Pascal’s Wager is an action RPG developed by TipsWorks Studio and published by Giant Network. It’s paired with amazing graphics, an intriguing storyline, and beautiful audio to fully enhance the dark fantasy style of the game.
When I first entered into the world of Pascal’s Wager, I was immediately in awe. The opening cutscene really got me excited to play the game! All the cutscenes are fully voiced and the graphics are just mind-blowing. Still don’t quite understand how a mobile game can be this beautiful! Storywise, the world is shrouded in dark mist and mystery due to the Sun sinking to the ground after a natural disaster occurred thousands and thousands of years ago. However, Colossi (pictured above), beings that emit bits of light to light up the way, appeared and gave people hope. Except, now they have started to fall and Terrence, one of the main characters, believes that his wife Teresa may have a connection to it so he sets off on a journey to find answers and is later joined by Viola, Norwood, and Benita (all characters that you can play as).
In terms of gameplay, I’m going to start off and say that Pascal’s Wager is hard (even the developers agree). It is definitely not a game where you can just auto-battle and quickly play through so be ready to be challenged! For fighting mechanics, you can light attack, heavy attack, dodge, and block. There are combos that deal great amounts of damage. Each time you use a skill, the yellow bar (energy?) decreases so you can’t just continuously use your skills. In this way, the game makes you calculate your moves wisely which increases the difficulty level.
As mentioned before, you can play as different characters throughout the game. I haven’t been able to play as Viola, Norwood, or Benita because I may have gotten a bit frustrated while battling the first boss but I can tell you a little bit about each of the characters and their fighting styles.
Terrence is the first character that you play as. He wields a light sword in his left hand for a quick strike. In his right hand, he holds a heavier sword that deals a heavy blow but is also slower to strike.
For Viola, she carries a Six-Shot Musket so she’s basically a ranged character but there is a bayonet attached to her musket so she can also fight in close range with the enemy.
Norwood deals heavy blows with his armored arm. He kind of functions like a tank character. One sweet thing about him is that he can smack enemies with the coffin that he carries.
Benita is a nun. She can steal the blood of her enemies and store it in the container on her back. Because of this, she can later restore some of her health/heal herself. How cool is that?
Pascal’s Wager can be paired with a controller. In fact, it’s advised that you play with a controller because even though the touchscreen controls work well, the game is best experienced with a controller. I, unfortunately, don’t have one that I can pair with my phone but I still had a great time playing the game so don’t let a lack of a controller deter you away from the game!
There’s one function in the game that I’m still kind of confused on. It’s the idea that when you defeat the Marred (the monsters), the character’s sanity is lowered and once it reaches a certain point, the character becomes abnormal (pictured above) which has negative effects on the character. The normal state of the character can only be restored if you rest at an Altar or use items like drinking the Elixir of Dream potion.
Speaking of Altars, they will become your best friends! Your light in the world of darkness! Seriously, love them. Like the picture above mentions, you can save the game at the Altars, level up the properties of your character, forge items, and even recover your character (note that all the Marred revive after recovery). Speaking of the picture above, I really like how throughout the game, tips/tutorials appear and that you need to hold the screen in order to skip. It’s a unique change from the usual click this button/tap the screen to exit. I often accidentally skip tip popup screens because I wasn’t paying attention and touched the screen. That being said, however, I did do that a couple of times throughout my playthrough of Pascal’s Wager. Maybe it would be better if the holding time was a bit longer?
(I just had to include this here… the egg is so adorable)
Moving on, I really like how you’re given a choice of how you want to interact with certain things/people. I think it makes the game a bit more personal.
I also like how death has a consequence (you have to give up Broken Bones) but the game monitors how much you have. For example, if you die and you have very little Broken Bone, then you only have to give up a little bit. Otherwise, you have to give up a lot. I think this is an incentive to actually try to not die and to spend the Broken Bone at Altars or buying items, both of which are things that the player should do. That being said, you will definitely die at least once in the game. If you don’t, I very much respect you.
Also, don’t worry if you find the game too challenging! The developers have put in a special Easter Egg (“Egg of the Bearer”), that when held onto, decreases the damage that monsters can inflict on the character. Not gonna lie though, it’s still difficult, especially the bosses…
As for my rating, I would give Pascal’s Wager a 9.5/10. The graphics are breathtaking, the storyline is interesting, the music is awesome, and the mechanics are great! One thing that I found a bit annoying, however, was the fact that there doesn’t seem to be a jump function. At one point I killed a monster with my throwing knife because it was on higher ground and Terrence couldn’t reach him with his sword. But after the monster was killed, the loot appeared where it was killed and I/Terrence couldn’t jump to get the loot which made me disappointed. I basically wasted my throwing knives. I wish characters could jump in the game.
Check Out the Pascal’s Wager Video:
Pascal’s Wager is available now for $6.99 via the App Store. It is currently only available on iOS but the developers are planning to release it on Android in Q2 2020 and later on PC and console.
For more information, please visit: https://pw.giant.games/?pageIndex=2
iOS Review
I'm a sophomore studying Computer Science at the University of Michigan. I'm really interested in how technology can impact lives through game development. One of the things that I really like about gaming is that, not only is it fun and relaxing, but there are so many ideas you can incorporate into games and their storylines such as meaningful lessons/messages.
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