Frontier Hunter: Erza’s Wheel of Fortune (Early Access) review

Yes, a horny hairpin steals the show.

Undoubtedly, Tower Hunter: Erza’s Trial was a promising debut for IceSitruuna, a four-person development team from Chongqing. With its hack-and-slash action set in a tangled tower, the game delivered many of the fundamentals of modern Metroidvania. Like Dead Cells, the game veered away from bestowing new abilities that granted access to new areas. Instead, Erza’s Trial was more of a linear trek elevated by a multitude of different weapons and abilities to wield. Both critics and consumers appreciated IceSitruuna’s inaugural title, which sold more than 800,000 copies on Steam.

Unsurprisingly, the Early Access of Frontier Hunter: Erza’s Wheel of Fortune hopes to remedy some of the shortcomings of its predecessor. Beyond some mild banter between the lead and her sentient, skull-faced hairpin, Diablo, Tower Hunter’s focus was strictly on the action. But Frontier Hunter’s cinematics now deliver anime-style exhibition with attractive 3D character models, detailing Erza’s exploits after acquiring her hunting license. Eager to help the Empire explore new regions, she sets off to uncharted continents.

The title opens with Erza in the middle of a Nico Nico-style broadcast, complete with messages from viewers scrolling across the screen. Later, banter between Wheel of Fortune’s other characters becomes the emphasis, allowing for contrasting personalities to offer a bit of playfulness. But the underlying issue isn’t the game’s reliance on tropes to drive the plot along, it’s the focus. Largely, Wheel of Fortune is more interested in delivering slapstick gags than offering any real explanation of the world where Erza’s ship crashes. At present, there’s also little sense of urgency to drive the action along, unlike most Metroidvanias. On the upside, the banter can be amusing as times, with highlights such as Diablo’s request for a new body, which he’d like to have a “nice ass”.

Despite the impressive array of available weaponry, combat in the previous game was a bit too simplistic. Wheel of Fortune attempts to remedy that with a trio of playable characters who can be swapped at any time. Unsurprisingly, each has their own distinct arsenal. Ezra favors melee weapons like blades, twin-tailed Ciara can dispense with powerful kicks, but enjoys weighty, ranged gear like Gatling guns. Clad in a scarlet hood, Nia favors an offensive loadout that’s a bit slower but distributes larger amounts of damage.

Despite the attempt for distinction, there isn’t much incentive to regularly switch characters when fighting basic enemies. Sure, occasionally one of the playable finds a book that provides a powerful special attack with a Street Fighter II-style input. But beyond that conceit, players will probably stick with the overpowered Ciara. Armed with a rocket launcher named, “Dingo”, the amount of knock-back and splash damage removes any sense of peril. As such, confronting the respawning enemies that pace on platforms or hover through the air quickly grows tedious. Really the only time when subordinate enemies can get close enough to harm you is when hitboxes are faulty.

That said, switching characters becomes indispensable across the Early Access build’s nine boss fights. Locked in confined spaces again sizeable opponents with multiple health bars, these showdowns are significantly more challenging than the clashes against normal foes. Success relies on the fundamentals such as breaking enemy armor, deploying a high DPS offense, and making use of items as well as each character’s allotment of health. Adhering to tradition, you’ll have to watch out for animations that foreshadow devasting strikes. Wheel of Fortune does little to evolve the formula, but at least these confrontations transport intensity.

Any respectable Metroidvania should make exploration captivating, as you gradually map out the game’s labyrinthine spaces and reconnoiter for new save points. At present, Frontier Hunter can be a chore sometimes. One issue is rooted in the way the game gates off areas. Often, a map is broken up into regions and in one of those zones you’ll find the essential tool or ability to access new areas. Wheel of Fortune occasionally does this, but it also disconnects key from door, causing a lot of aimless wandering and backtracking. This issue is exacerbated by the lack of any fast travel options.

The integration of cooking and crafting systems in Frontier Hunter seems motivated by genre convention rather than necessity. The former proves incentive for collecting recourses around the game’s landscape, providing temporary stat boosts that aren’t necessary for a game with an already light difficulty level. The latter revolves around placing cores dropped by defeated foes to obtain weapon buffs. Unlike the game’s approach to recipes, there’s a modicum of decision-making, as you place Tetris-like shapes onto gridded areas, echoing the mechanic found in the Atelier franchise.

In its current state, Frontier Hunter: Erza’s Wheel of Fortune doesn’t commit any egregious mistakes, but an inventory of small blemishes ebb away at enjoyment. In execution, that results in an experience that’s diverting but not truly entertaining. If you’re really yearning for an outlet where you can button-mash enemies into oblivion while engaging in some light cartography, Frontier Hunter can accommodate. But know that there are plenty of competitors that offer a superior mix of action and exploration. At present, IceSitruuna has plans to triple the size of the current 3-4 hour adventure. Let’s hope they tune the title’s core mechanics as well.

Frontier Hunter: Erza’s Wheel of Fortune was played
on PC with review code provided by the publisher.