Actraiser Renaissance

About

Actraiser Renaissance is a refreshed version of the classic game that combines elements of simulation, action, and platforming. As the Lord of Light, players will aid humanity by providing guidance, battling nightmarish monsters, and rebuilding a prosperous world. This new edition features improved graphics, remastered music, and new content, providing a fresh take on a beloved classic.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

75%

Audience ScoreBased on 467 reviews

music98 positive mentions

grinding21 negative mentions

The game successfully captures the nostalgia of the original Actraiser while introducing new mechanics and characters.
The remastered soundtrack by Yuzo Koshiro is fantastic, with options to switch between the original and new versions.
The combination of side-scrolling action, city-building, and tower defense elements creates a unique gameplay experience.

The tower defense segments feel tedious and disrupt the flow of gameplay, often requiring trial and error to succeed.
The graphics, particularly in the action sections, are criticized for being low resolution and reminiscent of mobile games.
The game is bogged down by excessive dialogue and tutorials, which can interrupt gameplay and feel repetitive.

music
228 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
55%
2%
The music in the game has received widespread acclaim, with many praising the remastered soundtrack by Yuzo Koshiro, which beautifully reimagines the original compositions while also introducing new tracks. Players appreciate the option to switch between the updated orchestral score and the classic SNES soundtrack, allowing for a nostalgic experience alongside modern enhancements. Overall, the music is considered a standout feature, elevating the game's atmosphere and gameplay.
- “The music is orchestral reimagining of the original chip tunes, which is a plus in my book.”
- “The soundtrack is genuinely amazing, and the new music sounds great.”
- “Yuzo Koshiro did a great job with the soundtrack, which consists almost entirely of compositions from the original game that have been completely redone.”
- “The new music is not good and has a completely different feel.”
- “The remixes of the original music (the original songs were bangers btw) are subpar and make it sound like generic ambient fantasy music.”
- “I really can't recommend it because I feel robbed of music tracks I used to love.”
story
227 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
15%
80%
5%
The story in "Actraiser Renaissance" has been significantly expanded from the original, introducing new characters and deeper narrative elements that enhance player engagement. However, many players find the storytelling overly verbose and frequently interrupted by quests and tower defense segments, which can disrupt gameplay flow and feel tedious. While the added depth and character development are appreciated, the linear progression and reliance on quests for advancement have drawn mixed reactions, with some players feeling it detracts from the overall experience.
- “The story is expanded via the introduction of new lovable characters, and even the bosses have some personality now.”
- “The new artwork is great and the storytelling is actually quite deep.”
- “The expanded story is really cool and adds a lot of atmosphere.”
- “The quest system tries to expand the old storyline, but the way it is done rips you out of gameplay constantly.”
- “The story is now incredibly linear, to the point that fans of the original will know all the story beats, but the individual sections of rebuilding the towns are now full of drawn-out exposition, with a weird focus being put on the tower defense characters and not your god-player character.”
- “The most irritating part is that this game never really lets you get into a flow in the world-building section, since you're constantly interrupted with a new quest within 2-3 seconds of completing one.”
graphics
225 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
75%
8%
The graphics of the game have received mixed reviews, with many players noting that while there are some improvements, the overall visual quality often feels dated and inconsistent, resembling early PS1 or mobile game graphics. Some appreciate the new art style and nostalgic elements, while others criticize the awkwardness and low resolution of the action sequences, leading to a disjointed experience. Overall, the graphics seem to be a divisive aspect, with opinions ranging from charmingly retro to poorly executed.
- “The graphics have had a big improvement, they have added new content, the music was remixed and updated, and they even added a new type of gameplay to the mix, a number of base/tower defense sequences to each region.”
- “This remake has beautiful graphics, smooth gameplay, and a kickin' soundtrack.”
- “The graphics are nice, I like the new music (albeit not as much as the original OST), there were some neat new moves added to the action platformer segments.”
- “The graphics are honestly really bad overall.”
- “The graphics are arguably worse than the 16-bit graphics of the original and some of the new game mechanics unnecessarily over complicated things.”
- “But the action stages.... this may be the ugliest graphics I've seen for a game in over a decade.”
gameplay
212 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
21%
73%
6%
The gameplay of Actraiser Renaissance has received mixed reviews, with many players expressing frustration over the newly introduced tower defense mechanics, which disrupt the flow and pacing of the game. While some appreciate the nostalgic elements and the combination of action-platforming with town-building, others find the controls clunky and the gameplay loop repetitive, often feeling bogged down by constant interruptions from quests and town management tasks. Overall, while the remake retains the core gameplay of the original, the added mechanics have polarized opinions, with some players enjoying the new features and others wishing for a more streamlined experience.
- “The gameplay is solid all around, the story is reasonably interesting and the soundtrack is genuinely amazing.”
- “The added mechanics are fun and the combination of town building and action stages is as charming as ever.”
- “This game was quite the surprise, and I'm glad to say, it's not only a very good remaster of the original game, but it also adds so many gameplay elements, so much content, it's hard to say it's not worth its price.”
- “Actraiser in name only, this is more of an exercise in how long you can endure awful tower defense mechanics.”
- “Wow that tower defense mode is an awful experience, way to ruin the flow of gameplay with an awful, constant, and required minigame.”
- “The gameplay is just awful, so terribly awful.”
grinding
21 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Overall, players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively tedious and repetitive, often feeling bogged down by lengthy dialogues, monotonous quests, and frustrating tower defense segments. While some enjoy the core gameplay, many express that the grinding elements feel like unnecessary padding, detracting from the overall experience and making it a chore rather than an engaging challenge.
