[E3 2017] “Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection” Hands-On

Falcom and Xseed have been making some sweet music in the form of the Trails series, and after localizing Xanadu Next, the partnership doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon.  Zwei is the next Falcom IP from Japan to get localized, and it looks like another enjoyable RPG.

Given the niche audience that Xseed caters to, it didn’t surprise us that we didn’t need an appointment to get our hands on Zwei, and that’s completely fine considering how crazy all the crowds at E3 were.

For those unfamiliar with the Zwei series, this game marks the first entry to be localized for North America.  This game is actually an enhanced version of Zwei II which initially released in Japan in 2009.  The game follows a delivery pilot Ragna and the vampire princess Alwen as they explore the continent of Ilvard in an attempt to recapture her kingdom.

There was nothing necessary to the plot in the demo we played, as it was primarily a dungeon-crawling palace featuring some interesting puzzles.  The main one we played through required players to actually close every treasure chest they see to enter the next room and clear other rooms of enemies.  I asked if the treasure chests had secret messages (it’s a Trails thing), but the guide just laughed and denied me there.  You can switch from Ragna to Alwen with the press of a button, and it was cool seeing how differently they played.

Ragna specializes in melee combat and also has this hoverplane ability to blaze through map while Alwen specializes on her magic and needs time before she can throw her blasts.

The gameplay featured the depth we all have come to expect from Falcom games, but the demo was a little more dungeon-crawly than we hoped for.  Either way, this is a game to keep an eye on when rolls our way this summer.

Title:
Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection
Platform:
PlayStation 4, PC
Publisher:
Xseed Games
Developer:
Falcom
Genre:
Action RPG
Release Date:
Summer 2017
ESRB Rating:
RP

Falcom and Xseed have been making some sweet music in the form of the Trails series, and after localizing Xanadu Next, the partnership doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon.  Zwei is the next Falcom IP from Japan to…

Falcom and Xseed have been making some sweet music in the form of the Trails series, and after localizing Xanadu Next, the partnership doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon.  Zwei is the next Falcom IP from Japan to get localized, and it looks like another enjoyable RPG.

Given the niche audience that Xseed caters to, it didn’t surprise us that we didn’t need an appointment to get our hands on Zwei, and that’s completely fine considering how crazy all the crowds at E3 were.

For those unfamiliar with the Zwei series, this game marks the first entry to be localized for North America.  This game is actually an enhanced version of Zwei II which initially released in Japan in 2009.  The game follows a delivery pilot Ragna and the vampire princess Alwen as they explore the continent of Ilvard in an attempt to recapture her kingdom.

There was nothing necessary to the plot in the demo we played, as it was primarily a dungeon-crawling palace featuring some interesting puzzles.  The main one we played through required players to actually close every treasure chest they see to enter the next room and clear other rooms of enemies.  I asked if the treasure chests had secret messages (it’s a Trails thing), but the guide just laughed and denied me there.  You can switch from Ragna to Alwen with the press of a button, and it was cool seeing how differently they played.

Ragna specializes in melee combat and also has this hoverplane ability to blaze through map while Alwen specializes on her magic and needs time before she can throw her blasts.

The gameplay featured the depth we all have come to expect from Falcom games, but the demo was a little more dungeon-crawly than we hoped for.  Either way, this is a game to keep an eye on when rolls our way this summer.

Date published: 06/20/2017
/ 5 stars