TEVI | PS5 Review

Heavily character driven, and fully voice acted this tale about the titular protagonist Tevi features an interwoven adventure of mystery, machinations, and cultural chaos. At the forefront of the fray, beginning 30 years earlier, we find a human Empress unable to calm an uprising between beastkin and humans. The seeking of fabled Astral Gears for an all powerful spell to grant access to Elysium is the fought over prize. To keep this from happening the Empress scatters the Astral Gears across the land of Az, and puts into motion an unspoken failsafe plan to keep Astral Gears from falling into the wrong hands.

It is after this intriguing introduction to the game's not-so-distant past history that we find the faux-beastkin rabbit Tevi shackled, and imprisoned by the Golden Hand Gang. A group of desert dwelling beastkin scavengers who have an Astral Gear in their possession. Tevi aims to take it from them, and utilizing her orbitar gear as well as her sword she does just that. Setting off a chain of events with two happenstance encounters involving a prying magitech angel named Celia, and a lost lesser magitech demon named Sable. Together with these two unlikely tagalong partners Tevi sets off with the approval of her father, and ventures forth to recover all of the Astral Gears. 

Between the trio, both Tevi, and Celia's motives seem to be gear focused while Sable's involvement is a little less known. Sable simply wants to get back to the kingdom from whence the human Empress hailed, or so he says. To keep their conjoined motives on the lowdown Tevi transforms Celia and Sable into her Orbitars. Inadvertently making the ranged weapons into a means with which to better combat foes as well as gain access to more obscured areas. Leaving the rest of the required exploration mechanics up to key items that can be equipped once found. 

As Tevi, in the company of two newly and dually weaponized companions, you'll have to fight your way through battles with other enemies using weapon based combos, buff enabling sigils dependent upon EP, and craftable items that will effectively turn the tide of battle with adverse effects to enemies or advantageous effects to Tevi. Utilizing these tools of the trade while minding color coded enemy cues that showcase their vulnerability or lack thereof will allow you to not only clear the path forward, but farm materials and essences from them used for crafting food items, upgrades, or new attacks for both Celia and Sable.

Like any Metroidvania there is a story driven motive behind what it is you're doing, and it is mostly fleshed out through contextual character conversations. In the case of this experience it comes with some initial side options upon startup. You'll be able to choose from the main menu several different difficulty settings as well as option customization modes that alter the way the game plays from the get go. For example you can play the game with no story elements or with free exploration. There are many different customizations to unlock, and choose from, but it is suggested that you leaved them turned off during the first playthrough for story sake.

Playthroughs, the initially intended type, start from the beginning with the initial intro and move into Metroidvania exploration. This exploration includes basic enemy encounters, boss fights, and chats with the local NPCs. As you progress the game will show you tutorial messages for each new feature as it comes into play. Explaining away combat, and the menu systems including the various item/collectibles, sigils, crafting, and notes. Helping ease you into the fairly simple gameplay loop. 

All you really need to understand is that Tevi's life is governed by HP, that sigils run off of an EP meter with a cooldown, and that you can swap between Celia and Sable's orbiters by pressing either two of the top trigger buttons on your controller. Both Celia's and Sable's orbitar projectile based attacks can also be charged releasing alternative attacks, respectively. 

Most importantly beyond these ranged options is Tevi's weapon based melee attack which can be combo'd into using DPad or thumbstick inputs alongside the SQUARE button. As you level up by killing enemies Tevi will unlock new skills or combos that can be put to use in combat situations. These attacks in tandem with the effect buffing sigils, and consumable items that you craft will be the means with which to overcome the more difficult boss fights. Boss fights, themselves, are a mixture of Metroidvania and shmup style combat with multiple transitional phases. 

Thankfully to make traversal easier there are Aetherlifts, and save points that fully restore any lost health. Aetherlifts, in particular, allow for fast travel from area to area whereas save points allow you to save progress, and pick back up from where you left off when you go back to the title menu. While those things are available on occasion you will still need to explore and fight a bit to take advantage of such luxuries. Making it imperative to learn combat, and how to read your enemies.

For those of you looking for a little more backstory the notes menu has entries that will get you acquainted with everything from the three different races of Az to key events, and terms related to various gameplay encounters. Adding to the constant padding offered up by cutscenes, and character conversations. 

The Presentation ...

Tevi is a blend of anime style avatars with in-game pixel designs that incorporate chibi-like character models. The characters, alone, come to life through impressive Japanese voice-acting that does not seem to be censored in the slightest when translated to English subtitles. I say that, because the game does feature some lewd mature humor that ties in with certain character art as well as animations. 

The soundtrack is that lighthearted fantasy fair with it's instrumentals, and symphonic tunes. Sometimes quirky, and other times more serious in tone. Something that serves to properly coincide, and compliment each geographically different locale, and distinctly different situation.

The Verdict ...

Tevi is that lighthearted, and comedic anime experience most anime faithfuls look forward to. The fact that it doesn't seem to be censored in translation is a huge plus. Even the anime avatar of Celia comes complete with her busty cleavage while her chibi in-game model hosts jiggle physics to push that side of the humor forward.

While 'Tevi' is mechanically complex, and extremely character focused the Metroidvania side of things seem less daunting, and more on the casual side though I do assume the difficulty setting will change that alongside any toggled customization options in follow-up playthroughs. For what it offers gameplay-wise it's an on point value for the price that is asked. This isn't one of those super pricey games, but it does have a nice quality about it. Both in the visual and audible sense. The story itself is worth the entry fee as are the characters you get to know. Bottom line is this ... if you fancy something with heart, a dash of comedy relief, and no translational tomfoolery I think 'Tevi' is a good game to grab!