First Impression: Edge of Eternity

By Chris Picone, 23 June 2021

Edge of Eternity (EoE) is a shameless Final Fantasy (FF) clone. Like so many others, I grew up with FF and it’s one of my absolute favourite gaming franchises of all time. Now if it weren’t for Enix utterly destroying said franchise, I would be upset at the idea of an FF clone and shocked at the audacity of anyone even trying it – but here we are. The trick, then, is creating something that has the feel of FF but which is original enough to warrant its existence. And since the goal of these clones is to replicate FF, we expect amazing graphics, an incredible story, gripping characters, and epic combat. So how does EoE fare?

So far, I’m about a dozen hours into EoE and I have lots of nice things to say about it: The graphics are great – not as mindblowing as FF games are known for but pretty damn good for an indie dev. The characters feel like they’re straight out of an FF game. EoE combat features grid-based movement, an interactive environment, and loads of interesting timed events and special attacks. Unfortunately, for the most part, these interesting elements are lacking during normal encounters, meaning most of the combat feels like any other JRPG, leaving you mostly mashing the attack button with the odd spell thrown in – a little repetitive but not unforgivably so. However, the boss and miniboss fights are some of the most interesting battles I’ve had the pleasure of playing. I’ll be keeping an eye out for patches.

The story… holds promise. The intro really wowed me but the story stalled immediately after, leaving me wandering fairly aimlessly and grinding through some lacklustre combat encounters with wildlife and a series of low-level fetch quests for a solid eight hours before the story picked up again. The towns in between lack heart – they look interesting enough but the devs went for a “solo MMO” feel, meaning the towns are loaded with workshops and mission boards but there’s otherwise no interactivity. The story’s just starting to get interesting again but also has some gaping issues that really need addressing.

Verdict: If you’re a fan of FF clones it’s definitely worth looking into – I do have lots of nice things to say about it – but I’m personally not a huge fan of hours and hours of grinding or the MMO feel and the story needs some fixing. The devs are still working on it so I’m hoping this is more like an Early Access release. EoE really is loaded with promise, I’m just not sure it’s at the “finished product” stage yet.

Links: https://store.steampowered.com/app/269190/Edge_Of_Eternity/