[Review] Cosmic Star Heroine
Note: I played Cosmic Star Heroine exclusively with the 8BitDo F30 Pro.
The turn-based role-playing game genre is one of my all-time favorites. Unfortunately, series like Final Fantasy have moved away from turn-based combat, and most of the games that have been released this generation that do utilize turn-based combat, lack the charm and appeal that made older games so endearing. I can only think of two exceptions: gacha game Granblue Fantasy, and Cosmic Star Heroine.
Cosmic Star Heroine, which was partly funded via Kickstarter, is a turn-based RPG with a 16-bit art style and features animated cutscenes that look like those from the Sega CD. You take on the role of Alyssa L’Salle, one of the top secret agents at the Agency of Peace & Intelligence on the Planet Araenu. You soon find out that things are not what they seem, however, as you uncover a conspiracy. You’ll travel to different planets, explore dungeons and meet a cast of characters on your adventure to stop the nefarious plot. Some of these characters join your party via the story, and others you can recruit to give you various bonuses. You can swap party members as well as save at any time on the map.
Cosmic Star Heroine is inspired by such classics as Chrono Trigger and Phantasy Star. This becomes very apparent within the first couple minutes of the game, as you run into an enemy very quickly, by design. Like in Chrono Trigger, battles in Cosmic Star Heroine are seamlessly transitioned to on the same screen as the map. This helps to keep the flow of the game steady without much downtime or loading screens.
The battle system is a mix of old and new. Your party of up to 4 characters can attack, use skills and items and so on, but most skills and items are one-use only. That being said, you can use a turn to defend and recharge a character’s skills. There are also combination skills called programs. Some enemies are weak to or resistant against certain elements. There are also no random battles. All enemies are visible on the map and do not respawn once defeated. I like this aspect because it means you’re never underleveled. As with in any other game, winning battles will give you EXP which will subsequently level you up. You can also buy new equipment and switch out skills to help you.
True to its inspirations, there is no voice acting in Cosmic Star Heroine. The soundtrack was done by HyperDuck SoundWorks, who has worked on Dust: An Elysian Tail, and Precipice of Darkness 4. I find the soundtrack to be phenomenal. It has a late 1980s/early 1990s anime feel to it which really fits the game to a tee. There is one track with lyrics that are in Japanese and English, “Iikaesu no yo” or “Talk Back” and it’s one of my favorite tracks from the soundtrack.
Cosmic Star Heroine’s accessibility is wonderful. Not only can you change the difficulty setting of the game at any point which impacts enemy health, but the shoulder buttons are not used at all. You can do everything with just the D-Pad or left stick and the face buttons.
My only problem with the game is the other party members. More specifically, the lack of their actual story. They’re only given like a few lines of dialogue before they join you. Some characters leave you just as fast as they joined. This makes it difficult to actually care about them as characters, unfortunately. I would have loved to know more about my companions.
Would I recommend Cosmic Star Heroine? Yes, without a doubt. Especially if you’re a fan of old-school JRPGs like myself. Cosmic Star Heroine was developed and published by Zeboyd Games. It has been released on Steam, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, and most recently Nintendo Switch. All versions cost $14.99 USD. The soundtrack is also available on Steam, Amazon, Spotify, iTunes, and HyperDuck’s Bandcamp.
Game Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
Accessibility Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars