I've been playing ActRaiser for 29 years. I bought it in summer of 1992 when the game store didn't have any copies of "Final Fantasy II" and they said ActRaiser was also a role-playing game. It became one of my favourite games of all time. I've beaten the game, I don't know, let's say 50 or 75 times over the years. I'm writing this review to say that ActRaiser Renaissance is an excellent remake, and I strongly recommend it to anyone who is considering it.

First Impressions
I see a fair amount of criticism on the forums here and elsewhere online that the game "looks like a cheap mobile port". I think that's quite uncharitable. The visual style they chose for this remake is weird: it's borderline claymation pre-rendered graphics with intentionally stiff animation. It looks like Killer Instinct, or an alternate universe Sega Saturn game. The 3d models have gobs and gobs of pixel shaded lighting on top of them, and there's a weird pixel shimmer. The Angel model in the sim mode's head is too big and it looks offputting. Further, the first enemy you see in Sim, the scorpion bat, looks bad.

These first impressions are deceiving. The Master animates well, the backgrounds are excellent looking, bosses look great (though in widescreen, they're a little smaller than you remember!). There's a beautiful trail effect, like Alucard's cloak in SOTN, that follows you. There are tons of environmental effects everywhere. The maps in sim mode look almost like Heroes of Might and Magic or Hero of the Kingdom, both excellent visual references. Magic is great. I grew to love the weird way enemies over-react to being hit, again like something cheesy and mid-90s.

The game is updated with a gorgeous intro video, and the Sim mode has tons of extremely high resolution, expressive, anime portraits and backgrounds, giving the game a bit of a visual novel flavour.

I really think if you're wondering "should I buy this" and your reservation is "I didn't like how it looks in a screenshot or trailer", I think you should put your reservations aside and buy it.

The Third Mode: Tower Defence

As you may have gathered from the reviews, store page, or watching video, the developers of ActRaiser Renaissance have added a third game mode. The game is now roughly equal parts platformer, town-builder, and tower defence. The tower defence mode is basic, but it does grow to be challenging over the course of the game. In sim mode, you collect resources from buildings, which you use to construct defensive fortifications. In addition to the defensive fortifications, you control hero characters.

Initially, in Fillmore, this seems a little boring and overwhelming -- there's a lot of tower defence, and it doesn't really seem that interesting to start with. But in later areas, as you gain access to more interesting terrain, multiple heroes at once, and you get to understand enemy weaknesses, the tower defence mode grows into its own. Each area has 4-5 tower defence segments -- I'd maybe cut one of them, but besides that it doesn't feel like there's too much.

Remaking Sim Mode: Story and Characters

Sim Mode is completely overhauled with extended story and character segments. In addition to all the key plots of the original game (which are present, more or less), each region has a new hero character who has a unique story. A lot of the original game's plot around doubt, faith, and human tenacity is expanded. Where Marahna always had a plot about people leaving the church to worship an evil religion, you now see their doubts grow progressively and meet the priest of the evil religion, who seems like a deceptively nice guy. This version of the game makes clear that Humanity cannot see God or the Angel, which is great.

Most of the new story is interesting, and there's vibrant dialogue and localization (thanks to John Crow and Michael-Christopher Koji Fox, both Final Fantasy 14 veterans). I will say that the hero characters being centered minimizes a few of the segments I found poignant from the original game, in particular Northwall's Reincarnated Lovers and Kasandora's Man in the Desert. They're still there, they just feel a little overshadowed. The order of events and how the areas connect is slightly different to allow for some of the story changes.

Sim mode also now has quests. Throwaway events from the original game are quests; beating the tower defence waves are quests; hitting various development goals are quests; and finally, re-playing action sequences (btw you can replay action sequences now) are quests. This has a nice bar-filling structure to it. I'm a little bummed that the rewards are kind of crummy, but it's still fun to complete each area.

Finally, when sealing monster lairs you now play little mini Hammer Bros. style vignettes where you go in a cave, kill some enemies, then kill a monster spawning blob. This occasionally involves rematches with Act 1 bosses. Love this addition, more action!

