In a genre currently dominated by remakes,Beyond Galaxylandbreathes fresh air into the “three people standing in a line” genre. Inspired by the story tropes, gameplay, and level design of RPGs likePaper Mario: The Thousand-Year DoorandChrono Trigger,this game feels much like visiting an old friend.
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But how doesBeyond Galaxylandcompare to its predecessors? Considering the RPG heights reached by starsjust in the Mario franchise,there’s good reason to be skeptical. Let’s launch this review and find out!
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Soaring Across The Galaxy
Beyond Galaxylandrewards exploration and curiosity,which quickly won my affection. After a prologue in which Doug—your main character—departs Earth through a mysterious portal, you arrive on your new home: the planet of Erros. Your next objective? Explore.
And you reallycanexplore, both while on Erros and while on other planets throughout the DreamCore corporation’s “nature preserve,” Galaxyland. Sidequests and hidden rewards built a sense of open-ended adventure while perusing each location. Acquiring a spaceship unlocks visiting other planets.
The game resists holding your hand. Plentiful healing items and frequent save points prevent the endurance-grind dungeon-crawls ofFinal Fantasy. However,Beyond Galaxylandinfrequently employs outright barriers to dangerous locales.
As I played, I learned that if a character warns that a location is dangerous—or a sidequest is time-consuming—this warning is likely the only “safety” employed.
These methods bolstered my immersion inBeyond Galaxyland’sstory, contributing to the sense that Galaxyland is an “actual” place. Further, exploring areas beyond what’s “expected” for your level offers equitable rewards for success. Some boss fights are clearly suicidal if underleveled, but nothing prevents you fromtrying.
Direction is provided by a mini-map Radar, which guides you toward the correct screen, if desired, for your current objective. This counterbalances the opportunities for exploration so thatBeyond Galaxylandnever feels wholly open and direction-less.
Exploration is engaging throughout the game, but I found the pacing of its availability frustrating. Time leaps forward after each main story quest—strengthening the worldbuilding further—and sidequests often require this leap for progress.
After unlocking your spaceship, the following main story sequence is quite long. Being unable to take a break and explore between these story quests hindered the exploratory theme’s chance to really shine.
Going Beyond Nostalgia
If you’ve ever played a JRPG, the gameplay inBeyond Galaxylandwill be familiar. Combining the active offense and defenseof the Mario RPGswithChrono Trigger’sturn timer, this game often feels like a “greatest hits” of JRPG mechanics.
Apart from weapons, any character you recruit can equip any gear you find (called “artifacts” in-game). Atop this is also added a crafting system with which you may create potions and new artifacts with your battle loot.
Characters learn special abilities through story progression, which are fueled withability pointsearned when you successfully land an attack. you may alsoequip captured monsters—adding a bit of a Pokémon vibe—then call on them in battle with summon points.
Even bosses can be captured! Well, the majority. Trying to capture every valid boss I encountered was definitely my favorite gameplay element. Enduring a boss’s attacks andnotkilling it in order to continue making capture attempts was a satisfying tactical challenge.
Combined, the varied options for gear and summons enables experimentation.
Juggling the different resources took getting used to, and is a welcome complication. Ordinary monster encounters are neither trivial nor tedious.Beyond Galaxylandforegoes random encounters while traveling a map. Instead, its visible monsters can be avoided, ambushed, or may even ambush your party.
Beyond Galaxylandcompetently synthesizes mechanics into a fluid and engaging combat experience.
On the downside, I also felt little distinguished one character from another. Any character can pretty much be equipped for any role, their abilities often overlap, and their statistics remain quite similar while leveling up.Beyond Galaxyland’sdesire for open-ended player choices ultimately encouraged me to just use the default starting characters rather than new additions to the roster.
For a game with active defense—pressing a button to block incoming attacks—the varied quality of this game’s attack animations disappointed me. There is a lack of clear and immediate attacks across the roster.
Some enemies walk up and wait, then attack without a cue, while others strike directly. This isn’t necessarily a problem on its own.
