Sunrider: Liberation Day

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Sunrider: Liberation Day is a single player tactical role playing game with romance, anime, science fiction and erotic themes. It was developed by Love in Space and was released on March 4, 2016. It received positive reviews from players.

Liberation Day will come... but you will be betrayed. Experience the stunning continuation of Sunrider Mask of Arcadius in this hardcore turn based tactics game with heavy story elements.

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81%

Audience ScoreBased on 551 reviews

story177 positive mentions

optimization10 negative mentions

Improved art style and presentation compared to previous Sunrider games.
Strategic turn-based combat is more balanced and engaging with new units and abilities.
The game offers an intense, compelling space opera story with emotional moments and well-crafted soundtrack.
Japanese voice acting adds atmosphere; option for English battle voices is available.
Free DLC [RE]turn adds multiple romance routes, branching storylines, and extended endings.
Ability to import saved choices from the previous game enhances continuity and replayability.

Very linear storyline with minimal meaningful player choices and forced romance path.
Game is comparatively short for its price, with limited side missions and replay value.
Performance issues include frequent bugs, crashes, and severe lag in combat sequences.
Removal of battle animations detracts from combat enjoyment for some players.
The story pacing can feel rushed, especially towards the ending, leading to some plot inconsistencies and user dissatisfaction.
Japanese voice acting changes from English in previous games may disappoint some fans, particularly with partial voiceover coverage.

