Sunday, April 9, 2023
Genre – Sci-fi, Action, Mecha Play Time - 22 hours Developer – Love In Space Steam
Return From Exile
A
fall from grace changes a man and exile from all he has ever known
can break him. Such is the state of Kayto Shields as the curtain
rises on the fourth game in the Sunrider series. This is the tale of
how he pulls himself up from the pit he has fallen into, but this
journey will be far same smooth sailing. Love In Space are back again
with another space adventure through the brilliant Sunrider universe
with a familiar crew, but now on the back foot as both enemies and
former allies see them as a threat. The game also features a complete
rework of the combat systems and leans into creating more realistic
feeling battles with tactical depth. But how does the whole
package fit together and is it the worthy sequel we have waited five
years for? Let’s jump into our ryders and travel to the edges of
the universe and find out.
The War is Over – Narrative and Themes
To
be in exile is to be left behind by the world and on your return you
may find that the world no longer wants you. It is this feeling which
Sunrider 4 focuses its plot and themes around to great effect and
manages to balance the needs of a sequel with its own unique
identity. It builds on Liberation Day in all the right ways, picking
up the plot points left by that game and running with them inside its
own narrative. The choice to put the heroes on the back foot also
factors strongly into the effectiveness of the core events of the
game and they work together to communicate the journey of the crew.
Of course it is not perfect and the game’s relationship with the
additions to Liberation Day is an uncomfortable one at best.
 |
| How far the great have fallen |
A
sequel should build on what came before in its own distinctive manner
and this is no easy task, especially so when that game in the fourth in a series. The way in which Captain’s Return chooses to
tackle this problem is by taking the points which defined the
previous games and asking what they really meant and what people beyond
the crew thought of them. This extends from both the obvious fallout
from the Liberation Day massacre to smaller relationships between the
crew and works to create an overall sense of both progression and
returning to a familiar place. It takes the ending point and runs
with it, drawing many ideas presented in that game to their logical
conclusion within the tone and context of Captain’s Return, be this
reinventing familiar mechas in new forms or haunting the characters
with past traumas. Relying on this pre-existing backbone means the
game does not have to worry about explaining every little detail
again to the player and can focus on the heavy lifting of expanding
the already rich universe in new and exciting ways. These all combine
to make Captain’s Return a benchmark most sequels can only dream of
reaching.
Placing
the crew on the back foot was one of the smartest choices made in
Sunrider 4’s development. This inverts their role from heroic
liberators who could influence the outcome of events into a
broken and hunted group who must desperately gather together their
scattered teammates. Alongside the change in circumstance is a change
in tone, no longer is this the simple happy go lucky space adventure
where the captain will save the day, now he has to face the
consequences of his choices and some of them will haunt him in ways
he least expects. What this results in is a feeling of
oppressiveness that is subtly in the back of every choice the
characters make and gives each scene a type of tension not utilised
before in the series. It also provides a convenient reason why you
have to rebuild your upgrades and resources from the ground up since
nobody trusts you any more. Coupled with the new mecha designs and
even the familiar build up of mechanical power has a new freshness to
it given how much more is at stake this time around and how failure
would mean the ruin of what little they have left. Seeing the
characters overcome these seemingly insurmountable odds is one of the
main appeals of the game and being able to experience this underdog
perspective elevates the already strong space adventure storytelling
of the Sunrider series.
 |
| Getting the gang back together will be no easy task |
If
there is one flaw in this otherwise excellent narrative it is the
uncomfortable relationship it has with the additions made to
Liberation Day after its release. These changes expanded on some key
points of that game’s plot and by extension the plot of Captain’s
Return. However, the reality is that Captain’s Return picks and
chooses which parts of those modifications it considers cannon and
this leads to many moments where the player will experience a sense
of whiplash as what they have experienced in the previous game is
ignored by the new one. These points vary from minor details from the
side story to major events and set up from the main game’s ending.