Remaking Action Mode

Action mode is greatly enhanced. Every single level is ground-up remade, typically with various differences and departures. Overall I would say the levels are at least as good as the original (Northwall 2 and Aitos 1 are worse because they eliminate some interesting mechanical elements, everything else as good or better). Movement is fun, and the Master has a much broader skillset -- you can dash attack, backdash, ground pound, uppercut, and combo. Jumping still has good commitment like the original but you're overall faster and more mobile.

There's a great mechanic starting in Fillmore 2 where the more enemies you kill the more you power up, ending with +100% attack, +100% magic, and a free revive.

Every level now has 3 hidden scrolls that add to your max MP (which is now a MP gauge, rather than a charge system). Each spell has a different MP cost, and the spells are totally redone. The new spells are: fireball, ice on the ground in front of you, Magical Stardust (nerfed, no longer able to instantly kill every boss), healing, AOE damage ball, and a holy spell that seems to do almost nothing. Some enemies have weak points, some enemies are weak to magic or physical damage. Overall the balance is much stronger, there's no longer any one hit kills on bosses.

Bosses tend to have more interesting patterns and more moves. Aitos 1 and Tanzra are the only boss I feel is worse than the original; all of the others are more interesting. The hidden post-game boss evokes Hollow Knight.

Sound

The game has all of the original songs in both SNES and arranged mode. Second, the game has an entire extra soundtrack worth of music, and each of the new songs has both SNES and arranged versions. Some of the new tracks are as good or better than the original soundtrack. The arranged mode music is a little too rock and roll, bordering on Castlevania -- I would have preferred more symphonic arrangements, but worth a try.

There's no way around this: the sound effects are worse. They got rid of a bunch of iconic sound effects. I'm sad. It's not a deal breaker, but it sucks.

Post-Game Content

There's post-game content which unlocks a 7th area -- this has interesting tower defence and sim mode but is burdened with an incredibly stupid, bordering on fan-fiction plot and dialog. Bummer about that, but the new action act and the new post-game boss are both great, and the score for the new action level is among Koshiro's best.

Professional mode is replaced with a level select score attack mode, which scores you based on time, lives, enemies killed, and items collected. For 100% completion of the main game on normal, it took me about 14 hours, add 60-90 minutes for post-game. It's a longer, meatier game.

Overall

ActRaiser Renaissance does not replace ActRaiser. But it is a new, fun take on ActRaiser, well worth it for fans and newcomers alike. Long live Quintet, now and forever!

As a fan of the original two Actraisers, I'm a little conflicted, but I'm gonna go ahead give this a cautious thumbs up.

Does anyone remember when Gameboy Advance games attempted 3D models or attempted to make 2D sprites look 3D? That is what Actraiser Reinassance looks like. I personally love that kind of stuff, but I feel like I'm heavily in the minority here, so your mileage may vary; look at gameplay footage of the game and decide for yourself.

What I DON'T love is the weird ass screen-tearing that enabling vsync doesn't even remedy. This is the only game I've ever played that gives a weird screen-tearing effect like this when my resolution and framerate is set correctly, so I have to assume this is a game-specific problem with Renaissance.

If you've played the original Actraiser, you've played this. There are very few differences outside of some movement options in the sidescrolling sections, and no noticeable differences in realm sim sections (so far, I'm only about over an hour in) and realm simulations have tower defense and upgrades and similar concepts like that.

This is very clearly a budget title, that could have used more time in the oven, but I'm enjoying myself regardless. If you're unsure, use the steam refund thingie.

Edit 9/24/2021: Changing my framerate to 90 fps somehow got rid of the screen-tearing.
Edit 10/03/2021: Finished it tonight. This game was very clearly developed for mobile devices first, then ported to home consoles and PC second, hence the low res. But I'll be damned if I didn't enjoy every single minute of it, and I'm not really one for tower defense games. The last part of the game was so challenging that it kept me playing it through the night.

Like so many others, I was shocked and amazed to see that Squeenix had, at long last, given us a new Actraiser. It's been far too long and all I can say is: totally worth it. 100%

The game was clearly designed by people who enjoyed the original and knew what could be fleshed out for a modern take. There are more action scenes and there is an expanded moveset similar to Actraiser 2 (I know a lot of people hate the sequel, but it has a lot of good ideas). More importantly, the simulation sections are massively more involved this time around. You have champions to command, and the tower defense scenes add some real tension. It starts off easy, but don't get comfortable - things get hairy quick.

The action sequences are fast and the controls are precise. Things have been changed up a little so fights are more interesting. The music and sound are perfect.

Downsides? Well, some of the assets are a little chunky on a hi-res display. Probably a result of being developed for the Switch, I would guess. On the upside it supports a huge variety of resolutions and even high frame rates! Also the master only yells "ha!" occasionally, rather than on every attack. An oversight, but a forgivable one. :)

Overall, this update is so perfectly matched to the dreams I've had I'm not sure that this isn't a vision cooked up by my brain as I shuffle off the mortal coil. But if you're sharing this delusion, than definitely buy this game. You'll love it too.

ActRaiser for the SNES is one of my favorite games of all time, and I've replayed it in its entirety more times than I can count. Renaissance is a pretty good remake, with some new mechanics that I found quite interesting, as the "tower defense" sections and having to come down and fight for sealing the lairs. It's close enough to the original to respect the sensibilities of old timers like me, but the new twists are welcome IMO. And there's a New Game+ of sorts, with a new continent that did not exist on the SNES original.

Is it a perfect remake? Hell no. Square botched some of textures and assets so badly that it defies belief. It seems pre-rendered as in DKC for the SNES, for instance, but with lower quality assets that look horrendous at a distance, and downright unacceptable when zoomed in. How come a studio this big do such a crappy job?

Despite the graphics, I still recommend it. It’s a unique gaming experience and the gameplay spot on. If only Square did it justice with the visuals…

Disclaimer: I played the game offline on my Steam Deck, so even though I logged about 16 hours in order to finish it, including the new extra stage at the end, it says I played it for just a few hours.

Well, this one was a shot of nostalgia. I remember loving the original Act Raiser for the SNES and its mix of 2D side-scroller hack & slash and "Populous"-lite city building.

I also found the story about playing as a sword-wielding god and his angelic attendant in a fantasy medieval world pretty interesting and sometimes even surprising, like the time I shot a bolt of lightning on a whim at my own temple and the people apologized for their selfishness and for trying to deceive me by keeping stuff from my offerings and they gave me some extra materials.

So when I saw there was a modern remake I had to try it. Well, I'm not disappointed. It's pretty much the same game but better in almost every way, with updated graphics, game mechanics, more story and even a third game mode built around the idea of defending your settlement from invading monsters.

When I started playing it I just wanted to see what it was like and intended to play the first 2D level and unlock the city builder section for the first region and leave it at that until I finished the other game I'm currently playing. Almost four hours later I found myself about to fight the final boss for the second region and I hadn't even noticed how long I'd been playing.

My only complaint is that the settlement defense sections are too repetitive and they come up too many times in every region. Less of that would've been more. Otherwise, I had a blast playing it, remembering similarities with the original and being surprised by the differences.

Tough call, i had fun going through most of this "reimagining" of the original game, but man did they drop the ball on some aspects of it.
It's a lukewarm recommandation at best, berdering a no

The Goods :

- Music's amazing AND it comes with both original and remastered soundtrack
- The "improved" combat is a lovely tough. A couple more moves, magic is treated entirely different, allthough fireball is basically OP and the "crystals" to give you buffs is a nice touch.
- Artstyle is an interesting choice, allthough not perfect everywhere, NPCs look varied and have their own distinct styles
- Added an extra settlement which add some content. Nothing major ( was expecting they might take the opportunity to set up Actraiser 2) but it closes the story more naturally than the original.

