Fighting & Feasting In Ximending: A Dusk Diver 2 Review

By Manuel

Player(s): 1
Platform(s): PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch

An RPG that takes place in Ximending is something that has intrigued me ever since I heard about the first Dusk Diver game and when a sequel was announced, published by Idea Factory, I couldn't wait to pick it up. Was the anticipation worth it? More importantly, will this game appeal to someone not familiar with either the setting or the series? Read on to find out!

(Note: This review is based on the Nintendo Switch version of the game.)

Dusk Diver 2 is something of an Action RPG that puts you in the shoes of Yang Yumo and her friends who fight off monsters known as "chaos beasts" who break into the region of Ximending in Taipei from a twisted alternate world known as "Youshanding". In between fighting off said beasts you complete side quests, train yourself to get stronger, eat lots of great local food, and work at the Tumaz Mart that also serves as your home base. There's a lot more to the story but we'll cover that later, what's interesting to note is that the game takes place in many real world locations (think something akin to Kabukicho in the Yakuza series) and features a lot of real brands and restaurants. Yes, that IS a Cold Stone Creamery that you see outside Ximen Exit 6, and yes it is there in real life too. I called it an Action RPG earlier but at times it feels a lot more like a standard beat 'em up game with RPG elements laid on top. All in all, both in genre and in setting, Dusk Diver 2 really stands apart from other games and it's difficult to compare it to any one other game or series.

Ximending Station Exit 6 is REALLY iconic.

The Red House is one of many IRL locations.

The story here is one of the stronger points of the game and while Dusk Diver 2 is a direct sequel to the first game, and refers to it a lot, the notes and dialogue do well to catch up new players. I never played the first game and still managed to grasp all everything without much fuss and never felt that I had to stop and play the first one to get the bigger picture. You may notice that the cover of the game show's Yang Yumo squaring off against the "Dark Diver" and just to avoid spoilers I'll leave it at that, but there is your main big bad if you will. While the story does offer a lot in later chapters of the game, it does take a while to pick up with much of the game's first sections serving to rebuild the party from the first game. Joining Yang Yumo, who mainly fights in a hand-to-hand martial arts way, are Leo, a gangster type with powerful attacks, Le Viada, a celebrity who fights with guns, and Bahet, who is more technical and fights with a scythe. The game starts when Yang Yumo and Leo first notice the boundaries between Youshanding and Ximending weakening again only to find a mysterious maid named Bette who is looking for the aforementioned Bahet, who in turn is also looking for a lost friend. I'm probably not doing the best to outline the story here, but it's one that is best experienced within the game's unique setting. Speaking of the game's setting, there are a lot of side missions and foodie adventures that really round out the experience and will make one want to visit Ximending in person.

So much good food...

Le Viada is my favorite character by the way.

For better or worse fighting makes up a lot of the gameplay of Dusk Diver 2 and there's a lot that can be said here. Seeing as this is an Action RPG, fighting is faced paced with the player in control of the action. In true beat 'em up fashion long combos can be chained together and the system really leans into the idea that you never have to stop fighting. There are battles that are both scripted (as in they take place in specific areas with specific enemy types) and random battles in the game, with the latter only taking place in the Taipei exploration settings. Whatever the type of fight, once the battle begins you can lock onto enemies, use weak or strong attacks, jump & dodge, and use various skills. The first problem arises with the fact that even though all of the playable characters are fairly unique (Le Viada is the game's only true long-range fighter for example), fighting is limited to just a few usable actions at any given time as the most useful skills use up a lot of SP and others have long cooldown times. This probably wouldn't be so bad if not for the fact that every enemy in the game feels like it has two or three times the health that they should. This doesn't mean that the game is particularly hard, though it does have tougher sections, but every battle feels very drawn out by the fact that each enemy can take literal minutes to defeat. Linking together attacks is fun, but it's hard to keep that energy up when every battle is a 5 minute affair and you get into them every few steps.

Yang Yumo ready to fight... or get some chicken.

A cool early boss.

When looking up the game in preview I've heard it and the first game described as "musou style" games and I'm not sure where that comparison comes from as there is very little from that genre in here. One thing that defines a musou game is the number of enemies on screen in any one battle, and while there can be several on screen at once, especially in later chapters, they often only come in small waves. I'd probably prefer if some of the longer battles just threw all the enemies in at once as it would probably speed up things a bit. There's a lot more to the battle system involving dodging, counterattacks, assists, and switching, but it's probably beyond the scope of this review to discuss them all. True mastery of the game probably would come from using every element of combat to your advantage, but none of it is really useful and the tutorials for most of them aren't laid out very well. Also, item usage is limited in battles which makes buying extra items somewhat useless as you can't use them when you need them the most. Also, throughout my entire playthrough I was never able to properly revive a fallen character in battle as the prompt never seemed to pop up even though I had many revives. Circling back to the "always fighting" mentality, that also goes out the window fairly early on once enemies start using long-range attacks. The worst of these are everyone's favorite in gaming: Attacks from off-screen. In short the combat system felt far more annoying than it needed to be, and when it wasn't doing that, it was often just dragging down the experience in general.