It is clear that Love In Space were not entirely happy with the
choices they made in the rushed additions to Liberation Day and
wanted to trim back things that did not fit into their vision for the
future of the Sunrider series. This does not change how this choice
can take the player out of the experience which counter to how much
effort the game put in to making you feel as if you are a part of
this world.
A Captain Is Only As Good As His Crew – Characters
Sunrider’s
cast has always been one its biggest strength and means of getting
the player invested in the plot. Captain’s Return does a good job
of developing the characters and focusing the new additions to
help create a lively universe with people who exist beyond the main
conflict of the series. However, there is a glaring issue staring you
in the face for much of the play time and this is the inconsistent
characterisation of some key characters.
 |
| The crew continue to be the biggest selling point of the series |
Captain’s
Return could have relied on the affection the player base
already has for the cast and cruised through the narrative
without emphasising the characters too much. Instead of resting of
their laurels Love In Space made sure to give every member of the
main cast some sort of arc both big and small. Sola and Kryska being
the crewmates who get by far the most exploration of their
personalities as both are faced with very different events which
shake what they once held as fundamental truths. There is also
notable elements of discord between the crew and Shields who's
actions create a disconnect between them and him in a subtle way
which never oversteps its bounds but instead highlights Shields’
increasing desperation. This compliments the generally darker tone of
the plot by providing a dose of much needed reality to the more
idealistic characters and pushing them to the extremes of their
beliefs. Shields as the protagonist embodies this push into an
examination of the true motives for each person’s actions as he
starts at the edge of what he can mentally take and is then pushed
far passed breaking point. What results is a fascinating presentation
of the kind of mind set that lead him down his path to ruin and
having him face and accept this truth sets his character up to be
ready for the challenges of future games.
Most
of the new characters added by Sunrider 4 serve the purpose of
expanding the world building and help provide a more balanced
perspective of this universe. Previously the player’s view of the
Sunrider universe was limited to the areas directly involved in the
conflict which gave a very narrow perspective. To rectify this issue
Captain’s Return makes all the new characters serve the role of
fleshing out this setting. Since the player is no longer limited to
the area of conflict for the war, the narrative can take them to
places and people who could not have otherwise been interacted with.
Pre’ator Qisah is a good example of this technique as she serves as
the player’s main point of interaction with her culture. She is a
part of a people who live at the edge of Alliance territory and had
their resources bled dry by them, now they are just a backwater
nobody cares about. Despite this the player gets a sense of how proud
this people are through the actions and words of Qisah who fervently
acts on to defend her people with the will of someone that truly
believes in their cause. There are countless examples of this
communication of place through characters and it helps make Captain’s
Return the powerhouse in the series it is.
 |
| Enemies are now allies and allies are now enemies |
Now
we come to the issue with Sunrider 4’s characters and this is the
fact that some have inconsistent characterisation. This is caused by
the constant need to have them perform actions that are either out
of character or seem illogical given the situation so the plot can
move forward in the desired way. In particular this is most obvious
with Claude. Claude is a character that Love In Space are clearly
having a problem deciding what they want to do with her due to her
role as an element who could resolve so many of the universe’s
issues if she decided to act. To try and avoid this they made her a
character who acts on her whims but this then runs into the problem
how to manage this aspect when you need her for an important plot
point. This contradiction between her apparent nature and the demands
of the plot creates a strong sense that the narrative is being made
up as the developers go along and this does harm to the general
immersion of the player. While Claude is by far the most noticeable
example of this problem, there are many smaller instances of other
characters suffering from similar issues.
