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Batora: Lost Heaven from Team17 and Stormind Games is a choice-driven isometric action RPG on PlayStation 5. Learn more in our Batora: Lost Heaven review!
Batora: Lost Heaven from Team17 and Stormind Games is a choice-driven isometric action RPG on PlayStation 5. Earth is on the verge of destruction due to a mysterious calamity, and more than half the population died. You’ll be taking on the role of Avril. She’s a sixteen-year-old girl who lost both of her parents as well as her older sister to the calamity a couple of years ago. For some reason, she has been hearing the voices of the ancient Gods. When she and Mila explore some ruins, she finds Sun and Moon, who grant her the power of duality as the new Keeper of Balance. It’s thanks to these powers that Avril will have a chance to save not only Earth but the entire galaxy before it’s too late. She will have to travel to four different planets to gain access to the cores needed to restore Earth to its former glory.
You’ll control Avril with the left analog stick, using the right one for directional attacks. Pressing in on the right analog stick can allow you to zoom in and out as needed. The Square button will be for interactions, and it will also be used to perform a frontal attack. If you’re ever feeling lost, you can evoke fireflies by pressing in on the left analog stick to highlight the best possible path for you to take so that you can move closer to your current objective.
Pressing the X button will perform a Nature switch, changing between the Physical Nature (Sun) and the Mental Nature (Moon) for Avril. Doing this will change which skills are used when you press the L1, L2, R1, and R2 buttons. When in the orange glow, Avril will use vengeance shield, leap of courage, solar wind, and combat roll, in that order of button presses. When in the purple glow, she will use reality mirror, inner storm, physic distortion, and mental blink.
Enemies are color-coded, so you’ll have to switch between Sun and Moon to be able to exploit their weak points as you attack them to deal considerable damage. Pressing the Square button in quick succession while in the Physical Nature state will allow you to perform a combo. Doing his while in the Mental Nature state will make Avril shoot a flurry of energy bolts. If you’re damaged, you’ll need to collect Sun and Moon orbs by destroying crystals and defeating enemies so that you can use them to replenish some of your health.
To make it possible for gamers of all skill levels to enjoy their time with Batora: Lost Heaven, there’s an option for selecting how Nature is handled in combat: Loose, Standard, and Strict. Loose allows Avril to deal damage to enemies of the opposite Nature. Standard is the default setting, which makes it so that you deal less damage to enemies of the opposite Nature. And then there’s Strict, which does its name justice. If you select this option, then you won’t deal any damage to enemies of the opposite Nature!
As you explore each world, you should try to find all Tree of Knowledge. They’re magical trees that contain ancient seeds that will provide you with wisdom about the world, culture, and traditions of the creatures that inhabit it. The choices you make will shape your story. Every choice you make will reward Avril with Karma Points and unique runes, as well as change how other characters see you and how they interact with you. You can be impulsive and act on instinct to take the Conqueror approach. Or maybe you’d like to be more reflective and supportive by taking the Defender approach.
To be able to survive, you’ll need to look for and equip runes to Avril. To do this, you’ll need to allocate some of your available Karma Points so that she can gain the bonuses provided by the runes. These will have an effect on her stat values. You can boost Avril’s health, attack, critical chance percentage, critical damage, and defense. She will also gain experience as she defeats enemies, which will eventually allow her to level up. When this happens, she’ll also get a boost to her stats that will be more permanent. Leveling up will also reward you with some Karma Points. And as an added bonus, Avril’s Physical Nature and Mental Nature health bars will be replenished while unleashing an energy blast around her that can damage enemies.
There are three different types of currency in Batora for you to collect: crystal dust, crystal ore, and crystal essence. Some you can find as you explore each map, but you can also obtain it as a reward. Crystal essence is the rarest of the three, and it will only be obtained on important occasions. Some of the runes you can purchase and unlock for Avril include Inner Furor, which will increase her attack power by 15% while lowering her defense by 5%; Elusive Dance, which can boost Avril’s defense by lowering damage during solar wind; or Nocturne, which increases the damage of psychic distortion. The more powerful a rune, the higher its cost, so be sure to collect every crystal resource you find!
The most powerful runes will be sold by the titular Batora, an ancient and all-powerful witch who you’ll be able to visit by touching the special magical trees that are linked to her real. Her runes are obtained in exchange for one of the rarer currencies, but they can make a big difference. Buy Sunlight Encouragement to increase Avril’s health by 500 points, or purchase Lunar Wit to considerably increase her attack by 50 points.
You’ll later unlock the Nature Boost ability. With it, you’ll gain combi points by dealing damage to enemies of the opposite Nature. You can then spend one combo point to increase your overall damage while also healing yourself a bit. To do this, press the Circle button when you have at least one combo point. You should always have a full healing charge ready for each of Avril’s Nature forms because you never know when you’ll be in trouble and must desperately heal your wounds before getting a game over!
Batora has a full trophy list with a Platinum trophy, and since it’s a Cross-Buy release, if you’re a PlayStation 5 owner, you can work on adding two Platinum trophies to your collection. The list includes 18 Bronze trophies, 5 Silver trophies, and 7 Gold trophies for you to unlock. Due to how the game is structured, you won’t be able to get all of the trophies during a single run since there are some choices to make along the way that will reward you with some trophies while voiding others. This is why you’ll need to play the game from start to finish and then make the most of the New Game+ feature to do it all over again with the knowledge gained and the abilities you’ve learned so that you can aim at getting the true ending.
Batora: Lost Heaven is a choice-driven isometric action RPG in which you’ll go on an interstellar journey to collect the cores needed to save Earth from destruction. You’ll use the power of duality by changing between the physical and mental Nature states to defeat the many color-coded enemies and bosses you’ll run into. The choices you make along the way will have an effect on how your journey develops, and you’ll have to play through the game twice if you want to make all choices and get the true ending for Avril’s adventure. Batora: Lost Heaven is available as a Cross-Buy title, so your $24.99 purchase will give you access to both the PS4 and PS5 versions of the game at no extra cost.
DisclaimerThis Batora: Lost Heaven review is based on a PlayStation 5 copy provided by Team17.