Alto, for instance, starts the game with an automatic Counter attack, striking back anytime you take a hit from an enemy, while team tank Archibald's Defender ability lets him swoop in to block damage for allies standing nearby. These interact with the importance of positioning as well, with skills having different ranges (both horizontally and vertically) and areas of effect, piercing and splash effects, and more one of your fellow Regnant Knights starts with a skill that sends throwing knives raining down indiscriminately in a wide arc in front of him, for instance, while another's early repertoire includes a knockback attack that scoots enemies over a space as it deals damage.Īlong with skills, each character can sport any of several passive Abilities. It works the same way for your enemies, of course, so you'll need to predict their movements and stay on your toes to avoid being caught off-guard, by choosing which way your character's facing at the end of each turn.Įach character you'll control carries a different type of weapon, and has access to their own set of Skills - powerful attacks and techniques that consume SP, ranging from healing spells and buffs to multi-hit combos and long-range offensive maneuvers. If you attack an enemy from the side, for instance, you're more likely to land the hit compared to gunning for them head-on, and if you can manage to sneak around and jump them from the back, you'll be rewarded with both fish-in-a-barrel accuracy and a significant damage boost. So far, these are fairly standard SRPG staples, but Stella Glow stands out thanks to a simple mechanic borrowed from imageepoch's Luminous Arc days: which way your units are facing makes a difference. As in Fire Emblem, there's a huge emphasis on thoughtful play you'll be able to see how much damage your attacks will do (barring any unforeseen critical hits or whiffs) before you commit, and you can re-think your movements as many times as you like before you hit 'go'. You'll lead Alto, Lisette, and their ever-growing party of adventurers over gridded, isometric battlefields in an overhead view, taking it in turns to move your troops and launch attacks which play out automatically in beautifully-choreographed, zoomed-in cutscenes. Musical leanings aside, at its heart, Stella Glow is a strategy RPG, like Fire Emblem: Awakening, Final Fantasy Tactics, or Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor. Best of all, the magical music conceit is genuinely intriguing, and used very well it gives Regnant's world a unique feel that sets it apart from most fantasy RPGs. It's fast-paced and snappy (once it gets going), never lingers in one place for too long, and features plenty of memorable characters to get to know. While it starts off slow and predictable, and anime tropes abound - amnesia, childhood friends, cute girls who can't cook, duty-bound knights, and magical girl transformations all feature within the first hour - the story ends up being one of Stella Glow's best features. Deciding to fight forte with forte, Alto and Lisette head off to the royal capital of Lambert to join the 9th Regiment of the Regnant Knights, search for the other four remaining witches, and use the power of their Song Magic to drown out Hilda's tune of destruction. On investigating, he comes across a powerful witch - the only beings still able to sing - named Hilda, hellbent on destroying his village and the wider world. One day, however, Alto hears a melody coming from the woods. Mirthra and its Kingdom of Regnant are a world without song, and have been ever since the gods took it away as punishment for human arrogance. Stella Glow starts off in the sleepy village of Mithra, where main character Alto has come to live with young Lisette and her mother. Luckily, there's always something special about a final performance, and as imageepoch's encore, Stella Glow is a hit this is a stylish SRPG that delights with fun, strategic gameplay, world-spanning adventure, and a unique musical motif that hits all the right notes.
As a spiritual successor to those titles, as well as imageepoch's last release following their bankruptcy in 2015, Stella Glow has quite a legacy to live up to.
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Though they've had a hand in games as diverse as Yoshi's New Island and Time and Eternity, the name 'imageepoch' will forever be linked with Luminous Arc, the studio's successful strategy RPG series that debuted on the DS back in 2007.
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