Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream First Impressions - Fun Game With Big Value for SAO Fans

Sword Art Online is back with a new game, Fractured Daydream, which promises a co-op experience alongside a quest storyline. I’ve been testing this game for the past few days and here are my first impressions.

The storyline brings together 21 characters from every Sword Art Online anime installment so far as they find themselves in a strange, bricked game world. I won’t go into details to avoid spoiling but I will say that it does a decent job of bringing everyone together without going in too deep. Kirito’s harem is definitely back and so is Oberon for some reason. The publisher for the game is Bandai Namco while the developer is Dimps Corporation. We did get this game a few days before its release, but there is quite a bit of content and various gameplay modes so it will take a while to properly play through. Players who tried the previous Sword Art Online games are in for a nice treat, as some of the collectibles are related to them.

Before I get into the details, I must say that the game also features two original characters: Fuuka and Neige. The two are voiced by Reina Ueda and Mariya Ise, who, just like the rest of the returning cast from the anime adaptations, did an amazing job.

The game is available on Windows, Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch. We played it on Windows and it performed smoothly, without major inconveniences, but it has to be noted that auto-aim in this game is not great and it often lands you far from the enemies. Locking onto an enemy is not great because you can’t see anything around yourself. I also

Note: the game is currently running a GGO tie-in right now, so make sure to use the code: SJ03-UNIT-LPFM.

Gameplay

In Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream you get to play as your favorite Sword Art Online character and you get to use their skills, weapons, and attacks while also adjusting them to suit your needs. The game is playable in offline mode (only singleplayer) and comes with anti-cheat systems.

Singleplayer

In singleplayer, you go through various quests and complete the storyline. Cut scenes can be skipped but I recommend against that. Each quest unlocks a new character (at least one) and the player gets the do a sort of trial run with them beating the quest with a high score grants you unique items and bonuses.

In addition to beating monsters and bosses, players also need to look for Remnants (currency that can be spent on boosts and collectibles), Consoles (mini-challenges that get you to destroy targets or beat enemies), Data Cells (illustration collectibles) and Named Enemies. All of these boost your score greatly and Remnants are especially important because getting an S score doesn’t guarantee you this unique currency. I personally used a guide at times, because some of the maps tend to be quite big. To get the highest score on each quest (S), you need to score over 50,000 and collectibles count towards the score (but you can complete the level with an S without getting them).

There are five chapters with multiple quests:

• Chapter 1: 9 quests
• Chapter 2: 5 quests
• Chapter 3: 7 quests
• Chapter 4: 5 quests
• Chapter 5: 10 quests

Multiplayer

The game has two multiplayer options: a co-op quest and a boss raid plus a “Free Roam” option that lets you familiarize yourself with multiplayer. Co-op matches you with 20 players, split into four teams, and together you clear maps by defeating overworld enemies and bosses. The party that deals the final strike gets the most points and rewards. Boss raids function similarly, only you are immediately thrown into the boss battle. Different modes unlock as you level up and the game’s tutorial does recommend finishing the storyline before getting fully into multiplayer since the storyline is how you unlock playable characters and equipment. Some of the equipment is also craftable. Multiplayer is a great way to unlock more materials and weapons.

If you want to dress up your characters, you are in luck as you can win various accessories and outfits, but you can also buy them using real-life currency. The outfits are just cosmetics and don’t come with any special effects.

The game also has a Trial system, which grants you special items and weapons. To level up here, you need to do various tasks as seen below. This mechanic is designed to keep you coming back, as some of these appear to be exclusive items.

Controls and Movement

Controls are adjustable for different types of characters (normal, flying, shooting) and that’s really handy but the issue is that the general commands like character switch are not shared so you have to set it up three times. It took me a bit to figure this out since the Alt key on Windows is tied to quite a few commands (like Nvidia’s overlay) and it was confusing that it sometimes worked and sometimes didn’t. I love that there are shortcuts for character builds:

Thanks to the adjustable options, it’s pretty easy to get around. Characters are fast with fluid movements. Flying is polished. The only issue I found was the auto-aim which is honestly atrocious and you have to keep resetting it. However, once set it can limit your field of vision so be careful. Thankfully, enemies weren’t too difficult.

Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream – First Impressions

The storyline of Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream is fine, especially if you want to see your favorites gathered in one place but it is definitely not worth the $60 price point. However, multiplayer is where this game shines: joining raids and killing bosses with other players is quite a lot of fun. We do need to address that price point.

The base game is 59,99 EUR (my Steam has EU pricing), the Deluxe Edition is 84,44 EUR and the Premium is 99.99 EUR. The Character Pass Vol. 1 DLC, which includes an additional playable character is 24.99 EUR, and you can also upgrade to Premium for the same price. Below you can see what each of these editions is but do keep in mind that this game also comes with in-app purchases I mentioned above.

In my opinion, this is a bit steep. Don’t get me wrong, you get a decent amount of content and the multiplayer is great, but the story could be better. While the music is great the animation feels stiff and the dialogue cuts off weirdly at times as there are no in-between frames. I also wonder if multiplayer servers will attract enough players without the need for bots over time.

So far, I’ve got around 16 hours in and I will keep playing because I want to finish the story, get all the characters (keep in mind, one is locked behind a DLC which I do have), and see what other multiplayer formats can be unlocked. Looking for Remnants and other collectibles has been a little tiresome because it feels repetitive and is sometimes unclear, but the guide I linked above helped a lot. I would say that’s where most of the time went because my initial plan was to finish the story before reviewing it. That has proven to be difficult due to the sheer amount of content and somewhat unpredictable (but good) plot twists.

Ultimately, Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream is a fun experience, thanks to its multiplayer mode and character variety. How will it hold up? We’ll find out after I fully master it. In the meantime, I’m off the grind.

Anime Corner was provided with a review copy of the game.