Aether Gazer Review

Welcome to Admin

Yostar is back, and they have brought us a new gacha action RPG, Aether Gazer. Yostar is no stranger to the Google Play store and has published and developed some of the best gacha games. Their two most notable titles are Arknights and Azur Lane, with over ten million downloads combined. Aether Gazer has some big shoes to fill. However, the game seems up to the challenge as it brings a new world and story to dive into and brand new gameplay that separates it from its successful predecessors.

Aether Gazer‘s story has a good premise but feels generic since it takes heavy inspiration from other games like Honkai Impact 3rd or films like The Matrix. The world as we know it is gone; the only survivors are those who uploaded their consciousness into a virtual world. Everything was peaceful until a virus-like villain, Visbane, corrupted the virtual world. It is up to the player, the administrator and the enlisted virtual programs known as modifiers to stop the Visbane. You and these modifiers make up the organization Aether Gazer. 

The story has a strong start, and I wanted to know more about the story and lore, until I started feeling most of its generic beats. As a big sci-fi fan who has played Honkai Impact 3rd and seen The Matrix, I could not help but feel like I had seen a story like this before. Towards the beginning of chapter two, I began to lose interest in the grand scheme. However, what kept me invested were the fantastic characters and the development they were receiving. Being able to play with most of these characters made me want to stick with the game. 

Swords, Guns and Combos

Where Aether Gazer shines is its gameplay and combat. Each character is unique with various weapons in the game, my favorites being sword and gun wielders. Players will have a basic attack that they will mainly spam, three special attacks and an ultimate attack. Players will completely control their character’s dodges and movement as they fight multiple enemy targets and bosses. Eventually, players will learn that the three special attacks can be combined into unique patterns that can inflict heavy damage. 

Not all characters can perform these combos, but the ones that do are some of the best characters in the game and must-haves on any team. These combos add a layer to the gameplay, making some characters more accessible or challenging depending on play styles. This gives players variety and makes team building much more fun. As players build up their combos, they can unleash their ultimate ability for massive damage. The last two mechanics I want to mention are the modifier mode and team ultimates. 

Modifier mode is when a player attacks the boss and dwindles their modifier bar till it’s empty. Then, the characters are transported to a different world where they can perform devastating damage. This is the best time to use your ultimate or team ultimates. Team ultimates are just ultimates that the entire team performs together. They are flashy and fun to watch. Combined, this gameplay makes for a challenging and fun combat experience that made me want to keep playing Aether Gazer. 

A Pretty Virtual World

Graphically, Aether Gazer looks impressive on mobile. Movement and combos look stunning, and team ultimates animations are a treat. However, the same cannot be said for character ultimates, as they feel lazy. It is just a closeup of the characters and them performing a basic-looking attack depending on what weapon they’re wielding. More time could have been spent giving ultimates proper and beautiful animation sequences like team ultimates. The unique character cast also looks great; you can tell where most of the art direction was focused. Each character has stunning details, none of which look the same. 

Aether Gazer‘s main HUD is clean and easy to follow, and the game’s gacha mechanics do not feel forced or predatory. The game offers a variety of game modes to help farm materials for character and weapon upgrades as well as shifted stars. Shifted stars are used to purchase scan vouchers to roll for more characters. Aether Gazer feels like a fair gacha and can be free to play if players put in the time and effort. 

Overall, I enjoyed my time with Aether Gazer. The story had me at first, but it did grow stale the more I played. What really hooked me was the fantastic characters and gameplay. I wanted to learn different combos with different characters and see what each could do. Graphically, combos look great, and team ultimates were always fun to watch. Character development in the story was also a highlight. If you are looking for a new sci-fi action RPG to play, the Aether Gazer organization is always looking for more admins.