Chumps Preview is a special kind of post where we unofficially preview games in Early Access, Beta, or are otherwise “unfinished.” This kind of preview is meant to be a first impression rather than a definitive review where we provide a rating to determine a game’s value. As such, we fully expect a game covered in a Chumps Preview to have room for improvement, some bugginess/incompleteness, and other features associated with similar games in the category.
The BlazBlue series is most known for its highly technical and sometimes complicated fighting gameplay. Those who attend EVO might often see diehard fans who’ve fully invested in the arcade culture show off their skills and treating viewers with silly moments. If you’ve been interested in the BlazBlue series but have struggled to get into its fighting mechanics, good news: 91Act and BlazBlue creator Arc System Works have collaborated to create an innovative roguelite that should appeal to current BlazBlue and roguelite fans alike. I’ve spent just under six hours previewing Entropy Effect and getting just a taste of what it has to offer. It’s currently in Early Access and should be releasing in early 2024.
I found the controls to be complicated at first – legacy skills, skills, and attacks. Attack combinations felt overwhelming. However, I very quickly began to appreciate the complexity of the upgrades (Tactics) despite their denseness. These upgrades spanned beyond stat checks and elemental effects and included character-specific upgrades (Potential) that drastically shifted how each character attacked. This form of character-specific uniqueness is one of BlazBlue Entropy Effect’s biggest strengths. It’s one thing to have run-specific variance in the form of simple upgrades, it’s an entirely different and positive experience to shift characters’ attacks and abilities into meaningful combat patterns that are almost guaranteed to be familiar yet unique. It works quite well barring one critical drawback.
My biggest knock against BlazBlue Entropy Effect’s roguelite system is that of its ability and upgrade descriptions. The talent and potential descriptions are text heavy to the point of requiring the player to know to use the joystick to scroll through a wall of text for the first few times before figuring out how things work. For readability’s sake, acronyms/button input symbols may help with condensing descriptions. Alternatively, text descriptions can be locked behind a button press for those wanting and/or needing a detailed explanation. League of Legends is quite the information-heavy game, but those wanting a detailed explanation as to its systems can press the SHIFT key and see the denser long form descriptions. I’m hoping for the ability/upgrade cards to be easier to read for players in the future.
I was exposed to a handful of BlazBlue characters spanning Hibiki, Ragna, Es, Lambda-11, Noel, Jin, and Hakumen. There are more characters on the way, but I’m hoping for more character archetypes to emerge. Most of the characters feel fluid and lithe, but I know that BlazBlue’s spans graceful attackers and heavy hitters alike. Runs last anywhere between 5-20 minutes of combat (sans animations and loading screens). This is good amount of time spent in any given roguelite, as the longer time spent in any given run makes losing an exhausting affair. Roguelites should encourage replayability, so there should be little sources of exhaustion present in game.
Of course, the game isn’t just a roguelite. Once you’ve reached the Omega Zone, the world turns into a procedurally generated Metroidvania experience that encourages the player to race against time to get as far as possible while entropy accumulates over time. But the roguelite experience is still front-and-center in the current iteration of Entropy Effect.
I appreciate how runs feel innately rewarding despite losing a good percentage of the time. It’s a good sign for an Early Access roguelite when player can feel like a run is successful even though they died to a boss, enemy, or even a trap. Unlocking characters is an easy affair, too. Simply vary up your Tactic selection during runs and you’ll be granted the currency to unlock a new character. I didn’t need to grind much, thankfully. Looking into the future, I do not want this method of unlocking characters to change. Unlocking characters early on gives players the feeling of their time being rewarded and the opportunity to continue testing out BlazBlue Entropy Effect’s cast of characters. For BlazBlue fans, it gives them an easier opportunity to reconnect with their favorite characters, too. It’s a win either way and doesn’t force players to arbitrarily play the game for unnecessarily long periods of time. BlazBlue Entropy Effect has the unlock cadence right – now let’s see what future characters look and play like.
The issue I now see is: What happens when you unlock everyone in Early Access? The final release? The current character unlocking situation (which is great, it shouldn’t be changed at all) lets players unlock new characters on a regular cadence without a ridiculous and tedious amount of grinding. There needs to be some mechanism in place to reward players who invest time into a “main” character. I can assume that the final release may bring forth some form of reward in the form of completing a run in its entirety for the first time, but there needs to be opportunities for the player to demonstrate mastery with a character beyond a high score. How about character-specific challenges? How about rewards for “mastering” a specific character in the form of multiple successful runs? For comparison’s sake, Hades rewards players with currency for completing runs with the same weapon’s forms multiple times, so something to encourage deep investment into BlazBlue Entropy Effect would make “maining” a rewarding experience.
