Saint Seiya Awakening: Knights of the Zodiac Gameplay | NINTENDO SWITCH LITE GIVEAWAY!

Are you a fan of anime? I bet you are, and rightfully so, because we’re diving straight into Saint Seiya Awakening: Knights of the Zodiac. This game launched late last year and we’re now giving it a go because we like our anime games and the devs sponsored us to introduce you to the game and to some neat events. Besides, in this game you get to beat up an annoying kid in the face and watch him throw a fit afterwards, something that is quite satisfying. He’ll end up joining your team, because anime logic, right? Just remember not to do that in real life because it won’t get you new team members, most likely you’ll get thrown in jail. Anyway, let’s see why this is the perfect time to return to Saint Seiya, or to start a brand-new adventure. You know how it goes: hit that link in the video description to download the game.

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What if I told you that five of you may win a Nintendo Switch Lite thanks to Saint Seiya Awakening? Whaaaat? You heard that right, there is an Instagram challenge where you play a game just by blinking your eyes. As you can see, this is just like that crazy hit Flappy Bird, and 20 players will be eligible to enter a draw where five of them win one Switch Lite each, while the remaining 15 players score a Saint Seiya figure each. There’s also a recall event that begins on June 1 and runs for four weeks where new, active, and returning players may earn some cool gift codes by inviting friends. Check the video description for all the rules and get practicing your blinking skills.

And now let’s see what Saint Seiya has to offer. As you surely know by now, animes are mostly about beating up everyone and their mom. This game completely delivers in that regard. Being an officially licensed game, the soundtrack comes straight from the anime and it is really great, well implemented, it really gets your inner Saint going.

Hero collector games are normally just as good as their cast can be, and you can expect a large roster of men and women eager to show their fighting skills. I’ll be honest here, I haven’t watched much of Saint Seiya, but I can see that the characters are very stylish and apparently there are hundreds of them in the anime, so it doesn’t come as a surprise that the game offers some unique heroes to collect. Hey, there’s the kid that you get to beat up. No hard feelings, right?

You can summon new characters via a gacha system that comes with a clever twist directly tied to the Knights of the Zodiac theme. You move around the skies and observe the different constellations, a nice touch, although I’m fairly sure that it doesn’t affect the summons. Let’s see how a few of my summons went… oh yeah, here’s my treasured S rank hero that I got early on. This guy is called Capricorn Shura and he is brutal. The main story and sidequests will unlock other heroes, so you’re not limited to making friends through the gacha.

This is my current collection of heroes, and you can see that the game artwork hits the nail on the head. It’s colorful, cute, and the characters show their best battle-ready poses. Well, except for the overly excited little kid. And this cheerful girl. And this secretive, mystical girl. And this other… oh, you get the idea: boys be brave and determined, while girls are humble, cute and fierce. The animations are really cool, showing that a lot of care went into making it faithful to the anime.

In the campaign, a few big names from the original animation lend their voices to the characters. Skip the story at your own risk, because the exchanges between the heroes and antagonists is tense and interesting, quite fun sometimes, with a fair amount of overexcited shouting. If you’re just on it for the hero roster and the battles alone, you’re going to miss out on something that makes this game very immersive.

There’s a lot of story to sink your teeth into, most of it leading to turn-based combat sections. At times, you can earn bonus rewards or avoid getting into a brawl by correctly answering a trivia question related to the game lore.

Most of the times you get to move around a very small area, a mechanic made to get you more immersed into this world and free from the constraints that other similar games force on you. However, the game truly shines when the fighting begins. You can get a full lineup of six heroes and a few of them reap the benefits of having a partner, something like an affinity system. You must consider using that lower tier hero if it means that he is going to partner up with his buddy to deliver some destructive ensemble blows. Use your energy points wisely, as they increase after each round and unlock stronger skills – are you going to zerg rush, or will you save your energy for the later rounds? It’s not an easy choice.

When the going gets tough, the tough consume lower level heroes to level up and evolve. That’s the tradition in hero collectors, as you use materials to increase the stats of your favorite characters. Those low tier heroes that you summon can be used as fodder to evolve your A-team, something that is recommended in face of the bosses that you’ll meet along the way. S tier heroes don’t come often, so make sure that you appreciate and use them to their full potential, since one devastating blow can change the tide of battle. Do your dailies, complete sidequests and even minigames, everything that comes your way to get those precious evolution materials.

The PvP mode is where you go to measure your skills against other players. There are several options including limited time duels, and in Saint Arena you fight to get to the top of the ranking. You can automatically skip some of the battles that you take for granted, sometimes mistakenly, but there’s no way to easily defeat opponents who have a higher rating than yours. The Sacred Duel mode is your standard player versus player mode, but the Fire Clock Tournament turns things on its head as you choose from a selection of random Saints and Cosmo. You need a considerable knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of each hero to overcome the best players, there’s a really nice tactical depth to these battles.

Saint Seiya fans are bound to enjoy this game quite a bit. Saint Seiya Awakening: Knights of the Zodiac is a hero collector RPG clearly made with respect for the IP, and even those who aren’t really into this specific anime can enjoy this game. Don’t forget to join the ingenious Instagram Filter Game Challenge and the Recall Event if you’re a new or returning player, because any game is always better when you can get some cool rewards or win a Nintendo Switch. Have fun and may the constellations reward you with many S tier Saints.

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