story
853 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
21%
74%
5%
The story in this game is a direct continuation of the previous installment, offering a mix of intriguing space opera, plot twists, and character development, though many found it overly linear with limited player choices. While the narrative includes forced romance and some rushed or convoluted sections, especially towards the end, updates and DLC expansions have added depth and alternative routes that enhance the overall experience. Despite its flaws, fans of the series appreciate the engaging characters and dramatic storyline, making it a worthwhile continuation for those invested in the saga.
- “An interesting cosmic setting together with a wide variety of strongly developed characters allows for a wonderful storyline full of all kinds of twists.”
- “The story is great, you make important choices, and it introduces you to all the different characters.”
- “It really plays with your emotions, and makes up for the somewhat predictable story near the beginning of the game.”
- “The single worst part about Liberation Day is the story; it contains an extremely linear storyline, a forced and rushed romance, and no meaningful choices, making the main character a soulless husk. The story feels like a disservice to the franchise.”
- “The story is heavily railroaded with minimal choices, rendering previous decisions meaningless and leaving the player feeling like a bystander. The forced romance is problematic, feels rushed, and lacks significance to the plot.”
- “The story is rushed and convoluted, relying on deus ex machina and plot twists that break immersion. Despite the potential, it ends abruptly on a cliffhanger and lacks depth, making it difficult to remain invested.”
gameplay
153 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
22%
73%
5%
The gameplay offers solid, turn-based tactical depth reminiscent of its predecessors with improvements in upgrade systems and combat mechanics, though some find it clunky, linear, and occasionally unbalanced at higher difficulties. While it blends visual novel elements with strategic battles effectively, technical issues such as lag, bugs, and occasional repetitive mechanics detract from the overall experience. Despite these flaws, many appreciate its challenge, customization options, and replayability, making gameplay the standout aspect for most players.
- “The gameplay like the art has received a much-needed upgrade that avoids the redundancy some upgrades had and deepens the builds you can make with the use of dedicated skills and upgrades to let you customize your units to a surprisingly deep end, some of them are behind affection points but not a high number.”
- “The strategy based gameplay from MOA is back, and better in every way.”
- “There's a lot of depth in the gameplay as your main capital ship and each of your pilots' mechs have different armaments and roles.”
- “Gameplay is as broken as ever, where the "recommended difficulty" is essentially impossible.”
- “The gameplay has and had the same issue that really bothered me, trying to skip the turn animations or movement will sometime bite you in the ass as you may skip over some lines because the fight is just too damn long.”
- “Gameplay hasn't changed, but the system itself has so much lag, fps drops, and bugs that it almost adds a new gameplay mechanic itself.”
music
85 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
54%
42%
4%
The music in the game is widely praised for its epic, majestic, and fitting soundtrack, with many noting standout battle themes and an unforgettable final sequence. While some technical issues like glitches and looping sequences were reported, the overall score is consistently described as fantastic, enhancing the game's atmosphere and emotional impact. Fans appreciate the continuity and improvement from previous entries, especially the memorable theme songs and added vocals.
- “The music is majestic, the stakes are high and the incredible world building has always brought me back to play this game time and again.”
- “Even as holographic damage charts and navigational alerts show Kayto's impending doom, the soundtrack hits its climax as he gives the mother of all speeches.”
- “The soundtrack is epic like hell and fits the game perfectly.”
- “The combat screen is horribly unoptimized, with unit selection painfully laggy, voice lines and sound effects causing the music to stutter.”
- “This title has some poor quality songs and sound effects.”
- “The music is fine, the dialogues sometimes feel rushed but they are ok, nice art, nice game balance even in the hardest level but the lack of equip (ok, still comparing with SRW) make me feel sad.”
graphics
71 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
24%
72%
4%
The graphics in this game show clear improvement over its predecessor, featuring a more refined and vibrant anime art style with better CGs and full Japanese voice acting that enhance emotional impact. However, the tactical combat visuals are simplified, lacking detailed animations and sometimes feeling disconnected from the visual novel segments. While the artwork and backgrounds receive praise for quality and atmosphere, some users feel the character designs or overall style do not fully appeal to them, and technical limitations of the engine constrain graphical fidelity and smoothness in battles.
- “On the technical side, I really like the new art style.”
- “In comparison to the first title, this one boasts highly improved graphics and actual voice acting, both of which highly increase the quality of the game.”
- “Overall, the art style has become more vibrant and detailed; even fonts stick out way more.”
- “The reliance on the Ren’Py engine is clearly showing, and the unoptimized engine is really hurting and limiting what the TBS portion of the game could have been. LD right now utilizes simple graphics and sprites to represent combat, with no animation whatsoever. The TBS genre is currently experiencing a revival, and what LD has to offer in the TBS department is simply lacking even when compared to other indie products such as The Banner Saga.”
- “Graphics reworked... and does not look better.”
- “Devs decided to cut out most of it and focused more on the story which leads to the removal of combat animation, fewer missions, no artwork for spaceships during battle.”
optimization
23 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
44%
43%
The game suffers from persistent and severe optimization issues, including frequent crashes, random stuttering, and extremely low FPS, especially during combat and cutscenes. While some improvements over the previous installment are noted, overall performance remains poor and inconsistent, significantly impacting the gameplay experience.
- “It felt optimized and smooth all in all.”
- “But optimization becomes much much better, mainly because how bad it was in MOA.”
- “Nice improvement, the combat animation was something that many wanted back but if you take into account that the number of units on the field increase greatly and that some users had performance issues with the combat animations, I believe that was a good choice.”
- “Performance is inconsistent, suffering from random stuttering and lag during combat phases of the game. Worse yet, at random times the window will crash to desktop or outright crash the Python engine, most commonly occurring before a battle, after the battle, or during cutscenes during battle like after firing the vanguard.”
- “The biggest game-breaking problem for me was the optimization, which seems worse than the first game despite the 'updated' captain edition.”
- “The game is poorly optimized and runs at a solid 5-10 FPS in most cases, especially if you're trying to speed through a mission.”
emotional
19 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game delivers a deeply emotional and dramatic space opera experience, enhanced by improved artwork and full voice acting that heightens the heartfelt moments. While its story is strong and often heartbreaking, some find it incomplete and more subtle compared to its predecessor, leaving players with a powerful but somewhat unfinished emotional impact. Overall, it provides intense emotional highs, memorable scenes, and a meaningful connection to its characters despite its narrative leaving players eager for a fuller resolution.