Space, Mecha and Soul Searching – Visual, Audio and Gameplay
Love
In Space have upped their presentation and gameplay with every new
game and this is especially true for Captain’s Return as the gap
between Sunrider games makes their vast improvement even more
obvious. A distinctive visual and audio identity has always been a
critical part of the Sunrider games and this fourth instalment does
not disappoint. The overhauled gameplay mechanics help inject new
life into a system which had reached its limit. Despite these
positives there are a few areas where the gameplay stumbles and
brings down the experience.
 |
| There are some strong designs on shown through the game |
Sci-fi
has a set of expected design elements when comes to visuals and
audio, especially for a game set in a far future. While these are
adhered to by the Sunrider series, it has always strived to inject
its own flare into proceedings. Perhaps the best demonstration of
this is with the mecha designs. On a base level they adhere to the
expectations of a mecha, they are humanoid and adhere to the
mechanical aesthetic of the setting. However, in practice the strong
use of angles and sharp points gives these machines a strangely
otherworldly quality with them appearing to almost be an exaggeration
of their pilot’s personalities, which is helped by their smart use
of colours to make them stand out from one another. It also goes a
long way to help sell these mechas as part of the greater setting and
when an ancient or special rider appears their designs lean even more
into these design choices. This ensures a consistent presentation
without losing what makes the regular mechas special. The rest of the
visuals and audio follows a similar trend and together allow
Captain’s Return to stand out from among its peers with an identity
that many game can only dream of.
The
change in the foundational gameplay made by Sunrider 4 is exactly what the
series needed. The system which had been in use for the three
previous games was already at its limits and Liberation Day clearly
felt like the end of the complexity the developers could
realistically add to it without the whole thing collapsing. So this
reimagination of the old system was definitely needed and the results
speak for themselves. More free-form movement mechanics are the new
core of the gameplay and involve a conservation of momentum over the
course of several turns. No long is movement a static consideration,
instead the player must think ahead about where they want to end up
and plan for the future accordingly with it becoming increasingly
hard to correct course the faster you go. On the other hand it also
means you do not have to dedicated valuable turns to movement and can
instead focus on attacking the enemy units. What Love In Space has
created here is a uniquely dynamic series of interactions which
demand the player consider an array of important actions each turn
and keeps them constantly engaged.
 |
| If only it the game could maintain the interest captured in the early game |
It
is a shame then that this excellent system somewhat goes to waste due to the the other elements of gameplay, most notably the lack of
mission variety, long enemy turns in the late game and basic AI.
There is some attempt to spice up the mission variety throughout the
game with a few mission types, but they can all be boiled down to two
type, kill all enemies or move to a place. Within these two types
there are some changes made to the standard formula, such as using the
move type missions as a form of puzzle, but they ultimately do not
stray too far form the base formula leaving them to feeling lacking
and repetitive, especially as the game goes on. Compounding this
problem is the long enemy turns which are a feature of the late game
due to the enemy having a lot of units and each one having to perform
their actions as well as move. This causes the pacing of turns to be
reduced to a crawl as you can spend up to two minutes waiting for the
enemy to finish a turn that only took you maybe thirty seconds due to
your lower unit count. As you can imagine this kills the pacing of
battles and makes them feel like a slog. The final nail in the coffin
is that the AI is not even doing anything interesting during their
turn since their patterns are incredibly basic. Broadly speaking they
will do one of two things, move into point blank range to shoot at you
or fire all their missiles at once. This predictability makes them
easy to counter when you realise these are the only tricks in their
book and results in the player repeating the same actions each battle
and by extension causes them to tune out of the actual events of the
battles.
Verdict –
There are few series which continue to impressive so consistently
in each new entry with their narrative, characters and gameplay in
the way the Sunrider series manages to.
Pros
+
A wonderfully crafted space adventure which builds perfectly on the
ending to Liberation Day.
+
The cast of Sunrider has always been its biggest strength and they
are just a likeable and human as before.
+
Putting the heroes on the back foot allows for characters to show
their less desirable aspects and be forced to confront them.
+
Achieve a more lived in feeling universe through a nuanced look at
how the politics and people have shaped the world the player
witnesses.
+
The new gameplay mechanics are a strong basis from which future games
can build.
+
Love In Space continue to up their visual and audio presentation with
each game and Captain’s Return is no exception.
Cons
-
Implementation of the gameplay is weakened by samey missions, long enemy turns and one
note AI.
-
Some character directions stretch believability and seem confused,
particularity related to Claude.
-
Has a very uncomfortable relationship with the additions made to the
original Liberation Day.
