Games that change your entire perspective on a genre are very important. Despite liking a few crawlers and dungeon crawlers over the years, I’ve never considered myself a fan of the genre. I rarely pick games where that’s the main selling point. And yet, Asobism’s Vibrant Knight Have I rethinked my past decisions? With a fairly simple premise, Vibrant Knight Mission you pass the multi-tiered dungeon to collect gems and defeat the boss. As I said, Vibrant Knight simple until you really consider its gameplay mechanics.
That simplicity is one of the Vibrant Knight strongest point. The combat system is neither diverse nor complex. You set up your party members, and when skills cooldown, you make your avatar set up a shield, attack randomly, or cast spells. Party members automatically use their skills until the battle is over. That’s really it. Well, sort of.
Each dungeon gives you 30 crystals as a first time completion bonus, and you can find more crystals in dungeons and their treasure levels. After completing a dungeon, you’ll be brought back to the main screen to use crystals for Kingdom Grimoires, which act as some kind of gacha system, or to start a “new game”. The new game is just the new dungeon. From there, you’re right back into the action.
The fun and fun part of Vibrant Knight comes from all the behind-the-scenes work that you have to do. The biggest mistake I made while playing became apparent in the third dungeon. The first two are easy enough that I don’t feel the need to care much about the gems I’m picking up or any of the rules regarding upgrades and party composition. I suppose I can pass the levels aimlessly. I consider the lack of options in battle a lack of difficulty, rather the game slowly introducing you to its systems. So I failed the third dungeon three times before realizing Vibrant KnightMy gameplay is more involved than I thought before.
There are just over 50 characters to unlock and find, and each one has a color and symbol attached to them. This was a key factor, and ignoring it because the first few dungeons lacked tough battles was what caused my party to lose multiple times. Color and icon combinations give your party different attributes and effects. These make a huge difference in battle. Summoner spells on offer range from assist shields and effects to preemptive hits and AOE magic damage. It’s up to you to keep in mind the units you’re playing and in your memory while figuring out what your team needs to thrive and ultimately defeat the boss.
I absolutely love (and sometimes hate) having to manage energy in dungeons, as draining it means taking damage with every movement. Deciding whether I want to prioritize small skirmishes with enemies to unlock more party members or get to the boss with what I have as quickly as possible created a tricky situation interesting. Even the challenge that comes with regularly having a different random party in each dungeon is a joy. All of these add another layer to a game that at first glance seems simple and easy to repeat.
I love when a game can surprise me, and that’s exactly what happened the first time I picked up this game. Vibrant KnightThe gameplay loop of the game is fast, and the layout in the dungeons changes with each level, making the game incredibly playable during those brief bursts of in-between moments.
Vibrant Knight available on PC via Steam and Nintendo Switch.
