8-Bit Adventures 2 Xbox Console Release Review

8-Bit Adventures 2, the popular retro-style PC RPG, is now available on consoles, so I'm taking this opportunity to check it out on my Xbox Series S. I first fell in love with the demo during the Steam Next Fest back in February of 2022, and I wrote about it. Fortunately for me, Josh Hallaran, the lead developer from Critical Games, saw my piece and gave me the chance to review the full game when it was released on the PC in January of 2023, and find out what I thought about this version. Now it's over a year later and the title is coming to home consoles published by Ratalika Games, and once again, because I'm incredibly lucky, I got asked to try out the new console release of the game. I can't wait to revisit this pixelated world and meet up with all these great characters.

8-Bit Adventures 2 takes place right after the first entry in the franchise. If you have had a chance to check out the first game in the series, you will be excited to see the main characters from the first game are here, and events that occurred there are referenced in this title. If you haven't had a chance to check it out, don’t worry; 8-Bit Adventures 2 does a great job of filling you in on the franchise's backstory. This sequel takes place two years after the events of 8-Bit Adventures 1: The Forgotten Journey, where the Dust was consuming parts of the world. All the locations are back to how they were before the evil Dust took over, so places we travelled to in the first game are here to visit once again.

When the game begins, you are playing as the leading warrior from the first game. I’m not the most original person, so I named him Sabin like the character from Final Fantasy VI. Since I had played the first game, I made sure to use the same names consistently between the two. You are wandering through a desert with sand blowing all around you. If you had a chance to play the demo, this section will look familiar to you as this was where the demo took place. While exploring the dunes, you see the skeletal remains of animals who have perished here. They didn't seem threatening until one jumped up out of the sand and lunged at me. This first fight is where you will learn how the battle system of 8-Bit Adventures 2 works.

You may think that battling in 8-Bit Adventures 2 may be like all the other turn-based RPGs you have played in the past, but there are numerous things different things that make this fighting system unique. Your main character, the Warrior, has multiple moves available to use like Attack, Bash, use an Item, or Defend. If you choose to Attack, you can select between a Weak, Normal, or Strong Attack. However, the more powerful the attack is, the higher the chance of missing your target and not doing any damage. Bash is the Warrior's special attack; using it has you slamming into the enemy, possibly stunning them from the impact. If they are stunned, they cannot attack for a short period of time. If you use one of your Abilities, the attack that you select to perform will cost AP (attack points). If you run low on points, they can be replenished by using an item like an Ether or resting at a hotel. Defending will allow you to block enemy attacks and at the same time will recover a small amount of HP. At the bottom of the screen, you will notice a blue bar when you battle; this gauge fills up as you take damage from your enemies. Once full, you unlock a special ability called an Omega Burst. Each character in your party has a special burst attack; some inflict a large amount of damage, reduce the enemy's defence, or inflict status ailments.

In battle, there is a turn system that determines the move/attack order of your party members and the enemies you are battling. The higher your character's agility stat, the earlier they will attack. Specific actions or items can influence your character's position in the queue.

Each member of your party has their own special, physical, and passive abilities. Special abilities are attacks you can use during battles that consume AP. As you level up, your characters will learn new moves to use. Physical abilities are unique to that specific character. When you play as the Thief — in my game, she's named Terra — she has the ability to steal an item from an enemy. Her move doesn't always work, as some enemies aren’t carrying any items, but when they do, you usually get useful stuff like Potions or Ethers. If your enemy happens to be carrying a rare item that you don't already have, an icon will show beside the enemy's name, so you know it is worth your time to try stealing their item. Charlie’s special move is a physical attack; he can hit two enemies simultaneously, but because of this, the amount of damage is halved between both. It is an incredibly helpful attack as you damage multiple enemies at once.

Each character has their own passive abilities, which are automatic boosts in battle. These don't need to be selected ahead of time; they are always on. One of Charlie's boosts is that when an enemy hits him, he will counterattack, hitting the enemy back and inflicting a percentage of the damage they did to him. As you progress, you will unlock other abilities, like being able to team up with another character or learn to use Augments. When equipped, these Augments strategically give your character perks like being immune to poison, mute spells, or increasing magic attacks by 5%. These can be equipped and unequipped to all the different characters as many times as you want; this lets you experiment to figure out who will benefit the most from their effects.

My favourite thing about 8-Bit Adventures 2 is the story. It really makes you wonder if The Glitch, who is presented as the game’s main villain, is truly the bad guy here? Or is it that the people claiming that he needs to be destroyed because he is different are the ones at fault? Unravelling this story kept me constantly coming back to learn more; I had to see how the game would play out and also see if I was actually playing the bad guy in this tale. Since I had previously played this game for PC, I was happy to see that the difficulty of some of the boss battles were adjusted to improve the quality of life. Previously, they were frustratingly difficult; this time around, it felt a lot more fair and balanced.

The story in 8-Bit Adventures 2 is so exciting and compelling; there were times when events occurred that I was caught totally off guard. It was widely unpredictable; I loved it! Paired with gorgeous 8-bit graphics, fun characters (both good and evil), and a super catchy soundtrack, that transported me back to my youth when I spent all my time playing RPGs on the NES and SNES. Only this time, it is even better with improvements to the gameplay, like being able to save whenever you want, being able to constantly run by holding a button and not requiring a special item, and switching out characters in the middle of a battle.

8-Bit Adventures 2 is a game that you have to play if you have ever played classic role- playing games in the past. So much love has gone into this game, and I wholeheartedly recommend this title, especially the new console version. The changes made with the new patches have really made the boss battles in the game feel a lot more fair. To complete the full game, it took me around 50 hours, though I’m sure I could have finished it faster, but I want to learn all the spells available to each character, all the special combo attacks you could perform with your team, and finish off all the side missions. There is so much to do here!