Frontier Hunter: Erza’s Wheel of Fortune REVIEW
Erza is a bounty hunter and adventurer in a sci—fi universe where such a profession is akin to that of a professional streamer. She has legions of fans who listen to stories about her recklessness, and she is one of the best in her field. The intro to the game shows how Erza’s ship crashes in an alien world teeming with all kinds of hostile flora and fauna, and Erza and her two friends Ciara and Nia have to collect the missing parts that will make the ship suitable for space again.
Playing as all three characters, switching between them, you travel through different biomes, level up, unlock new movement abilities and kill bosses to get the parts and parts needed to repair the ship. Each of the main characters plays in their own way: Erza wields two-handed swords, Ciara demonstrates deadly legs and a huge autocannon, and Nia deals crushing damage with her fists.
Combat is based on combos, although each character also has a choice of special ranged attacks, quick evasion, and several interesting special abilities. While in most Metroidvania you would unlock new skills such as aerial dash and double jump, many of the new abilities in Frontier Hunter: Erza’s Wheel of Fortune involve your ranged attacks and how they interact with certain doors and obstacles.
Although the research is pretty standard for the genre, there are a few elements that dilute it. For example, from time to time you will need to defend a makeshift base that your team has built near the ship, and you will be able to switch between characters controlling mounted guns to defeat advancing monsters and those on the ground in the thick of things. Although these moments seem a little out of place, they at least mix up the action a bit.
Many activities reward you with cores that you can equip in limited slots in your weapons and accessories, which increase certain stats and give buffs such as an increased crit chance or attack speed. It’s not innovative, but it’s useful for boss battles that can be insanely difficult. It’s not just that bosses hit like trucks, but also that controlling characters can be a bit sluggish, and you just don’t do as much damage — at least early on. It doesn’t help that many bosses have multiple health bars that you will need to slowly replenish while they gradually increase their attack repertoire.
But there is something undeniably charming about Fortune Hunter: Erza’s Wheel of Fortune. The characters are charming, even if they are rather shameless bait waifs – especially considering how Ciara fawns over Erza and her nose bleeds quite a lot when she sees another girl in her underwear (seriously, this happens). There is also an incorporeal spirit named Diablos, who lives in Erza’s hairpin and constantly makes obscene comments about ladies.
This character is just one of many elements of the story that seems a bit sewn on, like Erza’s streaming career, and helps make an already confusing plot even less memorable. It’s not a horror story, but with random anime elements (some characters are anthropomorphic animals, because of course they are) it’s all a bit confusing to try to follow, and seems secondary compared to the enjoyable action.
Another great advantage of Frontier Hunter is that it’s a pretty beautiful game. A lot of attention is paid to the main characters and their outfits (which you can customize from a variety of dresses, ensembles and hairstyles), as well as bright, detailed background images. The design of the enemies for the most part does not meet its standards, without any real themes, regardless of the biome. You will fight giant beetles, killer plants and zombies at the same time without much explanation or context.
The game has been in Early Access for a while and is now fully completed, with a full story to enjoy (if you can get to the bottom of it), and movement, combat and balance have been changed by several patches to provide a more consistent experience. She’s not doing anything particularly new or daring, but Metroidvanias fans will find her worth their time.
