No longer a big SAO fan but this game was a large part of my early teenage years since I used to be obsessed with SAO. I owned it on the PS4 back in 2015 when it finally released in the U.S. The gameplay can be janky at times and the story I didnt really care about. I just think the premise of flying around and grinding dungeons and monsters has a weird old school y2k gaming vibe to it. And simply for that I recommend it as well as RE:HOLLOW.

This game is awful. Legitimately terrible game. That being said, I love it. For some reason I can't put it down and it's one of my favorites. I played it originally on PS4 and it was the first game I ever tried to Platinum. I beat it and honestly didn't want to stop playing so I did new game plus as well. Hoping to do the same on PC as well haha.

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I haven't played a lot of it yet, although I find this game to be fantastic. If you're looking for gameplay reviews, I highly recommend to not look at IGN's review of this game. I watched the video thinking I wouldn't like this game. I thought the controls would be too hard. Although it's not true. You can actually play as a character that isn't Kirito, and customise them how you want with limits. I love the idea of flying around Alfheim fighting monsters, or just flying and chilling out
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To be biased, this game is fun, with playable characters, and even customising your own character and choosing your race for it. It's also easy to level up your weapon so it's easy to defeat monsters without any problems.
- Easy to control: I'm simple when it comes to games, I don't like tons of buttons to press at once or anything. but this is super easy to use. Obviously WASD to move around, press F to float/hover, and press R to fly. you can also sprint/fly faster by Shift, and use sword skills/skills by the numbers.
- player PKers. This is a fun little find when flying around near the ground, players. NPC's of course, but they will try to kill you, so best to take charge and show them who's boss and kill them.
- They didn't forget about the anime when making this: yes that means there's a fly limit in the game, but surprisingly it's higher than I expected so I don't find a problem with it. it does get lifted later in the game.
- Remain Lights (Death): I find this to be especially neat. when you die (or anyone party or PKers) they turn into Remain Lights, like how they did in the anime. your party members can revive you when you're a Remain Light, so don't worry if you're the only one down.
- Fall damage (simply, there is none). I love this, especially since when you hit the height altitude, your wings will go away and you'll start to fall but there's no need to worry, there's no fall damage so you won't die if you don't fly again.
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To nitpick a little bit, I have found some problems in a short amount of time.
- The amount of monsters all over one area. I love having open options of what to fight, don't get me wrong, although you can't fly anywhere without coming in contact with a monster, even on the group there's so many. and unlike some other SAO games, they attack on sight, so be prepared at all times.
- Dragons flying: When you reach a certain point in the first battlefield, there will be a dragon flying around. I don't mind that, the issue is; once you come in contact with it, it will chase you for a long time. I don't know how far you have to go in order for it to leave but it can be annoying
- Character customisation is very small: you can only choose the race, 2 different hair styles, 2 different faces, 2 different skin colours, your name, and that's about it. a very limited amount of character customisation for such a promising game is sad to see.
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The overall Alfheim Online aesthetic is very nice and lush, The way the wings are is pretty cool as well
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I highly recommend playing this at least once. Being able to fly, I'm sure a non-SAO fan can have fun with this game as well. I also recommend reading player reviews instead of IGN's review, they didn't know much about the game nor even the anime. However, this game is really addictive to play, I've just been flying around forgetting about the main quest, and you can too!

If you liked the anime. You should like this. To me it has the best feel out of all of them, yes even the newer ones, don't get me wrong Alicezation was great, and so was Fr. Dreams, in their own way. It is a bit dated, but buying this at 10 and under is a no brainer. If you dont like leveling then why are you here? lol. It's a good game so far but does seem a bit grindy. Their is a tutorial but not every thing is explained to you which I like, It's cool figuring out stuff by yourself sometimes, and if that fails there's always youtube. Highly recommend it.

really fun second game of the series, puzzles were interesting too. actually guided compared to first game so you wont get lost as easily

Got it on sale because i didnt want to pay full price because i beat it already on PS4, its a good game. the controls feel good on PC. I've yet to unlock the co op portion of the game but if there is a player base at all for it then im sure its just as fun and kind of OP in certain stages. There are a lot of cutscenes and side quests but they are fun to watch if you enjoy the world of SAO. The flying is pretty straight forward and easy to get used to. combat with ranged weapons and magic can be clunky but very convenient for safer playstyles. definitely would recommend getting and playing. yes its an old game. no theres no updates from what ive seen in years. no you cannot play the story with a friend. you can only do missions with each other, mostly dungeon and boss killing quests. no you cannot play online multiplayer co op before you clear the first island area entirely and enter the desert island of the 2nd area.

Rate: 8/10

Pro: Fun game, fun story, open world within the island and within height limits, nice difficulty if you dont grind or manipulate, nice time killer game.

Con: Combat can be a little clunky, magic feels weak then OP, NPC red players are more annoying than dangerous even just starting out, the amount of cutscenes can be annoying for players who dont like stories

The camera is a little choppy, but if you get past that little annoyance the game is really enjoyable. I love Sword Art Online and have always wanted to play something close to it and this is that game. The flying element from ALO is pretty cool too. This game is great for fans of the series and people who have never heard of it. You should definitely check it out.

the dungeon is boring, you will keep fighting with the same boss in different dungeon, but the main/side story are good enough, I suggest to buy when its offer

for fans of the anime aswell as the games, this game delivers

Fan of the OG SAO and this game stays close to that feel you had when you first watched SAO.