Strange Girl Gaming

Heroine Anthem Zero Sacrifice (Episode 1) is a side-scrolling RPG developed by WindThunder Studio and published by Winking Entertainment.

A fun filled adventure that is a must own for any fantasy fan out there, with so much beauty surrounding this game in many ways. It is a work of art, the graphics are good, certainly pretty for a side scrolling action RPG, the backgrounds to the environments we explore are beautiful to look at adding real depth to the levels. The visual art style is wonderful, truly stunning art work with the emotional soundtrack being simply captivating, I found myself lost many times in the music, simply listening to it, feeling the emotions of it. Anime has always been beautiful, Heroine Anthem Zero embraces everything that is so amazing about the anime style.

The comradery between characters is interesting to watch, plenty of humour between friends, insults and sarcasm to boot. As you might expect with an anime style game, each individual character is well defined be it through their strength or beauty. I actually found myself enjoying reading the speech, in this day and age I must admit to being one of those lazy gamers who hates to read speech. I would much rather listen to it, however on this occasion I was more than happy to make an exception, the script has been well written with tasteful humour that tickled me at times.

The story is slow burning, give it time, as with many games of this genre and style can take a while to warm up but once you are there and into the story it becomes gripping, you will want to keep playing. Putting the controller down becomes harder and harder, the fighting, the adventures waiting for you have such a great pull that you will find yourself wanting to push further into the chapter or at least to the next camp to save your progress. The save system works well, be sure to keep on top of your progress, nothing worse than fighting through tough enemies to only fall to your death and lose progress.

The controls are simple, too many times I have had to endure overly complicated controls when there has been no need to take things to that level of complication. The simpler lay out in Heroine Anthem Zero helps to keep the gameplay fluid, no need to take a break due to frustration setting in thanks to forgetting how to perform key actions. Combat is always an important part of any game that incorporates it, in this case it has been done well. Smooth side scrolling combat, while it may be underwhelming for some with its simple hack n slash it has been done well. Wanin is a great character to take control off in this journey, it is a shame however that there is no group control or customisation, it would have added even more depth. Managing a party adds a more strategic feel, not to mention having control over different abilities or styles within the team gives the player that bit more control over their destiny.

Episode 1 Sacrifice is more than worth the money, it has been years in the making. Grab yourself a copy of Heroine Anthem Zero now, stay on top of the action as episodes are released. I for one cannot wait for episode 2, this fantasy adventure has captivated me, making me wait with baited-breath for the next instalment. WindThunder Studio have done a stunning job, thank you for this wonderful experience.

Should you need to get in contact with Winking Entertainment regarding the game, they have got a clear channel for communication. I will leave a link to their official facebook should you need a means to contact them. https://www.facebook.com/WinkingCorp/

A complimentary review code was provided by Winking Entertainment for the purpose of this review.

Heroine Anthem Zero Sacrifice is available now for PS4, PC and Nintendo Switch.