| Game Title: | Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream |
| Developer: | Dimps Corporation |
| Publisher: | Bandai Namco Entertainment |
| Release Date: | 4th October 2024 |
| Platforms: | Switch/PS5/XSX/PC |
Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream is an online co-op action game developed by Dimps Corporation (the same developer who made SAO: Fatal Bullet) and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment.
Story
Sword Art Online: Fracture Daydream took place after the SAO: Alicization event. After the Administrator was defeated by Kirito, she was somehow transferred to the world of ALO (Alfheim Online).
There she meets Kirito, who is quite confused about what’s going on. Together, they roam around the ALO world to find the truth behind what happened.
Apparently, there’s something wrong with a new Expansion system called “Galaxia” which makes the MMORPG worlds collide with each other. Characters from Ainclad, GGO, ALO, Ordinal Scale, & even Project Alicization finally meet each other in the same world.
Some of the characters that are supposed to be “dead” due to the plot of the series are making a comeback as well, for some reason, in this game.
We love how the game pays homage to the series as a whole. Not only the protagonists, but also some of the villains as well. There are characters from the Movies (Eiji & Yuna), as well as Original Characters from the previous entries (through Paid DLCs).
Eiji, Heathcliff, Fukaziroh, & Asuna in the same team
Unfortunately, plot-wise, it’s not a good starting point for a newcomer who doesn’t know anything about the Sword Art Online series at all. The story of the game moves forward with the assumption that you, the player, already know about the relationship of each character and what kind of event has happened before this game, which means you need to have the knowledge of the whole anime series (including the spin-off).
We already watched all seasons & movies of SAO, but have no idea about the Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online series. We do know that they took place in the same universe, just different Protagonists. So, we have no idea about the relationship between Len & Fukajiro, and the game won’t even bother to explain it to you.
Gameplay
This game is basically a Hack & Slash Live Service game, which focuses on online raid and multiplayer content.
You will see that the game has Daily Objectives, Weekly Objectives, and other Objectives as well. (Feels like playing a mobile game?)
You can see the Daily Objectives on the right side
Story Quests
Story Quests mode is basically the offline mode. This is the only mode where you can unlock playable characters. Most of the characters are locked behind the story progression, so it is really recommended that you finish the Story Quest mode first before focusing on the online content.
So when the server is on maintenance, you can still play the story quest mode.
The Story mode consists of a total of 5 chapters, with several Main quests & Side Quests in each chapter for you to clear.
One thing that we need to mention is that when playing the Story Quests, your character doesn’t really have a “level”, unlike the previous SAO games, which are basically normal JRPGs where you can increase the Level of your characters, learn new skills, and arrange how you want to build your character, in SAO Fractured Daydream, your character will always starts from 0 in every chapter.
You will have to collect those HP UP & ATK UP Gems, which you can get by defeating enemies, to increase your parameters for that Quest, and that quest only.
When you start a quest, they will throw you into a specific map, and it the map looks HUGE if you open the Map. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of Invisible Wall to prevent you from going out of the area. The problem is that you won’t be able to check on the Map from which area it will be restricted. You can only keep walking until you get stopped by an invisible Wall (You can see from the screenshots below)
Stop blocking me!
Another thing about the Main Quests & Side Quests is that there is a Rank System based on how many points you have by the end of the Quest. For people who want to get an S Rank on every mission, this is going to be a chore. First of all, you can get points by defeating enemies, and also by finishing a Sub-Mission inside the Quest Map. The Sub-Mission also doesn’t have that many variations. It will be either you fight a Named Boss, or defeat a number of enemies within the time limit, or collect all coins before the time limit.
This is how the points & rank system works. You can get special items by finishing the quest with a specific rank.
You can only find the Sub-Mission if you explore the map, as there are no markers on the Mini-Map unless you are really close to the area. This and the combination of the Invisible Walls make it a chore to explore the map. Because the map is huge, while there are area restrictions, you won’t be able to know about it in advance unless you hit the Invincible Wall. Not to mention that the map itself feels very barren without anything happening. Sometimes you will see enemy spawn here and there, and that’s it.
Free Roam
You can choose the Free Roam play mode from the main menu. This is kind of similar to Monster Hunter’s free roam. Where you will just go into an area and do whatever you want without objectives or time limits, just to gather materials or find loot or fight bosses.
The difference is that you will join an online session with other players when doing Free Roam, which is quite annoying, especially when you really don’t want other players to interrupt you during your exploration.
You will be able to get rare drops, such as appearance items, depending on which map you are roaming at.
Co-Op Quests
This is where the fun begins. You will be able to participate in an online cooperative quest with up to 20 people.
You will be divided into 5 teams, each with 4 people in it. Going through the map, clearing the objectives, and reaching the Final Boss of the Dungeon.
Total of 5 Parties, each with 4 players.
It feels like the complete vision of what SAO should have been. You will fight the Boss at the end of the dungeon, together with 19 other players. (If there aren’t enough players, the slot will be filled by COM)
And just like in the Ainclad world, the person who gets the Last Attack will get the spotlight and the end of the battle.
