A Sword Art Online game, once more released during the latter half of the year, made by the folks who created the best in the series that came out almost 6 years ago. Seems like a recipe for something good, right?
That is mostly true, in fact, this is the most accurate game that deciphers the anime’s version that I’ve played since Fatal Bullet, that same 2018 game.
Yet, why do I feel like it’s lacking something that gives it the edge over its much older predecessor? Or why Kirito keeps falling into the same reality-bending trap once again. Like surely he would notice it quicker now.
In any case, this is SAO: Fractured Daydream. How is it fair to my strictness about this franchise? We shall see.
Presentation
Fractured Daydream looks incredible for a game that’s still rocking the UE4 variation and also runs on the Nintendo Switch, with how the environment still looks great on the various worlds you’ll be exploring as part of Kirito and his crew that have been together for a decade, at this point. Not a lot of slowdowns and even solid 60 frames, even when playing online is a testament that the folks at Dimps have extracted all they could with this aging engine.
The UI elements are what you would expect from a SAO game that tries to mimic the MMORPG flavor of what Kirito’s crew is playing (and stuck in) This time it is ALfheim Online and it’s more gamify than usual, like it’s clearly designed to look kinda like that 10th game of a certain series about finality, but made in their own SAO flair. And unlike their previous game last year, this feels easier to read and doesn’t bother with your line of sight in combat encounters, so that’s a good positive to take into.
For the story side, it’s kinda like a mixture of stuff from many different junctions of the greater SAO stuff, with them leaning towards the light novels instead of the anime show because it’s sort of a soft reset for the gameverse itself more or less. But the whole Kirito gang itself is still here, like Sinon and Agil just to name a few, and while you can just go in blind, some homework might be needed because there are tons of references that newcomers might miss over the course of this game.
Speaking of which, all of the voice cast from the show return to reprise their roles once again, which does give a sort of nice continuity from both the show and games sounding similar no matter the medium that you are watching and/or playing.Though the music itself is something that plays like what you would expect a typical MMORPG would play and it ties up the narrative motive perfectly.
Gameplay
The gameplay is truly an SAO Adventure game, without a shadow of any doubt. It’s dressed in an MMORPG-like but kinda plays like Monster Hunter or even Strangers of Paradise, in a sense it’s a game where you can go upwards of four players in a CO-OP setting and then go towards various objectives, which does include boss battles. How open is it, you might say? In the multiplayer mode, they will load you and 19 others into a map, and go nuts.
It has that Destiny thing where each nook and cranny has something to do, and only the level cap is preventing you from traversing the open area of the multiplayer mode. Just load in your favorite character and grind like your anime heroes do in the show. It does feel like Fatal Bullet at times, only without being a custom character in this iteration.
And I guess it’s for good reason since each character is now based on their own class, like a Ranger for the likes of the gun welders, Fighters for the sword-based ones, and the sorts. And while the previous game is basically us playing a normal SAO game, I was expecting something akin to multiclass like how our player character did in Fatal Bullet, but it does make the Multiplayer mode more balanced, in a sense that players who are Asuna does Asuna things, while Yui supports, like how a guild should work.
It’s quite interesting to talk about team dynamics when they also have skills that can help finish out attacks that even the NPC Bots will automatically do, as they will be collecting Mana and Health that can help them survive the round as you try to find the usual gubbins during the down time before another combat encounter.
Altogether, it seems like a fine compromise for something that plays quite well during action segments and when players are going onto a raid boss, you might need to coordinate with your skills and dynamics to make it towards the end, of course.
Content![]()
With all of the content that you can do with either co-op partners or the bigger map with 20 players, there’s some pretty good content to be done if you’re looking for fun with either your friends or even randoms because the end goal is always the same, grind out and defeat the end boss.
The story campaign is your typical adventure game affair, with Kirito and the gang doing some shenanigans with various versions of themselves, kinda like a multiverse of sorts, which is quite a unique idea for SAO. All of them encompass a 10 to 13-hour story mode, plus the multiple times you can replay both co-op missions and open-world stuff, you could have an enjoyable romp with this one.
Personal Enjoyment
What is there more to say about having a new SAO game, but a neat distraction from the much bigger games that it releases alongside Fractured Daydream, while it won’t replace my all-time favorite out of the bunch, I’d say it is a good game to pick up and play with friends who doesn’t dislike this series.
It still is for the fans of the series, mind you. Like all of the references from stuff that were in the anime and even light novels get a peek, so think of this as the “Deadpool & Wolverine” edition of the game. Or the Dragon Ball Xenoverse line of games, if you want to keep the DIMPS connection. And that’s totally fine for me.
Verdict ![]()
Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream is a game that presents itself as something similar to what Kirito plays in the series, for good or bad. It won’t set the world on fire but it is a fun romp with friends or randoms just chaotically doing stuff on the world map. It’s still as hard to make someone become a fan of the series with this one game, but a hefty sale could sway anyone to just mess around in this.
Played on PC, Review copy provided by Publisher.
Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream Review
A game that presents itself as a something that’s similar to what Kirito plays in the series, for good or bad. It won’t set the world on fire but it is a fun romp.
- Presentation 7
- Gameplay 7.5
- Content 7
- Personal Enjoyment 7