AI LIMIT Review

Have you ever wanted to explore a rich world filled with devastation and monsters, all while playing as a hot anime girl? Perhaps AI LIMIT, the new title from Sense Games, is for you. The question is, is this the exfoliating experience you always wanted, or should it have been left to sink in the mud? 

AI LIMIT is best described as a soulslike ARPG, although with a couple of differences that should be mentioned. Firstly, like many games in the sub-genre, much of the overall plot is hidden from the player unless they want to go on a real deep dive. However, you do know that you are a Blader named Arrissa, a being created by a mysterious technology. 

While you might resemble a human being, you are immortal, your life connected to the mysterious branches dotted around the world. You’ll need that immortality as the world is in pretty dire straits. Human civilisation has nearly been wiped out by war and natural disasters. Yet the true threat is the mysterious substance known as the Mud spread across the world: from this corruption has sprung strange monsters that haunt the ruins of the world. 

There is one sanctuary left for humanity: the city known as Havenswell. Your job is to uncover the secret behind the Mud while repairing the branches that have been destroyed. But the world doesn’t give up its secrets without a fight, so Arrisa will need to fight off the hordes of robots, insane warriors and other degenerates while helping the survivors. 

As plots go, AI LIMIT is simple enough to understand, but there is some depth here as you talk to the people in the world, plus read every note you can find. Like many games of this ilk, the devil is in the details, but you don’t need to go on an info hunt if you really don’t want to. 

Gameplay is where AI LIMIT looks to separate itself from other games in the soulslike sub-genre, at least in one noticeable way. However, there are more than a few similarities that should be addressed. Firstly, the game is challenging, as enemies can kill you pretty easily if you’re not careful. You need to learn how to dodge attacks and press your advantage (as you would expect). Where the game separates itself is that there is no stamina to manage in AI LIMIT; instead, you have a sync bar. 

The sync bar works like this: as you attack, it is slowly filled until it reaches 100%, but if you’re hit or damaged, it goes down. You want the bar as high as possible for two reasons: firstly, the higher it is, the more damage you’ll do. Secondly, your magic and skills all use it in a similar function to an MP gauge, which means that if it’s too low, you can’t use things like the parry skill or any of the spells. 

The system works pretty well, and AI LIMIT keeps it obvious when you have enough stamina. The actual combat is relatively simple, you have a light attack and a heavy attack, as well as a dodge. While the combat was fun, I did encounter one bug that made it so certain enemy models just vanished other than their guns, which was more annoying than anything else. Even without that bug, the game is challenging, while the lack of a stamina bar and the need to keep the sync high pushes you towards a more active type of combat. 

Now, it is inevitable that you’ll die, which will return you to the closest branch that you activated. When you respawn or just rest at one of the branches, you can use the gathered crystals that you get from defeating enemies to upgrade your stats and equipment. However, doing so will lead to enemies respawning, so you’ll have to fight the same battles over and over again. That does mean more crystals, but be warned that you lose some when you die and there’s no way to get them back

Speaking of gear, there’s a great selection of weapons and armour that you can equip. For instance, you can find organic-looking weapons, robotic gear, as well as some more horrific pieces. However, the one constant is Arrisa’s transforming arm, which can take several different forms and cast spells. One thing I really like is the shield, which can block most attacks but will slowly charge as you take damage. When the charge is full, it won’t block as much damage, but you can unleash the stored energy in an attack. 

The spells are more of a mixed bag but are essentially the only ranged option you have available. For the most part, they function more like a gun than anything else, but there are some outliers. One thing I will say is that I didn’t find myself building around any weapon or being a caster; instead, I used a little bit of everything. 

Graphically, the game looks like an anime, but the characters and enemy models all look interesting. The weapons are all pretty visually distinct, while the effects and UI don’t over-clutter the screen. However, the world itself is pretty dull at the start, primarily because it takes a while before you’re out of environments that focus on being various shades of dirt. 

One thing to note is that Arrisa does have a character, but it’s not a very interesting one. She’s the clichés of the amnesiac anime girl who speaks in a monotone while wearing skimpy clothing. It might be to the liking of some, which is fine, but I found it a bit dull. However, the sections where she talks are pretty rare, and the other characters are much more interesting. Thankfully, there’s a fair amount of variety in the humans and other Bladers that you meet, so you don’t just meet variations of depression as you go through the story.

Overall, AI LIMIT is interesting it has some good ideas that help separate it from the pack. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel so there’s little here that you haven’t played before. However, the boss fights are fun and challenging, plus the story is engaging, so if you want to scratch that anime soulslike itch, you couldn’t do much better.