I Am Setsuna (Nintendo Switch) Review | 8-Bit Eric

8-Bit Eric brings to you his review of I Am Setsuna on the Nintendo Switch. Last year, I Am Setsuna released for the PlayStation 4 and PC. Setsuna is designed to feel like a JRPG from the revered SNES era, and it does it rather well. It is a turn-based JRPG with an angled top-down perspective, There’s a world map, an airship, and a never-ending stream of items to collect as you adventure from place to place.

It is easy to say Setsuna’s biggest inspiration is the one RPG that just about everyone loves: Chrono Trigger. Does this inspiration and influence actually hold back Setsuna from being a great game? Let’s check it out.

I Am Setsuna's story starts off in an interesting way. You play as Endir, a mercenary who is tasked with the assassination of a young girl by the name of Setsuna. To avoid spoilers, you soon shortly find yourself joining young Setsuna to reach The Last Lands. It is there that she will fulfill her duty as a human sacrifice--a ritual held every decade with the express purpose of somehow keeping the monsters that litter the world at bay. With the help of like-minded adventurers, you accompany Setsuna through caverns and forests, fending off creatures and thwarting--or recruiting--humans that try to stand in your way.

I Am Setsuna is set in a drab, snow-covered world, and is simply gorgeous. While it may not be particularly impressive from a technical perspective -- remember it was designed with the limitations of the PlayStation Vita in mind, -- the game's cold and wintery art direction manages to be aesthetically pleasing, and it definitely works with the tone of this game. On the surface, Setsuna plays it safe. There is honestly nothing out of the ordinary, and it might actually rely on older tried and true RPG elements, and I think it holds it back.

I Am Setsuna is a lovely little tale and a game that’s well worth your time. At ~20 hours, it never feels dull or grindy, and in fact it felt like a perfect length for what the game wants to achieve.

While it does seem a bit constrained to the snowy environment you are in compared to other RPGS such as Chrono Trigger, if you just so happen to be in the mood for a traditional JRPG, and you're looking for something to play on your newly-acquired Nintendo Switch, you should consider checking this one out.

Especially since the Nintendo Switch port is the only portable version of the game that is playable with an English localisation

They played it safe when it came to I am Setsuna, and even though I wish they tried to make something more of it, it’s definitely not a bad game.