REVIEW: Eternights is a funny, albeit flawed, way to survive a zombie apocalypse

Although not the first of its kind, the success of Persona 3 and its sequels paved the way for developers to try their hand more often at RPGs with dating elements. Eternights is the latest game to hit the Nintendo Switch that combines both elements, but to an uneven degree of success. Players will find joy in an entertaining cast, with very touching or hilarious moments, and a fun combat system, but may be displeased with its frequent sophomoric humor, dull dungeons, and confusing story.

The protagonist and his best friend, Chani, find themselves in the middle of a sudden zombie apocalypse and they must look for shelter along with other survivors. Once it seems their safety has been compromised, they decide to leave the shelter and survive elsewhere. Along the way, they find another survivor, Yuna, a famous pop-star. When they’re all about to die, the main character suddenly awakens a power that not only allows him to survive but also try to end this catastrophe and save the world. They eventually find two other girls to join their group and the game alternates between going to dungeons and dating the girls in order to improve the protagonist’s stats and form a meaningful relation with them.

The game starts slowly, but once you unlock more abilities and companions, the combat is quite fun. You have a weak attack that you can string into combos that finish with a stronger attack. Then, if you manage to keep attacking without being interrupted, you can perform a Deathblow attack that causes massive damage. Also, as you attack, an elemental gauge is filled up and, once it is full, you can perform an elemental attack that can break the defense of the enemies and allow for a series of attacks controlled by QTEs.

To my surprise, the combat was the strongest point of the game. Even when it is not at the level of Platinum games’, it is very satisfying – especially when there are many enemies at once and you create long sequences of attacks. Additionally, improving your relationships with the girls and other characters unlocks new skills, so you have even more abilities in your arsenal, making the combat quite varied and entertaining.

Sadly, for every “high” in Eternights there is an equivalent “low,” and in this case is the dungeon design. Most levels are dull, whether they represent some bizarre environment that is hard to navigate or some very repetitive urban setting where every building seems the same. Enemy design is grotesque but creative, fitting for a zombie apocalypse, yet enemy variety is low, so you quickly end up running into the same enemies over and over again. We have a similar issue when dating the girls, too.

Since there are few environments, dating the girls often takes you to the same places you already know by heart. Luckily, this repetitiveness is countered by how fun or touching it is to interact with the cast. Most conversations are either very funny or deep, exploring the fears and regrets of the characters while trying to lighten up the mood with cute or fun interactions. While dating the girls and getting to know them better is a positive point of enjoyment, the game is often marred by a very negative point: its sophomoric humor.

Early on, it was clear to me that I was not the target audience for many of the jokes as I found them too gross, juvenile, or pervy to my liking. I will be honest, if I wasn’t reviewing the game I may have stopped playing. Nonetheless, I am happy I kept going because there is some fun to be had among the game’s flaws, but just be aware if this type of comedy is not your style. To be clear, I didn’t find it offensive, just gross and mostly unnecessary.

When the game is not wasting time in those jokes, the writing has some great gems. Characters mention how their fears led them to hurt close friends, how their inability to forgive, forget, and move on has kept them as prisoners in a mental cage, or how they have found solace in talking and opening up instead of keeping a mask. However, I couldn’t help but wonder if different people were involved in different parts because of how disconnected the writing is in some places.

In fact, supporting my conjecture of lack of cohesion is how the story is presented: the animated cutscenes are great and the music is so spot-on in many moments, either with a fantastic crescendo in a boss fight, a perfectly place pop ballad in a key scene, or the great final boss theme. However, the story falls apart at times with weird pacing, confusing narrative bits, and strangely placed scenes. I love when a story puts questions in your head and you aim to find answers, but some questions were simply forgotten after the game made you feel that they were important when they actually were not.

Finally, to break the monotony of the dungeons, there were minigames or puzzles sprinkled around. Most of them were fun or harmless, but the motorcycle minigame was especially annoying. I probably got stuck due to my own lack of ability, but it was frustrating and, to the best of my knowledge, there was no way to keep the story going unless you finish the race. I feel like the controls were too finicky, but even if it was completely my fault for not playing well, having a way out would have been nice so that all players could enjoy the adventure.

Eternights is a paradoxical game: it can be hilarious when the jokes are pure, but can gross you out when it is juvenile; it can draw you in with its combo-infused combat, but can bore you in the dull dungeons where those fights happen; or it can make you reflect about life and choices with its great writing in some dates or scenes, but can utterly confuse you when the story tries too hard to be imposing. My recommendation would be to read more opinions, gather whether Eternight’s virtues take precedence over its flaws, and then decide if it’s a game for you.