However, some attacks can be blocked once the animation begins, while others require blockingbeforethe animation. Despite my experience with this mechanic in similar games, the core “rhythm” to defense inBeyond Galaxylandwas difficult to find.
Beyond Galaxylandcompetently synthesizes mechanics into a fluid and engaging combat experience. The gameplay’s flaws are, throughout, relatively minor. By the time the credits rolled, I found myself eager for more of this blend—almost always a good sign.
Fortunately, there’s aNew Game Plusoption for replaying. This time, you keep all the gear previously found—and can crank up the difficulty, too.
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Close To The Classic Stars
Beyond Galaxylandpulls ideas from among the best JRPGs ever made, and uses them well. However, that’s the rub—it merely uses themwell.
It’s terribly hard to achieve such an ambition. When a game shoots for the stars, it’s important to consider how close it flew.
This genre’s best games aren’t merely defined by “a great setting” or “great gameplay.” These games also have a great plot and memorable characters.
To its credit,Beyond Galaxylanddelivers a stronger story than I had anticipated during the game’s first few hours. It’s a story about choices and hope, and also about time travel and existential dread. There are philosophical and moral dimensions to the plot I did not expect.
Beyond Galaxylandis not a heavyweight “literary” narrative burdened by ponderous meditation on the structures of consciousness. I like nonfiction doorstoppers, but their topics fit poorly into a JRPG. This game’s plot brushes against such questions, but remains focused on Doug’s adventures.
For an early-game example, the morality of DreamCore’s actions—and the maternalistic perspective of its leader, Queen Zero, toward “lesser species”—was presented in such a way that the game provoked genuine curiosity in me about whether they were truly the Bad Guys. Further substantive elements largely enter the story toward the end-game, so I’ll remain silent to avoid spoilers.
In contrast with the indifferent character gameplay, the character writing throughoutBeyond Galaxylandis fairly good. I found particular delight in the variety of alien critters, their attitudes toward the humans, and in particular the supportive friendship between Doug and his talking guinea pig companion, Boom Boom.
It’s hard to discussBeyond Galaxylandand not mention Boom Boom. He’s not really central to the main narrative, but the guinea pig is probably the most memorable.
This is due to his involvement in various mini-games throughout the story. For example, Boom Boom gets shoved into air vents to disarm traps, sent racing onStar Wars VIspeeder bikes, and defends the party in short real-time battles with his trusty blaster.
A mini-game’s presence doesn’t indicate that it will become a running theme of the story. Unlike, say,Paper MarioorMetroid,a new mini-game doesn’t indicate an ability to explore areas in new ways. Consequently, new events (and new companions) are less memorable because they don’t expand the options available while exploring the world.
Puzzles also struggle with inconsistent usage. Rather than build upon prior experiences,Beyond Galaxylandtends to add new concepts for mini-games and puzzles.
Overall, this really captures a picture of the game. WhileBeyond Galaxylandis an exciting breath of fresh air in a relatively stale genre, it achieves “good,” not “great.” And considering “great” means “isn’t a modern genre-defining classic,” there’s hardly shame in that.
Each facet contains small flaws which prevent the game from reaching its lofty goal, but they don’t hinder the general experience.Beyond Galaxylandhas an engaging story, challenging bosses, and an exciting world designed for exploration.
What it truly lacks isn’t encapsulated by my nit-picking at imperfections.Beyond Galaxylandlacks a classic game’s memorable moments—like when Hooktail eats the audience inPaper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.
Closing Comments
Drawing on decades of inspiration, Beyond Galaxyland is a heartfelt love-letter to the JRPG genre. Although the game can’t quite escape its predecessors' long shadow, it shines more brightly than many of its peers. The synthesis of gameplay elements from Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy to Paper Mario and Pokémon makes this a must-play for genre enthusiasts, and worthy of consideration by other gamers. Increased difficulty in New Game Plus adds to Beyond Galaxyland’s replayability, while an interesting story helps it stand out from among other JRPGs.
Beyond Galaxyland
Reviewed on Nintendo Switch
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