There’s very little input lag for the most part. In an action-forward game, input lag can make the player’s actions feel sluggish. Nearly all of the player’s attacks and skills can be executed instantly, leading to a very tactile and fluid experience. Well, all except one input: Using an HP mixture. In BlazBlue Entropy Effect’s current state, using an HP Mixture requires a solid second of no input at all for the game to register my request for more health. The lag interrupts game flow. It would feel better if I could use an HP mixture and have it register instantly, just like legacy skills, attacks, and basic skills are registered. In boss battles, it would decrease the boss’ difficulty just a smidge for those who’d banked several HP Mixtures for an emergency.
Between rooms, I was given the occasional option to select between two and three future rooms. Currently, I can choose between a Training (one round of enemies), Extended Training (more rounds of enemies), Rest Room (health boost and entropy reduction), a Sortitio (randomized reward), and a Potential (character-specific upgrade). Entropy is used as a risk-reward mechanism in room selection and grows the more rooms I clear. If I didn’t “Rest” when needed, the likelihood of incurring a negative corruption effect and a positive effect increases. Managing entropy became a great way of stopping me from simply rushing through rooms willy nilly.
Usually, two room options are given to the character, with a rare chance for a single option or a room with three options. I dislike the single-choice rooms only because the game forces me to choose that room before proceeding; if my future is limited to a literal single option, I shouldn’t have to manually confirm the single option. I should just see the icon of the room and then proceed. I am also hoping for more room options in the future – like time trials and gauntlets. I appreciate the occasional “survive for 45 seconds” kind of room, but having challenges of other formats would be a nice alternative.
The Sortitio reward room is an interesting experience. Rewards from this room span anything from an HP Mixture, some XP, the occasional upgrade, to some temporary currency. Occasionally, the Sortitio room gives you nothing at all. I can understand how the “Better Luck Next Time” reward is something to remind players’ that positive results aren’t always guaranteed, but receiving nothing at all feels bad. It feels worse when two Sortitio rooms in a row result in a “Better Luck Next Time” reward. I would prefer if that “worst case” reward is a bonus to a nonzero, but still low, degree. Even if it’s something like 5% experience, it would lessen the hurt of receiving the worst reward. If the no reward option is retained in future, there should be a flag/banner that shows the likelihood of hitting that “worst case” reward.
In between [Mind Trials] (runs), the current build of BlazBlue Entropy Effect lets the player control a cute little robot named Acer and explore a hub. The hub contains NPCs and minor side missions for the player to consider, some of them valuable for unlocking future characters! I’m glad to see this HUB full of some unique characters; I LOVE the NPCs’ writing. Stan is adorable. From the time I’ve spent here between runs, the little story that exists is intriguing. The story utilizes the same level of mystery as RETURNAL. While I wasn’t able to interact with all of the NPCs between each of my runs, it was great to feel like I was accomplishing something when I had met the conditions to proceed.
BlazBlue Entropy Effect is quite the stylish roguelite. I’ve never thought of describing a game as such, but it’s quite the apt description. The game is chock full of neon accents against dark environments, making enemies and player readable. Entering some of the rooms is a pleasant experience, too. I personally love how the visuals of the Sortitio and Rest rooms contrast the characters’ accents against complementary colors. If you’re a fan of darker UI, your eyes will rarely become tired when playing this game.
I loved using my DualSense controller to play BlazBlue Entropy Effect. There were appropriate and meaningful vibrations that emerged in tandem with in-game events and dealing damage. At times, I felt like I was playing a true-to-form PS5 game because of how responsive things felt from the controller. It was quite pleasant. The only odd thing was that navigating menus was tied weird button presses. The O/B button was for selecting options, whereas the X/A button were used to go backward. If that could be fixed for future releases, it would make the controller experience (and hopefully an eventual console experience, too) more seamless and natural.
I want to emphasize how I was able to keep track of quite a bit of the gameplay and UI elements despite the flashy neon effects, DualSense vibrations, and damage numbers filling the screen. Despite all of these happening at the same time when enemy density was at its greatest during trainings, there was one thing that needed a bit more oomph: Taking damage. In game, taking damage results in an expected HP reduction and a red text notification showing the amount of health lost. Here’s the problem: The red text is not given the emphasis that’s deserved to remind the player that a chunk of their health has been removed. In Have a Nice Death, taking damage results in a bright flash across the screen (and a vibration from the controller) – it’s purposefully implemented to interrupt the flow and flag a moment of pain to the player. In BlazBlue Entropy Effect, it’s quite easy to aggregate a large amount of damage without realizing. I want a moment of interruption to shake the player into changing up their focus to avoid future damage instead of the current system of taking damage and realizing it at a moment where it’s too late.
Because this title is in Early Access, it’s too early for us to assign a score to the title until its progression systems, worldbuilding, and gameplay mechanics are ironed out. However, I will say that my limited experience with this preview has been a positive one. I have quite enjoyed BlazBlue Entropy Effect. It just hit Early Access less than a month ago, yet I’m finding myself eager to return to it in a few weeks. BlazBlue fans have much to look forward to thanks to the universe’s rich cast of characters and vivid designs. Personally, I’m excited to see how Entropy Effect rewards those who deeply invest in its roguelite systems and the BlazBlue universe, too.
