Live A Live Demo Impressions

Square Enix’s next HD-2D game, Live A Live, will be out later this month. Before then, you can check out a demo of the game on the Nintendo Switch eshop! We checked out the demo and here are our impressions so far.

Live A Live is the next HD-2D game from Square Enix. It is the same style of graphics as Octopath Traveler and Triangle Strategy. And just like Octopath and Triangle Strategy, Nintendo will be publishing this game too. A demo of Live A Live was released this week. Here are my impressions of the game so far.

There are three different stories to check out in the demo. In the full game, you’ll have a few more stories to choose from and be able to play them all longer. The demo just gives us a short taste of the three stories. There is one story set in the Distant Future, one set in Imperial China, and one set in Edo Japan. Each of these games shares a similar battle system and the HD-2D look, but has a different story, characters, and unique setting.

The story set in the Distant Future is set on a spaceship. There isn’t any combat during this story expect for a small mini-game. Otherwise, at least for the demo, this section is very story focused. Imperial China has you playing as a Master of Kung-fu who recruits some disciples for his dojo. This story has plenty of combat and gives you a good taste of Live A Live’s unique battle system. I’ll get back to that in a second.

The Edo Japan story is about a ninja and you can get into combat in this section or use stealth to complete the mission. This is the hardest of all three stories. The place where the ninja goes is a bit of a maze and its tricky finding your way out of there. You can very easily get into a fight if you want.

So what about the combat? As previously mentioned, the combat is the same across all of the stories. It’s a turn-based battle system but you can move your character around. The combat takes place on a grid like a strategy game. You move your character toward the enemy and then use the menu to pick your attack. Depending on what story you’re playing, you’ll have different abilities to choose from. It’s a neat battle system!

Overall, the Live A Live demo isn’t very long but it’ll give you a taste of the game and let you know if the game would be for you or not. I liked the demo and think that the full game should be good. The Wild West story, not included in the demo, looks great. Live A Live should be another excellent addition to the Nintendo Switch’s jprg library!

Are you looking forward to Live A Live? What do you think of the demo?