As a big fan of 2D platformers, I wishlisted this game as soon as it was announced in the Nintendo Direct. And the moment I was offered to make a review, my happiness had no end. Nevertheless, let's see if my joy was (and to what extent) justified.
The world in which Ariana and the Elder Codex is set has suffered from a long-running war between humans and demons. In order for humanity to have any chance, the demoness (demonwoman?) Divina decides to write the Elder Codex, which consists of seven books (Codic) that contain different types of magic for humans to resist the demons.
Fifteen centuries later, all magic disappears and we learn that someone has sabotaged the Codics. After the guardians of the Elder Codex Astreo and Eleonor Virellis disappeared without a trace, you take on the role of their daughter Ariana, a librarian who is the only one with the ability to enter the Codic, and you are given the task of repairing the damage, and Divina will take on the role of your mentor and guide you through the game. How to fix corrupted Codic? So that you enter the book and retell the story that is in it.
Each Codic has a different story, and in principle the story deals with the element that that Codic represents.
The very principle of the game is a classic 2D platformer in which you will press switches, push boxes, fight against a bunch of enemies, repair tears (rifts) in the pages and finally defeat the main Boss. You start with a magic sword and one basic magic, and after you repair the Codic, you'll gain access to new elemental magics - water, wind, fire and earth. At the same time you can have 6 magics selected, and if you use a sword (which I heartily recommend) then only 5.
There are about thirty magics at your disposal in total and they are very different from each other, some you will use as a shield, some of them will do AoE damage, some will stun enemies, and some will come out from under enemies avoiding their shields. There is no mana, but each spell has a casting time and a cooldown, so you can combine several of them, so you can, for example, gather enemies in a pile with an air vortex and then set them on fire. If you use magic of the opposite element to that used by the enemy, you can cause an Elemental Burst to deal massive damage (eg water vs fire). You will also use the Healing spell a lot, and since there is no mana, you can simply move away from the enemy, recharge your life energy and return to the fight as if nothing happened.
You will also be able to create special items that improve your abilities, reduce cooldown, boost magic or give resistance to certain elements. It is possible to carry 5 items at the same time, with a total of 9 open magic slots, but each item has a certain number of slots, so you can carry 5 basic ones, or for example 3 of the highest quality (because each one takes 3 slots).
The library will be your base, where you will craft equipment, learn magic and talk to other characters. Talk a lot. There will also be a Hall of Seven Heroes where you will be able to choose the order in which you want to repair the Codics (however, you can only choose between the 4 elemental ones at first, after you repair them you can also go to the others). Moving through the pages of the books, you will come across rifts, and you will be able to close them with your magic pen. Sometimes this will require you to listen to part of the story, sometimes you'll have to defeat all the enemies in a certain amount of time, and sometimes you'll just have to get to the second rift before the time runs out. Depending on how fast you close the rift, you'll also get a score. If you get an A grade, your characteristics (life energy and strength) will also increase, so it gives you the initiative to try again if you get a B, C or D. At the end of the Codic, the percentage of how much you repaired will be expressed, in principle you don't have to have 100% to count as a successful repair, and some parts are not available to you until you unlock additional abilities like double jump and ground pound, so you can come back later if you want.
After you have easily mowed down the hordes of enemies, the bosses present a real challenge and you will have to use all your learned abilities and magic to defeat them.
After you repair the book, Divina will engage you in a lengthy (and tedious) conversation, so after the third Codic, you'll find yourself just clicking Next without following what she's saying. Because it doesn't have any effect on the game anyway, but it gives you an exhaustive development of the main story.
Ariana and the Elder Codex is structured as a Visual Novel, and the hand-drawn 2D background graphics that match the element the Codic represents are beautiful. The 3D characters are well-animated and detailed and fit well into the background, the explosions are colorful and flashy, just as they should be. I played on the Nintendo Switch 2 and even when the screen was full of enemies and I couldn't see what was happening due to numerous elemental explosions, the framerate remained stable. However, on a couple of occasions there was a drop in performance, most often during a jump from a higher height where it could not follow the rapid change in the background.
The music is solid, but you won't even notice it in the cacophony of various ambient sounds, explosions, magic casting and sword strikes. The voice acting is well done and you can feel the change in color and tone of the voice when narrating and talking, but the conversations, eh, go on and on.
If you are a fan of 2D platforming and metroidvania, you will have a lot of fun and enjoy beautifully drawn scenes, and given that it is currently on the eshop at a price of €29.99, I think it is worth every cent.
A Nintendo Switch 2 review copy of the game was provided by publisher Idea Factory.
