Calling RWBY anime is blasphemy; I know that. Still, I want to classify it in the same books as some of the hit anime’s; the same goes for Avatar. It’s not anime by the book standards, but what should we call it then? Web animated comic series? Well, The definitive RWBY experience is now on Nintendo Switch- including three years of content updates and DLC, eight all-new outfits, and a two-player couch co-op.
RWBY: Grimm Eclipse is a co-op, hack-and-slash game for up to four players based upon Rooster Teeth’s international hit series RWBY. Time to join your friends in intense combat action as one of eight students of Beacon Academy and stop the evil forces of the Grimm and Doctor Merlot. Level up your favorite RWBY character and traverse Remnant in new storylines or the Grimm Gauntlet mode. Since I already committed blasphemy by calling it anime, I’ll indulge you a little bit in what RWBY is about.
RWBY – Ruby
RWBY (pronounced “Ruby”)is an Americananime-influenced animatedweb seriesandmedia franchisecreated byMonty OumforRooster Teeth. It is set in the fictional world of Remnant, where young people train to become warriors (called “Huntsmen” and “Huntresses”) to protect their world from monsters called Grimm. The name RWBY is derived from the four main characters’ forenames: Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang, as well as their associated theme colors; Red, White, Black, and Yellow, and their combined team name: Team RWBY.
Throughout the first volume, team RWBY (Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang) and team JNPR (“juniper”) (Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren) are introduced. In this volume, the main characters attend Beacon Academy, and throughout the episodes, the audience sees what the lives at Beacon Academy are like. At the end of the volume, it expands the world’s view in which RWBY takes place. In the second volume, the main characters have settled into the academy and have become comfortable in their lifestyle. There is an introduction and uncovering more details about antagonists within the show. The next volume shows the Vytal Festival Tournament. This tournament takes place amongst many fighters and students. While this tournament is proceeding, antagonists within the show begin their plan they have created.
Storyline & Gameplay
The storyline of the game takes place between RWBY Volume 2 and Volume 3. In the first level of the game, Professor Peter Port guides Team RWBY through a mission to the Emerald Forest, where there have been issues with the security network. Along the way, they fight off hordes of Grimm, defending the security network control centers as Port repairs them.
The team discovers that an unknown party reprogrammed the network. They also find mysterious cages used for capturing Grimm, created by the now-defunct Merlot Industries, old research and development corporation that had its primary facility at the ill-fated settlement of Mountain Glenn. Time to team up with your friends in either a two-player couch co-op or a four-player online co-op and utilize powerful team attacks.
Combat
Players have melee and ranged attacks and several unlockable special attacks unique to each character. The ability to perform special moves must be earned by performing combos with regular attacks. Combos of hits in quick succession are used to charge up special abilities, which is called an Ultimate. Another type of special attack is team attacks, which are contextual and based on certain factors. One player sets up the conditions for another player to use a special attack to finish off a stunned enemy, encouraging teamwork.
The game’s health system is named after Aura. Aura is depleted by taking successive hits from enemies but regenerating if players are not hit for a certain time. If a player’s Aura is depleted, they have a small number of hits to survive before they are downed. Downed players have the option of being revived by other players or waiting up to almost a minute to respawn. This brings me to my main problem with RWBY – if you play this game solo, the aura depletes extremely fast, resulting in a lot of deaths (unnecessary ones) and restarts of the whole level. If you can play this game with two or more players, I highly recommend it.
Horde Mode
Next to the adventure modes, the game offers Horde Mode. Originally made available on October 13th, 2016, as free DLC and included in this version. Separate from the mission-based campaign, Horde Mode is another game type that tasks players defending multiple security stations from respawning waves of Grimm. In Horde Mode, players accrue currency, named after Lien from the series, by defeating enemies, which allows them to purchase a variety of turret defenses, which assist in fending off the horde.
Horde Mode maps are based on the Emerald Forest, Forever Fall, and Mountain Glenn levels but are not identical to those found in the campaign mode. Each has a set of advantages and challenges: Forever Fall has long distances between security stations. Mountain Glenn increases the number of stations that must be defended as time goes on.
Conclusion
So, to conclude! RWBY features stellar graphics straight out of the series, combined with many recognizable aspects for fans of the series. It might be a tough one to chew through if your playing alone like me, but fire up the couch-co op, and you should have no trouble at all. RWBY offers a lot for a great price, and if you’re into the hack-and-slash or even Musou-Light even. Definitely one for the fans, but everyone looking for a nice hack-and-slash couch-co-op could easily pick this one up.
