Available on PS4 (tested version) and PC
The first One Bit Beyond title, The Swords of Ditto is a processed roguelike lovingly inspired by everything from Steven Universe to The Legend of Zelda : Link to the past. It is a visual and mechanical gift that challenges even as it draws you to its wonderful hand-drawn world. It also has giant cats that spin whiskers and brazen undead peloton beetles among many other ridiculous moments.
You play as a legendary hero known as The Sword of Ditto, which springs up every 100 years to defeat Mormo, a mythical witch who tries to destroy the world. Your task is to gather special toys capable of destroying it from the dungeons of the whole Kingdom. Obviously, it is easier said than done, and it will probably take several generations of clumsy heroes to finally save the world.
You are reincarnated as a new hero after each death. After receiving the loot from the ancestor of his grave, you continue the journey. Only the experience and some specific elements will be transferred, so the challenges always happen as the enemies grow stronger by their side. Never knowing if you will become a man, a woman or even an animal also has a cheesy charm.
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The Swords of Ditto is based on a basic combination of exploration, combat and missions. After a brief summary of the tutorials, you will enter the world generated by the procedures to explore it to your liking. It changes with each life, so you will learn a large and interconnected world before everything fades after a small mistake. This can be frustrating but knowing that you are potentially within seconds of losing everything is a solid motivator for acting responsibly. Although, this did not prevent me from being defeated systematically.
There are a handful of family milestones that coexist between each generation, such as sanctuaries used to reverse time or provide an extra life. You only have four days to gather resources and extinguish Mormo, and how you decide to do it depends on you. You can acquire legendary weapons from the dungeons to deactivate the triggers. The hindering of these devices will make the boss's final fight easier, but it will take away valuable time he might want to spend elsewhere.
Time is always a factor in Swords of Ditto, and the constant reminders on the screen force you to prioritize tasks despite knowing that the end for each character is inevitable. Normally I spent my time searching or investigating dungeons to obtain special weapons or stickers that could lead to the next life. The stickers are essentially pieces of equipment that provide you with unique statistics and skills.
You can take this to future heroes by spending crests, a special coin separated from the coins used in shop windows scattered around the city of each session, a center full of extravagant NPCs and missions to collect. The stickers can also be exchanged with the people of the city as a way to obtain rare advantages, without breaking the virtual bank.
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Unfortunately, the procedural element of The Swords of Ditto harms the design of the dungeons, which is a central element in completing each search . Link to the Past and other classic adventure titles were recognized for their iconic puzzles and gigantic bosses. Sadly, Ditto does not own these things. In fact, enemies have a habit of piling up tiny rooms and leaving them with no room to escape, which is frustratingly unfair.
A simplistic combat system only fosters this occasional annoyance since the strategy to defeat most enemies is being reduced with a single button or by making an evasion in time to reveal vulnerabilities. Special items known as toys, which have a variety of functions, season things a bit, but may take a while to get because they are exclusive to a constantly changing store and specific dungeons.
Many factors influenced by the procedural nature of The Sword of Ditto became tedious after my time with him. It was not a decisive factor, but it's hard to ignore that the first effort of One Bit Beyond could have worked better as a structured fantasy epic, instead of relying on an algorithm to build your dungeons and disappointing combat encounters.
Obtaining access to these dungeons can also become an unnecessary routine, since you are required to have a certain level before gaining access. Instead of restriction, why do not I let myself stumble and learn the mistakes of overstepping the limits myself? It would serve as a blow to the intestine, but in the end it would be more rewarding.
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The monotony associated with procedural dungeons is somewhat alleviated by the level of character emanating from the fantastic world of The Swords of Ditto. It not only takes visual inspiration from modern cartoons. His writing is equally clear with strong jokes and quirky dialogues that help the evolving citizens feel strangely positive in the face of the approaching apocalypse.
The townspeople are also happy to offer you missions. Often you will be asked to search for items or kill a certain number of enemies, relatively pedestrian targets that are repeated quite frequently. The most interesting missions come in the form of venturing on a journey to deliver items to specific characters, although this is still a case of moving from A to B and little else.
Verdict
The Swords of Ditto is a fun role-playing game for its world of procedures that hinder the potential creativity of dungeons and exploration.
Beyond its delicious atmosphere it is difficult to grow united to a world in constant change. He will come to love his monuments and will resent the emptiness that lies between them.
Occupying a generation of heroes is a novel concept, but one that is rarely used in conjunction with other excellent systems that One Bit Beyond has conjured up.
