Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior
- May 14, 2024
- Sand Door Studio
Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior delivers a fun, creative action-adventure with enough charm and new ideas to stand out.
Get on SteamIn "Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior" , players assume the role of Imë, a protector of the realm granted temporal powers by the Goddess of Time. Use your ability to rewind time and summon past-selves to build an army, battling hordes of demons and uncovering ancient cities. Progress through levels to expand your arsenal and prepare for greater threats.
Nintendo Switch
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The time-shift mechanic is unique and adds depth to the combat puzzles, requiring strategic planning and execution.
- The game features beautiful graphics and a charming world with interesting lore, enhancing the overall experience.
- Each combat encounter is handcrafted, providing a satisfying gameplay loop that rewards players for mastering the mechanics.
- The gameplay can become repetitive, as many encounters feel similar and lack variety in combat mechanics.
- The story and character development are underwhelming, with lifeless characters and a predictable plot.
- The game suffers from optimization issues, including crashes and framerate drops, which can detract from the experience.
- gameplay112 mentions
- 27 % positive mentions
- 70 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The gameplay in "Lysfanga" is characterized by its unique time-shift mechanic, blending hack-and-slash action with strategic puzzle-solving elements. Players engage in self-contained combat encounters that require careful planning and execution, often needing to replay levels to master the mechanics and achieve par times. While the core gameplay loop is engaging and inventive, some players find it repetitive and challenging, particularly in later levels, which may detract from the overall experience.
“This is a good little combat puzzler with an interesting world with lots of lore to read, a pleasant, adventurous atmosphere, and some solid time loop gameplay as you and your copies run around defeating enemies as fast as possible.”
“The gameplay mechanics are inventive and engaging, offering a refreshing departure from the norm.”
“Fights in Lysfanga are self-contained combat puzzles featuring a bunch of enemies with unique gameplay mechanics – some of them carry heavy shields which make them invulnerable from the front, others are magically connected in pairs of two so both enemies have to be killed at roughly the same time or else they’ll revive.”
“Very unique game that is potentially fun but ends up being disappointing due to the nature of its repetitive gameplay.”
“The gameplay is extremely repetitive; you are just using the same trick on all the fights: (hit something for 3 seconds > time rewind > repeat). There is no action or hack and slash gameplay.”
“Worst-case, you don’t even like the idea of the time loop mechanic that’s so central to the game, at which point I’d say Lysfanga is a definite ‘pass’ for you, because that’s pretty much the entire gameplay right there.”
- story59 mentions
- 12 % positive mentions
- 83 % neutral mentions
- 5 % negative mentions
The story in "Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior" is generally considered passable, with some reviewers noting its engaging world-building and lore, but critiquing the lifeless characters and predictable plot. While the gameplay mechanics are praised for their depth, many players feel that the narrative lacks emotional investment and depth, making it less compelling for those seeking a strong story experience. Overall, the game offers a mix of entertaining elements, but the story alone may not justify a full-price purchase.
“Overall, a pretty successful game, with a captivating story and some great ideas in gameplay.”
“The game does some things well: the world-building and lore are fantastic and add a lot of life to the game, and the resulting plot of ancient rival kingdoms and the conclusion to centuries-old grudges is also quite engaging.”
“But Lysfanga does enough to keep me entertained and motivated throughout, by giving me lots of fully voice-acted dialogue to flesh out the story and setting, as well as some collectibles to hunt.”
“I was hyped for this after seeing the reveal at last year's Gamescom, but after finishing the main story, I'm fairly disappointed.”
“The aforementioned plot is brought down by lifeless characters and stilted, oftentimes 'gamey', dialogue, and the gameplay falls into this awkward middle ground between its two genre inspirations, not leaning enough into either to feel particularly rewarding.”
“The story is so childish.”
- graphics16 mentions
- 63 % positive mentions
- 38 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their beauty and meticulous detail, creating an immersive and charming world. Reviewers highlight the impressive art style, polished visuals, and strong production values, noting that the game's aesthetic significantly enhances the overall experience. The combination of gorgeous graphics and engaging worldbuilding contributes to a captivating atmosphere that players find appealing.
“Meanwhile, the game's visuals are nothing short of breathtaking, with every detail meticulously crafted to immerse players in a world that is as beautiful as it is intriguing.”
“Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior is an impeccably polished action puzzle game with great production values, gorgeous visuals, interesting worldbuilding, and an entertaining, if not exceptionally deep, story.”
“The world itself is charming and polished, supported by solid graphics and strong sound design.”
- optimization8 mentions
- 13 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 38 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has been noted as needing improvement, with players experiencing crashes and bugs that detract from the overall experience. However, the mechanics involving the player's past self create engaging gameplay that encourages strategic optimization to minimize downtime and maximize efficiency in defeating enemies. With further bug-fixing and optimization, the game could receive stronger recommendations.
“Your past self will remain as a clone unhindered by the present, yet able to damage the enemies. Your player performance was recorded and executed again, and now it's on you to kill the remaining enemies called 'raxes'.”
“Basically, this results in two interesting tasks: for one, you have to be wary not to distract the beaten enemies, so the past can play out unhindered; and second, you have to fully utilize this ability to kill the raxes as optimized as possible, reducing the downtime to a minimum, ideally letting all cycles end at the same time with no buffers in between.”
“With a bit of bug-fixing and optimization, I could recommend it a little more strongly.”
“[h2]crashes/optimization[/h2]”
- atmosphere2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is characterized by a pleasant and adventurous tone, enriched by a well-crafted world filled with lore. Players appreciate the engaging environment that complements the time loop gameplay and combat mechanics.
“This is a good little combat puzzler with an interesting world filled with lore to explore, a pleasant and adventurous atmosphere, and solid time loop gameplay as you and your copies run around defeating enemies as fast as possible.”
- humor2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is noted to be effective, with players finding several intentionally funny moments that elicit genuine laughter.
“I have gotten a couple of laughs out of the intentionally funny bits!”
- grinding2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 150 % negative mentions
Players have mixed feelings about the grinding aspect of the game, with some finding the repetitive arena-hallway structure tedious, while others may enjoy the formulaic progression. Overall, experiences with grinding can vary significantly among players.
“As should have become clear by now, however, this is very much a 'your mileage may vary' situation and I can absolutely see how the formulaic arena-hallway-arena-hallway structure of the game may become tedious to other players.”
“The repetitive nature of grinding in this game really takes away from the overall experience, making it feel more like a chore than an enjoyable activity.”
“Grinding feels like a never-ending cycle that detracts from the excitement of the game, leaving players feeling drained and unmotivated.”