The Bads :

- Magic is outright OP. It Gives I-Frames and deals massive damage. Won't lie, most boss went "Spam Jump Slash + cast fireball". The spell variety isn't interesting either.
- Way too much redundant text. Every. Single. Settlements. You go through the SAME exact dialogue whenever your people attempt to close a monster lair or whenever you're in between text, the angel says the same ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ thing. I got it the first time y'know
- Not enough Action phases, too much settlement "waiting for sh@t to happen". Game could've used all new "3rd acts" in every level. AIn't like they didn't come up with "new" stuff anyway. Instead, you just are mechanically forced to wait for "ressources / food" to generate (randomly) to complete quests or repair / upgrade forts.
- Price is steep for what's offered. Got it on sale for that reason

The Uglies :

- You all know what i'm gonna say. Those redundant, painfully boring settlement raids. Might've been an interesting concept on paper, but damn they messed up.
Your heroes are never strong enough ( not even sure how the devs thought making hem level 20 would even be remotely fun., 20 some hours in, game virtually finished ? my highest hero is level 12... ). You "could" sit there and wait for random raids, but even then it,s about as interesting as watching paint dry
There is no "tactical" aspect to it since your fortress positioning doesn't matter and makes little to no sense, especially since you cannot entirely choose where to drop your defenses ( predetermined spots on the map) sometimes leaving wide open areas undefended.
Miracles are worthless in that mode, never really dealing enough damage to actually change the tide of a battle and the cooldowns are a problem.
AND, more often than not, you get stuck with hordes of flyers (thus limiting you to certain range heroes) and most of said monsters are magic resistant (downgrading your hero selection to 2, Allonso and Taia being outright MVPs)

- The fact that most of your hours played are spent in settlement mode, which feels much much longer than the original SNES version, yet feels less rewarding in general.

It could be the nostalgia drip straight to my heart that biases my opinion so far. I'm enjoying it, a lot. The original was pretty simplistic, so is this. There are monster sieges now on the town where you direct a hero, establish forts and palisades. It's a neat addition that I hope is not alone. Combat took a little getting used to. The keyboard bindings are a little wonky, but it's pretty smooth once you get them sorted (probably should be using a controller anyway). You can adjust the music to play the classic versions and I almost cried. The updated music is also welcome. I'll try to add more when I'm further

I don't have a ton to add, it was great. Bonus, unexpected content and fun all along the way. Definitely recommend.

Fell in love with the game after second glimpse (Right now finished Fillmore). You will need some time to appreciate the effort behind this game. They mostly managed to get the spark of the older quintet games. But i can't agree with the action part that you have to start first so your first impression will get disturbed before you can enjoy the game:


Action: 6/10
It's clunky, the sprites are extemely ugly. Imagine Nintendo DS or PSP sprites only big. ACTRAISER ALWAYS HAD AMAZING SPRITES (!!!!). That sprites they really hurt in action mode! Also sometimes your character will not react for a looooong time after taking a hit or an animation like an down+attack was played --> Then he will run uncontrolled somewhere.

Pro:
- Intros when getting introduced to a boss. They are great! Like the encounter with the centaur.
- The crystal system is cool.

Cons:
- faster than Actraiser 1 but still clunky. They could have kept Actraiser 1 action mode with HD Sprites and do some changes to the levels like they did and it would've been better than this.
- missed a lot of opportunities here. --> Spark of the master rising up after killing a boss is missing. He is only lending a physical body, no ;) ? Or Bloodpool when you kill the Manticore: Why didn't they make the clouds from the sky go away and let the sun come through? Would have been a great addtion to the whole setting: Cleansing, light and dark, resurrection and this all goes in a loop thing.
- IMHO: Action is a little bit worse than Actraiser 1 but way worse than Actraiser 2.


Simulation: 9/10

Pro:
- A LOT OF FUN
- A bit cringy but in an acceptable way
- Towns and map look fine.
- It has got the things that made Actraiser 1 great.
- Mission system will help casual gamers enjoy the game (but there's less space for exploration)

Cons:
- Once again: Sprites of angel (Not the drawn one) and demons when fully zoomed in. Again there is some HD resolution missing
- They did not explain how to build blockhouses properly. You need to "build Fort" and press "(R1)-button"


MUSIC: 11/10 !!!!
YUZO KOSHIRO !!!!!!!!!!!!! THERE'S NOTHING MORE TO ADD!!!!!! If there is a master out there sonically, it's him!!!


PLEASE BUY THIS GAME AS THIS MIGHT BE AN OPEN DOOR FOR MORE QUINTET REMAKES! IF THEY EVER DO ACTRAISER 2: ADD SIMULATION MODE (though the town already exist) AND PLEASE KEEP THE Actraiser 2 gameplay, with sprites from Ariga Hitoshi. Thanks

Everything about Actraiser: Renaissance is definitely . . . a choice, that's for sure. Yet another perfect example of a game that Steam's Recommend/Don't Recommend review system is ill-equipped for because it's very much in the middle.

