Onebitbeyond has got a hit on their hands folks. I got my hands on their upcoming action adventure game, The Swords of Ditto, while I was at PAX East 2018 and I immediately fell in love. I was hungry for more as soon as my demo ended. Thankfully I knew I didn’t need to wait very long because I knew it would be launching on April 24th on PC and PS4.
The Swords of Ditto is an action RPG that is heavily inspired by games like The Legend of Zelda. Players control a child who has been anointed as a “Sword” as they go on a quest to grow in power over the course of four days and, ultimately, do battle with an evil wizard named Mormo. The battle repeats itself every 100 years because of a curse. This is the perfect justification for the rogue like elements in the game. Each time you die (or defeat Mormo) the island resets. The map is scrambled when this happens and it will either descend further into darkness if you failed your last mission or be restored if you won.
One thing is for sure, The Swords of Ditto is not a game that takes itself too seriously. It is animated in a beautifully drawn cartoon art style and is full of gags and references. You see, Swords takes place in the fare future after our civilization has fallen. This newly developed culture has found our lost toys and reveres them as mighty, magical weapons. The weapons that you can purchase at the Toy Shop (No. I’m not kidding.) are different every time, but include things like yo-yo’s, NERF style dart guns, and even a Power Ranger suit. The weapon variety helps to mix things up on each play through and goes a long way for making sure that the game play doesn’t get stale.
The goal is to kill the evil wizard at the end, but that isn’t very easy to do without powering up. Players can do this by leveling up by fighting enemies throughout the world, exploring dungeons for treasures to help power themselves up, finding and money to buy better gear. Time is limited though. There is a day/night cycle that passes while you play and you only have 4 days to prepare for the final battle. This means that you cant spend all of your time chopping down grass looking for coins when there is experience to be earned. I found that the passage of time created a tension that propelled me forward and forced me into fights that I might have pushed aside for a while if I weren’t in a crunch.
Another feature that I would be remiss if I ignored is the multiplayer. This is a fun game to play with friends. The game doesn’t change much. Two kids appear to become Swords instead of just one and the adventure proceeds as normal. Players are tethered on the same screen with each other which does limit the amount of multitasking that you can do, but it does make the combat very satisfying. My favorite part of the multiplayer mode is the revive mechanic; it is just too cute. When one player falls in combat the other player can move over to their fallen comrade and give them a hug. This divides the survivor’s life total between the two players so they can work together. I particularly enjoyed watching my sons play together They knew that they could revive each other if things went south, but they knew that it wasn’t free so neither of them was reckless. It forced them to learn how to play better faster.
Family Gaming Assessment
The Swords of Ditto is rated E 10+ by the ESRB for “Fantasy Violence.”
PEGI (the rating system used in Europe) has rated the game PEGI 7 for minor “non-realistic violence against human like and fantastical characters.”
I agree with both of those rating assessments. The combat in this game is more cartoon-ish and comical than it is brutal. Most parents should feel comfortable letting their children play this game or watch it played with little issue.
If you are someone who does take exception to even minor violence in a game, then this may be one to avoid. take a look at the game play trailer below for an idea of how the game plays.
Playability Assessment
The Swords of Ditto is a challenging game. There is no hiding behind that. You will die and you will die often. Kids (or anyone for that matter) who are easily frustrated should give this game a second thought before trying it. I feel like this game is good enough to overcome some of those frustrations, but it is hard to know without taking your child into consideration.
Most of the story in the game is delivered through text so this isn’t a very accessible game for poor readers. There isn’t so much text that an older sibling or parent couldn’t read it out loud to earlier readers though.
Conclusion
This is a wonderful game that would make an excellent choice for anyone looking for a challenging game to play. This is especially true for anyone looking for a game to play side by side on the couch with.
It is currently available for PS4 and PC. They haven’t announced any other consoles yet, but that could change at any time.
What do you think? Sound off in the comments and let us know your thoughts!
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2 comments
Thanks for the review!
This game looks lovely, and I like the idea of how the visuals and combat are presented in a charming way.
How is the writing? Is it as wholesome as it looks?
Yes. It is exactly as wholesome as it looks!
It’s great!