Argent Twilight Mini Review
First of all I won’t spoil the story, so don’t worry about that. Argent Twilight: Secrets of the Dark Orbs is highly anticipated game from Nexon and little to no details were released before the soft launch. As it turns out, this is a “grid based strategy RPG” game, if that makes sense to you. It’s also a game that implements the gacha mechanics through and through.
Argent Twilight: Secrets of the Dark Orbs is quite big
As I promised, I won’t spoil the story here or in the video below. Be wary though. If you are playing for the story and want to experience everything yourself, make sure you have about an hour to do it. After installing everything of course, so you don’t have to skip the cutscenes.
Speaking of installing, Argent Twilight will take around 5 gigabytes of your storage (and data) after the installer finishes downloading everything. Not that bad considering all the animations and voice-overs you are about to experience.
Is the hype real?
Nexon put in a lot of work in this title and it shows immediately. The game features beautiful 2D animated characters on a 3D rendered background and is visually pleasing. The music and voice acting is spot on as well. From the “tap the screen to start” to the end of the tutorial and the introduction story, I was mesmerized. If this wasn’t a mobile game, but a console one instead, it would be a triple A title (just the intro though). Kudos to the graphics team and sound engineers from Nexon.
Since we are talking mobile gaming here, gacha mechanics show their ugly head even early in the game. The tutorial ends and you are eased in with all the game currencies, energy systems, upgrades and star grinding that you have to do. This is a “player retention mechanic”, the goal of the game is not to keep you entertained for xx number of hours. The goal of the game is to keep you inside as long as it can. And that sucks because it feels like a chore.
But I digress, this business model is now widely accepted by developers (and players). It brings in tons of money and there is nothing I could say here on this blog that will change that.
About the gameplay
Argent Twilight is a mixture of strategy RPG on a grid-like battlefield. As it turns out, this is a game defining detail. Some (or rather most) characters can utilize different approach, shoot or use obstacles, hide or even heal nearby allies. The combat flow is excellent and in my opinion, there is no need for the “auto-battle” option, but it’s there. Just in case you don’t actually like playing the game. Or for the grind…
Once you finish the prologue, you continue the main story that will take you across the world. Different cities have different tasks, side quests, loot, upgrades etc. In about 2 to 3 hours from the start, you can start socializing with other players. Find a guild and do some quest.
Should you try it?
If you are looking for a new visually pleasing time-waster, or you want to experience the story – go right ahead. If this is going to be your new “main” game, keep in mind that it requires massive amounts of time to keep up. Or you can drop some cash in the in-app store and try to progress faster.
If anything, this game is gorgeous and deserves to be seen. Nexon decided to go for Unreal Engine 4, so mid range devices aren’t out of the picture entirely. Anything above SD720 and 4GB of ram will handle it for sure. There are some compatibility issues with older flagship Android models, but fix is on the way.
Although Nexon announced that Argent Twilight is now available globally, it still blocks users from downloading it from the play store. Especially outside EU and other major regions. One way around that is to simply use TapTap to download and install the game. Just tap this link and follow the instructions. If you need help just leave a comment bellow.
Finally, take my opinions with a grain of salt. In the end, the game is a visual masterpiece and all the quirks can or can not reflect on you as a player.
Dejan Balalovski “Argent Twilight Mini Review”