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The world is not black and white. When it comes to decisions and moral dilemmas, there’s a hefty shade of grey thrown into the mix that results in your actions having definitive consequences. That’s an idea that’s thrown around plenty in Fallen Legion+, a collection of the formerly PS4-exclusive Fallen Legion: Sins of an Empire and the PS Vita’s Fallen Legion: Flames of Rebellion.

Who’s really right at the end of the day? Whose viewpoint has the best possible outcome for the future of many instead of the few? Those are a few ideas thrown around in developer YummyYummyTummy’s collection of Fallen Legion games, now running under the monikor of Fallen Legion+ in its new collected state.

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A fantasy game with plenty of story, Fallen Legion+ looks like a stock standard RPG set between opposing viewpoints. And while it’s tale of coup de tats and empirical backstabbing isn’t entirely novel, it does have one ace up its sleeve: Speed. Fallen Legion+ focuses on a lightning quick pace of combat which it builds around, action that is kept simple yet constant.

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Using the resurrected spirits of long-dead heroes, players can throw these “Exemplars” into battle while hiding behind them and offering support. It sounds easy enough: Each Exemplar has a trio of attack points to chain together in combat, which makes full use of their stamina and weapons to deal damage. Press a face button, perform an attack and guard against your enemies who’ll show you no quarter or mercy.

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Easy enough, right?

Where the real meat of the combat lies, is in figuring out the pace of attacking, blocking and counterattacking. Understanding the flow of battle is the key to success here, a speedy game of rock-paper-scissors of a sort that won’t be unfamiliar to anyone who jammed a few hours with Valkyrie Profile. Characters have strengths and weaknesses, teamwork is essential and nailing that perfect chain of flawless offense is a sure-fire recipe for victory.

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It’s an intriguing system, but one that falters from time to time when you think you’ve got an enemy’s patterns perfectly read and the screen decides to erupt in a cacophony of animation and other troopers that results in a messy finish. Fallen Legion+’s mechanics are undoubtedly solid, but its flair for punctuating those battles with all manner of visual effects can be its downfall during more chaotic engagements on the battlefield.

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Otherwise, there’s a lot to love here. The artwork has a natural and humble hand-painted style, the music always feels riveting and seeing your choices unfold into long-term consequences is a neat hook to pay attention to. Two games, one package and a complete story that tells both sides of the tale of a kingdom at war for itself.

Last Updated: January 10, 2018

Fallen Legion+
Challenging, quick on the draw and leaning heavy on the action component, Fallen Legion+ may be unnecessarily frantic at times but it still packs in two interesting stories to great effect. A complete edition that falls just a little bit flat of truly realising its potential, Fallen Legion+ is still an ambitious title with plenty of charm.
7.0
Fallen Legion+ was reviewed on PC

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