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!

Ich liebe ActRaiser seit vielen Jahren. Das Spielprinzip ist fantastisch, die Jump 'n Run-Passagen bringen Abwechslung ins Götterbusiness und der Stadtbau hat mir seit jeher verdammt gut gefallen. Es gab nie einen Grund, da irgendwie dran herumzuschrauben, aber irgendwer hat es doch getan.

In diesem Fall war es der Rapper Z-Rabbit, der das Spiel gesehen hat und sich dachte, er muss irgendwelchen Schlonz ranbasteln, um den keiner gebeten hat - allerdings muss man so tun, als fände man den ganzen Rotz super, weil die Kamera drauf hält. So tanzt Z-Rabbit mit seiner illustren Crew aus 729 unbekannten Idioten um mich herum und präsentiert mir Actraiser Renaissance.

"Hier, schau mal, wir haben eine Tower Defense-Passage eingebaut, damit der Städtebau dich nicht entspannt und keinen Spaß mehr macht!"
"Oooooh, aaaaah, das hält man ja im Kopf nicht aus."
"Und schau nur, sie unterbrechen dich, wenn du deine Stadt ausbaust. Wir zwingen sie dir förmlich auf!"
"Nicht zu glauben. Ein Glück, dass ich Kingdom Rush spielen wollte und nicht Actraiser."
"Ja, das dachten wir uns auch - deswegen haben wir das ganze System bei SolSeraph kopiert und einfach hier reingeknallt!"
"... Habt ihr in eurem Leben jemals das Urspiel gespielt?"
"Nee! Ist doch egal, oder? Braucht doch eh keine Sau! Weißt du, womit wir dir den Spaß noch gründlicher ruinieren können?!"
"Nein. Nein, das habt ihr nicht. Das wagt ihr nicht!"
"Unnötig lange Labersequenzen, die den Spielfluss alle 30 Sekunden unterbrechen!"
"Ihr Ungeheuer!"

Ganz im Ernst: Das ist nicht ActRaiser. Das ist SolSeraph, das sich einen falschen Schnauzer angeklebt hat und behauptet, dass es ActRaiser ist.

War es zu viel verlangt, dem Spiel Schminke zu verpassen und es zu lassen wie es ist? Offensichtlich.

Die Tower Defense-Stufen stinken zum Himmel, weil ich nicht hellsehen kann und nie weiß, wo die Portale erscheinen und welchen Weg die Viecher dann nehmen. Da ich begrenzte Verteidigungsanlagen platzieren kann, kann es also gut sein, dass ich die Seite schütze, die kein Schwein interessiert, während die Monster schön in einer Polonaise in meine Burg latschen und dort alles zu Klump hauen. Das macht keinen Spaß, das demotiviert und es bremst. Die. Erfahrung.

In ActRaiser möchte ich Städte bauen und zusehen, wie sie wachsen. Ich will nicht alle 5 Sekunden unterbrochen werden, weil irgendwelche Dödel aus einer Höllendimension plötzlich die Idee hatten, dass sie mir die Bude eintreten müssten.

Die ganze Rumlaberei hätte es auch nicht gebraucht, denn die stören nur im Spielfluss. Alle drei Sekunden fällt irgendeinem Trottel ein, dass er mir was sagen muss und dann wird gelabert, obwohl ich eigentlich nur eine neue Straße platzieren wollte.

Die ganzen neu hinzugefügten Elemente passen einfach nicht und versauen das Spiel. Wäre es ActRaiser mit aufgebohrter Grafik, fände ich das ganze Ding unheimlich toll, denn der neue Grafikstil spricht mich an und auch der Soundtrack ist sehr gut umgesetzt worden. Umso ärgerlicher, dass am wichtigsten Baustein des ganzen Spiels gebastelt und zu spät festgestellt wurde, dass dieser Baustein ein tragender ist. Ab in die Tonne mit dir, Actraiser Renaissance. Denk drüber nach, was das hier sein soll und mach es nochmal. Ach ja: Nimm Z-Rabbit gleich mit. Ich brauche keine übergroßen Boxen auf meiner Tragfläche, da wollte ich Zeug hintun. Dafür ist eine Tragfläche da, um Gottes Willen.

Ich bin ein großer Fan von alten Retrospielen, besonders denen der SNES-Ära, obwohl ich leider nie ein SNES besaß. Oft habe ich mir bereits ein Let`s Play von alten SNES-Games angesehen, und wünschte mir so sehr, diese spielen zu können. Ich wurde da auch auf Actraiser aufmerksam, welches mich durch seine Mischung aus 2-D Action-Game und Aufbauteil begeisterte. Eine sehr interessante Mischung. Und natürlich auch auf Actraiser 2. Und nun musste ich zu meiner Überraschung feststellen, dass der erste Teil remastered wurde. Ich kaufte natürlich sofort. 1. um endlich selbst Hand an Actraiser legen zu können, und 2. weil ich will, dass auch Actraiser 2 rematsered wird. Das wäre mein ganz persönlicher Traum. Ich will die Entwickler unterstützen, und ihnen ein ganz großes Danke sagen.