- “There is way too much chitchat from the angel and the townspeople; at times it's hard to get stuff done because you keep getting dragged into tedious dialog scenes.”
- “The additional grind quests aren't all that either... grinding over an act so I can kill a couple of typhoon pigeons is not fun.”
- “It just feels like padding and grinding to stretch the time needed to beat the game with zero impact in the end game.”
character development
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
17%
50%
Reviewers highlight significant improvements in character development, praising the depth of storytelling and the new character designs. The enhanced focus on the relationships and backgrounds of characters from different regions adds richness to the narrative, although some express a desire for more varied aesthetics in gameplay. Overall, the character development is seen as a standout feature that elevates the game's storytelling.
- “My favorite part: there's far more story and character development going on.”
- “Everything reads like a positive psalm with the writing really showing some great character development and overall storytelling.”
- “Perhaps the two biggest changes are the character development and siege mode in the sim mode.”
- “I can understand everyone's frustration on this matter, as I wish too that we could have seen a different type of aesthetic in the gameplay sections for enemy and character design.”
- “More character development with the people of each region, which is good.”
optimization
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
17%
50%
Overall, optimization feedback is mixed; while some users report solid performance with high frame rates and no tearing on higher-end setups, others experience significant issues like horizontal tearing and jittering, particularly on lower-end hardware. Configuration changes to address these problems often yield little to no improvement, indicating a need for better optimization across various systems.
- “I had no crashes during my playtime and performance was always solid.”
- “Great performance, has unlimited fps and many resolutions supported. I'm running 4K and hitting 500 fps in action mode and over 1,000 fps in god mode, capped it to 144.”
- “Performance on the 5600G APU was generally fine, except the video output had terrible, terrible horizontal tearing, and all settings done in configuration to change resolution or enable VSync did not appear to have any appreciable effect on the game at all.”
- “As someone who played and enjoyed the original and other Quintet games, my joy upon seeing the trailer was dashed upon the cruel rocks of the reality of this mobile-optimized garbage.”
- “Some of the comments are complaining of graphics issues; I am playing at 2560x1440, no frame cap, VSync off, G-Sync monitor, and I have no tearing, FPS drops, or stuttering, so for me it's a win.”
emotional
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of the game is highlighted by its ability to create a heartfelt connection through its gameplay and nostalgic design, evoking genuine feelings of warmth and nostalgia. Players appreciate the wholesome themes and moving soundtrack, with some even shedding tears during their experience. Overall, the game successfully intertwines emotional depth with engaging gameplay.
- “Because of that emotional loop that coincides with gameplay loop, it just feels really damn good.”
- “Summary: wonderful & heartfelt!”
- “I shed a tear hearing the soundtrack.”
monetization
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization strategy of the game is widely criticized as a blatant cash grab, with players feeling that it lacks genuine effort and understanding of the original's appeal. Many express disappointment, suggesting that the only redeeming quality is the remastered soundtrack, and they hope for a more respectful spiritual successor in the future.
- “The whole thing feels like a cash grab, and the only part that feels like any love was put into it is the remastered soundtrack.”
- “Unless they add an option to disable it, I'll never play this shameless cash grab made by someone who very clearly did not understand the appeal of the original.”
- “I will never touch anything from this developer again, and I really hope that someone develops a spiritual successor that breathes new life into this classic in the manner that it deserves, and not what is obviously a cash grab for an aging IP.”
stability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
75%
The game's stability is notably poor, with frequent freezes occurring after about 30 minutes of play, alongside various technical issues such as AI and audio bugs, low resolution defaults, and minor graphical glitches. While it performs well on the Steam Deck, the overall experience is marred by interruptions and awkward graphics.
- “The soundtrack is still as amazing as ever, and it looks and runs great on the Steam Deck as well.”
- “The game freezes constantly, usually after 30 minutes of play.”
- “Buggy, the graphics look awkward and gameplay is constantly interrupted by requests from the townspeople.”
- “And that's not including technical issues like AI bugs, audio bugs, the game defaulting to low resolution every time I start it up (for no explicable reason), and minor graphical glitches.”
replayability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
75%
Overall, the game's replayability is mixed; while some players find it lacking in value, others appreciate the opportunity to revisit side-scrolling stages and experiment with newly learned mechanics for a more enjoyable experience.
- “Replayability is good: once you learn more mechanics, it's fun to restart from the beginning and really utilize them.”
- “The side-scrolling stages are replayable and there's benefit to doing so.”
- “- no real replay value.”
- “This is a solid classic game with a lot of replay value.”
- “- side-scrolling stages are replayable and there's benefit to doing so.”
atmosphere
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere of the game is praised for its beautiful rendering and charming simplicity, enhanced by Yuzo Koshiro's exceptional music. Additionally, the expanded story contributes significantly to the overall immersive experience.
- “On the other hand, other stages like the first one are rendered beautifully with nice atmospheric effects.”
- “Much of that is due to its simple charm, great atmosphere, and more than anything else, thanks to the great music from Yuzo Koshiro.”
- “The expanded story is really cool and adds a lot of atmosphere.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is often described as hilarious, particularly due to its nostalgic nods to old-school game development. Players find the angel character amusing, especially in the early stages, where he humorously mocks the mortals he guides.
- “This stuff is pretty hilarious, especially how they embraced the old-school ways of developing games.”
- “The angel is funny at times, especially at the beginning when he pokes fun at the clueless mortals you have to guide.”