FuRyu is one of those developers that seems to have more creativity than you can shake a stick at. Unfortunately, they don’t have the budget or manpower to match. I think of games like Monark or Crystar; games that were very creative but missing the polish and development to make them winners. Reynatis continues that trend. But, that ambitious yet niche appeal will find its way to the right gamers. Self-included. Unsurprisingly, Reynatis is not a perfect game. Also unsurprisingly, I really enjoyed my 30 hours with the game that granted me my first platinum trophy for 2025. Will you feel the same?
Taking place in Shibuya, which was recreated magnificently, Reynatis begins with two protagonists. Both are wizards. That’s right: wizards. Despite Reynatis being set in 2024, there are individuals with magical powers roaming the streets of Shibuya. The first is Sari Nishijima, a police officer for the MEA Magic Task Force. Her, along with her partners Dogo and Ukai, roam the streets to stop the spread of a drug called rubrum. This drug turns people into monsters. Fortunately, Sari and her team can user their magic without fear or oppression. The same can’t be said for our other hero: Marin Kirizumi. Marin’s magical ability is supreme, but that’s not good enough for him. He wants to be the strongest wizard. He found his way to Tokyo following a message from his father. Eventually, Marin and his allies will meet Sari and hers. This encounter will shape the future of wizards and Shibuya.
Reynatis threw a lot of characters and story terminology at me at a rapid pace from the start. The characters were great. My party of six really grew on me. Each had their own motivation for joining either Sari or Marin, and getting to know them was a joy. I really got to know them through the party’s text message exchanges. Reynatis gave a nod to the LINE app. There were over 100 chats exchanged between everyone ranging from the mundane to the intriguing. These were completely optional, but they were fun to stumble upon since they added more depth to each party member. My favorite was Ukai. Not only was he beastly powerful, but his sarcastic attitude and sense of humor antagonized the lone-wolf, too-cool-for-school Marin. The enemies Marin and Sari went up against didn’t receive as much airtime, which was shame. I enjoyed the characters and setting, but parts of the story lost me. Marin’s and Sari’s goals remained unchanged throughout; that part was easy to understand. Other aspects? Not so much. All the terminology that was mixed with longwinded story moments where the characters would just stand around started to ware thin. By the end of the game, and after the big-bad reveals, I still had no clue why half the stuff everyone was griping about was so important.
That was one of my issues. The other was a small but significant aspect of the gameplay; one that reflects an issue of our world outside of gaming. Remember, Reynatis takes place in modern day Shibuya. Everyone in Shibuya has a smartphone. And with that, everyone roaming the streets has social media. As your team travels throughout Shibuya fulfilling objectives for the main quest for simple side-quests, there will be times you have to enter Liberated Mode. While Liberated (aka showing the world that you’re a wizard) folks will snap and post your position on social media, complete with hashtags and internet lingo. It takes no time at all for you to trend at number one. Entering Suppressed Mode (which hides your wizardry powers) doesn’t stop you from trending. Reaching number one forces you into combat with very powerful enemies. What does this all mean? It means, you have to find a hiding spot marked on the map or quick-jump to another part of Shibuya. It was a clever but ultimately annoying feature of Reynatis that could have been better scrubbed.
Liberated and Suppressed Modes are the crux of Reynatis’ gameplay. You can switch modes with the push of a button. While Liberated, you’re able to see hidden items. More importantly, you’re able to use your abilities as a wizard. The action-RPG combat in Reynatis is unique despite its simplicity. There’s one button for regular attacks that perform a combo, and two buttons for using Wizarts. These are found as graffiti throughout Shibuya and can be equipped and powered up to grant your team extra powerful abilities. There are passive Wizarts, too. Being Liberated allows you to perform insane, acrobatic combos filled with magic and melee attacks. They look complex, but as mentioned, the game is pretty simple to play. While Liberated, your magic will slowly drain. Once it’s empty, you’ll be back in Suppressed Mode. However, this is where we see my favorite combat feature.
Similar to Witch Time from Bayonetta, dodging in Reynatis while Suppressed causes you to slow down time and absorb enemy health, which gets converted to magic. Doing this also helps build Final Malice; an all-powerful attack that has all the anime, cinematic flair one can ask for. You can also switch characters and use items (of which, there are plenty) to keep pressing the advantage. So, when in combat, there’s a dance of being both Liberated and Suppressed. Attacking and dodging. You’ll do this to blast enemies into oblivion. At least, that’s what the developers were going for. Remember my favorite character? Well, one of the Wizarts that he specializes in is so powerful that it can clear encounters and most boss battles with just a few button presses. The only time combat had me on my toes was about midway through the game before being able power up Ukai’s specialty. None of this curtailed my enjoyment, but it did make combat trivial. Note that I did a lot level grinding to help with optional challenges that were required for trophies. Said challenges will also have you on your toes. All those levels and the beefed up Wizarts made my team unstoppable. Still, the combat remained fun throughout the entire journey.
Graphically, Reynatis is a mixed bag. Shibuya looks great, yet the “dungeons” referred to as Another look bland. Characters look sleek and stylish, but the NPCs all look the same. Taking it a step further, the up close shots of the main cast are odd. They look like puppets from a children’s program. Regular enemies look cool, but there aren’t a lot of them outside palette swaps. Bosses are a different story because they look crazy in the best way possible. Playing on a PlayStation 5, I never experienced any issues with slowdown or janky glitches. The music was great, but unmemorable. Voice acting (Japanese only) was excellent. Typical stuff.
After 30 hours of traversing Shibuya, Reynatis came to an end. There were some additional episodes and challenges, but I was ready for it to be over after the final scenes. Fans of The World Ends With You games will be pleasantly surprised that one of the additional episodes centers around that world. It’s hard to say if anyone outside a very small, very esoteric group will appreciate Reynatis and all its thorns. I’ve seen average to low scores across the board for it. But, that’s the thing about niche games like this. There is an audience for them; just not widespread. I’m glad I played it and a few others out there will likely feel the same.
Overall, 7.5/10: Both liberated and suppressed by design, Reynatis is a fun yet flawed game that will be hard to enjoy unless your tastes are forgiving and specific.