BlazBlue Entropy Effect X is 91Act, Astrolabe, and Arc System Works’ attempt to make the original game a little more digestible and coherent and, while it succeeds in some ways, it still isn’t quite there yet. It’s an interesting roguelike along the lines of Astral Ascent, Dead Cells, or Icey filled with folks from the BlazBlue series as playable avatars. There’s tons to do if you want to max out every character. However, the story is still confounding even if you are familiar with the original fighting game and I suspect the Switch might not be the ideal platform.
One of the highlights of BlazBlue Entropy Effect X is a new story designed to more closely tie in to Arc System Works’ series. Our playable character is an amnesiac researcher known as Ace who is part of the DBS Project led by Dr. Mercurius, a woman who appears to have cat ears, similar hair, and two tails like Professor Kokonoe Mercury. The two are supported by people who seem to be inspired by or tied to Sector Seven members in some way. It is up to us to head into the Boundary to find the Shards of Possibility using the forms of various BlazBlue series avatars that we can build up with abilities on runs and develop for general, overall progress over time.
The general premise behind BlazBlue Entropy Effect X is rather simple. Once you dive into the boundary, you select an avatar from ones you’ve unlocked. The thing about this part is that some playable characters are so much better than others that I’d consider them over-powered. Both Noel Vermillion and Ragna the Bloodedge qualify. The former is just great even from the start and not upgraded, while the latter is best if you focus on his universal. Once you really get accustomed to the flow of the game and his gameplay style, Hakumen is also up there. Depending on your builds, other characters can be viable, but there are some that are just so broken that I had trouble not going back to them for each run.
Once you’re in a stage, it’s a bit of a halting process that feels similar to Astral Ascent. You’re in a very small stage with some platforms, and your goal is to defeat all enemies in it. Once you do, you’re able to proceed. That means picking a buff or improvement and your next room to visit. While this typically involves more small rooms that often look similar and have X number of foes to wipe out, there are occasionally the equivalent of shops, rest areas, and spots where you can pick a buff while also getting a debuff. All this leads up to reaching a boss and chance to get a new Shard of Possibility, which advances the story. When you eventually falter and fail, you’ll still build up the character via thing like inheritance abilities.
It’s very much a learning process, especially since BlazBlue Entropy Effect X is like the original in that it doesn’t explain its gains at the ends of areas well. There will be text explaining the additional effect or perk, but I didn’t find it especially helpful. I felt more like I was tossed in and expected to know what icons and elements meant, rather than gain any insight into what certain properties mean or how they benefit certain builds. Once you do work things out, it’s great. The game can be a lot of fun, you can work out some fantastic combos, and you’ll be speeding through stages once you’re settled in. But it’s a lot to take in, and it isn’t as well explained as I’d like.
Of course, that also applies to the story as well. I did play a bit of the original game, and BlazBlue Entropy Effect X does feel a bit more closely tied to the original series and its ideas. It’s an improvement, but I still didn’t find it incredibly compelling or feel it added to the overall history of that series. It’s more that I appreciate the effort.
I will say that even though BlazBlue Entropy Effect X does run well on the Switch, there are times when I felt like I encountered a few technical issues. For example, in some event rooms there would be a fluorescent green box that clearly wasn’t intended to be in that position. On two runs, one with Noel and another with Taokaka, I noticed some odd lag while fighting Arakune, but it didn’t come up during others. Not to mention the UI and text size isn’t exactly easy to ready when in handheld mode on the system.
BlazBlue Entropy Effect X is a generally sound roguelike with lots of references to the fighting game series. The story could be better, but at least this time around it feels more directly tied to BlazBlue. I did encounter some issues on the Switch, but they also seemed like problems that could be patched out along the way. If you’re into games like Dead Cells and Astral Ascent, it’s certainly worth a look.
BlazBlue Entropy Effect X is available for the Switch, PS5, and Xbox Series X.
BlazBlue Entropy Effect X
BlazBlue Entropy Effect X is a generally sound roguelike with lots of references to the fighting game series.