Le Viada's fully charged special attack.

This was the first boss that really gave me a hard time.

Youshanding itself is an odd place as it is far bigger than the main Ximending sections which makes sense since it also serves as the game's "dungeon" areas, but also feels like it makes the game a bit one-sided, leaning toward dungeon crawling as opposed to the vibrant real world locations. Speaking of dungeons, Dusk Diver 2 begins with one that is modeled after an arcade complete with giant claw machines, whack-a-mole, and air hockey. It made me hope that all the dungeons would be this fully themed but was let down when most of the others turned out to be post-apocalyptic versions of the real world areas you were in. There's also weird platforming sections in some of these dungeons and while they were very clunky, they didn't seem to truly hinder progress and are a minor oddity at worst. I mentioned earlier that battles were both scripted and random and while the scripted ones are only really in Youshanding, the random ones can be somewhat annoying as they take place when you touch an NPC that is "possessed" in Ximending, something that can be done very easily when you're running from Point A to Point B. There is a lot to explore though and some replay value in revisiting already completed areas for things you may have missed.

Sound in Dusk Diver 2 is something of a mixed bag, but unlike the fighting it's far more on the positive side than the negative. While I find it hard to say that any of the music particularly stood out, it really did fit the mood for each scene and was never repetitive. Voice acting is interesting as the game features both a Japanese track and a Chinese one. This is a cool feature, but it was somewhat disappointing to find out that the game isn't fully voiced. There are entire scenes that play out in silence that would've been much better if they were voiced. With all that said though, the voice acting is completely on point for everyone in both dubs.

Bette x Le Viada: Place your bets

Our mysterious villain.

Graphics are hard to critique in this game as the real world locations all look spot on and the areas provide some visual cues that you can even place if you ever visit Ximen. The character designs are all great too and everyone looks unique and different, even the lesser-shown characters. The designs are so awesome that I actually tried to look up figures and fan art of some of the characters after completing the game and that's not really something I do often. The problem with the graphics really show when you look at NPCs though as they are all generic models lacking even full features. This probably wouldn't be all too bad if it wasn't for the fact that they randomly spawn in and out, even during cutscenes, and can break any sense of immersion the game is building. Monster designs are also fairly unique, but there are definite palette swaps and the like. While not really a graphical issue, now would be a good time to mention that while many of the areas amazingly recreate real-life locations (Though I'm still not sure why Taipei 101 is referred to as "Climax 508".) they are all far smaller than their IRL counterparts and even the hub of Ximending gets somewhat claustrophobic after a while. Also, keep in mind the screens throughout this review look a little rough, but these were all captured with a Nintendo Switch in handheld mode.

I'm still not sure why they went with "Climax 508".

You can even go to an Animate store.

It may seem that I'm hating on the game a bit throughout this review, and it really has more than its share of things to critique, but there's a certain charm to this game that is hard to nail down. While it's not exactly perfect, travelling through Ximending and sampling some foods is very fun and the game itself does move very fast, even considering some very long battles, if only there was more to it. Dusk Diver 2 isn't going to shock anyone with its gameplay or win any awards, but it's an experience I do not regret going through and if you're a fan of Action RPGs you might want to pick this up, even if you've never played the first. If you played the first though, then surely you already have this one picked up right?

For More Information On Dusk Diver 2:
https://ideafintl.com/duskdiver2/

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S​tory: A-
Gameplay: C
Graphics: B
Sound: B
Value: B

OVERALL: B-

Pros:
+ Taipei, especially Ximending is a very unique setting and "Dusk Diver 2" offers a glimpse at many cool real-life locations.
+ The story is delivered in a way that keeps you interested in the current game while also explaining past events.
+ Character designs and the voice acting are both great.
+ Did we mention that there are a lot of real food options (and even some real restaurants) that you can try out in-game?

Cons:
- The lack of full voice acting is somewhat jarring at points.
- Some graphical bugs and quirks can take you out of the experience.
- While it can be fun to chain together combos in the battle system, it is also a system that can be very repetitive.
- The overall scope of the game seems like something of a missed opportunity.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

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Review is done. Time for food.