Lulled by the composer’s synthwave notes Ujico, TASOMACHI: Behind the Twilight is a little adventure created by nocrasa pseudonym used by one of the original designers of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Will this independent title content be able to make us relive some of the suggestions of the Nintendo masterpiece? Let’s check it out in this review for the version PlayStation 4released about a year after the original version arrived on PC, losing the Xbox One version by the way.
- Title: TASOMACHI: Behind the Twilight
- Platform: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PC / Steam, GOG
- Version analyzed: PlayStation 4 (EU)
- Type: Adventure, platformer
- Players: 1
- Publisher: PLAYISM
- Developer: Orbital Express
- Tongue: English (lyrics), Japanese (dubbing)
- Exit date: April 28, 2022
- Availability: digital delivery
- DLC: digital soundtrack
- Note: the game was released on PC in April 2021
We reviewed TASOMACHI: Behind the Twilight with a Playstation 4 code provided to us free of charge by PLAYISM.
The journey to the East
On its way to To-en, Yukumo, the silent protagonist of the game, gets entangled with her own airship in a thick evil fog. The boat suffers damage, forcing the girl to stop at a mysterious city in theFar East. Here he will learn from Kogaraof the tribe Nezu (creatures similar to anthropomorphic rodents), that the only way to dispel the fog that holds the entire city in its grip is to visit the sanctuaries of the sacred trees and recover the numerous “Sources of Earth”Scattered around the game world.
TASOMACHI: Behind the Twilight it is built around two main mechanics: the collection of collectibles hidden in the maps that make up the city and the overcoming of the platform phases contained in the sanctuaries. Even without presenting particular flashes of originality, these two components work just enough, but, if we were to choose between the two the one that was able to entertain us the most, thanks to an unpleasant sensation of slipperiness of the movements in the platform phases, we would undoubtedly point the finger on the collection of the collectibles, certainly more successful.
Collect-a-thon
Exploring the nameless city of the Far East is indeed, despite the nonexistent challenge rate, all in all pleasant. It is precisely in the level design of the maps that the stylistic imprint of a great professional can be seen, who managed to assemble an enigmatic world, embellished with wonderful views, light effects, and dream architecture. Each alley arouses the player’s curiosity, spurring him to create his own story, in an attempt to get to know an elusive world, as fascinating as it is feeble and incoherent.
The collection of Sources of Earthexcept for some more stratified enigma (these will be present above all in the last phase of the adventure, when we would have ‘sanitized’ the city), it does not alone offer a particularly stimulating pastime, but the beauty of the maps, combined with the need to memorize the layout for orientation, makes the title engaging enough for all four or five hours to complete.
During the adventure we will also unlock new skills that will allow us to reach previously inaccessible areas and collectibles, making us tolerate the small size of the levels more: they are certainly not revolutionary additions, but at least they manage to give the experience a sense of progression. These skills will also be put to the test in shrine challenges, rather crude platforming sections with fluctuating difficulty, which will occasionally require more than one attempt to complete..
Between Romanticism and Cubism
From a technical point of view, the game amazed us with its fluidity in the exploratory phases, remaining above 30 FPS even in the most open and “demanding” environments for the Sony console, even on the non-Pro model.
Despite an inspired art direction and striking lighting, the overall rendering, however, is tainted by angular polygonal models and textures lacking details. In this sense, the world of TASOMACHI it works much better when viewed with a certain amount of ‘presbyopia’, neglecting the ‘micro’ in favor of the ‘macro’, which is better suited to being celebrated in the photo mode, available immediately by pressing a button and which will allow us to create impressive screenshots in the game world.
A dream not fully realized
Unfortunately, beyond the defects of the gameplay and the technical realization, the problems of TASOMACHI they are also to be found elsewherein the barely sketched menus, in the interactions for their own sake, in the simple black screens that replace the cutscenes, and in a barely sketched narrative framework, not without gaps even in its extreme simplicity.
The feeling we felt throughout the whole adventure was that of finding ourselves in front of an incomplete product which, at a certain stage of its development, would have aspired to be much more than what we found on our hands. The quiet of some areas is truly deafening and not even the beautiful (but perhaps a bit wasted) soundtrack of Ujico manages to remedy. The imaginative effort required of the player is really excessive, especially when the game repays that effort with a handful of flies, pieces of lore botched, too simple puzzles, and too much repetition for such a limited and short title.
Who do we recommend TASOMACHI: Behind the Twilight to?
Despite having an important name behind it, in the current situation it is difficult for us to recommend the purchase of TASOMACHI: Behind the Twilight. In fact, nocras’s work presents itself as an incomplete experience, suspended between the jaunty gameplay of Gravity Rush and introspection of the works of Fumito Uedawithout however being able to replicate either the character of one or the greatness of the others.
- A mysterious and well-built world
- Great soundtrack
- Few content
- The feeling of being in front of an unfinished title
TASOMACHI: Behind the Twilight
An incomplete journey
Almost more a demo than a finished game, TASOMACHI: Behind the Twilight it bears the great talent of its author, whose artistic depth we absolutely do not dare to question. Once the repetitiveness of the sanctuaries is removed, the beauty of some views leaves you speechless, especially when, once the airship has been repaired, you finally return to sail the skies. The potential is there and can be seen in every passage, in every reflection, and in the unusual but amazing musical accompaniment. Unfortunately, however, the hunt for the collectible seems more like a fallback than a choice of game design motivated by creative reasons. We rest the pad with the sad feeling that the game’s nocras it could have been much more, but whether it was compromised by too tight deadlines or too tight a budget. It is with regret, therefore, that we assign a TASOMACHI a low grade, in the hope, however, that its author will continue the path undertaken, leading us in the future to other mysterious places, possibly more worthy of being discovered.
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