense when you consider that the game’s development was supervised by the Re:Zero light novel author Tappei Nagatsuki.
Re Zero The Prophecy of the Throne PS4 Review – Cute Graphics, Easy Missions
As the game’s story progresses, Subaru collects clues and makes observations about things that he figures out by talking with other characters. In between certain situations, Subaru can even explore the area. This takes place from a fixed viewpoint, and all characters are featured as chibi-like 3D models. Paying attention to the story is important, because talking to a key character will result in the story moving forward, without Subaru collecting all clues that may help out in the future. The overall story ends in one particular way, though there are sections of the story which branch out depending upon Subaru’s choices. A flowchart hints at when players should be on the lookout for extra dialogue options or actions that might change the outcome of a scenario, but if the chart can be trusted as showing all possible outcomes, then it seems The Prophecy of the Throne only has one ending. Most players will get through the story in 10-14 hours, depending on if they allow the voice acting to be played out, or if they simply read all the text quickly.
There are a handful of missions to take on as well, which provide short briefing segments beforehand. Using clues found earlier, Subaru is presented with choices regarding the tactics the team will use in the upcoming mission. Besides a few fights, most of these missions end up being puzzle-like, as Subaru must block an advancing enemy for a certain number of turns, or guide a character into a building without being spotted, etc. Only Subaru is controlled, while other characters can be interacted with if they are nearby. An action gauge drains as the player walks around, and once it empties or the player performs any action, the other characters play their turns. These missions break up the monotony of watching cutscenes for the entire game, and aren’t very challenging as most players should figure things out within one or two playthroughs.
Re Zero The Prophecy of the Throne PS4 Review – Fully Voiced for the Fans
The entire adventure of The Prophecy of the Throne is fully voiced, with English or Japanese subtitles to choose from. The voice acting is well done, while animation is almost non-existent. This seems to be par for the course with visual novels, though, as while characters usually show emotions as they speak, any actions such as attacking others is shown with a few simple effects and the hit character being shuffled off the screen like a card. Players have to use their imagination to “see” the action.
The Prophecy of the Throne allows players to save their game whenever they like, which also means experimenting with different choices and actions is quick and easy. Load times are a few seconds, likely because the only thing needed to load are static backgrounds and artwork. The missions also load quickly, though we did spot a few instances where some graphics failed to load or showed black where a texture should have been. This only occurred twice during our time with the game, and a simple reload fixed it right up.
Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World: The Prophecy of the Throne should please fans of the novel/anime. It doesn’t do enough to explain the world Subaru finds himself in, but the game’s album does attempt to rectify this. At any rate, The Prophecy of the Throne is an easy to digest visual novel with fun artwork and good voice acting, with a bit of turn-based gameplay thrown in for good measure. What more could Subaru ask for?
Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World: The Prophecy of the Throne review code for PS4 provided by the publisher. Version 1.00 reviewed on a PS5. For more information on scoring, please read our Review Policy.
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An original story supervised by Tappei Nagatsuki
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Fully voiced adventure
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Turn-based scenarios occasionally breaks up the reading
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Story appears to be quite linear
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No real explanation for non-fans
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