The past can become the future... but does it?
This game doesn't convey that too well. While it's ambitious for sure, and has good production values overall, there's a lot of things that detract from the overall experience. While most of the enemies keep to a similar overall look, even being recolored to more closely match the sprites from Eternal Champions, others clash pretty badly, seeming too cartoony for the game's dark world. The game also fails to elucidate on the narrative ideas it presents to the player satisfyingly. For example, the first stage has Raven Gindar summoning an army from across time, yet we never see an enemy in those stages that doesn't fit with her overall aesthetic. Imagine if she summoned a much wilder variety of enemies instead. Also, why has she become an enemy to the Eternal Champion? This is never elucidated or explored. A few other Champions seem to have betrayed the player, but no reason is ever given, and Shadow feels no hesitation about slaying her comrades.
Further, there are multiple sections of gameplay, with differing controls for each stage type. This means that the "Vendetta" mechanic is underused, and the "Overkills" and "Sudden Deaths" are regulated to mere cutscenes. There don't seem to be too many special moves for the 2D areas, either. The game also has hub worlds, which are underused in the game, as you cannot revisit them. The problem with enemies not fitting goes double for the townsfolk, as very few fit the aesthetic of the game.
Overall, this is a disappointing transition into OpenBOR that had a lot of potential going on, but fudges around narratively.
