EGGLIA Rebirth is one of those “spiritual successors” that comes around when designers can’t get the rights to an IP they used to develop for. From titles like Sword of Mana to the Magical Vacation games, the boys at Brownies have had a storied career going far back to the original Secret of Mana.
Fans of Trials of Mana and Legend of Mana owe Brownies respect for critical figures that lead to their development. With EGGLIA: Legend of the Redcap, the team sought to apply their panache for laid-back fantasy adventure to the mobile platform. This release satisfied some, but it could never reach the audience that crave titles like it.
With a rebranded title and a heap of adjustments and gameplay tweaks, EGGLIA Rebirth is designed to be a console experience. Are rebalances and gameplay changes enough to make a mobile game feel like a real game? Will this satisfy Mana fans? Find out in EGGLIA Rebirth review!
EGGLIA Rebirth
Developer: Brownies Inc.
Publisher: Brownies Inc.
Platforms: iOS, Nintendo Switch (reviewed)
Release Date: February 10, 2022
Players: 1
Price: $19.99 USD
The world of Egglia has endured an apocalypse and only a few have survived. One the survivors is a red-capped goblin- but not just any goblin. Like a neutering of a dog; a goblin with no horns has a much more passive disposition than typical horned goblins who are usually aggressive bullies.
The goblin’s first friend is a female elf who needs his strength to open magical eggs which are key to restoring the world and the inhabitants. Not only is this snipped boy the only hope for undoing armageddon one egg at a time, but he will also have to rebuild everyone’s homes and build an empire of craftsmen, builders, mines and a farm.
Like many of Brownies’ titles in the past and like all Mana games; EGGLIA Rebirth is a game about ecology. Mother nature can be very nurturing, but also extremely uncaring and far more destructive than anything humanity can design. This comes back to how the gameplay is tied to living in harmony with nature… and also getting killed by it once in a while.
After enduring countless tutorial prompts and interruptions, the redcap can finally get a shot at cracking some eggs… that is until after he endures endless skits of unfunny banter between fantasy creatures. EGGLIA Rebirth is may frustrate since it was initially designed for mobile which is a platform for people who do not usually play video games.
This port, unfortunately still has many of the elements that remind players of its casual mobile origins. Load times are also very frequent (though short) and appear when changing menus or going inside houses in the player-created town in the game.
After getting through the tedium of the filler dialogue with juvenile characters, it’s time to make some world-omelets. The world map is similar to the presentation of Legend of Mana. Players start at the center and work their way outward to set up how they wish the geography is laid out. The point is to allow some expression and EGGLIA Rebirth is flexible in this regard.
Customization is not limited to just placing prefabricated assets on a blank map. While developing EGGLIA Rebirth review, hours would fly by during the town-building module and the interior design aspect too.
Fans of the Animal Crossing games will find this part of EGGLIA Rebirth to be very familiar. Every townsfolk saved from the main story chapters needs a home and their homes can be decked out in tons of different styles of furniture and other esoteric accessories.
It is always best to cater to their personality and what would best fit their style; not just on the inside of the home, but the outside too. Every character has a preference for the kind of home they desire and to help them, expect to go mining, farming and battling for resources.
The grind is seemingly the entire point of EGGLIA Rebirth. Since there is no real driving plot and the main objective is to restore the world, the only thing for a goblin to do is improve life for others.
When not talking to the townies or harvesting, the other main module of EGGLIA Rebirth would be the board game style battling. Everything in combat revolves around a dice roll and the player only controlling the redcap goblin. This makes it very simple and easy to pick up and play. This was likely intended for children or newcomers to RPGs to grasp.
Townsfolk are functionally gear and they level up along with the hero. Battle maps are usually small and have hex-based panels. A single dice roll determines how much movement the player gets, along with how effective they will be when attacking or casting a spell.
Beating up enemies usually just means hoping for a good roll and while both the player and enemy wail on each other. Using elemental weaknesses is a viable strategy like always, but battles are not terribly involving and the boring soundtrack does not liven things up at all.
When not cutting foes down, expect to be cutting trees down or opening up treasures. The downside to this is that EGGLIA Rebirth plays dirty and sometimes a palm tree is actually a terrible monster who is statistically impossible to defeat with current stats. This happens often and progress will be lost.
Instances like this are never random and unless the user is aware of which objects are secretly powerful enemies; expect trial-and-error gameplay. Some battles are also multiple rooms in a sequence; this could mean having to redo several maps in a row if redcap decides to harvest the wrong item.
One aspect that EGGLIA Rebirth can’t be faulted with is its art direction and visuals. The graphics utilize a mix of 2D assets and 3D character models. The graphics are appealing and despite using low-cost techniques to render the world; settings appear lush.
The illustrative art style is straight from the hand of Shinichi Kameoka. His style Earthy style combines anime with the high fantasy grit of Brian Froud. The only drawback is EGGLIA Rebirth’s lack of character expression.
The animation quality is not that far off from something players would see in the real-time cut scenes of Final Fantasy IX. Faces are static and rely on portraits; body language is broad and interchangeable with different emotions. Most of the time characters stand facing each other and will snap into a called animation.
The illustrative art style truly shines on the huge library of 2D elements that make up the town. Houses and furniture manage to blend in convincingly with the 3D characters and have the added benefit of keeping the frame rate at a manageable level.
EGGLIA Rebirth is a game designed for the grind. There is always something to work towards and resources will always need harvesting. Fans of farming sims and Animal Crossing will surely find a lot to enjoy with this one.
Do not expect a “spiritual successor” to the Mana games with EGGLIA Rebirth. It may look the part, but it actually scratches a completely different itch altogether.
EGGLIA Rebirth was reviewed on Nintendo Switch using a code provided by Brownies Inc. You can find additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy here. EGGLIA Rebirth is now available for Nintendo Switch (via eShop).
