Qliphah: In Providence’s Shadow might prove to be a little gem of an RPG for some this year. The game’s combat is quite fun and it’s visual design is great. It’s story isn’t bad either but there are some things that hold the narrative back in certain areas and it could perhaps use a bit more to it’s gameplay features.
Story
The game sees you play as Rena Hizuki, a peacekeeper who’s investigating a supernatural blight that’s turning people into monsters called Tier Ones due to a drug that’s on the market. During her investigation, she encounters Soma Hoshigami, a young man who is in the process of becoming a Tier One but somehow retains his humanity. The peacekeepers decide he’s useful and although reluctant at first, Rena takes Soma under her wing and they investigate the case together, forming an almost sibling-like bond in the process.
Pros
Qliphah has a very striking visual style. It plays out like a supernatural horror themed anime similar to something along the lines of Parasyte or Devilman Crybaby. I liked the design of both Soma and Rena. Rena looks like a cool and collected agent and Soma, he seems very innocent when the game begins and he is since he was only a delivery boy at first, but as Rena teaches him to fight, he really begins to come into his own. I truly think however, that the design of the monsters, particularly the bosses is where the game’s visual style really shines.
This isn’t a survival horror game and I’m thankful for that because I probably wouldn’t have been able to finish this game with these guys running around. It’s especially horrifying because you only have a certain amount of time to defeat the bosses and if you don’t, they’ll eat you.
Though that shouldn’t be too hard to avoid if you master Qliphah’s combat system. The game is a tactical RPG that has quite a bit of depth to it. The game doesn’t have turns per say. You can attack as much as you want but, the key is to do two things. One, build up the rush meter. Building up the rush meter will greatly increase your overall damage output as Rena and Soma both work in tandem to overwhelm enemies. The second part is you want to counter attacks by timing an attack of the same color as the enemy.
This is where the game gets tactical as each attack you use has different attributes. Some have higher counter bars to make the timing easier. Others have stricter bars but the damage may be significantly higher and they may even debuff the enemies in some way. It’s a matter of making sure you’re always attacking, dodging as well as paying attention to what color attacks the enemy favors more. You can also cancel attacks with a dodge at any time, then input another immediately or even pause time. Pausing time allows you to survey the battle, as well as cancel actions you may not want to do.
You also have a lot of skills to find as you play through. These are acquired through research points which you earn plenty of by doing certain objectives as you do battles. You can grind as much as you want but, you have to be careful. Once the game gets past 9 days during a case, the zones become more hostile and enemies are stronger. This can make bosses especially difficult.
Speaking on the games narrative, it’s not bad. The story has a few solid moments throughout and the dynamic between Rena and Soma was enjoyable as things went on. Although Rena initially starts off somewhat cold towards Soma, due to not knowing whether he’ll be dangerous or not, she quickly takes to the role of being a good mentor towards him. She acts like a stern yet loving older sister to him as things go on, sort of like something out of a military family.
The other standout character is the game’s antagonist, Keiran. She’s a cult leader who looks almost angelic but is down right creepy in her demeanor and her speech patterns.
Cons
Qliphah’s story isn’t bad but, it does unfortunately have some pacing issues. There’s a lot of dull moments between some of the better ones and some characters that were good only got a little bit of screen time. Also while neither Rena or Soma are bad characters, it does kind of feel like Rena didn’t get as much development as Soma did throughout the game. Some of her key moments didn’t come until very late in the game.
The game’s combat is fun but can also start to get repetitive, primarily because outside of the bosses, the games other monsters are recycled pretty heavily. Even at higher levels you’re fighting the same few monsters and beating them eventually becomes trivial once you understand their patterns. Coupled with the fact that there’s no areas you really run around and explore in to at least break things up and it can get tedious, although thankfully Qliphah isn’t a very long RPG, most can probably finish the story in 13-14 hours.
Lastly, I have to mention the Mystic Pass, or rather I can’t talk about it much since the game was extremely vague on how this mechanic actually works. They say you’re supposed to find these codes which will unlock special skills with the Mystic Pass as you play through the map but, I never found one even when backtracking through other areas. I thought you’d get some through achievements, as codes seemed to pop up with certain ones but when I entered them, it didn’t seem to do anything. There should be more indication on how you’re actually supposed to find these imo. I didn’t end up finding one by the time the credits rolled.
Final thoughts
Qliphah: In Providence’s Shadow is a game carried by it’s fun combat, solid visuals and two solid leads. Had some things been pushed a bit further, perhaps it could’ve been a hidden standout but for as it stands, it’s a good budget title RPG that’s worth checking out.
Reviewed on PC. Thank you to Arc System Works for providing a code for the game.