Das Spiel selbst ist meisterlich gelungen. Alleine die tolle Musik ist ein Ohrenschmaus, die Ramstered sowieso, denn sie verdient einen Soundtrack. Die Grafik ist ebenfalls sehr toll. Ich habe ganz laut aufgedreht, und die Musikstücke gehen unter die Haut. Ich könnte noch viel mehr hier schreiben, aber ich will es nur kurz fassen (vor allem für Newcomer): Man darf sich hier kein modernes Spiel erwarten, welches an Tiefgang an die 200 Stunden fesselt. Es ist ein 90er-Game. Und es lebt, und wie. So viel Mühe sieht man selten in einem Remaster. Wer auch nur ansatzweise mit alten SNES-Games oder Retrogames was anfangen kann, der muss es kaufen. Und es wird garantiert keine Enttäuschung sein.

Ich, oder sprechen wir vielleicht gleich in der Mehrzahl: Wir wollen ein Remaster von Actraiser 2. Bitte, Bitte!! Erfüllt uns diesen Traum.

Und nochmals Danke, dass ihr Actraiser zurückgebracht habt! Alles Gute und liebe Grüße.

Ein gutes Spiel. Und wer das alte Game kennt kann ich nur ein sagen. Kaufen.
Es sind genau an den richtigen Stellen gedreht wurden um das Spiel zu erweitern.

I was starstruck when I saw this announcement, it was so surprising, not only because I loved the game for SNES, but when a game like ActRaiser gets a "remaster", it opens the door for many more.

Doubt grew quickly that this game is any good, besides the soundtrack, which is superb again.
It is apparent that this game originally would have been a phone game. Graphics scale horribly, everything looks spongy and muddy, it's awful. Gameplay wise I cannot see any nuance of what used to be here.

A free of charge phone game would have been a nice treat, a half assed 30 bucks "remaster" butchered into pc format is a joke, or an insult, depending on your viewpoint.

I have never refunded a game on steam for the decade I'm using this platform...

...until I bought this game.

If you really want to get into this game, you'd still have to buy a SNES and an ActRaiser cartridge.

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.

Das SNES-Actraiser hat sich durch seine mutige Genremischung für immer in mein Gedächtnis gebrannt. Im Remake ist das alles intakt und wurde ein wenig aufgebohrt. Die Action-Stages profitieren beispielsweise von erweiterten Kampfmechaniken, und die Aufbaulevels finden in den Tower-Defense-Einlagen dringend nötige Abwechslung.

Gerade daran hätte man meiner Meinung nach aber noch ein wenig feilen müssen. Nicht nachvollziehbare Standorte für Verteidigungsanlagen und nicht änderbare Straßen bedeuten eingeschränkte Strategiemöglichkeiten. Doch damit kann man sich arrangieren.

Wer nicht zu viel Tiefgang vom Spiel erwartet und sich auf den Genremix einlässt, dürfte sehr glücklich damit werden. Ich für meinen Teil mag sogar den inzwischen extrem veralteten Mittneunziger-Render-Grafikstil. Aber mir ist natürlich klar, dass das nicht jedem so sehen dürfte. Unbestreitbar dürfte allerdings sein, dass einem die Stücke des phänomenalen Soundtracks noch lange durch den Kopf spuken werden.

Supergeil! Wer das alte Game von früher kennt, wird diese lieben!

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.

Bear in mind that I'm writing this as someone who played the original game on the SNES, and played through it (and LOVED it) multiple times.

PROS
The same base game is there, it's cool that you can switch between the original soundtrack and an orchestrated one.

The magic system is revamped. In the original, you could only use a spell so many times, and once you were out, you were out for the rest of the level. In this game, you have a standard MP meter, so it can refill and you can keep using magic.

While they're mainly there for tower defense (see the CONS section), I do like the addition of legendary heroes. Their stories are neat and do add to the overall plot.

CONS
Graphics are supposed to be improved, but they come off as rather "muddy". There's no benefit for those with ultrawide screens, it very much feels like this was meant to launch on mobile phones, and was ported to PC as an afterthought. I'm playing on a 5140x1440 monitor, and there was an opportunity to make something really beautiful. Instead, it feels like graphics from a couple generations ago.

Addition of quests. Again, this should be an improvement, but feels like something tacked on to extend gameplay time, but done in a very boring mobile-game way. For example, one of the quests is to kill a specific monster in the first level a few times...but it only appears once, so you have to replay the level over several times to complete. In the original, you could only play through a level once, which gave each level a lot more impact. In this release, you can replay them over and over, which lessens the impact. I never thought I'd get tired of ActRaiser levels, but I did with this release.

You now go into monster lairs to kill monsters, rather than the citizens of the world doing that. It messes with the overall feel since the whole point is that you're building up the world so that it can eventually fend for itself.

There is an insane amount of text/story included that wasn't in the original. So much that it starts to droll on at certain points. I love flavor text and when plot elements are expanded, but it went overboard.

LOATHE
I can't stand the tower defense portions. The worst thing about it is that even after clearing a town of monsters, the tower defense portion will still activate after being in a town for a certain amount of time. If you lose, well, you have to do it all over, and it's very easy to lose some of them, and you can't perform any town interactions while the tower defense portion is active. It really detracts from the pacing. This is supposed to be an action/sim game, not an action/sim/tower defense. This was really poor gameplay design, and frustrated me to the point where I got to Aitos (town 4) and (at this time) just kind of gave up.

SUMMARY
If you've never played the original, and you like tower defense, chances are good you will probably like this version. But it's very difficult to call this superior to the original. I'd honestly recommend the original over this mish-mash of concepts.