The game has a pretty interesting art style since it uses pre-rendered 3D models turned into 2D sprites, the technique that made DKC look futuristic in the mid 1990s, and which conveys a kind of nostalgic tone today. The remastered music is also great and a definite positive as Actraiser always had some of the best tunes on the SNES. And the 2D action stages are honestly really great. They're not exact copies of the original game's but more "inspired by" them, with altered layouts and enemy placements. They work really well with a revamped combat system that has you taking advantage of i-frames to succeed too.

What really hurts the game though is the big new addition of Renaissance: the tower defense mode. It's something that makes sense to add to this game conceptually, as the original already had you building towns with roads which you could reasonably expect would be the paths you'd build a tower defense around, but the whole sub-game is wildly inconsistent. Flying enemies ignore paths (and thus towers you've built), the buildings you have to defend change constantly (and you have no direct control over where they get built by your civilization), and you have no way of knowing where enemy spawns will appear beforehand so you really can't plan any kind of reasonable defense in an invasion until you've failed. It's just an exercise in either it being too easy or frustrating because of its myriad inconsistencies and lack of options.

While some may not like the additional visual novel like reams of dialogue with a bunch of new characters acting out little morality plays that come with the tower defense mode additions, I felt they were bearable. This is a non-denominational pseudo-Christian Manga after all, such wholesome triteness actually fits the games theme. But the incoherent gameplay of these sections is just a painful slog to get through, and really feels like it was added in to pad the game's overall run-time a frankly needless amount.

Still, the action stages are really good, the music is the best it's ever been, and it's always been fun to play a god game where god decides to kick demon @ss and take names. I enjoyed the game's positive elements enough to get over and deal with the interminable tower defense crud, but I'm not sure everyone will be able to do so. This is a very tepid recommendation as a result.

Of course, the greatest sin Squeenix committed with this release is that the game wasn't named Actraiser: Resurrection. Come on guys, get it together! That's so obvious.

i think this is the best possible way they could have honored the original game while staying true to the spirit of it. i don't think it is perfect by any means, but to those who were fascinated by actraiser in the past, i strongly believe this game has a lot to offer. for everyone else, it's a maybe.

i really don't share a lot of the complaints i've tended to see, as i personally thought everything about this was a neat little update to a classic game and had no objections to their additions. the art style of the platformer stages, which i recall having been somewhat maligned at the time, did not bother me while making my way through the stages. but i often feel that slightly less detailed or idiosyncratic graphics are somewhat interesting. it's like it came from an alternate version of the 90s or something.

the rest of the character art is very pretty, anyway. the town building aspects are made more difficult with the inclusion of additional monster attack features and a tower defense-like aspect that requires you to hold off increasingly more harried sieges by greater and greater armies of demons. i felt like it did a good enough job of varying the objectives and offered a nice chunk of gameplay to do before you're allowed to go smash things in the platformer stages. additionally some characters are added which not only give some context to the plight of the humans inhabiting this world but also serves to grant the Master (and your mission to defend the townspeople with him) more weight and meaning.

it can certainly get a little repetitive or stretched out, so in that sense it's not perfect as i definitely recall struggling to maintain my attention towards the end to finally get the game completed. generally when I think about games from this era, what i am looking for is a more tight and snappy experience that allows me to replay it and improve my skill. this takes a different tack, it instead offers what could conceivably be a modernized and fleshed out version of the game. it's almost like it is a version of actraiser that is bolstered by years of glorification of what was honestly a rather simple game. and that's for better and worse, depending on your outlook.

i'm glad that i played this as i honestly expected it to be underwhelming when it appeared seemingly out of nowhere a few years ago. it does stick in my memory, it does have sick yuzo koshiro music, and imo i don't have any great ideas about how it could have been done any better. but i do wonder what those with no expectations would think. a retro platformer with RTS/tower defense/town building aspects is just a strange thing to consider, but i wouldn't shy away from telling anybody to try it out.