Nights of Azure 2: Bride of the New Moon Review

Nights of Azure 2: Bride of the New Moon as the name suggests, is the second game in the Nights of Azure series. Developed by Gust and published by Koei Tecmo, Nights of Azure 2 is a hack n slash action RPG set in a world full of sinister fiends juxtaposed with a crisp, bright anime art style.

Although there is a very obvious ‘2’ in the title, this game is for the most part a stand alone experience and can be enjoyed without having played the first game. There are existing characters that appear and references to events from the first game that will be appreciated by those that sunk time into the first title but it is definitely not a pre-requisite to enjoying this game.

What’s It About?

Nights of Azure 2 is set some time after the events of the first game. The Nightlord has been defeated but the world is still plagued by the remnants of his ‘blue blood’. Anything that comes into contact with the Lord’s blood transitions into one of the main enemy types in the game, a fiend.

You play as Aluche, a Knight of the Curia, an organisation who’s job it is to keep the world safe from the fiends. Aluche is given orders to retrieve and escort a priestess Liliana to the headquarters of the Curia. Upon meeting Liliana, it is revealed the two are childhood friends and the two have a pleasant but short reunion. As upon escorting Liliana to the Curia, it is discovered that a new threat, the Moon Queen is threatening to plunge the world into darkness. The Curia intend to reseal the Moon Queen away by offering up a sacrifice, it’s here you realise that they intend for your childhood friend to be said sacrifice and instruct you to escort Liliana to her fate.

During their travels, they cross paths with the Moon Queen. Aluche decides to defy orders, not wanting to sacrifice her friend and take the Moon Queen head on in battle, resulting in a sword wound through the heart. Upon waking up Aluche is informed by the Curia’s head fiend researcher/doctor that she had died and the only way to try and save her was via an experimental treatment containing the blue blood, resulting in Aluche becoming half demon.

Thus sets in motion the main plot of Nights of Azure 2. Liliana has gone missing and Aluche sets out to locate her vanished friend then find and defeat the Moon Queen.

A Great, Fast Paced Combat System

One of the standouts for me in Nights of Azure 2 was the combat system. It’s a real time, fast paced hack n slash system with all the bells and whistles. Dodge rolls, blocking, attack combo’s, ultimate moves and depending on your chosen party member (Lillies) there are a range of team up and combo moves you can use to take down fiends. The whole combat system and movement reminded me of Kindgom Hearts. So anyone that is a fan of that style of combat will feel right at home here.

During the opening hours of the game, it seems just about every enemy encounter comes with a new tutorial for an additional mechanic to learn. It did seem overwhelming at first, but the game gives you plenty of time to gradually learn these mechanics and will often prompt you on screen when certain types of attacks (such as ultimate moves or team up strikes) are available to use.

Throughout the game you will meet a number of girls that are able to join your party and accompany you during the quests. These girls are referred to as Lilies and you are able to have one Lily and two Servans (more on those later) make up your complete party at any one time. Every Lily is unique and have their own distinct playstyles during combat. They each possess two combination attacks with Aluche, Double Chase and Lily Burst, Active Skills which Aluche can trigger whenever they’re available and Special Skills which the Lily will trigger automatically depending on the situation during an encounter.

You’re Not In This Alone

Lily Quest side missions allow you to develop your relationships with a Lily. Completing these missions provides an insight into that characters life and back story when completed and help strengthen your bond with that particular character which can affect your ending you get in the game.

Along with Lilies you can also fill out two spots in your party with Servans. Servans are friendly fiends that have come into contact with the blue blood but have not fallen to the darkness. Due to Aluche being half demon, she is able to communicate, rescue and befriend these creatures.

Always On The Clock

Nights of Azure 2 contains a time limit system during it’s main chapters. This system provides you with a constantly visible timer that counts down any time you exit the safety of the hotel hub area. During each chapter you need to explore the dungeons, battle various hoards of fiends, try to complete side and Lily quests if you have the time, complete the main mission objective and the final boss of that chapter before the timer hits zero. Failing to do so will result in a game over and a restart of that chapter or section.

At first I wasn’t a fan of the timer as it was stopping me from playing the game the way I’d like to enjoy it. But the further I progressed started to understand the system a little better and worked out that yes, it is stopping you from exploring or doing all of the side quests right now, but it is pushing you to progress to the next chapter while also giving you a reason to jump into the new game+ when finished to tackle those side quests. But I know that this constant timer on the screen won’t be everyone’s cup of tea.

Would Have Loved A More Open World

While the world design was great I found most of it’s environments and dungeons to be too linear in structure. Forcing me to always progress towards the mission objective where I normally prefer to take my time in other RPG titles to search for pickups and know that I’ve navigated and cleared an area before moving on. This design choice may have been intentional to compliment the time limit system, intentionally leaving things linear to urge the player to progress. Or the time limit system may have been implemented as a fallback for not having fully detailed, fleshed out levels. Either way it didn’t stop me from having an enjoyable time, I just would have liked more.

Nights of Azure 2 Review: Final Thoughts

Overall, Nights of Azure 2: Bride of the New Moon is a fun action RPG with an interesting story and sharp anime style visuals. While it’s world and dungeons aren’t as open as i’d like and the time limit system placed on the missions made me feel like I needed to rush to beat clock and left me wondering at times if I’d missed things along the way. The characters in the game are written and designed especially well and having each of them perform differently in the fast paced hack n slash combat provides a lot of customisation to the player to approach the quests with their preferred Lily and Servans.

If you enjoyed the first Nights of Azure or like action RPG’s with an anime art style i’d recommend picking up Nights of Azure 2: Bride of the New Moon. It tells a great tale, has a great combat system and can be completed in a reasonable time when compared to many other JRPG titles.

A PS4 review code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.

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