- “A really emotional and dramatic space opera (which even allows savefile transfer from first 2 episodes).”
- “Liberation Day is the second part of the Sunrider series which takes place right after 'Mask of Arcadius.' The artwork has been improved and now we get full voice actors for the visual novel scenes, which adds even more emotion to an already emotional tale.”
- “Return made me feel things I didn't know I could feel.”
stability
17 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
12%
88%
The game suffers from frequent bugs, crashes, and input lag that disrupt gameplay and stability, with issues such as freezing when taking screenshots and delayed UI responses. While some improvements over previous installments are noted, the overall experience remains plagued by glitches that sometimes necessitate frequent saving or restarting.
- “For some reason every Sunrider game, pressing the screenshot button freezes the computer for about a minute and has caused crashes.”
- “Finally, it's buggy. My game crashed about 5 times during a playthrough, which was both okay and not okay because it was too short.”
- “These molasses-slow battles were frequently interrupted by near-freezes and once even an outright crash.”
humor
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is generally well-received, praised for its clever parody and appropriate, self-aware use that blends well with the story's drama and twists. While some side missions lack the humor seen in previous entries, overall the game maintains a witty and engaging tone without becoming annoying. Fans appreciate the developers' sense of humor and responsiveness to feedback, making it a recommended mix of comedy, strategy, and visual novel elements.
- “I recommend it as a funny parody mix of strategy, waifu, and mecha and would gladly play a sequel, provided it has Japanese voice acting.”
- “Sunrider is something I found a while back and I instantly fell in love with the mix of tactics and visual novel along with plenty of decent humor.”
- “Drama, intense combat action, love, loss, and humor are blended together well in this visual novel meets tactical combat game, the third in the Sunrider series by the Love in Space crew.”
character development
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
53%
20%
Character development in the game is generally praised for its creativity and depth, especially continuing from previous titles with a compelling story and fleshed-out relationships. However, some characters receive uneven or disappointing development, with a few key figures showing little growth or regression, leading to mixed feelings among players. Overall, character development is appreciated but inconsistent across the cast.
- “As a continuation from the previous title, Sunrider: Liberation Day continues a compelling story and showcases rich character development.”
- “I finally finished the game and I can say that the writers of this game were very creative in their story and character development.”
- “The main cast all received varying levels of character development, fleshing out their relationships in small ways that make the Sunrider feel more like a large house than a battlecruiser/carrier.”
- “There is a disappointing lack of character development for best girl, after a strong showing in volume 2.”
- “Asaga's intense character development throughout the liberation day is undone in the blink of an eye.”
- “Character development still lacking.”
replayability
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
45%
28%
27%
Most users praise the game for its strong replayability, highlighting multiple endings, engaging story branches, and additional replayable content. However, a few note limited replay value, primarily due to short length or grinding-focused post-game. Overall, replayability is considered a key strength by the majority.
- “The decisions you make will determine whether you get a good ending or a bad ending, and there are many endings, so there's plenty of replayability.”
- “They have proven they can make excellent visual novels that have great replayability and that's enough for me!”
- “The game is a great continuation to the first, and the return story is incredibly fun and has a lot of replay value!”
- “The only real negative point I can think of is its relatively low replayability, although I did start it again immediately on a higher difficulty.”
- “No replayability.”
- “The game is way too short for the price tag, since there's no replayability except for grinding difficulty achievements.”
grinding
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Grinding in the game is noted as necessary for full completion, requiring players to replay many choices, which some find tedious. While battles can be challenging and improved over previous titles, the overall experience may feel grindy due to limited replayability beyond difficulty achievements.
- “In all seriousness, the free expansion is pretty much worth half the price of this game on its own. If you want to achieve full completion, you have to roll through almost every possible choice to complete this expansion 100%, which is pretty grindy.”
- “The game is way too short for the price tag, since there's no replayability except for grinding difficulty achievements.”
- “Battle is pretty hard even at casual. The mechanic is certainly better than original Sunrider, but sometimes the battle just gets a bit tedious, which made it hard for me.”
atmosphere
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere is praised for its impactful and memorable scenes, particularly kayto's final stand, and an epic soundtrack that enhances the overall experience. However, some feel that adding a complete English voice acting would detract from the visual novel's authentic atmosphere.
- “The only actually good scene, and the high point of the story and atmosphere, for me, was Kayto's final stand, the final kamikaze run to the enemy forces.”
- “But a complete English voice acting would destroy the atmosphere of the visual novel, in my opinion.”
- “The soundtrack is epic like MOA and gives you a very good atmosphere.”
monetization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Monetization in the game is viewed as somewhat lazy and cash grab-driven, especially due to its lack of meaningful story changes and high price in underdeveloped markets. However, the developers are praised for caring about player feedback and maintaining a sense of humor, distinguishing them from other recent titles seen as half-hearted money grabs. Players are advised to try the free version first and consider purchasing during sales.
- “The game's ending was little more than a deus ex machina scenario as a way for the writers to avoid having to ever allow you to change the story in any meaningful way. It's lazy, shoddy, and reeks of a cash grab on behalf of a company who sought to profit off a market that isn't well established in many western countries.”
- “Unlike most developers of recent games in the past year or so, such as Destiny, COD, and Evolve, who feel half-baked and like cash grabs, this game delivers. The devs care about player feedback and have a sense of humor. Try MOA, it's free, and if you're really into the story, buy it; if interested but the price is too high, throw it on your wishlist and wait for a Steam sale.”

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20h Median play time

18h Average play time

8-30h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 4 analyzed playthroughs

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Frequently Asked Questions

Sunrider: Liberation Day is a tactical role playing game with romance, anime, science fiction and erotic themes.

Sunrider: Liberation Day is available on PC, Mac OS, Phone, iPad and others.

On average players spend around 18 hours playing Sunrider: Liberation Day.

Sunrider: Liberation Day was released on March 4, 2016.

Sunrider: Liberation Day was developed by Love in Space.

Sunrider: Liberation Day has received positive reviews from players. Most players liked Sunrider: Liberation Day for its story but disliked it for its optimization.

Sunrider: Liberation Day is a single player game.

Similar games include Sunrider: Mask of Arcadius, Sunrider 4: The Captain's Return, This Is the Police 2, Sunrider Academy, Valkyria Chronicles 4 and others.

Sunrider: Liberation Day

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