When I first saw the trailer for Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream, I was very apprehensive about it and was thinking of skipping the title. I then tried the open network test and was a lot more interested in the game.
Game Name: Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream
Platform(s): PS5 (Reviewed), Xbox Series X|S, PC
Developer(s): Dimps Corporation
Publisher(s): Bandai Namco Entertainment
Release Date: October 5th, 2024
Price: $59.99
Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream opens up with Kirito introducing Quinella to the rest of the gang. As someone who had watched the series, I was confused at first because Quinella is the main antagonist of the Alicization series. After a bit of a tutorial and having the game show you how to fight and defeat enemies, you get to the next section of the story. Quinella starts to fight Kirito. He soon realizes his mind has been manipulated as his real memories come back. The main story of the game can now begin. Kirito and other characters in the Sword Art Online series are searching through this new world that is a culmination of multiple VR worlds we have seen throughout SAO.
Back To Aincrad And More
The story missions in Sword Art Online Fractured Daydream consist of limited party members in the beginning as you unlock them. You only have access to Quinella and Kirito but you will eventually get over 20 characters to choose from ranging from a multitude of roles.
The maps in the game are giant. A lot of the story missions consist of defeating enemies and moving around these big maps to finally get to a big boss that you will be able to destroy. Unlike the multiplayer modes as I discussed in the network test, you get base stat, not experience points, increases from defeating enemies.
The big maps have collectibles in the story mode you can gather. There is one optional boss enemy that will drop a cosmetic item that can be worn by your characters, three map fragments that give you memory fragments that unlock the CG scenes of the previous Sword Art Online Games, and a data cell that unlocks graphic art for your player card.
Living In VR
Overall I enjoyed the story mode sections when it came to the dialogue and interactions within the cast. We got combinations of characters I was not expecting that made me so happy. Seeing Eugeo and LLENN get moments to interact made me smile profusely. I also loved watching Argo see the relationship Kirito and Eugeo have immediately and she describes that it is the deepest one that Kirito has. Kirito and Eugeo probably have one of the best dynamics in SAO so I am so glad we got more moments of that.
The maps themselves are big but honestly, the worst part was trying to find the collectibles. Looking for them made what should have taken 20-30 minutes to finish, take an hour just to get that final map fragment. It was not fun to collect and only some of them felt satisfying to find.
You need to finish the first three chapters of the game to get access to the entire roster of characters for multiplayer. To access the side story DLC you also need to finish the whole story mode. It isn’t a long story mode, only around 20 hours or so, but if you only want this game for the multiplayer mode, it might be a bit too much to sink your teeth into single-player content.
Playing With Friends
It is weird to say this, but I prefer the multiplayer mode in Sword Art Online Fractured Daydream. You select a rank that drops equipment maxed out at a certain level and it puts you into matchmaking. The first two ranks are easy to get matches for, but the later ranks take forever to get enough people for a game. The game looks for twenty players to go through the co-op mode and pits you all in a separate area in parties of four. The game can start after only finding five actual players, the rest can be handled by CPU players.
The first area is a few objectives that will help get some experience points to level your characters up. The next area combines all five parties into completing three separate goals. You want to still defeat enemies and gain experience points as that will help you in the final area. The final area is a giant raid boss. Your goal is to get the final hit on the boss. This gets you a lot of points for your party. The party with the most points gets MVP status at the end screen.
Final Area
Sword Art Online Fractured Daydream is a step up from Last Recollection in my opinion. I find it interesting that the timeline in Fractured Daydream is the one from the anime, not the games. It shows up in the DLC storyline that adds Strea to the roster. I find this a good idea since you won’t need to have every game finished to understand the story. Rather than this game being a definitive Sword Art Online game for the series, this is more of a tribute to the series that has a lot of love. I can recommend this game easily to fans of the series but to nobody else.
SWORD ART ONLINE Fractured Daydream is available now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
Review Disclosure Statement: Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream was provided to us by Bandai Namco for review purposes. For more information on how we review video games and other media/technology, please review our Review Guideline/Scoring Policy.
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Summary
Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream is a pretty fun and entertaining multiplayer game for fans of the series. Sadly the appeal doesn’t reach farther than that.
Pros
- Multiplayer mode is a blast to play
- Interactions in the story are great and I love the way these characters are written
- Lots of cosmetics
Cons
- Collectibles are a hassle
- Let my man Agil have outfits
- Hope you get into party A to get priority for human players.