You will be graded based on your performance, like how much damage you dealt, how many enemies you defeated, etc.
This gives people a sense of accomplishment, and you can compete for a higher score/rank.
Characters
We think this is where the game really shines.
It has almost every important character from the SAO series, including the characters from spin-offs like GGO, and characters from the Movies. (And they added a few more through the Season pass).
We really love how each character feels very different from one another.
You will be able to choose a character that has a specific role assigned to them.
Those roles are: Fighter, Tank, Rogue, Ranger, Mage, & Support (You can check the screenshot down below, every row consists of characters with the same Role)
Look at the complete rosters of the character + DLC Characters
We have had the chance to use different characters throughout the Story Quests mode. Each character has different feels to it, and they have different moves/skillsets that are exclusive to the characters.
Kirito’s skill set
For example, Fighters Class: Kirito & Kleine have totally different playstyle and move set. We really LOVE playing as Kleine, as it has that Samurai feel to his gameplay.
Also, characters who are using their avatar from ALO, can actually fly in the game (Such as Leafa, Yuuki, Oberon), which makes this game stay true to the source.
Flying is fun
Understanding what kind of skill set the character you are using has is really helpful. And it gives you a fresh gameplay when you are playing using another character as well.
Other thing that’s interesting is that when you try using characters from GGO, their gameplay will make you feel like you are playing SAO Fatal Bullet.
You can see the crosshair for shooting when playing as GGO characters
Weapons are locked to specific characters, and other characters won’t be able to use them.
Another thing that I must mention is that Weapon skins ACTUALLY change when you equip a different type of weapon for the characters.
The other interesting thing is that you can make your own unique characters with different costumes and accessories.
Asuna is wearing the Fairy Tale Dress
When you play online, you will meet other players who use the same character as you. That’s where the costumes & accessories came into play, to differentiate you from other players.
You will be able to find a variety of Costumes and Accessories through the Story Event, Drops from Unique Bosses, or loot from the Treasure Chests.
Graphics & Performances
This is probably the best-looking Sword Art Online game we have ever seen to date.
We do have the experience of playing the previous series, such as Hollow Fragments, Alicization Lycoris, & also Last Recollection. But none of it came close to Fractured Daydream in terms of graphics and smoothness.
The game has 2 graphics options (Quality & Performance) on the PS5, and honestly, playing in Performance Mode with stable 60fps is a blessing in this type of Action RPG.
The face, costumes, & weapons details are amazing
It runs on a smooth 60fps on PS5, and even in chaotic raid battles, it was very stable.
We tested the Co-Op Quests, where you have to fight a boss at the end of the dungeon with a total of 20 players, and it was very smooth.
Even though there are a lot of characters on the screen, the game was still stable at 60fps (Performance mode).
Sounds
BGMs are great for this game.
Totally love the opening song from ReoNa「私たちの讃歌」/ Watashitachi no Uta / Translated into “Our Song” for the western.
We think the decision to have ReoNa sing the opening of SAOFD is very good, as ReoNa is a singer who has a strong presence in the SAO series since the Alicization arc began. (Not to mention they made her a playable character in SAO Alicization Lycoris as well, which you can recruit and put in your party!)
The Verdict
Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream is a game that SAO fans have been waiting for. They have almost every main & side characters from the series, including the spin-off, movie, & game’s original characters.
Not to mention this is the best looking SAO game with the least hiccups in terms of performance (finally).
While it’s a Live Service game, the Offline Story Mode is quite meaty & long (Around 28 hours if you are trying to S-Rank everything + finishing all the Sub Quests as well).
Unfortunately for the Story mode, it really caters to those people who ACTUALLY WATCHED the anime. The game progresses without any hand-holding, and it assumes that you already know the connection between each character. There will be no explanation for newcomers. And the story mode still has the same pacing problem as all other SAO games, with the long conversation cutscenes before throwing you into the
While you don’t have the freedom to build a character based on what you want, this game gives you different types of gameplay through the variation of characters and their unique skill sets. This might be off-putting for people who are expecting a traditional leveling process like the previous SAO games.
Battle feels very smooth compared to the previous games, with every character having their own Sword Skill (Including the Ultimate Attack)
But all of that aside, the Boss Raid & Co-op Quests mode is probably the best thing in this game. It feels like you are actually playing the original Sword Art Online MMORPG, and you can also play together with up to 19 other players online to compete for achievements & ranks. It totally makes sense, as this is probably the mode that the developers want you to spend most of your time in, seeing that it’s a live service game.
We definitely recommend this game for hardcore fans of the Sword Art Online series, but if you are a newcomer to the series, maybe try to catch up first by watching the anime before thinking of jumping into this game.
While it’s not perfect, it’s the best SAO game to date that we have ever played, and don’t expect the same formula as the previous games, because it’s not.
We finished the game in around 40 hours on PlayStation 5, Completed All Main Quests & Sub Quests on S Rank (Normal), including Worlds Beyond 1: A moment in Infinity DLC with S Rank on all Quests. Review code is provided by Bandai Namco
